The Making of the Potterverse (8 page)

The Hogwarts Dining Hall was modeled after the dining hall at Christ Church College, at Oxford University. (Fionna Boyle)

Hail to the Wizard? The Department of Education held a “Vote to Read” campaign in which children could vote for whoever they wanted to be president and vice president, as long as those people came from works of fiction. Harry Potter got the bid for pres, while Clifford the Big Red Dog was the choice for
VP
.

Despite the fact that by this point the Harry Potter novels had sold over 43 million copies, Rowling insisted that her drive to continue his adventures had not waned. “I have been writing about Harry for 10 years,” said the author. “He’s very real to me. I think I’m quite driven on this. I want to get this story out of me. It’s that simple. There’s no other reason to keep writing.”

Warner Brothers sent a cease and desist letter to 15-year-old Claire Field, claiming that she had no right to have the Internet domain name harrypotterguide.co.uk. There would ultimately be considerable back-and-forth on this, but in the end the ridiculousness of the claim became apparent and Claire was allowed to keep her fan site.

As evidence that Harry Potter had become big business, Warner Brothers won the legal case it raised against a company named HarperStephens, based in California, which had been accused of cyber-squatting by registering 107 Potter-related web domain names in an effort to be paid serious money for the rights to those domains. It was ruled that HarperStephens had “no rights or legitimate interests” in them and therefore had registered in bad faith.

To help raise money for a cancer charity, J.K. Rowling offered a book reading in Glasgow, Scotland.

Harry continued his phenomenal success around the world, becoming a big hit in Vietnam, among many other places.

An 11-year-old Oregon girl named Annie Rose Favreau won a contest in which participants had to write a letter to Harry Potter. Betsy Howie of Scholastic Book Clubs, which sponsored the contest, responded to Annie, “The exceptional creativity, clarity and use of language in your entry really made it stand out from the rest. That speaks very highly of your work since many of the letters
reviewed by our judges were truly superb.” As a reward, Annie received a trunk filled with Harry Potter merchandise, including a signed copy of the first novel.

The United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization decreed that Warner Brothers’ parent company, Time Warner, holds exclusive rights to domain names including Harry Potter, thus squashing the efforts of so-called cyber-squatters.

When drug paraphernalia (though no drugs) was found on the British sets for the first Harry Potter film, production was called to a halt and everyone sent home until the situation was cleared up. Noted a studio spokesperson, “As we address this very serious matter, our paramount concern is for the safety and protection of the cast and crew of
Harry Potter
. Warner Brothers Pictures will continue to work closely with the production to ensure the highest level of security is enforced on the set and at the production facility.”

A 30-second clip of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
was aired during Super Bowl
XXXV
.

In an interview with the Ain’t It Cool News Web site, Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves mused, “Hopefully people will love the world and stuff, because we didn’t monkey with it. We didn’t say, ‘Okay, now we gotta add something here in the beginning.’ We’re just going to trust that the audience will hang with it. It’s faithful.”

According to British news reports, production nearly shut down on
Harry Potter
due to a legal question of how much time Daniel
Radcliffe was working each day and whether or not his on-set education was being handled properly. “Although Daniel attends a private school,” noted a government spokesperson, “his application for permission to work must come to us and we must be satisfied that his education is being organized properly. It is our statutory duty to consider this and to worry about exploitation.” Any difficulties were ironed out.

Warner Brothers signed with Coca-Cola for the soda company to be Harry’s sole promotional partner, a deal worth about $150 million.

Due to delays based on weather, Warners had to get legal permission for Daniel Radcliffe’s shooting schedule to be extended from the end of March to mid-July. In the end, of course, the request was granted.

For all she had done for children’s literature, J.K. Rowling was given Britain’s highest honor, the
OBE
(Order of the British Empire).

During an interview with Raincoast Books, the Canadian publisher of the Harry Potter books, Rowling discussed the genesis of the books
Quidditch through the Ages
and
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
“I got a letter from Richard Curtis who started Comic Relief saying, ‘Would you consider writing us a short story?’ And then he cunningly said something like, ‘I’m sure you won’t, we’ll still love your books, even if you don’t, but just thought we’d ask.’ Which is a very clever way of asking someone to do something.
But I didn’t need much persuasion as I have always supported Comic Relief, and I think they do fantastic work. So I wrote back and said yes, but I’m not good at short stories — particularly short Harry stories. I tend to ramble on, so how would it be if I wrote a couple of the titles that appear as titles in the novels? So that’s how it all started. And I decided to do two, just because I had two in my head and I couldn’t really decide between
Fantastic Beasts
and
Quidditch
.”

Pennsylvania author Nancy Stouffer did end up launching a lawsuit against J.K. Rowling and her publishers, claiming that many elements of Harry’s world were taken from her book,
The Legend of Rah and the Muggles
. Said Stouffer, “I have been accused of stealing; some children believe I am the one that followed J.K. Rowling.” According to the BBC, “In Stouffer’s
Rah and the Muggles
, which features a character named Larry Potter, the muggles are little people who care for two orphaned boys who magically turn their dark homeland into a happy place.” Eventually Scholastic and Warner Brothers launched a countersuit against Stouffer.

The first movie trailer for
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
appeared in theaters, giving fans one minute and 47 seconds of Potter live-action magic.

Queen Elizabeth spent a day exploring different aspects of the British book industry. Among her stops was Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury, where she met with, among others, J.K. Rowling. The Queen noted of her son, Prince Charles, “He knows the books well and likes them. I would like to think other members of the royal family would also like them.”

Fiona Shaw, who plays Harry’s Aunt Petunia in the films, reflected on
Sorcerer’s Stone
to the BBC, saying, “I had a ball doing
Harry Potter
, and Christopher Columbus’ values seem to be bang on,
with the attention to emotional detail very much in place. That is what will make the film, not the hype or the special effects.”

Queen Elizabeth meets with J.K. Rowling during a day-long tour of the British book industry. (Stefan Rousseau/Reuters/Corbis)