NEWS FOR THE DAY 26.05.06

OotP Casting News: Helena Bonham Carter New Actress for Bellatrix, More

There has been a major casting change for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The role of Bellatrix Lestrange has been recast and Helena Bonham Carter(Mrs. Bucket, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) will now play the role of the Death Eater who causes such havoc at the Ministry of Magic. Previouslywe reportedthat Helen McCrory was to play the part, but due to the her pregnancy, she was unable to continue filming, and the part was recast. Newsround is also reportingthe part of Professor Grubby-Plank has gone to actressApple Brook. Bane, the Centaur is to be played by actor Jason Piper. Finally there is news about the casting for the roles of the Marauders for the Pensieve scene, with James Walter to be young Sirius, James Utechin as Lupin, and Alec Hopkins (see photo here) as a young Snape.

An Academy Award Nominee for her role in The Wings of the Dove, actress Helena Bonham Carter is well known for her terrific work in films such as A Room with a View which co-starred Dame Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonagall), Frankenstein, with Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart) and Howards End, where she co-starred with Emma Thompson (Prof. Trelawney) and Sir Anthony Hopkins. She also recently voiced a part in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, along with Ralph Fiennes, who plays Lord Voldemort.

[quote=tejas]

Don't you think she's a bit too beautifull to play sum one like Bella

[/quote]

Calder of Bloomsbury: Book Seven "Likely" in 2007

Wire reports are now online of an interview with Liz Calder, Director of publishing at Bloomsbury, where she comments on JKR and the possibily of Book Seven coming next year. She does NOT say that a 2007 release is certain, but that she "hopes," and thinks it is "likely." J.K. Rowling has not yet said when the book would be released, and the last she posted on her website, she said she is still writing the novel. Here is the full quotage fromDaily India:

Calder said Rowling would write only one more book in the series and no more.

'One more 'Harry Potter' only but she (Rowling) said from the beginning that she would write seven. So she would not write another one after this. But Rowling would write other books for us,' said Liz.

'The next 'Harry Potter' book is likely to come out in 2007. I hope so.

Scientists Attempting to Make Invisibility Cloak Magic a Reality

Scientists are working on a way to make Harry's Invisibility Cloak a reality for all of us. CNN is reportingthat researchers in England and the US are developing a blue print for making a cloak like the one Harry inherited from James, and have issued a call for help with obtaining the materials they need. Scientists believe they can produce the cloak, but need materials that "steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an object, rendering it as invisible as something tucked into a hole in space."

A cloak made of those materials, with a structure designed down to the submicroscopic scale, would neither reflect light nor cast a shadow.

Instead, like a river streaming around a smooth boulder, light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation would strike the cloak and simply flow around it, continuing on as if it never bumped up against an obstacle. That would give an onlooker the apparent ability to peer right through the cloak, with everything tucked inside concealed from view.

"Yes, you could actually make someone invisible as long as someone wears a cloak made of this material," said Patanjali Parimi, a Northeastern University physicist and design engineer at Chelton Microwave Corp.

The article continues on and says that no cloak yet exists, but they believe early versions could be 18 months away. This cloak would also not be as flexible as Harry's cloak either, with one scientist noting: "To be realistic, it's going to be fairly thick. Cloak is a misnomer. 'Shield' might be more appropriate." Thanks to all the great readers who emailed!