Captain America First Avenger
I know I’m in the minority of people who really like this movie. Ok, maybe not the minority because it opened to $65M but it’s one of the few movies Kel and I disagreed on substantially so
the Comic Con phenomenon
Kel and I have talked about Comic Con in the scheme of a marketing plan a lot. The most difficult aspect, I think, is understanding the Comic Con audience – because most executives in Hollywood aren’t geeks.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
It’s a luxury to make a movie like this because all of the emotional resonance and significance has been created in the prior seven films. The characters are already strong because they’ve
Harry Potter| Casting the Spell
The cast and filmmakers share a decade’s worth of memories from the set. “Rubbish.” That was producer David Heyman’s first reaction to the long-winded title of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that landed on his desk in 1997. Heyman was quickly bewitched by the story and brought the project to Warner Bros., where — under the Americanized title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) — it became the first chapter of the most lucrative movie series ever. It all started with a fateful meal… PART I – The Beginning DAVID HEYMAN: I first met Jo [Rowling] the day […]
The Story of Daniel Radcliffe
How an 11-year-old kid became The Boy Who Lived The first scene Daniel Radcliffe ever shot as Harry Potter was the very last scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was Oct. 2, 2000, in Goathland, England, a tiny village whose quaint railway stop doubled as Hogsmeade Station. For his first day wearing the boy wizard’s glasses and lightning-bolt scar, the 11-year-old Londoner had to board the Hogwarts Express alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Radcliffe was no stranger to movie sets. And yet his previous experience could not prepare him for the moment when he saw a […]
The Story of Emma Watson
From a sophisticated young girl to a sophisticated lady, what’s next for Watson in a post-Hermione world When Emma Watson auditioned to play Hermione Granger, it was clear the 9-year-old was just as capable and precocious as the future Mrs. Ron Weasley. “There was no question,” says director Chris Columbus, who cast her. “She was Hermione.” Today, the sophisticated little girl (who used to decorate her dressing room with stuffed animals) is a sophisticated young woman who quotes William Blake, stumps for fair trade, and is puzzling through her identity post-Hermione. “I have spent more of my life being someone […]
The Story of Rupert Grint
How the ginger who scored the role of Ron Weasley — and stole the world’s hearts — is spending his time post-Potter Red hair. Big family. By his own admission, not the biggest fan of school. These things describe not only Ron Weasley but also Rupert Grint, a young man seemingly born to play Harry Potter’s best mate. In fact, a year before he was cast in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Grint entered a Ron Weasley look-alike contest sponsored by a London newspaper. “I won, too,” he says proudly. “I had always felt a connection to Ron.” Perhaps […]
Harry Potter: The Movies
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Nov. 16, 2001Fun Fact: “The kids liked to get the makeup people to give them gashes,” Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid, told EW in 2001. “Daniel got one to give him a black eye, and he came in in the morning and the other ones said, ‘Oh my! What happened?”‘ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Nov. 15, 2002Fun Facts: Hugh Grant was in the running to play Lockhart, a part that ultimately went to Branagh. “Ken seems to disappear into any role,” Columbus told EW in 2002. “I didn’t want people to […]
Thank You, Harry Potter
After eight films, over $2 billion in box office, and countless moments of cinematic wonder, we reluctantly bid farewell to our favorite boy wizard Once upon a time, it was easy to be cynical about the Harry Potter movie franchise. When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was in production back in 2000, there were those in Hollywood who viewed Warner Bros.’ adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s novels as “easy money” — as if making blockbuster cinema out of a global kid-lit phenomenon were a simple magic trick. And there were those who believed that telling a single epic story in […]
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I almost don’t want to say anything nice about it, by virtue of it being Transformers. But there are good things in this movie that can’t entirely be ignored.