Difficult times lie ahead for Harry Potter.
Beset by nightmares that leave his scar hurting more than usual, Harry (DANIEL RADCLIFFE) is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup with his friends Ron (RUPERT GRINT) and Hermione (EMMA WATSON). Mark, the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It’s conjured by his followers, the Death Eaters, who
But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite – the Dark haven’t dared to appear in public since Voldemort (RALPH FIENNES) was last seen thirteen years ago – the night he murdered Harry’s parents.
Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Professor Dumbledore (MICHAEL GAMBON) can protect him. But things are going to be a little different this year.
Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community’s magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three largest and most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup.
The Hogwarts students watch in awe as the elegant girls of the Beauxbatons Academy and the dark and brooding boys of Durmstrang Institute fill the Great Hall, breathlessly awaiting the selection of their champions.
Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch (ROGER LLOYD PACK) and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony fraught with anticipation as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames, the cup names Durmstrang’s Quidditch superstar Victor Krum (STANISLAV IANEVSKI), followed by Beauxbatons’ exquisite Fleur Delacour (CLÉMENCE POÉSY) and finally, Hogwarts’ popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory (ROBERT PATTINSON). But then, inexplicably, the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter.
At just 14 years old, Harry is three years too young to enter the grueling competition. He insists that he didn’t put his name in the Goblet and that he really doesn’t want to compete. But the Goblet’s decision is binding, and compete he must.
Suspicion and jealousy abound as muckraking journalist Rita Skeeter (MIRANDA RICHARDSON) fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash with her outrageous gossip columns. Even Ron begins to believe his “fame seeking” friend somehow tricked the cup into selecting him.
Suspecting that whoever did enter Harry’s name in the Tournament deliberately wants to put him in grave danger, Dumbledore asks Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody (BRENDAN GLEESON), the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to keep his highly perceptive and magical eye trained on the teenage wizard.
Harry prepares for the challenging Triwizard tasks – evading a fire-breathing dragon, diving into the depths of a great lake and navigating a maze with a life of its own. But nothing is more daunting than the most terrifying challenge of them all – finding a date for the Yule Ball.
For Harry, dealing with dragons, merpeople and grindylows is a walk in the park compared to asking the lovely Cho Chang (KATIE LEUNG) to the Yule Ball. And if Ron weren’t so distracted, perhaps he would acknowledge a change in his feelings for Hermione.
Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. Scared and still haunted by dreams of Voldemort, Harry turns to Dumbledore. But even the venerable Headmaster admits that there are no longer any easy answers.
As Harry and the other champions battle through their last task and the advancing tendrils of the ominous maze, someone or something is keeping a watchful eye. Victory is in sight, but as they edge closer to the Triwizard Cup, all is not as it seems – and Harry soon finds himself hurtling head-first toward an inevitable encounter with true evil...
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Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films production of a Mike Newell film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, starring DANIEL RADCLIFFE, RUPERT GRINT, EMMA WATSON, ROBBIE COLTRANE, RALPH FIENNES, MICHAEL GAMBON,
BRENDAN GLEESON, JASON ISAACS, GARY OLDMAN, ALAN RICKMAN, MAGGIE SMITH and TIMOTHY SPALL.
Directed by MIKE NEWELL, the film is produced by DAVID HEYMAN from a screenplay by STEVE KLOVES, based on the novel by J.K. ROWLING. The executive producers are DAVID BARRON and TANYA SEGHATCHIAN. The director of photography is ROGER PRATT, BSC; the production designer is STUART CRAIG; the editor is MICK AUDSLEY; the co-producer is PETER MacDONALD; the costume designer is JANY TEMIME; and the music is by PATRICK DOYLE.
This film has been rated “PG-13” by the MPAA for “sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.”
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be released on November 18, 2005 by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. www.harrypotter.com
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YEAR FOUR: CHAMPIONS & CHALLENGES
The most exhilarating and difficult times of his life await Harry Potter as he returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his fourth year of study in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular Harry Potter novel series.
Not only must Harry compete in a dangerous international tournament that pits him against his older and more experienced peers, but he will also be forced to confront his nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort, who is determined to return to power – and finish Harry off once and for all. This harrowing news pales only in comparison to Harry’s genuine anxiety over having to find a date for Hogwarts’ Yule Ball.
The school year will also bring significant changes for Harry’s best friends Ron and Hermione, who may finally acknowledge a change in their feelings for each other. Meanwhile, as the teens deal with the onset of hormonal angst, romance blossoms among the adults too – when sparks fly between Harry’s trusted advisor Hagrid and Madame Maxime, the statuesque headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy.
“This is one of the most challenging of all the films,” notes David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter film series. “We needed someone who could direct a dark and suspenseful thriller, drive exhilarating action sequences and yet at the same time, be intuitive and sensitive to the comic angst of being a teenager. You’ve only got to look at films as diverse as Dance with a Stranger, Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings and a Funeral to appreciate that there are very few directors as skilled and multi-talented as Mike Newell.”
“For me, the essence of this story is a thriller,” Newell says. “There are wonderful set pieces, from the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament to the humor and heartbreak of the Yule Ball, but driving the story is this marvelous thriller in which something truly evil is out to get Harry – and only he has the power to do something about it.”
Portending the danger to come, as the story begins, Harry is beset by an eerie nightmare that leaves his notorious lightning bolt scar searing with pain. His pain turns to bone-chilling dread at the Quidditch World Cup, where Lord Voldemort’s fearsome followers, the Death Eaters, scorch the night sky with the wicked wizard’s Dark Mark, publicly heralding their leader for the first time since his disappearance thirteen years ago.
Not even Hogwarts’ venerable Headmaster Dumbledore is certain what to make of these mysterious events. In an effort to establish ties between the three largest European schools of wizardry, Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, a thrilling competition that welcomes students and teachers from two other European wizarding schools to live and study at Hogwarts for the school year.
“Dumbledore is trying to prepare the wizarding world for the dark times ahead,” Heyman observes. “His gesture also underscores a theme of the film, which is learning to get along with people who are different from you. If they’re good, it doesn’t matter where they’re from.”
Due to the life-threatening risks inherent in the Triwizard competition, Barty Crouch, the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, decrees that no student under the age of 17 may enter – precluding 14 year old Harry and his friends from participating. But when the magical Goblet of Fire selects one champion from each of the three wizarding schools to compete in the Tournament, it stuns everyone by naming a fourth: Harry Potter.
Despite Harry’s protests, the Goblet’s decision is binding, and he has no choice but to compete in the grueling Tournament against older students with far superior wizarding skills.
“What I really like about Harry is that he’s not a hero in the classic sense, a brave all-conquering Superman,” says Daniel Radcliffe, who watched thrillers like North by Northwest at Newell’s suggestion in preparation for filming. “Harry’s vulnerable. He’s scared. Even though he’s helped so many people, I think he’s always yearned to leave his past behind him and let the ‘hero’ thing end. But when his name comes out of the Goblet, he’s instantly back in the limelight again. Not only does he have to cope with criticism from everyone, he also knows he didn’t put his name in the Goblet – so someone else must have.”
When Harry turns to his trusted mentor for guidance and protection, he is surprised to discover that Dumbledore himself is struggling to uncover the meaning of these mysterious events. “Harry’s world is completely shaken,” says Radcliffe. “For the first time, Harry sees Dumbledore as an old man who is no longer at the height of his abilities, and it’s very unsettling. Something or someone has infiltrated Hogwarts and is trying to get to him, but Dumbledore doesn’t know what it is, where it’s coming from or how to stop it.”
“Dumbledore is no longer in control and he’s frightened,” says Michael Gambon, who reprises his role as the highly respected Headmaster in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. “He carries tremendous weight on his shoulders, ensuring the safety and well-being of the students, and when evil penetrates Hogwarts, he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
Suspecting that whoever put Harry’s name in the Goblet didn’t intend for him to win the Tournament, Dumbledore asks Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Hogwarts’ eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, to keep his highly perceptive eye trained on the teenage wizard until they discover the true meaning of these ominous events.
Moody is a legendary Auror, or dark wizard catcher, credited with filling half the cells at Azkaban prison with Voldemort’s followers. But years of fighting evil on the front lines have taken their toll. Battle scarred and verging on paranoid, Moody relies on his magical, all-seeing blue eye to help him thwart the evil he sees lurking in every shadow.
“Moody is a gunslinger with a wand,” says Brendan Gleeson, the versatile actor known for his powerful performances in films such as Braveheart, Cold Mountain, Troy and The Gangs of New York. “He’s someone who has chased the demons away from goodness to the
extent that he’s gotten quite warped by it. One of the things Mike Newell suggested when we first discussed the character was that Moody’s great wounds have damaged him greatly. It’s a very interesting arc to play with this character, who comes into Hogwarts as death warmed over and grows into someone the kids learn to trust.”
There is a method to Moody’s madness, though his irreverent brand of tough love often terrifies his students and draws criticism from his peers. “What appealed to me about the character,” says Gleeson thoughtfully, “is that he reminds me of some of my old teachers. He has no time for book learning or *****-footing about. He wants to show these young men and women what they’re up against – evil exists and they better know what they’re getting themselves into. He’s a one-man initiation ceremony, a walking rite-of-passage. He doesn’t believe in treading lightly with Harry or the other students because that won’t prepare them for the real world.”
“Moody is a complex, challenging character,” Heyman observes. “Brendan brought a great balance of ferociousness and humor to the role that makes him both formidable and lovable.”
“You seldom find an actor of Brendan’s depth and calibre,” adds Newell, who previously worked with Gleeson on the 1992 family adventure Into the West. “Perhaps it’s true of all Irishmen, but Brendan has an elemental quality to him that is part savage and part wide-eyed innocent, which suited him well in playing this multifaceted character.”
Moody’s piercing blue mechanical eye was created for the production by creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and visual effects supervisor Jimmy Mitchell. “The eye became a character in itself,” Newell says, “although to reveal exactly how we created it would spoil the illusion for audiences.”
Costume designer Jany Temime was inspired by spaghetti westerns when she created Moody’s signature black coat, a battered hunk of leather and buckles that appears as world-weary as its owner. “Moody is a warrior. The man has no house, no home. He literally lives in his coat,” Temime surmises. “We had a team of people who spent a week aging and distressing the coat to give it a lifetime’s worth of wear.”
As Moody attempts to protect Harry from the mysterious forces threatening his life, the teenager must contend with a hostile force of a different kind: muckraking reporter Rita Skeeter. As unscrupulous as she is intense, Skeeter will stop at nothing and stoop to anything for her outrageous gossip columns.
“Rita writes what people want to hear or what she thinks will keep them reading,” says internationally acclaimed actress Miranda Richardson, whose diverse film credits include The Hours, Sleepy Hollow, Enchanted April and Mike Newell’s hit 1985 thriller Dance With a Stranger. “She’ll do whatever it takes to get the story she’s already pre-written in her head. Whenever the danger is heightened, she gets more excited. The idea of imminent death or potential injury makes great press. And that really makes her tick.”
“Rita is calculating and tough, but she oozes charm – that’s how she gets the scoop,” Newell explains. “Miranda is such a gifted actress. She has a wonderful sense of comic timing, and at the same time she’s able to portray a delicious menace.”
Skeeter fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash that erupts in the wake of his dubious selection for the Triwizard Tournament, and delves deeply into his personal life – and Hermione’s. “She’s absolutely horrible!” Emma Watson exclaims. “Rita seems to have it in for Hermione. She highlights the insecurities Hermione harbors about herself, like being a bookworm or the teacher’s pet, much as Professor Trelawney did in the third film.”
It’s no surprise that the flamboyant journalist’s fashion sense is as dazzlingly outlandish as she is. “Rita feels it’s as much her duty to dress for the occasion as it is to tell the truth – as she sees it – for her readership,” says Richardson. “As far as she’s concerned, she’s the only one who is well-dressed.”
“I was inspired by the 1980s,” Jany Temime says of her desgin for Rita Skeeter’s wardrobe. “Strong colors, very angular and specific to the story she’s investigating. For example, when the Triwizard contestants face their first challenge with the dragons, she’s dressed in a snakeskin kind of material with scales. When she attends the diving challenge, it’s no accident that her outfit is a poisonous, sickening green.”
Harry does his best not to be distracted by Moody’s unorthodox manner or Rita Skeeter’s insidious gossip, as he fears an encounter with Lord Voldemort – the dark wizard who murdered his parents – is inevitable. “You-Know-Who,” as he is tremulously referred to by citizens of the wizarding world, is brutal, fiendish and without remorse. Harry is the only person ever to survive the Dark Lord’s killing curse – an astonishing feat that left him with emotional wounds far worse than the scar emblazoned on his forehead.
“The term ‘enemies’ doesn’t do their relationship justice,” Radcliffe says. “Harry hates Voldemort with every fiber of his being. He wants to murder him for killing his parents. At the same time, he is also absolutely terrified of him.”
“It’s quite hard to play someone who is is the essence of evil,” muses Ralph Fiennes, whose career has encompassed a vast range of heroic, romantic and villainous characters in films such as The Constant Gardener, Red Dragon, Maid in Manhattan, The English Patient and his Oscar-nominated turn in Schindler’s List. “In my discussions with Mike about the character, we talked about giving Voldemort human qualities, because to just play ‘evil’ is really impossible. ‘Evil’ is often conveyed through gnashing of teeth and a lot of spit. I wanted my portrayal of Voldemort to be deeply, truly evil. That comes from fear, frustration and unhappiness. Voldemort was a rejected child. He had a very unhappy childhood, and that’s where his anger, jealousy and hatred began to fester.”
“Voldemort is someone who knows no love,” Heyman notes. “He thinks of love as a flaw. He is the embodiment of pure evil. Someone who is powerful and attractive. Ralph is an actor of great depth, and he captures the complexity of Voldemort’s charisma and darkness brilliantly.”
Enraged that the legend of Harry Potter – the boy who lived – has eclipsed his own, Voldemort has spent the last thirteen years regaining the powers he lost on the fateful night that Harry’s parents died. With help from his sniveling servant Wormtail, the Dark Lord triumphanty returns to human form to destroy Harry once and for all.
“Mike was very keen to explore Voldemort’s unexpected mood swings, his explosive rage,” Fiennes says. “There are moments when anger spits out of him at Harry and other moments when he can be almost pleasant. You never quite know what he’s going to do.
“People are incredibly scary when they’re charming but you suspect they might suddenly do something very violent,” he continues. “If you sit across the table from someone who offers you a glass of wine and a present, but you know that he stabbed his wife to death, it’s quite unnerving.”
“Ralph is really frightening as Voldemort,” Newell confirms. “(You can see he’s mad, gone somewhere else in his eyes.) I’m nailed to the floor when he’s onscreen in this film.”
“It was a very intense experience,” Radcliffe says of filming his scenes with Fiennes. “I learned from watching him, the way he used his body and his hands, especially when Voldemort first regains his human form. It’s fantastic.”
“Daniel had to put up with a lot from me,” Fiennes says with a chuckle. “Here’s a boy who’s tied up with a man pushing his finger into the wound on his head, laughing and
delighting in the pain he’s causing. He had to act as though he was in agony and terror without having many words to say. I was full of admiration for him.”
Much consideration was given to the design of Voldemort’s look, as it’s the Dark Lord’s first appearance in full human form in the Harry Potter film series. “When Ralph joined the cast, David Heyman said to me, You’re gonna mess about with his face, aren’t you?” Newell recalls. “I said No, no. Ralph can play evil. He’ll dredge it up from the inside of his psyche. Then I went home over the weekend and thought, I really should mess about with his face.”
“My nieces and nephews were dying to come to the set and see Uncle Ralph as Voldemort,” Fiennes recalls, “but when they arrived they didn’t recognize me!”
Creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and his team created the key concepts for Voldemort’s makeup, in which minimal prosthetics and transfers were used to cast a sickly, transluscent pallor to Fiennes’ skin and suggest a snarl of veins running down his skull, arms and hands.
“The makeup is quite simple and strong in its design,” notes Fiennes, whose head, arms and chest were shaved as part of the process. “I wanted to wear as little makeup as possible, to be free to move. The idea is that Voldemort has just gotten this new skin. He’s new in this body, so he’s testing it, relishing the power of it.”
A light silk fabric was used to create Voldemort’s black flowing shroud, giving him the appearance of a “floating reptile,” as Fiennes describes his wardrobe. “When you see Voldemort in full figure, it’s as if he’s wearing this black, floating skin. And no shoes. It didn’t feel right that he would have shoes on. He’s just come out of a cauldron.”
“We wanted a costume that had a simplicity about it, something that isn’t as heavy as those worn by the professors,” adds Heyman. “It’s quite spare, not overly ornate, because he is anti-aesthetic. The Death Eaters may enjoy the jewels and finery, but not Voldemort.”
In post-production, the visual effects team digitally re-shaped Fiennes’ nose, flattening it and adding slits to evoke a serpentine look that underscores Voldemort’s Slytherin origins. “It’s really creepy,” Heyman says of Fiennes’ digital transformation, “but in a very subtle, disquieting way.”
A competition so dangerous it hasn’t been staged for over 100 years, the Triwizard Tournament is one of the wizarding community’s most revered traditions. Three champions – one from each of the largest European wizarding schools – are selected by the enchanted Goblet of Fire to compete for the glory of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup. Once chosen by the Goblet, there is no turning back.
The champions may rely soley on their wits and their wands to navigate three perilous phases of the Tournament. The successful completion of each task yields clues to the next, without which a champion has no hope of surviving – let alone winning – the competition.
Harry Potter and his fellow students watch in awe as their peers teem through the Hogwarts halls in advance of the Triwizard Tournament: the graceful and sophisticated girls from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, led by the majestic Madame Maxime, and the stoic young men of Durmstrang Institute, headed by the enigmatic Igor Karkaroff.
The Goblet of Fire’s first selection is the champion to represent Durmstrang: Bulgarian Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum, a handsome and stoic teen-of-few-words. An exhaustive casting search for a Bulgarian actor with the right look and level of athletic ability led the filmmakers to newcomer Stanislav Ianevski.
“Viktor Krum is the best Quidditch Seeker in the world, and he’s worshipped by fans and other players,” says Ianevski, who compares Krum to England’s beloved Manchester United football star Wayne Rooney.
“Stan doesn’t just look the part, broodingly dark and handsome and athletic, but he can really act,” Newell says of Ianevski, who had never acted before being cast as Krum.
To represent Beauxbatons Academy, the Goblet chooses the lovely and beguiling Fleur Delacour, played by French actress Clémence Poésy (Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, Bienvenue chez les Rozes). “Fleur is very chic and graceful, but she’s also quite serious,” Poésy comments.
“Clémence typifies French poise and dignity,” says Newell, “but at the same time she is strong and determined, like Fleur.”
“Clémence is also a very gifted actress,” Heyman elaborates. “She was able to embody the dignified inner strength and fearlessness necessary to be the Beauxbatons Triwizard champion.”
The Hogwarts students are unanimous in their excitement when the Goblet names Hufflepuff golden boy Cedric Diggory as the third Triwizard champion. “Cedric exemplifies all that you would expect the Hogwarts champion to be,” Newell says. “Robert Pattinson was born to play the role; he’s quintessentially English with chiselled public school boy good looks.”
“Cedric is competetive, but he’s also a nice guy who plays fair and sticks to the rules,” says Pattinson (The Ring).
“He’s the archetypal hero who gets the girl – and in this case, my girl!” adds Radcliffe. “But Cedric and Harry ultimately bond through mutual respect and a combined sense of fair play.”
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STAGING THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
Production on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire commenced in late Spring 2004 at Leavesden Studios, Herfordshire, England. After filming at Leavesden and locations including Oxford University, Virginia Water in Surrey, Ashridge in Hertfordshire and Glen Nevis in Scotland, production wrapped in March 2005.
Perhaps the greatest challenge of the production was bringing to life the three thrilling and treacherous phases, or “tasks,” of the Triwizard Tournament.
The first task pits each champion against a different breed of dragon. The competitors must recover a golden egg nesting under their gigantic reptile’s protection. As fate would have it, Harry draws the most fearsome dragon of all – the Hungarian Horntail.
This exhilarating sequence begins in an arena carved into the rocky Scottish landscape. The sprawling set, which evokes the look of a quarry crossed with a medieval bullring, was built in two parts at Leavesden Studios.
“It was one of the biggest sets we’ve ever built for any of the films, but when you’re battling a dragon you need space,” notes production designer Stuart Craig, a three-time
Academy Award winner (The Englilsh Patient, Dangerous Liaisons, Gandhi) who received an Oscar nomination for his work on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. “Also, we didn’t just confine the chase to arena. We decided to make full use of the magnificent backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.”
“We’ve taken the dragon chase well beyond the book,” visual effects supervisor Jimmy Mitchell elaborates. “We really show Harry’s prowess on a broom as the Horntail chases him out of the arena and up through mountains, viaducts and rooftops, and all across the school grounds.”
Craig and Mitchell collaborated on the design of the ferocious Horntail, an ill-tempered creature bedecked with a spiked hide. “Stuart and I discussed the design of the Horntail at length,” Mitchell says. “Should it be a quadraped or a biped with wings? Because dragons are so closely associated with dinosaurs, we decided to give it a raptor-like physique with bat wings. Then we aged it and tore up its wings to make it look like a creature that had lived for a great number of years.”
As Mitchell and his team were creating the computer generated Horntail, special effects supervisor John Richardson and creature effects & makeup supervisor Nick Dudman designed and built a “practical dragon” – a 40 foot long animatronic beast equipped with a fully operational flamethrower.
“The dragon operates through a combination of animatronics and people manuevering it manually under the wings,” Dudman says of the creature, which appears in the scene where Hagrid leads Harry to the forest one night before the tournament to warn him about the dragons. “The movement is computerized for safety, as the flamethrower has a range of 30 feet. At that distance, just one minute jolt could barbeque half the stunt team!”
“We carried out a lot of tests with the flamethrower,” Richardson reports. “We had so many considerations, not least of which was ensuring the safety of everyone on set. For example, you have to be aware of a backdraft, as flame can attack you from any angle.”
Harry’s epic battle with the Horntail required Daniel Radcliffe to be hurled around and dangled off of rooftops as his alter ego is pursued by the relentless reptile. “The dragon battle was very physical and even terrifying at times!” Radcliffe says. “When we were doing the stunt where Harry falls down the roof, I found myself literally dangled by my ankles, hanging upside down 40 feet in the air. Then I was dropped suddenly and hurtled head first
toward the ground. I knew it was safe because our stunt team is so brilliant. But I did feel my life flashing before my eyes for a second!”
The champions face even greater danger in the second task, which demands they locate and rescue a loved one from the watery recesses of the Black Lake. Even more daunting, they have only one hour to complete the challenge – lest, Harry fears, their nearest and dearest will become permanent residents of the loch’s murky depths.
“The Black Lake is filled with plant life, rocks and creatures you imagine could exist for hundreds of years deep in a Scottish loch without being discovered or disturbed,” says Stuart Craig of his design for the mythical underwater environment.
The filmmakers were determined that the characters appear to be swimming in a deep and dense river, as opposed to the clear blue water of a typical underwater filming tank. “We faced one of our greatest challenges with the underwater sequence,” Heyman relates. “Filming in an actual loch would have been too cold and impractical. We looked into doing a process called ‘dry for wet,’ where you suspend an actor and blow wind on them to give the illusion that the they are underwater, but the hair didn’t undulate convincingly.”
Over the course of three months, the production constructed what became one of the largest underwater filming tanks in Europe, measuring 20 feet deep by 60 feet square, to accommodate the actors, the stunt and diving teams, the camera crew, the blue screen and camera equipment. “Every single drop of water was filtered every 1 ½ hours, so it was probably purer than bottled water!” Richardson says of the tank’s sophisticated purification system.
Richardson’s team constructed a special viewing gallery which separated 2nd unit director Peter Macdonald and the crew from the actors, the dive team and the underwater camera unit by two and a half inches of reinforced glass. Instruction was relayed to the swimmers by 2nd unit 1st assistant director Jamie Christopher via a sophisticated speaker system. A “dry room” was also built to enable Radcliffe and his co-stars to remove their breathing apparatus for short periods of time without having to surface and risk problems with ear pressure.
During the construction of the tank system, Radcliffe and his fellow actors took scuba diving training. “I’m not a strong swimmer, but thankfully I found swimming underwater relatively easy,” reports Radcliffe, who started his six months of training in a swimming pool and progressed to larger pools until he was ready for filming in the massive
tank. “The hardest thing was combining the technical side of diving with acting. I had to remember that Harry has gills, so he’s not actually breathing, so I had to be very careful not to let out any air bubbles. I couldn’t see anything around me, and all I could hear was Jamie’s disembodied voice. It was quite a bizarre experience, but I absolutely loved it.”
Stunt co-ordinator Greg Powell was responsible for overseeing the training and safety of Radcliffe and the other actors, who were in turn supported by four divers each and the dive master. “Not only did Daniel have to swim, act, speak lines and respond to creatures that would be added by a computer in post-production,” Powell reminds, “but he had to perform with webbed hands and feet. He accomplished all of this while 20 feet under water in total darkness – before he ran out of air and gave the signal for one of the stunt team to swim in and give him back his oxygen mask. It really was an incredible achievement.”
In total, Radcliffe spent 41 hours and 38 minutes under water over a three week period of filming, with one dive alone lasting 75 minutes, “which was quite cool!” he enthuses.
Creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and his team were responsible for tethering likenesses of Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang and Fleur’s younger sister Gabrielle Delacour to the loch’s ruins assembled at the bottom of the tank, where Harry struggles to free his friends from their bonds. Dudman explains the meticulous process: “We made body casts of each actor, punched in each hair individually and added skin color layer by layer. We needed to make them match the person perfectly as well as move in a way that made them look peaceful or asleep. We used floatation tanks and pumped water into rams in order to keep them bouyant.”
“All credit for directing the underwater scenes must go to our second unit director Peter Macdonald,” Newell praises. “Without Peter, we couldn’t have made this film. His patience and skill in directing this huge sequence, which literally took weeks, is beyond compare.”
Visual effects supervisor Jimmy Mitchell and his team created the computer generated underwater universe, from the ruins that may once have been a part of Hogwarts to the wicked water demons known as Grindylows. “I think of them as a very unpleasant, distant cousin of the Cornish pixie!” Mitchell says of the tempermental creatures.
Harry also encounters a mermaid in his quest to find his friends in the loch, and the filmmakers endeavored to make her “unlike any mermaid you’ve seen before,” Heyman says.
“Stuart and I designed the mermaid’s tail to move from side to side, rather than up and down, which is what happens when you have a person in a mermaid suit,” Mitchell explains. “Then we made the creature longer than humanly possible and gave her hair made of jellyfish tentacles.”
The third and final task requires the teen wizards to navigate a dense and foreboding maze formed by tall, thick hedges and shadowy pathways choked with mist. The champions begin their journeys at dusk, with nothing to guide them but an eerie blue light emanating from the center of the elaborate topiary, where the coveted Triwizard Cup awaits.
“We endeavored to make the maze taller and bigger than any you’ve ever seen,” Craig says. “It’s disorienting, disturbing and altogether intense!”
Dumbledore cautions the champions not to lose themselves within the living labyrinth, which seems to have a sinister agenda of its own. “This is a double-edged warning,” Heyman explains. “The maze is spacially enormous and so there is a real and terrifying threat of becoming lost. At the same time, it’s a living creature that feeds on fear, preying on the insecurities of all those who dare enter.”
“The maze is really creepy, like being in a cemetery at night,” Newell comments. “The fact that the contestants are exploring the biggest maze imaginable is scary enough, but it has a malevolent personality, and one of the ways it operates is to make all who enter doubt their sanity. You become increasingly vulnerable, unhinged and inhuman. Each time you’re badly frightenend in the maze, it strips another layer away until you’re raw.”
As darkness descends and the competitors are drawn deeper into its folds, the maze literally closes in, enveloping and attacking them. As with both the dragon and underwater tasks, the realization of the “practical” maze became a collaborative effort between John Richardson’s special effects team and the visual effects group headed by Jimmy Mitchell.
Richardson and company engineered several sections of the labyrinth, which stood 25 feet high and 40 feet long. These computerized hydraulic walls were designed to move independently of each other, swelling and surging at the actors on command.
“The maze has a heavy steel substructure, which could literally crush the actors if something went wrong,” Richardson cautions. “We had various failsafe devices in place to ensure that this never happened…although when you see the fear on the actors’ faces, I’m pretty sure it’s genuine!”
Woven through the mystery and suspense of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the humor and heartbreak of adolescence. Not only does Harry have to contend with the return of his immortal enemy, face death in the Triwizard Tournament and contend with a meddling reporter and a backlash by his peers – he’s got to find a date for the Yule Ball dance. But no magic can alleviate the painful awkwardness, shyness and hormonal imbalances that are the hallmarks of teen angst.
“One of the wonderful aspects of this story is the burgeoning interest Harry and his friends have in the opposite sex and the innate awkwardness this brings,” producer David Heyman points out. “Mike Newell has a wonderful sense of humor and incredibly intuitive comic timing, so watching these teens attempt to communicate with each other is painfully funny.”
Harry and his fellow students find themselves transfixed when the exquisite Beauxbatons girls and the impossibly masculine young men of Durmstrang sweep into the Hogwarts halls.
“When the Beauxbatons girls arrive, the Hogwarts boys are in a state of shock,” says Newell. “They ooze femininity and render the boys – Ron in particular – speechless.”
Costume designer Jany Temime’s wardrobe highlights the differences between the different schools and the nervous tension underpinning these sequences. “The Beauxbatons girls are sophisticated and self-aware, so I draped them in the most sensual and feminine fabric I could find, a delicate silk in the blue color of the French flag,” Temime explains. “The fabric clings to their form, in complete contrast to the restrictive uniforms the Hogwarts girls wear. The Durmstrang boys radiate a masculinity the girls have never seen before with their rough, almost primitive thick wool clothing, heavy boots and wool coats.”
The arrival of the visiting schools and the commencement of the Triwizard Tournament triggers a change in the dynamics between best friends Harry, Ron and Hermione. For the first time, Harry and Ron find themselves at odds.
“Ron thinks Harry put his name into the Goblet hoping to be selected for the competition,” Rupert Grint explains. “He’s very angry with Harry and won’t speak to him. He’s tired of Harry always being the center of attention.”
Radcliffe elaborates: “Harry is already trying to cope with the criticism from everyone who believes he engineered his own entry into the competition, but he also fears he knows the real reason he was chosen, and it all proves too much. His fight with Ron exemplifies this.”
Meanwhile, the pressure to find dates for Hogwarts’ Yule Ball also proves too much for Harry and Ron, who finally recognizes a change in his feelings for Hermione. “Much to her surprise, Hermione gets herself a boyfriend in Viktor Krum,” Emma Watson says. “This proves to be a huge shock for Harry and Ron – particularly Ron, who has only just realized that Hermione is a girl!”
“We’ve always had the sense that there is something growing between Ron and Hermione, although neither are really aware of it,” Grint muses. “In this film, both begin to admit it to themselves. When Hermione turns up at the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, Ron finally realizes that he has feelings for her.”
“Ron is utterly devastated when he sees Hermione on the arm of another man – especially his hero, Viktor Krum,” Heyman points out.
Harry experiences a terror unlike any he’s accustomed to when he falls for the gentle charms of fellow Hogwarts student Cho Chang. “One of the things I’ve always liked about Harry is that he is absolutely pathetic when it comes to the whole romance thing,” Radcliffe says. “He has no clue how to behave around girls. He’s a character for anyone who has ever felt awkward around girls – which is probably every male in the world.”
Harry’s struggles to muster the courage to ask Cho to the Ball meet with bittersweet results. “Cho is very fond of Harry and she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she’s already said yes to Cedric Diggory,” says 18 year old first-time actor Katie Leung, a Scot who won the part of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Seeker when her parents persuaded her to attend an open casting call with 5,000 other hopefuls.
Romance also blossoms among the adults. Hagrid’s heart is set aflutter when he sets his gaze on Madame Maxime, the gloriously tall Beauxbatons headmistress played by revered stage actress Frances de la Tour (The Cherry Orchard, Strike it Rich).
According to de la Tour, “Even though she’s 8 feet 4 inches tall, Madame Maxime is in serious denial about being a giant. She just describes herself as big boned! But despite their cultural differences, with Maxime being so chic and gentile compared to Hagrid’s rustic charm, her feelings for him are genuine.”
“Romance is a little tricky when you’re a giant,” Robbie Coltrane notes. “Hagrid can’t believe his luck when the Beauxbatons arrive and he sets eyes on someone even taller than him!”
Heyman and the cast credit Newell with infusing the film with his distinctly British sensibility. “Mike’s been to a British public school and can totally empathize with boarding school life, and he has a keen sense of the youthful anarchy you often find in these institutions,” Heyman says. “He’s done a fantastic job of bringing the discomfort and awkwardness of school life to the film. Hogwarts feels more alive – and more British – than it ever has before.”
Daniel Radcliffe concurs. “Mike is English, very very English. He wore a waistcoat every day, which I quite like because you don’t see enough waistcoats anymore, really. He has an incredible presence and commands great respect, but he totally understands the British sense of humor and he can relate to what it’s like being a teenager at a public school.”
Newell was able to join in the fun with his young stars, not least with Oliver and James Phelps, who play Ron’s older twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley. When Fred and George take ageing potion in an attempt to fool the Goblet into believing they’re old enough to enter the Tournament, their plan backfires, temporarily rendering them wizened old men. The script called for the twins to blame each other and hit the floor fighting, but Newell wasn’t satisfied with the Phelps’ intensity in early takes.
“Which one of you wants to fight me?” the director demanded. Incredulous, Oliver nervously volunteered. Before he knew what hit him, Newell had wrestled him to the floor.
“I hadn’t planned to demonstrate wrestling, but it just seemed to be a good opportunity to make everyone laugh, even though I pulled a muscle and it hurt like hell for months afterwards!” Newell recalls with a smile. “But it’s good sometimes to make a complete fool of yourself in front of people who see you as an authority figure. I can’t know everything and you don’t get the best out of people when they think you do.”
It is with great excitement (and trepidation) that the students steel themselves for the Yule Ball, an enchanted evening of formal dress, proper dancing and…dates!
The production staged the elaborate Yule Ball celebration just before the Christmas holidays in December 2004, a fitting and colorful end to the year’s filming. “We wanted to create a tremendous change in the Great Hall for the Yule Ball,” Newell explains, “so that the characters and the audience feel like they’ve never seen this place before.”
Production designer Stuart Craig and his art department were responsible for the Great Hall’s magnificent transformation. “The description in the novel is that it’s an ice palace with icicles hanging from the ceiling,” Craig notes. “We took it a step further and made the magic ceiling out of ice. The walls are covered in highly reflective silver and everything you see, from the doors, flambeaus, windows and even the fireplace, was given an icy or silver makeover.”
To complete the look, set decorators Stephenie McMillan and Lee Sandales created magical ice sculptures, iced drinks and frosted food of all descriptions. “We descended on Billingsgate fish market and literally cleaned them out of lobsters, prawns and crabs!” McMillan recalls. “We had to treat and prepare them to survive the heat of film lights and to stop them from smelling, but they made fabulous centerpieces for the Yule Ball tables.”
The cast underwent a major wardrobe transformation for the Ball as well. “We prepared over 300 costumes for the Yule Ball alone,” costume designer Jany Temime says. “First, we designed the boys’ evening attire. Each has white or black ties and fancy waistcoats. Harry wears a very classic black waistcoat. The Slytherins have white ties because they regard themselves as posh.”
Ron doesn’t fare so well, however. “My outfit is horrible, all pink lace and flowers!” Rupert Grint exclaims. “But it was actually quite fun wearing it. It was kind of like something out of the 1970s and so hideous I actually quite liked it!”
Designing the girls’ dresses took several months, during which a team of 100 dressmakers and wardrobe artists handmade the the gowns at Leavesden. “The girls were so excited about what they were going to wear it was as if they were going to a real ball!” Temime recalls.
A turning point of both the evening and the story occurs when Hermione, the typically serious-minded student, makes a grand entrance on the arm of Durmstrang champion and Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum.
“Hermione’s dress had to be really special,” Temime says of the gown, which took three months and twelve meters of chiffon to make. “I wanted it to be a fairy tale dress, something that would make all the children gasp when she entered the room.”
“It’s unlike anything Hermione has ever worn before,” Emma Watson notes. “Our hair and make-up team spent hours transforming me for the scene. I knew that all eyes were on me when I entered the hall, which was very scary!”
“Emma is such a naturally beautiful girl that we have to play her makeup down when she’s dressed in her school uniform as ‘plain’ Hermione,” says makeup artist Amanda Knight, “but we were able to really have fun with her makeup for the Yule Ball.”
Then there was the considerable task of teaching the teenage cast to dance over several weeks of rehearsal at Leavesden. “The girls were really looking forward to the dance and the boys, being typical boys, were very nervous about it,” Watson observes. “I love dancing and really enjoyed learning to waltz, but what was interesting was that Mike didn’t want us to be perfect dancers. He wanted the camera to pick up that we weren’t exactly sure what we were doing.”
“It was terrifying,” Radcliffe says. “My parents are both very good dancers, but it seems to have skipped a generation. Everyone else had about three weeks to learn the steps, but because I was so busy filming other scenes, I only had four days. So I would get halfway through the steps and just lose it completely. Luckily, Harry’s not supposed to be a fantastic dancer.”
“The dancing was absolutely hysterical,” says Newell, who readily admits he’s a terrible dancer himself. “Dan works so hard at absolutely everything, but it seems God did not necessarily mean for him to be a ballroom dancer. He is absolutely his character at that particular moment in the story!”
The Ball quickly segues from stilted formal dancing to a wild rock free for all. “I remember my own time at university,” Newell recalls. “At the end of every year there was a swanky ball with formal dancing, but by the end we would all let our hair down and it was enormous fun. So I wanted to recreate that feeling with the Yule Ball, a real sense of teenagers letting rip!”
Newell and producer David Heyman recruited British band Pulp’s legendary singer and lyricist Jarvis Cocker, who together with members of his new group Relaxed Muscle and drummer Phil Selway and guitarist Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead, took the stage to play original music during the rocking Yule Ball sequence.
Working with renowned music producer Mike Hedges, Cocker penned three songs for the band to perform in the film: “This is the Night,” “Magic Works” and “Do the Hippogriff.”
“Jarvis was a wonderful collaborator,” says Newell. “He had a lot of fun with the whole thing. He said that when he was a kid, he used to be called ‘four eyes’ because he wore glasses, so for the scene he wanted to be four eyes. Then he shut his eyes and revealed eyeballs painted on his eyelids!”
“It’s not often that you get members of Pulp and Radiohead in the Great Hall,” Heyman says with a smile. “Although it was just make believe, it really was an awesome experience watching the Yule Ball scenes come to life. I think for all the cast and crew, it created a great party atmosphere in which to end the year.”
* * *
THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES IN IMAX
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be released in IMAX® theatres worldwide, in addition to conventional theatres, beginning November 18, 2005. The film has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology.
This represents the seventh IMAX DMR film release from Warner Bros. Pictures, and the second film in the Harry Potter film franchise to be digitally re-mastered for The IMAX Experience. It follows the successful June 2004 release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban: The IMAX Experience, which grossed nearly $14 million in worldwide IMAX box office. Past Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX collaborations have included Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The IMAX Experience, Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience, The Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience, the last two installments of the Matrix trilogy, as well as the original production of NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience.
IMAX Theatres deliver images of unsurpassed clarity and impact, and will enable audiences to experience the magic and adventure of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on screens up to eight stories tall and 120 feet wide, surrounded by state-of-the-art digital sound. (IMAX screens can be three times larger than the average 35mm screen, 4,500 times larger than the average TV screen, and as wide as an NFL football field.)
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a film rich in scope and detail, all of which will be well served by the scope of IMAX,” says David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter film series. “I have loved the immersive IMAX experience ever since I first saw Fires Of Kuwait over ten years ago, so it is a thrill for me to have Harry Potter shown in this exciting format.”
“We are very excited to bring the suspense, humor, action and drama of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to life on the giant IMAX screen,” director Mike Newell says. “The breathtaking IMAX format brings a whole new perspective to this marvelous story.”
The sheer size of a 15/70 film frame, combined with the unique IMAX projection technology, is key to the extraordinary sharpness and clarity of the images projected in IMAX theatres. The 15/70 film frame is ten times larger than a conventional 35mm frame and three times bigger than a standard 70mm frame. IMAX projectors are the most advanced, powerful and highest-precision projectors in the world, and the key to their superior performance is the proprietary “Rolling Loop” film movement. The Rolling Loop advances the film horizontally in a smooth, wave-like motion. During projection, each frame is positioned on fixed registration pins, and the film is held firmly against the rear element of the lens by a vacuum. As a result, the picture and focus steadiness are far above normal projection standards and provide outstanding image clarity.
To fully envelop IMAX theatre-goers, the IMAX sound system is a specially designed multi-channel stereo system that delivers superb clarity and quality for maximum impact. The IMAX Proportional Point Source loudspeaker system was specifically designed for IMAX Theatres and delivers superb sound quality to every member of the audience, regardless of where they may be seated.
There are more than 200 educational and entertaining films in the Large Format film library, which have been enjoyed by more than 800 million people around the world.
16 year-old DANIEL RADCLIFFE (Harry Potter) once again reprises the role of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, his fourth film in the blockbuster Harry Potter series.
Playing the role of young Harry Potter has won Daniel worldwide acclaim and the Variety Club of Great Britain’s Best Newcomer Award, presented in February 2002. In April 2002 he was also honored with the prestigious David Di Donatello Award, presented by Italy’s Ente David Di Donatello for his superb portrayal of Harry and for his contribution to the future of cinema.
Daniel first appeared on British television in December 1999 when he played the young David Copperfield in BBC television’s highly acclaimed production of David Copperfield. The drama, directed by Simon Curtis, also starred Dame Maggie Smith who appears alongside him now as Professor McGonagall.
Prior to filming the first Harry Potter feature, he made his feature film debut as Jamie Lee Curtis’ and Geoffrey Rush’s screen son in John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama.
In November and December of 2002 he was also the ‘Surprise Guest’ at several performances of the Olivier Award-winning comedy The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh, at Wyndhams Theatre in London’s West End.
In his spare time, Daniel’s main interests continue to be movies and music, particularly rock and indie British bands.
17 year-old RUPERT GRINT (Ron Weasley) reprises his role as the youngest Weasley brother and best friend to Harry Potter. Although Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was Rupert’s first foray into the world of professional acting, his natural talent has garnered him worldwide critical and public acclaim and a British Critic’s Circle nomination for Best Newcomer.
Since filming the first Harry Potter film, he has gone on to star alongside Simon Callow and Stephen Fry as a young madcap professor in Peter Hewitt’s Thunderpants. He, of course, most recently starred again as Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Rupert is the eldest of five children and cites many similarities to his character of Ron, not the least having to wear hand-me-downs and having an inexhaustible love of sweets.
Prior to winning the role of Ron Weasley, he performed in school productions and with the local theatre drama group. Productions included the role of the gangster Rooster in Annie, a production of Peter Pan and Rumplestiltskin in the Grimm Tales.
He has grown immensely since audiences first welcomed him several years ago as the impossibly cute and hilarious youngest Weasley boy – and now a mature young man of 17, Rupert can often be found on a golf course when not on a film set.
15 year-old EMMA WATSON (Hermione Granger) reprises her superb portrayal of the bookish but kindhearted Hermione Granger, a character who is now starting to develop an interest in things other than books.
Playing Hermione in the first film saw Emma’s debut into the world of professional acting, although her natural ability has been evident since an early age.
Her brilliant performance in the role of Hermione has won Emma a huge following throughout the world and the highly prestigious AOL award two years running for Best Supporting Actress for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She has also just been voted Best New Performer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by the readers of Total Film magazine.
Emma continues to balance filming with her studies and school activities and is a keen hockey, netball, tennis and rounders player, as well as a budding athlete. She is also an art scholar and boasts the most colorful and creative dressing room at the studio. Her other hobbies include seeing her friends and family, traveling, dancing (street jazz, hip hop, salsa and the introduction of ballroom dancing for her role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ) and singing.
18 year-old TOM FELTON (Draco Malfoy) returns as Harry Potter’s arch-enemy and Slytherin school boy Draco Malfoy, a role he has made his own in all four of the Harry Potter films.
Tom has been acting professionally for nine years and was first seen on the big screen in 1996 when he played the role of Peagreen in Peter Hewitt’s The Borrowers. In 1999, he went on to play the part of Jodie Foster’s screen son Louis in Anna and the King.
He has also appeared in a number of UK television series including Bugs, in which he played the role of James, and Second Sight, starring opposite Clive Owen as Thomas Ingham. He has also starred in two BBC Radio 4 plays, playing the role of Ioeth in The Wizard of Earthsea and Hercule in Here’s to Everyone.
Tom first came to attention in 1995 when he was featured in a number of top television and advertising commercials. Along with displaying an early talent for acting, he is an avid carp fisherman and loves to fish at any opportunity.
STANISLAV IANEVSKI (Victor Krum) joins the cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as the Durmstrang school’s competitor for the Triwzard Tournament cup, Victor Krum, competing against Hogwarts and the Beauxbatons.
20 year-old Bulgarian-born Stanislav was discovered quite by chance for the role of Krum while at his British boarding school. Stanislav had been at boarding school in the UK for four years when the Harry Potter casting director visited his school, and quite by chance overheard him talking in a corridor. Casting director Fiona Weir then asked the head of Drama if Stanislav would be willing to attend an audition for the role of Victor Krum. Stanislav was short-listed after this audition, but, due to a prior school arrangement, was unable to attend the second audition and assumed his chances of winning the role had been greatly reduced.
Stanislav was given another chance to audition and was eventually short-listed for the part. Although he had never professionally acted, acting was in his family and clearly the casting director recognized a natural ability. Stanislav met again with the casting director and was eventually asked to meet with the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mike Newell. He was then told that he had won the part of Victor Krum.
While not on a film set, like his character Krum, Stanislav enjoys playing a range of sports including tennis, football, rugby, athletics and swimming.
18 year-old KATIE LEUNG (Cho Chang) joins the cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts and the object of Harry Potter’s affectionate gaze.
This is Katie’s first professional role and her first-ever acting role.
Katie responded to an open casting call in February 2004 where she beat 5,000 girls for the role of Cho Chang. Katie had no prior acting experience or coaching; it was quite by chance that her father saw an advertisement on a Chinese television channel for the casting call. Katie thought it might be quite “fun” to go along and try her luck, though that day she was more interested in going shopping.
On the day of the casting, Katie joined the queue of thousands of young girls desperate to win the part of Cho Chang. After the initial casting call, she was extremely shocked to hear that she had been short-listed and that the casting director wanted her back for further auditions; with no prior acting experience she was convinced that she wouldn’t get the role. After more auditions and screen tests, her mother was called to say that Katie would be playing Cho Chang in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Katie is a huge music fan and listens to all kinds of music including R & B, Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, and she also plays the piano.
15 year-old MATTHEW LEWIS (Neville Longbottom) reprises his role as Harry Potter’s faithful friend Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Matthew has been acting since he was just five years-old, after joining an amateur dramatics club. He won the role of Neville after an open casting call was held in his hometown of Leeds.
Matthew has starred in a number of television series including Heartbeat, City Central, Where the Heart Is, Sharpe, Emmerdale, Dalziel and Pascoe and Some Kind Of Life..
When Matthew is not busy filming he enjoys spending time with his friends, reading and writing short stories, listening to Rock music, playing computer games & sports – particularly golf. Matthew also used to belong to the Air Cadets and recently developed a rather keen interest in filmmaking. He is also an avid supporter of Leeds football club
ROBERT PATTINSON (Cedric Diggory) joins the Harry Potter cast as Cedric Diggory, head boy and Hogwarts’ official representative in the Triwizard Tournament in which he is joined, of course, by the last-minute mysterious addition of Harry Potter himself.
Nineteen-year-old Pattinson began his professional career recently with a role in Uli Edel’s Sword of Xanten, opposite Sam West and Benno Furmann.
Prior to this, Robert was a member of the Barnes Theatre Group, taking on the lead role in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town as George Gibbs; he played Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, and Alec in Tess of the D’Urbevilles. He also recently starred as Malcom in Macbeth at the OSO Arts Centre.
CLÉMENCE POÉSY (Fleur Delacour) plays Fleur Delacour, a student from Beauxbatons School for Girls chosen to pit her wits against Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory and Victor Krum in the Triwizard Tournament.
To British audiences Poésy is now virtual royalty, after her powerful performance as Mary Queen of Scots in the BBC’s successful mini-series Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, starring Robert Carlyle and directed by Gillies MacKinnon.
Gunpowder was the French star’s first major part in English and a chance for her to show that she was capable of succeeding outside France and in another tongue. She is one of very few French actors who is able to shift registers and dialect in English, alternating seamlessly between the role of a demure French-educated Queen and a spirited American adolescent.
Having completed filming in England on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Poésy flew to Prague to star in Revelations, a new series produced by NBC, directed by Lili Zanuck and starring Bill Pullman and Natascha McElhone. In this contemporary drama loosely based on the New Testament’s Book of Revelations, the innocent-looking blonde plays two dark parts, including that of a morally-challenged fallen angel.
With her career blossoming abroad, the young French star has also committed herself to a number of upcoming projects at home in France during 2005. Among them are Mon Prisonnier, a period film directed by Laurent Bouhnik (24 Hours in the Life of a Woman) with Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) and François Berléand; and Les Animaux Domestiques, in which she will play the lead role. This love story takes a wry look at the world of reality television and is directed by a rising French talent, Eric Forestier
In France, Poésy is already a household name, having starred in a number of critically acclaimed movies. She played the lead female role in Nina Grosse’s L’Été d’Olga in 2002 and starred as Magalie Rozes in Francis Pallau’s Bienvenue chez les Roses, where she plays the daughter of Carole Bouquet.
Television dramas and mini-series have also brought her much renown. She starred in Olivier Peray’s TV series La Vie Quand Même (2002), also known as Life After All in its international release, and in Patrice Martineau’s Tania Boréalis.
Despite her professional track record, Poésy was very young when she started acting on stage in Etienne Guichard’s Le Dragon and in Mai ‘45 Mai ‘95 and feels that she still has a lot to learn. She has been accepted by France’s most prestigious drama school, the Conservatoire National.
ROBBIE COLTRANE (Rubeus Hagrid) is back as the much loved character of Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts’ caretaker and part-time teacher and close friend of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Coltrane is one of the UK’s most prolific and respected film and television actors with a multi-award-winning career spanning 30 years. His illustrious film career to date boasts 40 films including, most recently, Ocean’s Twelve, in the role of Matsui and, of course, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the former of which garnered him BAFTA and the London Film Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor as well as Scottish Screen’s Best Actor Award.
Other recent credits include Allen and Albert Hughes’ From Hell; the James Bond films The World is Not Enough and GoldenEye, in which he played Valentin Zukovsky; Warner Bros. Pictures’ Message in a Bottle; Buddy; The Pope Must Die; Henry V; Let it Ride; Absolute Beginners; Defense of the Realm; Mona Lisa and Nuns on the Run, for which he was awarded The Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the 1991 Evening Standard British Film Awards.
Perhaps Coltrane is best known as Fitz in the internationally acclaimed and hugely popular television series Cracker. The three seasons of the phenomenally successful drama amassed an impressive array of awards, including two BAFTA Best Drama Series Awards in 1995 and 1996, the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama, the 1993 Broadcasting Press Guilds Award for Best Series and the US CableACE Awards Best Movie or Mini Series.
Coltrane himself was honored with a staggering array of awards for his portrayal of the tough, wisecracking police psychologist, Fitz. Incredibly, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Television Actor three years in a row (1994, 1995 and 1996); Best Television Actor at the 1993 Broadcasting Press Guilds Awards; a Silver Nymph Award for Best Actor at the 1994 Monte Carlo Television Festival; Best Male Performer at the 1994 Royal Television Society Awards; FIPA’s Best Actor Award and a CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Movie or Mini Series.
Coltrane starred most recently in the finale episode of the hugely successful series Frasier. Prior to that, he starred in and was executive producer on the critically acclaimed two-part ITV series The Planman.
Coltrane first came to attention in Slab Boys in 1978 at the Traverse Theatre and the Hampstead Theatre, before launching himself in the early 1980s on an unsuspecting comedy scene with appearances on Alfresco, A Kick Up the Eighties, Laugh? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee and Saturday Night Live.
He went on to make star appearances in 13 Comic Strip productions and numerous television shows including Blackadders III and Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, as well as being nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Danny McGlone in Tony Smith’s Tutti Frutti.
RALPH FIENNES (Lord Voldemort) plays the coveted role of one of literatures most terrifying villains – the evil Lord Voldemort
After studying art, Fiennes realized that his real passion was acting, which led him to RADA. After graduating, he won his first roles that summer in Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ring Around the Moon, all at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park.
Following further theatre roles, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988. His most notable and critically acclaimed performances during his two seasons with the RSC included Henry VI, Edmund in King Lear and Berowne in Love’s Labours Lost.
In 1991, Fiennes won his first television role in the award-winning Prime Suspect. His big-screen debut came when he starred as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. After this, Fiennes starred in Peter Greenaway’s The Baby of Mâcon, but it was his role in Wuthering Heights that brought him to Hollywood’s attention. Spielberg cast him opposite Liam Neeson as the Nazi officer Amon Goeth, in the critically acclaimed Schindler’s List, for which he was awarded not only the New York Critics’ Best Supporting Actor, London Film Critics’ Best Actor, and the National Society of Film Critics, but was also nominated in both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Further high profile roles followed in a number of highly acclaimed films, including Robert Redford’s Quiz Show; the Academy Award-winning The English Patient, for which he received his second Academy Award nomination; Oscar and Lucinda; The End of The Affair and Red Dragon. Other films he starred in include Onegin, Sunshine, Spider and Maid in Manhattan.
Fiennes was most recently seen in Fernando Mereilles’ film adaptation of John Le Carré’s The Constant Gardener, and will next be seen in Merchant Ivory’s The White Countess. He will also be the voice of the dastardly Victor Quartermaine in the upcoming Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, as well as play a supporting role in Martha Fienes’ Chromophobia.
In December 2002 he opened at the Royal National Theatre in a new play by Christopher Hampton, The Talking Cure, in which he played Carl Jung, directed by Howard Davies. In 2003 he starred in the title role of Ibsen’s Brand for Adrian Noble at the RSC, and in 2005, he played Mark Anthony in Deborah Warner’s new stage production of Julius Caesar.
SIR MICHAEL GAMBON (Albus Dumbledore) reprises his role as Albus Dumbledore, the wise and respected headmaster of Hogwarts School.
Gambon started his career with the Edwards/MacLiammoir Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1963. He was one of the original members of the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic under Lawrence Olivier and appeared in many plays before leaving to join Birmingham Rep where he played Othello. In the 40 years since, Gambon has established himself as one of the greatest stage actors of his time, winning an Olivier Award for Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval and The Life of Galileo and Volpone, which garnered him the 1995 Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.
Film fans know him for his starring role in Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, as well as, more recently, Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake, Being Julia, Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic, The Gambler, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Last September, Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, The Insider, High Heels and Low Lifes, Charlotte Gray, Robert Altman’s Gosford Park, John Frankenheimer’s Path to War, Conor McPherson’s The Actors, Mike Nichols’ Angels in America and Kevin Costner’s Open Range.
Perhaps Gambon’s most memorable role was in the Dennis Potter television series The Singing Detective, which won him Best Actor awards from BAFTA, the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Royal Television Society. He also starred in the BBC’s Wives and Daughters and Charles Sturridge’s acclaimed Longitude, and Stephen Poliakoff’s A Family Tree.
Gambon most recently appeared on-stage in End Game, directed by Matthew Warchus and co-starring Lee Evans. His additional theatre credits include the title roles in Macbeth, Coriolanus and Othello; Simon Gray’s Otherwise Engaged; Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests; Just Between Ourselves and Man of the Moment, opposite Ralph Richardson in Alice’s Boys; Harold Pinter’s Old Times; the title role in Uncle Vanya and Veteran’s Day with Jack Lemmon.
With the Royal Shakespeare Company, Gambon played the lead roles in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Mountain Language, Simon Gray’s Close of Play, Christopher Hampton’s Tales from Hollywood, Ayckbourn’s Sisterly Feelings and A Small Family Business, and David Hare’s Skylight (both in the West End and Broadway). He also starred in Richard III, Othello, Tons of Money, A View from the Bridge and Yasmina Reza’s Unexpected Man (which transferred from the Barbican to the West End). Most recently he led Nicholas Hytner’s production of Cressida at the Almeida and Patrick Marber’s production of Caretaker in the West End, as well as Stephen Daldry’s A Number at the Royal Court.
Internationally acclaimed Dublin-born actor BRENDAN GLEESON (Mad-Eye Moody), joins the cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Mad-Eye Moody, Hogwarts’ new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
A former teacher himself, Gleeson left the profession to pursue a career in his first love, acting, and joined the Irish theatre company Passion Machine. Gleeson landed his first starring role in I Went Down, which was followed by his much acclaimed role in John Boorman’s The General. His performance gained him awards for Best Actor at the 1998 Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards, Best Actor at the 1998 ALFS, and further awards by the London Film Critics and the Best Actor Award at the 1999 Irish Film & Television Awards.
Over the past few years, Gleeson has become a household name after appearing in a number of successful films, most recently playing the powerful and wronged King Menelaus in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy. Other recent credits include August Nicholson in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village; Cold Mountain, directed by Anthony Minghella; Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven and Breakfast on Pluto, directed by Neil Jordan.
Gleeson’s rise to fame began when he appeared in Jim Sheridan’s The Field, followed by a number of small roles in such films as Far and Away and Into the West. Gleeson attracted the attention of Hollywood when he starred as Hamish in the film Braveheart alongside Mel Gibson.
Other notable screen credits include John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II, Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence:AI, John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama and Country of My Skull, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.
On stage, Gleeson has appeared in many productions including King of the Castle, The Plough and the Stars, Prayers of Sherkin, The Cherry Orchard and The Paycock at the Gaiety Theatre, which also toured at the Chicago Theatre Festival. He returned to the stage in 2001 at The Peacock Theatre Dublin in Billy Roche’s play On Such as We, directed by Wilson Milam
JASON ISAACS (Lucius Malfoy) reprises his role as the odious death-eater Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. From the heartbreaking romantic in Rodrigo Garcia’s Nine Lives, opposite Robin Wright Penn and the repressed suburban dad in Chumscrubber (both having world premieres at Sundance 2005), to the hilarious, sexist, homophobic movie star in Donal Logue’s Tennis Anyone, Isaacs proves yet again that he is one of the most chameleon-like actors of his generation. He just wrapped the comedy Friends with Money alongside Catherine Keener, Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand and is about to start shooting Good, an adaptation of the award-winning play, co-starring Hugh Jackman.
Isaacs’ performance pulling double duty as both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling in the feature Peter Pan for director P.J. Hogan had critics raving – the LA Weekly calling him “a revelation” and the UK’s Times claimed that he was, “quite simply, the best Captain Hook ever to grace a screen.”
In 2003 he wowed the critics again in the bittersweet romantic comedy Passionada, which had a number of reviewers – including Rex Reed – comparing him to “a young Cary Grant.” The previous year saw him as the deliciously sinister Lucius Malfoy in Warner Bros. Pictures’ blockbuster Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Earlier that year, he was unrecognizable as the bullet-headed Captain Mike Steele in Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed box-office hit Black Hawk Down.
Isaacs also appeared opposite Jackie Chan as the suave international spy in The Tuxedo, in command of Nicolas Cage in John Woo’s Windtalkers and in a sensational, strapless, sequined gown with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron in Sweet November.
Isaacs has been working non-stop since his scene-stealing turn as Colonel William Tavington opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot, a performance that garnered him a nomination from the London Film Critics’ Circle. Other film credits include The End of the Affair, the box-office giant Armageddon, Dragonheart, Divorcing Jack and singing and dancing in The Last Minute. In addition, he has made several movies with his friend, director Paul Anderson – the sci-fi thriller Event Horizon, Soldier and the British cult film Shopping. The eagle-eyed will spot him in un-credited cameos in Anderson’s Resident Evil, in Rob Bowman’s Elektra and in fragments of Mike Figgis’ experimental film, Hotel. Isaacs made his feature film debut with Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson in The Tall Guy.
Recently on the small screen he guest-starred as a Belfast photojournalist in three episodes of NBC’s The West Wing and starred in the pilot episode of Brotherhood, directed by Phillip Noyce for Showtime, which has been picked up as a series by the channel.
After graduating from the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he starred for two seasons in Capital City, a hit British TV series based on the world of high finance; in the mini-series Civvies by Lynda La Plante; in The Fix by Paul Greengrass and countless other single dramas. On stage he created the role of Louis in the critically acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America - Parts 1 & 2, and has performed to packed houses at the Royal Court Theatre, the Almeida Theatre, the King’s Head and five times at the Edinburgh festival.
Born in Liverpool, England, Isaacs attended Bristol University where, while studying law, he directed and/or starred in over 20 theater productions. When not immersing himself in a new character or accent, he returns to his home in London and tries to remember what he normally sounds like so his daughter can recognize him on the phone.
GARY OLDMAN (Sirius Black) reprises his role as Sirius Black, Harry’s wronged godfather who recently escaped from Azkaban prison.
Oldman began his career in 1979, working extensively in the London theatre. Between 1985 and 1989 he worked exclusively at London’s Royal Court Theatre. In 1985 he was awarded Best Newcomer by London’s Time Out Magazine for his performance in The Pope’s Wedding. That same year he shared the London Critics’ Circle Best Actor Award with Sir Anthony Hopkins.
He has since gone on to become one of the most respected and talented film actors working today with credits including Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, Oliver Stone’s JFK, Tony Scott’s True Romance, Luc Besson’s The Professional, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the starring role of Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.
In 1997 and 1998 Oldman starred in The Fifth Element, Air Force One and Lost in Space. These films and Coppola’s Dracula place him in the rarified league of actors who have opened four movies in the number one position at the box office.
In 1995 Oldman and manager/producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the production company The SE8 Group, which produced Oldman’s directorial debut Nil By Mouth (which he also wrote). The film was invited to open the 1997 50th Cannes Film Festival in the main competition and Kathy Burke won Best Actress for her role. The film also won Oldman the prestigious Channel 4 director’s prize in the 1997 Edinburgh Film Festival.
In 1998 Nil by Mouth won Oldman a BAFTA for Best British Film and Best Screenplay and further nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress.
Oldman’s other major film credits include Sid and Nancy, Stephen Frears’ Prick Up Your Ears, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Nic Roeg and Dennis Potter’s Track 29, Criminal Law, Chattahoochee, Murder in the First State and State of Grace. In 1999, Oldman executive produced and starred in the SE8 Group/Douglas Urbanski film The Contender, which received three Academy Award nominations. Fans of the television series Friends will also remember Oldman for his guest appearance as an alcoholic actor, a role which earned him an Emmy nomination. Other television performances include Mike Leigh’s Meantime and The Firm, directed by the late Alan Clark.
Since last working on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Oldman most recently starred in Batman Begins as Jim Gordon.
ALAN RICKMAN (Professor Snape) is known throughout the world for his performances in films as diverse as Love Actually, Die Hard, An Awfully Big Adventure, Bob Roberts, Dogma and Galaxy Quest.
For Sense and Sensibility and Michael Collins, he received BAFTA nominations, and for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. For Truly Madly Deeply, Close My Eyes and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he was named Evening Standard Film Actor of the Year. For Mesmer, he was named Best Actor at the Montreal Film Festival. Recent films include Blow Dry, The Search for John Gissing and Play, directed by Anthony Minghella for Beckett on Film.
For his role as the enigmatic Russian monk in HBO’s Rasputin, Rickman won the 1996 Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor. Other television credits include Something the Lord Made, for which he received an Emmy nomination as Best Actor, Benefactors, Revolutionary Witness, Spirit of Man, Pity in History, The Barchester Chronicles, Busted, Thérèse Raquin and Romeo and Juliet.
As a director, Rickman’s work includes Wax Acts with Ruby Wax in the West End, and The Winter Guest by Sharman MacDonald, at both the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London. He then went on to direct (and co-write with MacDonald) the feature film version of The Winter Guest, starring Emma Thompson. It was an Official Selection for the Venice Film Festival, winning three awards and later winning Best Feature at the Chicago Film Festival.
As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company he starred in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, both in the West End and on Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award. Other productions for the RSC include Mephisto, Troilus and Cressida, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Captain Swing and The Tempest. Most of his stage work, however, has been in contemporary theatre and includes Fears and Miseries of the Third Reich at the Glasgow Citizens; The Carnation Game and The Summer Party at the Crucible Sheffield; Commitments and The Last Elephant at the Bush Theatre; Bad Language at the Hampstead Theatre Club; The Grass Widow; The Lucky Chance and The Seagull at the Royal Court.
For the national theatre Rickman starred in Antony & Cleopatra and played the title role in Hamlet at Riverside Studios, directed by Robert Sturua, the celebrated director of the Rustaveli Theatre in Georgia. Rickman has also appeared three times at the Edinburgh Festival – a double bill of The Devil is an Ass and Measure for Measure, which also toured Europe; Brothers Karamazov, which then toured the USSR and Yukio Ninagawa’s Tango at the end of Winter, which later transferred to the West End, winning Rickman the Time Out Award for Best Actor.
Rickman recently starred in the highly acclaimed West End production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. He won both the Variety Club and Theatre Goers Awards for Best Actor and was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard Awards. The play enjoyed a sell-out run at the Albery Theatre before transferring to Broadway where Rickman was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actor. Returning to London, he filmed Love Actually for Richard Curtis and Something the Lord Made, for HBO.
DAME MAGGIE SMITH (Professor McGonagall) is quite simply one of the world’s greatest stage and screen actresses, revered both by her peers and the public alike, and the recipient of countless awards, including two Academy Awards, the CBE and the DBE, as well as an Emmy for her role in My House in Umbria. Most recently she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for her role in Robert Altman’s highly acclaimed Gosford Park.
Dame Maggie Smith was most recently seen in Ladies in Lavender, alongside Judi Dench and directed by Charles Dance, and My House in Umbria, with Chris Cooper, directed by Richard Loncraine.
Smith first appeared on stage with the Oxford University Drama Society in 1952 and then made her professional debut in New York in The New Faces 1956 Revue. She joined the Old Vic Company in 1959 and began gathering awards including the 1962 Evening Standard’s Best Actress Award for her roles as Doreen in The Private Ear and Belinda in The Public Eye.
Smith joined The National Theatre in 1963 playing Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello and went on to further success in Black Comedy, Miss Julie, The Country Wife, The Beaux Stratagem and Much Ado About Nothing.
But it was in 1969 when her portrayal in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie catapulted her into the public eye and won her an Academy Award and the Society of Film and TV Arts Best Actress Award. Further film roles followed including Travels with my Aunt (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress) and Death on the Nile. Then, in 1977 Smith won her second Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her role in Neil Simon’s California Suite.
The accolades continued to flow with Alan Bennett’s A Private Function (co-starring Michael Palin), for which she won a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, a Variety Club Award and her fifth Academy Award nomination. Further film success followed with Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress), Steven Spielberg’s Hook, Sister Act, The Secret Garden, Richard III, The First Wives Club, Washington Square, Tea with Mussolini (for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress), The Last September and Callie Khouri’s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood with Sandra Bullock.
Smith has remained faithful to her stage career throughout her illustrious film and television work. She played the title role of Hedda Gabler in 1970 and won her second Variety Club Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Millamant in the Way of the World. Further stage productions include Night and Day and Edna O’Brien’s Virginia, for which she received the Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Actress. Other notable productions include The Interpreters, Infernal Machine, Coming in to Land, Lettice and Lovage (for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress), The Importance of Being Earnest, Three Tall Women (for which she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress), A Delicate Balance, Alan Bennett’s Lady in the Van and, most recently, opposite Judi Dench in David Hare’s The Breath of Life.
Major television credits include Granada’s Mrs. Silly, for which she won a BAFTA for Best Actress; the BBC’s Momento Mori; Suddenly Last Summer and Talking Heads: Bed Among the Lentils, for which she won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress and, most recently, the BBC’s All the King’s Men and David Copperfield.
In 1970 Smith received a CBE and in 1990 she became Dame Maggie Smith when she received the DBS. She was awarded the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize in 1991, is a Fellow of the British Film Institute, was awarded a Silver BAFTA in 1993, and is a patron of the Jane Austen Society.
TIMOTHY SPALL (Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail) rejoins the cast once again as the spineless Wormtail, Voldemort’s loyal servant and betrayer of Harry Potter’s parents.
Spall has been a familiar face to TV and film audiences across the globe for over 20 years, since he first shot to fame as the hapless Barry in BBC TV’s Auf Wiedersehen Pet. He has gone on to star in over 30 films including Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies and Topsy Turvy, receiving BAFTA and London Film Critics’ Circle Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. He received further nominations from the British Independent Film Awards and the London Film Critics’ Circle as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for his role in Peter Cattaneo’s Lucky Break, and again Best Actor nominations by the British Industry Film Awards and Europe Film Awards for Leigh’s All or Nothing.
Most recently, Spall completed a role alongside Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Other notable film credits include Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, Kenneth Branagh’s Love Labour’s Lost and Hamlet, Mike Leigh’s Life is Sweet, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky, Clint Eastwood’s White Hunter Black Heart, Richard Loncraine’s My House in Umbria, Doug McGrath’s Nicholas Nickleby, Rock Star, Christopher Miles’ The Clandestine Marriage, Brian Gibson’s Still Crazy and Simon Wincer’s Young Indie.
Spall is also highly respected in the world of television drama. He received a BAFTA nomination as Best Actor for Julian Farino’s Our Mutual Friend and also won the Broadcasting Press Guild TV Award again for Best Actor. He also won Best Actor Awards from both the Cinema Tout Ecran and Prix d’Italie Awards for his role in Stephen Poliakoff’s Shooting the Past, as well as further BAFTA nominations both for Shooting the Past and Danny Boyle’s Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise. His most recent television role was in the series Cherished.
In addition to his film and television career, Spall is a revered stage actor of many performances, including Stephen Daldry’s
