Harry Potter’s Emma Watson Nude
What’s up with this girl — I guess Emma Watson wants to be naked
Rowling Rules: Judge Halts Harry Potter Lexicon
The moral of this story: Don’t mess with J.K. Rowling. The wizardly writer just whipped out one heck of an expelliarmus spell on the folks behind The Harry Potter Lexicon.
A federal judge in New York today put the kibosh on the planned publication of a contentious book version of the popular (now defunct) fansite, ruling it violates Rowling’s creations.
U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr. dismissed defense arguments that the Lexion was protected under fair-use provisions of copyright law.
Rowling and Warner Bros. teamed up last October to sue author Steven Vander Ark and RDR Books over the planned 400-page, $25 Lexicon. During testimony in April, an emontional Rowling took the stand and blasted the book as amounting to “wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work” and “decimating” her livelihood by forcing her to take a break from writing her latest novel to focus on the legal battle.
- from ET
Harry Potter Wows in First Broadway Performance
Some might even say it was a magical evening. Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe appeared in his first preview performance of the Broadway drama Equus Friday, earning raves from fans.
“I thought that he was terrific,” Mandy Menaker, a college student who attended the performance at New York’s Broadhurst Theater, told PEOPLE. “He had a lot to offer. So I thought it was great.”
Danielle Manente from New Jersey agreed that Radcliffe was wonderful. “He was really good. He captured the character [and] he was so into it. He never broke character. I believed everything he said.”
In the revival of the 1973 Peter Shaffer play, which was also staged last year in London, Radcliffe stars as Alan Strang, a distressed and hostile teen who commits the horrifying act of blinding six horses, while a psychiatrist (played by Radcliffe’s Harry Potter costar Richard Griffiths) tries to get to the heart of why he did it.
Radcliffe first entered stage embracing an actor playing a horse. One of his first lines was singing an ad jingle, “Milky bar kid is tough and strong …” – a demonstration of the character’s hostility towards his psychiatrist.
His very emotional performance, which reveals Strang’s anger and fear, was met with enthusiastic applause from the audience. Not to mention wowing the crowd with the nude scene, which comes toward the end of Equus.
“Oh my God! That was nice,” said Manente of Radcliffe’s character fully undressed himself in an attempt at lovemaking with a young woman. “I’m not gonna lie. He looked pretty good.”
- from People
Delhi court hears ‘Hari Puttar’ defense
What’s in a name? Not all that much, the producers of “Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors” argued Friday in the Delhi High Court.
Mumbai-based Mirchi Movies counsel told Judge Reva Khetrapal that Warner Bros.’ copyright infringement suit here is essentially a case of judging a book by its cover.
In his deposition, Arun Jaitley — a well-known Indian politician and attorney — argued that the “phonetic similarity” between the Bollywood title and Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter” fails to constitute a copyright violation, arguing that one needs to “look at the spelling, pronunciation, context, language and relevance of words in (the) language.”
“Puttar” means “son” in Punjabi, and the Indian film’s main character is a boy named Hari Prasad Dhoonda, whom the father refers to as Hari Puttar.
Just “because somebody may mispronounce ‘Hari Puttar’ as ‘Harry Potter’ or even ‘Jaikishan’ (a common Hindu name) as ‘Jackson,’ that alone cannot be cause for legal action,” Jaitley said, who pointed out that the word “Puttar” was used several times in Gurinder Chadha’s “Bend It Like Beckham.”
- from THR
‘Harry Potter’ Star Daniel Radcliffe On Losing His Virginity
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is clearly trying hard to ditch his boy wizard image.
The 19-year-old actor confessed in a revealing interview to losing his virginity to an older woman - whose age would raise eyebrows.
Radcliffe admitted he celebrated reaching the age of consent, 16, in the customary manner with a much older girlfriend.
But although he insisted the age difference ‘wasn’t ridiculous’, he did say it ‘would freak some people out’.
In an interview with US style bible Details, he also admitted he’d like to try his hand at playing a drag queen.
The 19-year-old actor confessed he would love to play a cross-dresser just so he could wear lots of slap and eye make up.
‘I think part of me would love to play a drag queen,’ he says in the September issue of Details magazine.
Daniel RadcliffeRadcliffe, seen here in New York will appear naked on Broadway in Equus
‘Just because it would be an excuse to wear loads of eye make-up.’
Radcliffe, who has spent eight years playing Harry Potter, is soon to start a run of Equus on Broadway, New York.
He will be on stage eight times a week, with full frontal nudity, just as he did in the hit London production.
But that will be about as wild as he plans to get.
The actor , who is known for living a quiet life and not succumbing to the wild party scene said vodka and Diet Coke was his beverage of choice, because he was a ‘pansy-ass civilian’.
Radcliffe also told Details that the Harry Potter phenomenon had not left him with child star angst - but confessed he suffered from the normal teen problems.
‘For the most part I’ve been happy every single day,’ he said.
‘And all the times I’ve been unhappy, it’s never been anything to do with Potter.
‘It’s just been the normal, boring teenage crap. Insecurities, acne - all the normal stuff.’
- from Dailymail
Hollywood asks: who needs Harry Potter?
Boy wizard Harry Potter won’t be whipping up his magic when the fall film season begins next week, but Hollywood is hoping momentum from summer hits like “The Dark Knight” and a wide mix of new movies will keep audiences happy into the holidays.
Two weeks ago, Warner Bros. yanked “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” from a November release and pushed it to next July, which could spell trouble at box offices because the previous four “Potter” films averaged $920 million in worldwide ticket sales. That is a lot of movie magic.
But a range of films from broad comedies such as “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” to thrillers like “Eagle Eye” and art house fare including “Flash of Genius” could sustain the summer upswing, studio executives and box office watchers said.
“You’ve got it all,” said Paul Dergarabedian of box office tracker Media By Numbers, when assessing the outlook from September through mid-November, when the new James Bond flick, “Quantum of Solace,” kicks off holiday season moviegoing.
Last year, Hollywood also came off a strong summer after raking in a record $4.18 billion in North American receipts, but then came a slate filled with war films such as “In the Valley of Elah” and dark dramas that tanked at box offices.
When the summer movie season officially ends on Monday’s U.S. Labor Day holiday, box office watchers again expect a summer tally of over $4 billion. A good chunk of that comes from the blockbuster Batman sequel “The Dark Knight.”
This fall Hollywood seems to have learned a lesson from its bleak 2007 as it dishes up such light-hearted entries as Joel and Ethan Coen’s wacky new comedy “Burn After Reading” starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney; the animated sequel “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”; and Disney’s latest teen confection, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”
- from Reuters
Harry Potter And The Mystery Of Why Alan Rickman Still Won’t Talk Snape
Ever time I have to chance to talk to Alan Rickman, I try to ask him about Snape — but he won’t spill. I’m not the only reporter who has this problem — Rickman is notorious for not saying anything about the Harry Potter series, because he doesn’t want to ruin it for the kids who have yet to finish reading “Deathly Hallows.” And while I can respect that in theory, it’s been a year. Even J.K. Rowling herself talks about what he won’t.
So, when he was doing press for “Bottle Shock”, I thought perhaps he might respond to a spoiler-free type question. Instead of asking about Snape’s motivations, or the great Snape debate — which prompted its own book — I thought something more general, something connective, might work. His character Steven Spurrier runs the Academy of Wine, and cares deeply about the art and science of winemaking. His other character Severius Snape is a professor of potions, and cares deeply about the art and science of potionmaking (so much so he can invent his own, or improve on pre-existing ones — see “Half-Blood Prince”). Wouldn’t the two characters have so much in common — despite being from disparate worlds — that they would have a lot to talk about?
“Sneaky question!” Rickman laughed. “Sneaky question which I’m not going to fall for!”
Instead of giving me the standard line about, “I don’t talk about that person,” Rickman explained that his decision to not engage in Snape-talk was about more than just avoiding spoilers.
“Here’s the serious answer,” Rickman said. “Some things should not be explained, not talked about, just left. It’s such an important thing for children, and I see too much of their expressions. There’s too much shock when they meet the real people playing these parts, because they’ve got something living inside their heads. We live in a time and culture where everything is overexplained, overexamined, before, during, and after, and I think here’s an opportunity — because God knows it doesn’t need the publicity — to just leave it alone.”
- from MTV
Warner Bros. president Alan Horn’s note to ‘Harry Potter’ Fans
Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to Summer 2009.
Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability.
The decision to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support.
If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between Half-Blood Prince and the much-anticipated first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which opens in November 2010.
So although we have to wait a little longer for Half-Blood Prince, the wait from that film until Deathly Hallows will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait.
Alan Horn
President, Chief Operating Officer
Warner Bros.
Harry Potter Scared by Horse
A naked Harry Potter has scared off the movie “Harry Potter.”
Warner Bros. has announced moving its sixth Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” from Nov. 21, 2008, to July 17, 2009. The reason? Officially, there is no reason, except that “a spot opened on the summer schedule.”
That’s not much of a reason. The real story? Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will be right in the middle of his sensational, highly publicized run on Broadway in the play, “Equus.” Radcliffe appears naked in the play, on stage, and has sex in it as well. That’s not the image Warner Bros. wants associated with bespectacled Harry, who remains chaste and virginal.
Indeed, posters for Equus are up all over New York, of Radcliffe’s naked torso superimposed on a horse’s head. This is not the sort of thing that’s taught at Hogwarts. For the movie to open on Nov. 21, Radcliffe would have to do publicity entailing answering questions about blinding horses and having sex with them vs. flying around and making potions.
- from Foxnews
Bolt takes Potter’s spot, as Harry visits Land of the Lost
Harry Potter is climbing on his broom and flying into next year.
Warner Bros. has decided to bump the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” from Nov. 21 to July 17, 2009. Shift puts it up against Universal’s bigscreen adaptation of “Land of the Lost,” starring Will Farrell.
In response, Disney has moved its animated feature “Bolt” up a week into the open November slot.
Move comes as Warner Bros. is in the midst of beefing up its summer schedule which up to now has been light on major tentpoles — a result attributed mostly to the writers strike which kept the studio from developing big-budget pics.
- from Variety