WATFORD, England — There were so many faces. “Thousands. It felt like every kid in England wanted to be in the first ‘Harry Potter’ film.” That’s how producer David Heyman remembers the crush of casting options a decade ago when the spellbinding franchise began with the key decision of picking its young wizards.
They found their Hermione in the daughter of two attorneys who seemed as driven as the character. Ron was discovered in a videotape audition plucked from a mailroom mountain. The future Harry was spotted by Heyman in the audience of a theatrical production.
Interviewed more than a year ago on the Watford, England, set of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which opens Wednesday, the three stars talked about the past and the future.
Daniel Radcliffe
Most movie sets are flimsy facades, but not the airplane factory that a decade ago was transformed into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and built to last. The floors and walls are real stone, and no one knows their cracks and echoes better than Daniel Radcliffe.
Radcliffe, who turns 20 this month, has been wearing the Hogwarts robes since summer 2000, when “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling signed off on his casting.
In person, he has a quick smile and the same chipper enthusiasm as his world-famous character, but the actor also possesses a sly wit and calculating eye that quickly sets him apart from the puppyish boy wizard.
Radcliffe has been called the world’s richest working teen, and at age 16 he became the youngest nonroyal to have an individual portrait on display at Britain’s 153-year-old National Portrait Gallery.
No one would begrudge Radcliffe for taking a long break after the eighth and last movie is filmed in 2011, but no one who knows him actually expects that to happen. The actor performed to strong reviews in London and New York in “Equus,” and the harrowing spiritual and sexual themes (along with the nude scenes for the star) were an emphatic declaration that Radcliffe wants to be more than Rowling’s magical orphan.
“He’s an extremely focused young man and keen to learn as much as he can at all times,” “Half-Blood” director David Yates said. “He’s pursuing a career that will carry him far beyond this role and these films.”
Radcliffe said the “Potter” soundstage has been a second home and a one-of-a-kind acting academy. Several generations of the best from British and Irish stage and cinema have passed through the franchise, such as Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and the late Richard Harris, and Radcliffe tried to learn from each of them.
His mother, Marcia Jeannine Gresham, told her son that as the “Potter” novels went along, she saw more of her son in the character and vice versa. “She read ‘Half-Blood Prince’ and she did say, ‘Harry has started to argue like you argue,’”
Radcliffe laughed, but then grew a bit serious.
“I would like to think I haven’t been influenced by him too much just by playing him for so long,” Radcliffe said. “I am thrilled to have this in my life, but it is separate from my life, you know?”
Emma Watson
How many people get to meet their maker and live to tell the tale? Emma Watson said that’s how she has viewed her friendship with J.K. Rowling.
During the filming of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Watson contemplated this relationship. “We talk, we e-mail each other now,” she said,
“I must admit I still feel quite intimidated by her,” Watson said. “Not because she is actually intimidating, but because I admire her so much.”
Rowling has said that Watson’s character, the sweet but swotty Hermione Granger, is based in part on her own persona as a child. That has led to a mutual fascination between the actress and the writer who, together, have shaped the character.
In “Half-Blood Prince,” Hermione is the wounded heart of the film, dealing with her feelings for chum Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) as well as the dark threats gathering at Hogwarts.
“There are serious dangers brewing, but there is also a lot of romance and humor,” Watson said.
“Emma is astonishingly bright and just anxious to move forward with life,” Heyman said. “She could be an actress or a model, but with her studies and success she could also be a lawyer.”
Aside from school plays and the “Potter” franchise, Watson’s only acting credits are her voice role in “The Tale of Despereaux” and the 2007 movie “Ballet Shoes.” Watson just made her debut as the new face of Burberry and she is on the cover of the new Elle.
A big topic of speculation in England is where the daughter of two attorneys will be attending college after she finishes the “Potter” movies.
Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint may walk on red carpets, but with his glum smile and complete lack of pretension he seems as unaffected as the pub regulars enjoying afternoon beers back in his home village of Watton-at-Stone.
Grint will be 21 next month, but he seems older around the eyes and, like his character Ron Weasley, he doesn’t seem as driven as the other two members of his famous trio.
“I was thinking about what it’s going to be like when we’re done, after the last movie,” Grint said. “All of this, this is what I know.”
Alfonso Cuaron, director of the third “Potter” film, predicted that Grint was the most likely member of the “Potter” trio to go on to future stardom. Asked about that, Grint winced in embarrassment.
“Dan is the one who is very driven; he’s ambitious and he knows there’s quite a few things down the road. I am a little bit more laid back.”
Grint said Watson is “like a sister,” which made for some awkward scenes in “Half-Blood Prince” since a major part of the film is the love triangle involving Grint’s Ron, Watson’s Hermione and newcomer Jessie Cave as the smitten Lavender Brown.
Grint said he had caught a glimpse of the first “Potter” film on TV a week earlier and was struck by how young he and his friends looked.
“I think it’s going to be sad when this, all of it, when it’s all over,” Grint said.
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