[NOTD] News Of The Day 28/04/07

Actors from the Harry Potter series have been busy lately; here are a few updates on the projects they have been working on.

Actress Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley) will be playing 'TV standards campaigner' Mary Whitehouse in a film for BBC Two later this year. Mrs. Walters said she was "...very excited to be playing Mary Whitehouse and to be looking at the time when she attacked the BBC and started to make her name." "Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story" will take place during the 1960s when the activist began complaining "...vehemently of the increasing "blasphemy, bad language, violence and indecency" she saw on television, and became the first general secretary of the National Viewers and Listeners Association in 1965."

Also set in the 60s, "December Boys," the new film staring Harry Potter actor Dan Radcliffe, has been given a US release date of September 14, 2007. Radcliffe's first non-Potter film since he started the series in 2001, "December Boys" follows four orphan teenagers during the 1960s living in a Catholic convent on the Australian outback. Variety reports, the Australian produced film has found Warner International Pictures along with Village Roadshow to distribute the film domestically. Radcliffe will be seen earlier this summer in the fifth film of the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on July 13.

The actor who played Mad-Eye-Moody in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Brendan Gleeson, is teaming up with his co-stars Clemence Posey (Fleur Delacour) and Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) from GoF on a film called "In Bruges," currently wrapping up filming this month in Belgium. Expect his action thriller at the end of the year. Mr. Gleeson is also set to take on the role of WW2 leader Winston Churchill in the film "Churchill at War" for HBO.

'Lightning' seems to have struck Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets director Chris Columbus who iscurrently in talks to direct "The Lightning Thief," the first novel in Rick Riordan's mythological "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" book series.

In what is sure to be the beginning of the next round of television promotions for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, E! Entertainment is running a new special called Hot Summer Sixteen 2007, that apparently contains a short bit of the new trailer. This program is set to air again tonight at 12:30am (EST) on the cable channel. Anyone with video, please send it in! Thanks Lizzie and Rose!

If you missed it earlier, two new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix trailers were released by Warner Brothers this past week. Via this news post you can find direct links to the various versions of the new domestic trailer, and the high res screencaps, here. Also, you can find the international trailer here, with the screencaps here. Both are available in our video galleries as well, including an iPod friendly versions. Finally, Electronic Arts released a trailer for the new video game of OotP, with the trailer here, and screencaps, here. Phew!

Actor Alan Rickman is due to appear tomorrow on NBC's Weekend Today program, along with actress Sigourney Weaver. They will be appearing to promote their film Snow Cake, and it is unknown if Mr. Rickman will mention his role in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Weekend Today airs on NBC; check your local listings for more.

Thanks MJ

UPDATE: On a related note, Mr. Rickman appeared last night after a screening at the Roger Ebert film festival in Champaign, Illinois, and was asked about his role as Professor Snape. In response to a question relating to another film called "Perfume", the News-Gazette has the following from a new interview with Alan Rickman:

Rickman, who was a graphic artist before he went into acting, also said he never expected to have a film career. "I never thought it would be part of my life. It was a bit of a shock." He is probably now best known to moviegoers, particularly younger ones, as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. A young woman in the audience asked Rickman what Professor Snape would have thought of Grenouille's "miracle potion."

"Who knows what Professor Snape thinks about anything," he replied.

thatz all the news for the day....thanx to TLC...

regards,

tejas

Thank you soooo much for the news.

Really looking forward to the movie December Boys... the book was fantastic though.... read it , sometime last year.... jus fell in love with the book! 😊