J.K. Rowling announces Harry Potter spin-off movie series

LONDON - Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is to make her screenwriting debut by penning a series of spin-off films set in the magical world of the British boy wizard, she announced on Thursday, putting her in line for another huge payday.

The first film will be called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and will be based on a textbook of the same name used by Harry and his classmates at their school Hogwarts, Rowling said on her Facebook page.

Set in New York and featuring magical zoologist Newt Scamander -- the author of Harry's textbook -- it will be set 70 years before the events of the core Potter novels.

The Warner Bros. film comes two years after the final movie in the eight-part series spawned by her phenomenally successful novels.

"I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it," the 48-year-old Rowling said.

She pitched the idea to Warner Bros. herself after the US studio approached her about making "Fantastic Beasts" into a film.

"I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of 'Fantastic Beasts', realized by another writer was difficult," she wrote.

"Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt.

"As hardcore Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood."

Rowling added: "Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.

"The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt's story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry's gets under way."

Rowling, who has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, has been keeping busy since the final novel in the series was published in 2007.

She published her first novel for adults, "The Casual Vacancy", last year to mixed reviews.

In July, she was unmasked as the real author of critically acclaimed detective novel "The Cuckoo's Calling", published under the nom de plume Robert Galbraith.

With an estimated fortune of £560 million ($885 million, 666 million euros) the former single mother is the 156th richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Warner Bros. said the new film would spawn video games and other products including links to the Pottermore website as part of an "expanded creative partnership" with Rowling.

"We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses," said Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

"She is an extraordinary writer, who ignited a reading revolution around the world, which then became an unprecedented film phenomenon.

"We know that audiences will be as excited as we are to see what her brilliant and boundless imagination conjures up for us."

Warner Bros. will also act as worldwide distributor for the upcoming television miniseries adaptation of "The Casual Vacancy", which begins production in 2014, it said.

source: interaksyon.com

Harry who? Daniel Radcliffe goes from boy wizard to gay beat poet

PARK CITY, Utah – Daniel Radcliffe casts off boy wizard Harry Potter to play the voice of the 1950s Beat Generation in new movie “Kill Your Darlings” — a seductive tale of friendship, gay love and murder.

Radcliffe, 23, plays poet Allen Ginsberg aged 17 — a naive and closeted teen who struggles to find his place in the world years before the sexual and cultural liberation of the 1960s.

As Ginsberg enters Columbia University in New York, his encounters with fellow mavericks Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) bring about a new vision – the founding of the Beat Generation.

Indie film “Kill Your Darlings” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to critical praise this week and was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics for wider distribution later this year.

After 10 years and eight “Harry Potter” films, Radcliffe is also looking for a new place as an actor, appearing on stage in 2007 in London and New York in the drama “Equus,” for which he appeared fully nude, and musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in 2011.

“Kill Your Darlings” sees Radcliffe pushing boundaries again as Ginsberg comes of age, including a raunchy sex scene with a man.

“Everybody wants to have as diverse a body of work as they can possibly have, and that’s what keeps people interested in your career,” Radcliffe told Reuters.

“There’s a lot to live up to in a sense that you’re playing someone so well known, and revered by so many people, but we’re not making a reverential film about him in any way,” he added of his role as Ginsberg.

Hollywood entertainment publication Variety said Radcliffe gives a performance “to banish any semblance of Harry Potter from the screen.”

The Hollywood Reporter review noted a scene in which Ginsberg “decisively embraces his sexuality (that) likely will be viewed as a major step for the actor toward distancing himself from the Harry Potter persona.”

Radcliffe joins a long line of actors who have portrayed Ginsberg on film, including Ron Livingstone in 2000′s “Beat” and James Franco in 2010′s “Howl.”

“I purposely stayed away from other portrayals of (Ginsberg) because I find I am a terrible mimic, so I didn’t want to end up doing an impression of James Franco doing Allen Ginsberg,” the young actor said.

Radcliffe said that while the film shows the four men who went on to create a literary and cultural revolution in America, the story is not solely about the birth of the Beats.

“It’s about showing how much fun they had and how they sparked off each other, and it’s that energy and vitality that launched the Beats,” Radcliffe said.

Director John Krokidas said Ginsberg’s story was central to the film because he had the biggest personal journey.

“At the beginning of the film he’s very much the dutiful son … but he never shows who he is inside, because he’s taking care of everyone else,” Krokidas told Reuters.

“By the end of the film, he becomes the rebel, he self-proclaims himself as a poet and finds his own voice.”

source: interaksyon.com

Daniel Radcliffe Parties With Dublin Minor Football Team

Now this is the way to celebrate a big win.

Shortly after winning the All-Ireland football championship Sunday, the Dublin Minors found themselves in the company of one pretty big star while they were partying the night away post-event.

So, how exactly did Daniel Radcliffe end up hanging out with the athletes until the wee hours of the morning at a house party?




The Harry Potter star, who is in Ireland filming The F Word, struck up a conversation with three of the teammates on Grafton Street at 3 a.m. on Monday, one player told the Belfast Telegraph.

"We thought he was a fan from England who had come over for the game," Dublin defender Conor Mulally said. "He was small enough and wearing a cap for a disguise, so we just didn't recognize him at first. Then it suddenly hit us who it was—Daniel Radcliffe was standing beside us. We kept talking for ages and he asked for the Irish experience."

"He was stone cold sober, being an absolute gent about it," Mulally said in a radio interview with FM104.



After their convo, Radcliffe and the players took off on foot to a house in Dundrum for some late night/early morning festivities. After a few passersby noticed Radcliffe—the athletes brushed it off by joking that their new mate just looked like the A-lister—the group decided to cab it the rest of the way.

"He realized he didn't have any money on him…and we had to pay for his taxi," Mulally continued. "We ran up to the door to tell [the other teammates] he was there and you should've seen the look on their faces."

Radcliffe, who said he had to be back on set at 8 a.m., stayed at the house for about "an hour and a half." And when it was time to call it a night? The players had pony up cab fare again, but it sounds like the actor will have a chance to pay his new friends back.



"He said he was really enjoying Dublin and would like to go out with us again. Then he asked for all of our numbers."

The footballer described Radcliffe as "a really nice lad" and jokingly agreed when the radio hosts called the actor the team's "celebrity lucky mascot."

Talk about a magical night!

source: eonline.com