The Making of the Potterverse (21 page)

The
Los Angeles Times
published a story on
Prisoner of Azkaban
that featured a number of interesting comments from those involved with its production. Said Alan Horn, President of Warner Brothers, “
Y Tu Mamá También
confirmed to me that Alfonso could live in the world of fantasy and children and not be treacly, and also be a little bit dark. And he got such performances out of those two young boys. Now our protagonists in
Harry Potter
are 13, entering puberty, and he understands that. The question was: Could he handle something of this size? It can be daunting.” For his part, Cuaron admitted, “I have to confess, I was a bit ignorant about the Harry Potter thing. So I read Steve Kloves’ script, and it was great. And then I immediately read the book. And I was, frankly, amazed by the book and the script. . . . Harry goes through a journey where he realizes that demons aren’t just things that go bump in the night, but also can be painful emotions, worries about family, friends, the future, the monsters that lie within. And that’s a classic teenage issue. . . . The whole goal of taking a franchise in a new direction is what keeps [it] alive. Jo Rowling said to me, ‘Don’t be literal. Just be faithful to the spirit.’ You might have hits and misses, but it’s always going to be fresh.” Director-turned-producer Chris Columbus emphasized one point: “I wanted to make sure that the film didn’t stray too far from the world that the audience and the fans have sort of fallen in love with over the course of the first two movies.”

Although details were scarce, it was reported that the UK optical firm Graham Coates had begun working on effects for
Goblet of Fire
.

In an interview with
Empire
magazine, director Mike Newell addressed the rumors that
Goblet of Fire
might be split into two films. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “it’s absolutely possible to do it in one. I think it would be slightly embarrassing to do it in two. It’s a classic paranoid thriller in a way. I’ve spent Christmas watching things like
The Parallax View
and
The Insider
and
Three
Days of the Condor
. What you have is a story at the beginning of which the powers of evil have a plan, which is absolutely not revealed to your hero. The kid just wanders into another year at school, then this huge notion of the competition surprises him. But there is, of course, a malign interference which is manipulating things. And so he gets more and more suspicious until there is a shoot-out between him and the bad guy. That’s a really good, strong thriller shape.”

The French magazine
Studio
reported (incorrectly, it turned out) that actress Carole Bouquet (the wife of Gérard Depardieu and, incidentally, the leading Bond lady in 1981’s
For Your Eyes Only
) had been cast in
Goblet of Fire
.

The
Times
Educational Supplement reported that hundreds of Bulgarian teenage boys decided to cut from school in order to audition for the part of Victor Krum in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
.

John Hurt announced he would be returning as Mr. Ollivander in
Goblet
, though the actor nearly said no to the offer. “I was going to turn it down,” said Hurt, “but I was told by my girlfriend and my agent that if I didn’t do it, my children would never speak to me.” This, of course, mirrored the comment made to the late Richard Harris by his granddaughter, which “guilted” him into the role of Dumbledore.

In an interview with
Empire
magazine, Emma Thompson discussed her
Prisoner of Azkaban
character, Professor Trelawney. “I decided that since she was someone who saw into the future, she had to be someone who couldn’t see anything at all in the present,” she said. “Like where she was going, her clothing. . . . anything. I decided to dress her slightly differently, and had wonderful cooperation from my director and designer and everything.”

A statue of Harry Potter built of Lego on display at the Toys R Us store in Times Square, New York. (Fionna Boyle)

Lego announced six new sets based on
The Prisoner of Azkaban
.

J.K. Rowling’s personal fortune continued to rise, with one estimate being approximately $1 billion. To celebrate, she participated at a charity auction, spending more than £125,000.

Could there be future adventures of Harry Potter beyond the seven books J.K. Rowling swore the character would be limited to? In a Web chat she noted, “I’ll never say never, because every time I do, I immediately break the vow.” Needless to say, this sparked worldwide media attention.

J.K. Rowling was among those invited to a “girl power” lunch held by the Queen of England. At about the same time, she was awarded the fiction prize at the annual WH Smith People’s Choice Book Awards for
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
. Said Rowling of her longest book to date, “This is wonderful. Unabashed adult Harry Potter fans are very dear to my heart, and obviously in the case of
The Order of the Phoenix
they were the ones who were physically able to lift the book.”

In a
USA Today
article on
Prisoner of Azkaban
, Alfonso Cuaron discussed the fact that he had his young cast write essays about their characters. “The kids were very brave,” he said. “They bared their souls. They were very eloquent. At some point, I wanted to publish them, then I thought, ‘No.’ I promised them it was just for the work of the film and it’s their personal stuff. We had free-flowing discussions about what it means to be 13. How it’s different from 12 or 11. It’s an archetypal age. Kids change so much. You want to change the way you dress, the way you look, the way you argue.”

Second-unit filming on
Goblet of Fire
got underway toward the end of the month in Scotland.

A loan of about $7,000 from a friend had allowed J.K. Rowling, who was suffering from severe fiscal difficulties, to finish writing the first Harry Potter novel. Said Rowling, “I broke down and cried when my friend offered it to me. At the time it was like half a million pounds to me. It was this enormous sum of money. I think we both thought I would never be able to pay it back. The friend was saying in effect, ‘Here is a gift to help you.’” In return, and once Rowling’s creation turned out to be such a phenomenon, she reportedly repaid this friend by buying her a house that is currently worth about $400,000.

A teenager from Chile traveled to London, tricked into believing she had been invited there by Daniel Radcliffe. When she showed up at the Radcliffe residence with emails purportedly written by Daniel in hand, the young actor’s father, Alan, had the sad duty of telling her she had been duped. Said Alan Radcliffe, “Daniel never communicates with fans via the Internet or email for this very reason — he doesn’t want anyone to be duped into corresponding with someone pretending to be him. For his fans’ sake and safety there are no exceptions to this rule, and anyone claiming to be Daniel Radcliffe is, I’m afraid, lying.”

A rumor arose that
Titanic
’s Kate Winslet had been offered the role of a wizard in
Goblet of Fire
, but this turned out to be false.

An unofficial Harry Potter convention was announced for October 6–11, 2005, to be held in Salem, Massachusetts, under the name “The Witching Hour: A Harry Potter Symposium.” Said coordinator Melissa Lee, “Halloween is such a huge aspect to the Harry Potter books. The best place to have the conference is in Salem, America’s backyard at Halloween time.”

One report has it that Daniel Radcliffe’s personal fortune after the release of the first two Harry Potter films was about $9 million.

The
ABC
network announced that when it aired
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
on May 9, it would include a 10-minute preview of
Prisoner of Azkaban
.

Due to the vast territory covered in
Goblet of Fire
, all sequences from the novel featuring the Dursleys had been dropped from the film. Richard Griffiths, who played Vernon Dursley in the first three films, says that he approached J.K. Rowling about the situation. Said Griffiths, “I asked, ‘Couldn’t the Dursleys show up to an Open Day at Harry’s school or something?’ But she said, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Warner Brothers announced that
Goblet of Fire
would be released on November 18, 2005.

Time
magazine announced that as far as they were concerned, J.K. Rowling had become one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

Comingsoon.com reported that Warner Brothers had launched an all-new Web experience devoted to
Prisoner of Azkaban
. “In addition to serving as a comprehensive promotional site dedicated to the magical world of Harry Potter,” they posted, “the newly unveiled site features exclusive interactive content and news about the third installment of the blockbuster film series.”

Humorously, Daniel Radcliffe stated he can’t watch
Sorcerer’s Stone
because of the sound of his own voice. “Actually,” he said, “I
was flicking through the channels one day and I saw a bit of the first film and I genuinely thought there was something wrong with it. It sounded like I was on helium, it was bizarre.” Elsewhere he commented on the essay he had to write for Alfonso Cuaron on his character. “It was really funny,” he said, “because the way we did it was exactly how our characters would do it. I did it like Harry, just a page of writing. Rupert didn’t do it in the end and Emma wrote sixteen pages. So we were like, ‘Oh, God, we’ve all become scarily like our characters.’”

Fox 23 reported that John Malkovich had been signed to play Voldemort in
Goblet of Fire
, and even quoted an anonymous source, “He is perfect for the role. He will play the ‘restored’ human version of Lord Voldemort and has a spectacular fight with Harry at the end of the film.” In the end, they got the fight part right, though they were wrong about the actor.

Jason Isaacs confirmed that he would be returning as Lucius Malfoy. In an interview with
The Sun
he stated, “I make a tiny cameo appearance in the fourth film, to remind people that I still exist as I have a bit more to do in the fifth one. To be honest, I thought I wouldn’t get to be in the fourth film at all, but it will be nice to get the wig out of mothballs and start the slow warm-up for number five where I have some rather juicy and lovely stuff.”

Apparently J.K. Rowling was asked to write an episode of the
BBC
sci-fi series
Doctor Who
, but she had to turn down the request due to schedule conflicts.

The
Daily Record
revealed that 16-year-old Katie Leung had been cast as Cho Chang in
Goblet of Fire
. Said her father, Peter, “It’s obviously a great part to get, and it’s a happy time for all the family. Katie is supposed to be getting a press officer and things like that.” That publication also featured an interview with Daniel Radcliffe,
in which he discussed part of the downside of fame. “When the first two films came out,” he said, “I had to have bodyguards because I created such a ruckus everywhere I went. That was absolutely no fun. I really pray
The Prisoner of Azkaban
doesn’t make me really famous again, because I love being completely anonymous and I’ve felt like that for almost two years. When I’m on the streets of a big city like New York and no one recognizes me, it reminds me that I’m just a normal teenager. And that’s all I am. Don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that I was given the chance to portray Harry Potter. Even J.K. Rowling thanked me for playing the role.”