Daniel Radcliffe became world famous overnight when he was cast in the lead of the movie versions of J.K. Rowling’s monstrously popular ‘Harry Potter’ novels — he was just 11. Yet somehow, in a movie industry where super-sized egos and a grand sense of entitlement are often excused, Radcliffe remains grounded, genuine and self-deprecating.

As movie no. 6, ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ makes its way to a sure-to-be blockbuster opening, a grown-up Radcliffe, now 19, speaks candidly to Moviefone about transitioning from child star to sex symbol, dropping trou on stage in ‘Equus’ — and why he really thinks Dumbledore was outed. – By Kevin Polowy

You became rich and famous so quickly and at such a young age. How in the world did you avoid turning into a raging a-hole?

[Laughs] Thank you very much. Nicely phrased. I think I have just always had an awareness that when you go to a premiere and people start cheering and shouting your name and stuff, they are shouting at a perception of you that they have. They are shouting at an idea of you as a famous person. They don’t know me. They might still like me if they got to know me, but it would be a different person than the one that they’re cheering for. If you think they’re cheering for you and all your flaws, and the slobbishness, and everything else that goes with you, that’s when I think you start to become thick-headed and believe your own hype. Also I just think I’ve been lucky enough to have great parents, and I’ve had good people around me who have always been honest with me, who would give me a purely metaphorical slap if I ever got too big for my boots. I really think that’s what it comes down to. I think England is a place that is not tolerant of arrogance, and also the reaction to arrogance in England is different than it is in the States, because sometimes in the States, people can be a bit freaked out by that thinking and back off, whereas in England, they become more aggressive at you and take the piss out of you. In England, anybody’s arrogance is just lampooned, constantly. When you grow up in that culture, you know that’s not what you want to be.

It’s a long one, so click after the jump to read the entire interview! (more…)

A rabid Harry Potter fan took his life yesterday after inadvertently learning a plot spoiler from the soon-to-be-released J.K. Rowling movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” 



Jude Ralston, 32, of Hudson, Ohio left a suicide note indicating that since overhearing the plot spoiler at a shopping mall earlier in the day, “I no longer have a reason to live.” 



Family and friends who gathered for a candlelight memorial outside Mr. Ralston’s house remembered a man who seemed to live only for Harry Potter - and wondered if they could have done anything to prevent his tragic fate. 



“When Jude got that vanity license plate that said ‘Hogwarts,’ that seemed harmless enough,” said Polly Clovis, who attended Model U.N. with Mr. Ralston while the two were in high school. “But when he started wearing that wizard hat around town, we really should have seen that as a cry for help.” 



According to friends of Mr. Ralston, the Potter fanatic had done everything in his power to protect himself from stumbling across Potter plot spoilers, even disconnecting his computer from the Internet and avoiding his favorite vintage comic book store. 



Ms. Clovis said that she hoped Mr. Ralston’s death would cause federal authorities to tighten the flow of Harry Potter plot information to prevent similar tragedies from taking place. 



“In my heart I believe that could have saved Jude’s life, even if he didn’t have one,” she said. 



Source

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has won her long-running battle with a fan who planned to publish an unauthorized guide to her wizard franchise.

Rowling began legal proceedings against writer Steve Vander Ark and publisher RDR Books last year after learning of their plans to release The Harry Potter Lexicon. On Monday, Patterson told the court that RDR “failed to establish an affirmative defense of fair use”.

Source

WENN

Horrible news Harry Potter fans!

Warner Bros. is postponing the release of Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the sixth film in the franchise– set to be released Nov. 21– will now hit theaters in July of 2009.

In a statement, Warner Bros. president Alan Horn blamed the writers strike for the delay.

“Like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films–changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of,” he said. “We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tentpole release for midsummer.”

The studio said it still plans to release a two-film adaptation of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with the first film on track to be released on Nov. 19, 2010.

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WENN

Daniel Radcliffe has compared the latest Harry Potter installment to cult movie Trainspotting - insisting the new film contains “a fair amount of sexual energy and drug parallels”.

Radcliffe recently finished filming the sixth Potter movie - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is due for release in November.

And the star insists that there are moments in the picture which are very similar to scenes in Ewan McGregor’s controversial 1996 film.

He says, “There’s a fair amount of sexual energy and drug parallels. We have a couple of Trainspotting moments. That’s two films I never thought would be mentioned in the same breath.”

Source

WENN

Attention Harry Potter fans! There may be only two books left to translate to the big screen, but there will be three movies released.

On Thursday, Warner Bros. announced that the final ‘Harry’ film, (based on the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) will be released in two parts.
Part one of the final film will debut in 2010, to be followed months later by part 2.

In a statement, Warner Bros. President, Jeff Robinov said, “We feel that the best way to do the book, and its many fans, justice is to expand the screen adaptation. The Deathly Hallows is so rich, the story so dense and there is so much that is resolved that after discussing it with Jo, (J.K. Rowling) we came to the conclusion that the two parts were needed to do it justice.”

The movies (the sixth is in production now) are based on British Author J.K. Rowling’s best-selling fantasy novels about the adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter and his friends, as they grow into maturity at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Deathly Hallows, the much anticipated final book in Rowling’s series, was published last July, selling 11.5 million copies in its first 10 days–in the U.S. alone.

The final volume is more than 750 pages, filled with several twists and turns as Harry and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley take on the evil Lord Voldemort for the last time.

WENN

Kids and adults around the world waited in line last night for the latest, and last installment of the new Harry Potter book. At 12:01 a.m. many fans got their hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but I expect many more fans will have to wait for new shipments to arrive as, I am sure, bookstores have sold every last copy.

The books has a print run of 12 million in the United States. Rowling herself gave a midnight reading to 500 contest-winning kids at London’s Natural History Museum. Lucky!

So, what about the book itself? I got this critique from Sue Corbett from People Magazine:

Rowling doesn’t want anyone spoiling the plot of her wildly successful epic, but she’s quite the tease herself, having whipped readers into an anxious frenzy by dropping hints about characters biting the dust in Deathly Hallows. And boy, do they ever. The first death comes in chapter one, and the final body count is high. Harry is in peril from the beginning, with Death Eaters swarming the skies as he’s about to turn 17. The plot careens nearly non-stop from one scrape to the next – it may be some of the most exhausting fiction ever put to page. But it’s also exhilarating, and a must-read for those with nagging questions about Snape’s true nature, Dumbledore’s childhood, and all else Hogwartian. As expected, it all ends with a Star Wars-worthy battle between Good and Evil. Rowling’s fans won’t be disappointed.

I don’t know if anyone has read it yet, but personally I am dying to read it! However, I fear that I am going to have to wait  a bit for the bookstores to restock. Anyone want to give a review without giving away any of the big surprises!?