[Sharon86]

WOW! Nice pics! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Thanks for posting them, Alex. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Just Tracy]

Thanks for those pics [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I saw this bit of info regarding the Lego Knight Bus in a catalogue today - it looks awesome and I totally want one but Lego's pretty expensive - anyway, I scanned the pic for y'all:



Copy and paste for a slightly bigger version.

[Just Tracy]

Sorry to reply to myself. I read this at TLC from here

He's wild about 'Harry' By Bob Strauss Film Critic The first two "Harry Potter' films were put in the commercially reliable hands of blandly mainstream director Chris Columbus. But a distinctively artful filmmaker, Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron, was tapped to helm the third adaptation of J.K. Rowling's popular boy wizard chronicles, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.' So what did the director of the enchanting "A Little Princess' and the raunchy, politically astute "Y tu mama tambien' do differently from the "Home Alone' guy? "It's just different minds, with different virtues and different flaws,' Cuaron says graciously by phone from an editing room in London. "What I inherited was very well-crafted by Chris and the creative team, and let's not forget that most of the casting was done by Chris in his first two movies. I felt very comfortable in that world, and I hope I can add to that world and not just make a repetition of the first two. "The tone is different and maybe a little darker. But not just because of me, because of the book and because Harry is now 13 and perceives reality differently from when he was a kid.' Producer David Heyman chose Cuaron for the "Azkaban' job because the diametrically opposed "tambien' and "Princess' exemplified two qualities the third story required: keen understanding of the adolescent psyche and the capacity to evoke magic on the screen. "Harry has a bit more of the attitude of a 13-year-old,' Heyman notes. "He's growing up and, I think, the films are growing up. This third one is a little edgier, a little darker. It's funny, it's charming, it still has a lot of the qualities of the first two. But it's grown up with the kids. It explores internal fears as well as external fears. So it's not just monsters, it's inner demons.' Parents needn't worry though. Yet. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are still at a presexual stage in "Azkaban.' Still, Cuaron confirms that the special-effects super- production shares deep similarities with his down-and-dirty Mexican hit. "The themes are very similar,' the director says. " 'Y tu mama tambien' is about teenagers seeking their adult identities, and 'Azkaban' is about children looking for their identities as teenagers. I think that 'Harry Potter' films can be very, very fun rides, but there are a lot of other readings to the materials, so this theme could come through.' None of which means that Cuaron was out to turn "Azkaban' into an auteurist statement. Although he insists that he felt complete creative freedom while making the film, he also notes that his goal from the beginning was to make a "Harry Potter' movie rather than an Alfonso Cuaron film. "The biggest challenge was to honor the universe and just make it supercool,' he says. "In terms of one of these films, the special effects are becoming kind of second nature, it's nothing that you really think about. But the thing is, Harry Potter's is such an eloquent and well-crafted universe. You just hope to rise to the eloquence of the books.' In fact, the huge production investment and attendant high audience expectations were a boon, Cuaron says. After all, for all their glowing reputations, "tambien' was only successful in limited, foreign art-film terms, and "Princess' was a commercial flop. "It's the first time I've gone to work in a machinery that was perfectly well-oiled,' Cuaron explains. "There's a comfort about it because there's a lot of stuff you don't have to worry and stress about. Let me put it this way: When you're doing your little film, you're hoping that somebody will see it. Here, from the get-go, you know that millions and millions of people are going to see the film. So I don't have to look for my audience and can concentrate on what cool things I can show to these millions of people. It has a different rhythm and a different energy, also.' Heyman confirms that Cuaron got as deeply into big-time, high-tech moviemaking as he conceivably could. "Alfonso is so focused and knowledgeable, and he wants to do everything himself,' the producer says. "If he could, he would sew the buttons onto costumes and paint the backdrops himself. He is so detail-oriented and so specific about what he wants that it's both challenging and exciting. You have someone who has the entire film in his head, and that's a fantastic thing.' While thrilled with the big train set he got to play with, Cuaron admits that he's ready to do a two-guys-talking movie next. "I'm not talking about creatively, but definitely technically, I feel that I'm not scared about doing anything else that could look difficult and challenging,' the director says. "On the other hand, I've also discovered that I'm not the happiest of men when I'm doing a fully bluescreen job. But the pleasure of having all the toys is amazing.' In the end, Cuaron says, "Azkaban' will succeed or fail on the strength of its human elements. "I was very lucky, particularly with the young actors,' he notes. "I got them al dente, at the perfect boiling point. On the one hand, they'd done two films and they understood all the technical aspects and lingo of doing a film. On the other hand, they were 13, and they were taking themselves really seriously. So they were willing to explore more emotional territories. Probably, if something's going to be different about "Harry Potter 3,' it'll be more emotionally grounded, and that will be reflected in the style of performance.'

[- Alex -]

ow Tracy! than you so much [img]smilies/innocent.gif[/img] seriously, eveyr day I'm more histeric, if I don't see the PoA movie now I'll die [img]smilies/spineyes.gif[/img]

[Sallyna]

Those are fantastic articles!!!!!!
The pics are grat. Congrats people! We´re more willing to see it every day. [img]smilies/slinkie.gif[/img]

[rOsWeLlBABY]

thanks for the pics!

[fractured moonlight]

All info from The Leaky Cauldron.

Harry's Got a Brand New Jacket

Or, rather, four of them. Bloomsbury announced four new covers for Harry Potter one through four, all designed similar to the adult jacket of OotP. The adult hardback of OotP has reached 10 percent of total sales, the press release says. The books will be rereleased on July 8, 2004, the four-year anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The new Philosopher's Stone

The new Chamber of Secrets

The new Prisoner of Azkaban

The new Goblet of Fire


In addition, a celebratory edition of Prisoner of Azkaban will be released on May 3, one month before the movie's release. Also on May 3, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, the Harry Potter textbooks written by JKR which have raised more than 15.7 million pounds for Comic Relief to date, will be released "in a special school satchel design with a free Hogwarts School library bookplate." Comic Relief will receive 20 percent royalties on this satchel.

[Sushi]

It's been reported POA is less than 2 1/2 hours. Read here. I know most people won't think this is particularly good news but a long movie does'nt necessarily make it a good movie.

[* Marauder's Child *]

[start fangirly behavior]

Oh my bloody gawd!!!

I am soooooooo in love with Alfonso Cuaron!!!
It's not even funny!
I have been planning to stalk him, drug him and bear his children ever since I saw pics from the new movie and read an interview he gave.

But gah!
*pulls out her hair*

You have got to bloody read this!

Good god! I'm hyperventilating here!

[/end fangirly behavior]

[img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

Sorry, I can't help it when it comes to my Fonzie... [img]smilies/sigh.gif[/img]
(take that Just Tracy! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]
here's MY FAVORITE BIT:

After a morning rehearsing the takes finally start rolling, and after a few Alfonso Cuaron makes an executive decision. The director leans on the fenced side of his little coop and talks calmly to an assistant director. “We’re going to try it without the hug,” he says. “We might not have enough of Ron and Hermione’s fight to make it work.” He pouts slightly. “No sex in this movie.”

[img]smilies/look.gif[/img]
THAT would have got to be my favorite part of the new movie! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

cackles & runs away from the lurking Sidekicks,
- Sade [img]smilies/hippie.gif[/img]

[ 01-22-2004: Message edited Marauder's Child ]

[Sallyna]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Perfect! Perfect! [img]smilies/slinkie.gif[/img]

[Sushi]

My favourite bit was when their all talking about Crookshanks.

Q: How did you get on with the cat playing Crookshanks?

[Instant groans from the boys.]

EW: Oh, I love my cat! They are so rude to my cat!

RG: It’s the ugliest cat

DR: It looks like it’s been thrown against the wall at birth.

EW: Okay, so it’s got a flat nose.

DR: It doesn’t have a nose! It’s just 2D! It’s like the cartoon cat!

EW: It’s beautiful in its own ugly way.

DR: Notice the word UGLY.

HEHEHEHE!

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[* Bikini Kill *]

Can somebody please write down what the link said ??because it doesn't seem to be working [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] .

[Just Tracy]

Ooh, that set-report is awesome!

I seriously don't think there is any way I could possibly get more excited about POA!!

I need to see this movie now!

[* Marauder's Child *]

Originally posted by * Bikini Kill *: <STRONG>Can somebody please write down what the link said ??because it doesn't seem to be working [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] .</STRONG>

check it again sweetie, coz it seems that it's working for everyone else [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I'm afraid we can't post it here... coz it's pretty looooong...

Now, where was I?
Oh yes!

my favorite part was when they were talking about the essays that my love, Alfonso made them do:

• ]Q: What did Alfonso have you do to prepare for this film?
  
  DR: We all wrote essays actually.
  EW: Yes, we all wrote essays.
  DR: And both me and Rupert were put to shame by Emma’s sixteen page essay! [Laughter] No, no, it was fantastic! It really was fantastic…
  RG: I don’t think I ever actually handed mine in…
  [More laughter]
  DR: I wrote one on four sheets of paper, which I was so proud of, and then we see Emma’s written a three-volume novel! We were all slightly put to shame by that.

My golly! Aren't they just spot-on Harry, Hermione, & Ron?

It's actually quite freaky! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

[Sharon86]

Yeah! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]
I can totally see Emma getting all emotional with her essay. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

OH... this movie's gonna rock, I'm just feeling it. I really won't care too much if some things of the books are changed. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] After all, the book is what matters. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]