PotterCast 123: This One was Supposed to be Easy! Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 11:58)

Melissa Anelli (MA): Okay, for the last time from me in quite a while...

Sue Upton (SU): I know!

MA: This is PotterCast Number 123!

John Noe (JN): Oh, my God! This is the last time!

MA: No. I'll be back. I'll be back. I'm not going away forever. This is Melissa, and (JN: It's the absolute last time!) I'm just here, I'm just taking a break from PotterCast for a while. I'll be back in, like, February.

JN: Oh, my God! I'd better take notes!

SU: (laughs) Let's see....

MA: I'm sad! I'll say it, I'm so sad!

SU: We have an opening. We have an ad.

JN: We say, "Hello, everybody," (MA: Yeah.) we say what time it is, and we say, "Welcome to DumbleCast."

SU: DumbleCast. (MA: John.) No. I'm not joining no DumbleCast.

MA: I'll be listen- don't think because I'm not on it, I'm not listening. (SU laughs)

JN: Oh. You're listening after it gets published.

MA: Yeah, and I still have editing (JN laughs) stuff.

SU: Uh-oh. She has the power.

JN: If you waste your time with that...

MA: I know. I know. (JN: Okay.) I might as well be on the show.

JN: Yeah, for real.

MA: No. But no. You guys will do a great job. I'm not even slightly concerned with that. I'm just going to miss you guys!

SU and JN: Aw.

SU: It's not gonna be the same!

JN: We don't talk to each other aside from doing this!

SU: I know.

MA: That's a lie. (SU laughs) (JN: Ever!) I only talk to you three times a day each.

JN: Yeah. It's true. (MA laughs)

SU: You know, when you write your book you should add up the number of emails (laughs) that I send you. (MA laughs)

MA: Oh, I really should. (SU: Within a week.) I should do a little "By the Numbers" in the back: number of emails from John, number of emails from Sue, (SU: That'd be awesome.) number of emails from people who were mean to us, (SU: Oh, God.) number of emails from people who are nice to us. You know? (laughs) So (SU: Oh, dear.) okay, okay. It is PotterCast 123 and we have to take care of some business. So why don't we hear from Borders?

SU: Borders.

JN: (in a high voice) Today's PotterCast (MA: John!) is brought to you by...

SU: No. It should be Melissa because it's her last time.

MA and JN: Aw, sad!

MA: Okay, okay.

BORDERS AD:
MA: Today’s PotterCast is brought to you by Borders. Haven’t read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet? Don’t worry, Borders is here to help. Pick up your copy of this summer's smash hit soon– you won’t be able to hide from the spoilers forever. You can count on Borders to have it in stock and ready to take home tonight, along with the audio book version. Even if you’ve read the book, the Harry Potter fun doesn’t have to end yet! Visit BordersMedia.com or click on the Borders banner at the top of the PotterCast page to find out more.

MA: Okay, Sue, what's going on in the news, please?

SU: Hey! We have great news, everyone! We have sort of photos from Half-Blood Prince filming and they're not of Hagrid's hut! It's a (JN: Hey!) first in the fandom. I think it's just amazing. (laughs)

MA: Hm.

JN: Well, I heard that the big spa hot tub (SU laughs) was delayed, so they had to push those scenes back until his set was finished. (SU: Uh-huh.) So, it happens. All the way out in the highlands. It takes a while to get a whirlpool out there.

SU: I guess so. (MA: Yeah.) That'd be kind of hard. Kind of cold.

MA: There's Slughorn's house (SU: Yes.) and then there's a graveyard as well, huh?

SU: Well, it's something. We don't know what that graveyard is, but there's clearly boxes marked "graveyard." I don't know what it is, but it is the scene outside Slughorn's home when- we have readers have sent in reports- when Dumbledore and Harry are outside, that they saw one scene of them filming, you know, they're walking up to the door, and stuff, or leaving and you could hear Slughorn voice saying, "I want a pay raise!"

MA: You know, maybe they're doing a graveyard (JN: Really?) to do a little visual shot reminding people of where we are, because (JN: Yeah.) the Gaunt House is close to (SU: Yeah.) the village where the Riddles are. (SU: That's true.) (JN: I think they're doing that.) So maybe they're going to do something to try and remind us of that scenery, (SU: Maybe.) you know?

SU: I don't know.

JN: Yeah. I heard that they were going to add the graveyard near the cave when the Inferi come out. (MA: No.) (SU laughs) As Harry and Dumbledore were running away, people would come out of the ground and chase them.

SU: (sings) "Thriller! Doo, doo, doo." Isn't that how it goes? Sorry.

JN: The army of the dead.

SU: I know. I think so. I don't know, but one really cool thing about the reports that are coming out, that Michael Gambon is wearing a green kind of tinted cast on his hand, so they can do, like- I don't know. Is that kind of like a green screen, I think, isn't it?

JN: You're talking, like, a chromocolored green?

SU: Yeah!

JN: Yeah, so they'll just take that out, and replace it with a CG hand or whatever.

SU: So that- the fact that they're doing that gives me hope (JN: Well, that's...) again.

JN: That's a pain in the butt. (MA: Yeah.) So that's awesome!

MA: Yeah.

SU: I was like, "Yee haw!"

JN: I mean, they'll probably alternate between having an actual, physical version of it (SU: Yeah.) that can be in shots that's not center framed on the camera and all that stuff.

SU: Yeah.

JN: They'll probably do it both ways, just like they do everything else.

SU: It's wonderful that David Yates is taking that time, and his crew...

MA: Yeah.

JN: That's brilliant. It's awesome.

SU: The fabulous special effects crew that are going to be doing that, and I just think that's brilliant.

MA: 'Cause they don't technically need to. It's not (SU: Yeah.) absolutely necessary.

JN: Yeah.

SU: That's right.

JN: They could give him a black sock to wear, (MA: John!) and go, "Oh, my hand!" Like, little pantyhose.

MA: Yeah. Okay.

SU: Yeah, they could've. Speaking of Mr. Yates, congratulations go to him and the entire Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix team because they were nominated for a Children's BAFTA Award, which is a (JN: Nice!) pretty big deal, I think. And they're also up for the...

JN: You think? Of course it is!

SU: Yeah, it is! And the game also...

JN: BAFTAs are huge.

SU: Well, BAFTAs are the British Academy of...

JN: Yeah.

SU: I mean that's pretty...

JN and MA: Film and Television Arts.

SU: Yeah, so...

MA: Association, Arts, (SU: Yes.) something with an "A."

SU: Television Arts or something like that, I don't- but that's really a pretty big deal, and then they...

MA: (laughs) They're the British Oscars!

SU: I think you can vote for them later, but I think that starts on November 1st or something.

MA: That's the orange stuff, right?

SU: Mm-hm, yeah, (MA: Okay.) and that starts next month but...

JN: The what is it now?

MA and SU: Orange.

MA: It's when you vote.

JN: Orange. Like the People's Choice?

SU: Sorta. I think so.

MA: Sorta.

JN: Like the blimp?

MA: Okay, what else?

SU: Oh, and speaking of Order of the Phoenix, the DVD launch is going to be held in London, England on November 3rd with Miss Emma Watson in attendance at the big thing.

JN: Only her?

SU: I mean, she posted it on her website.

JN: Everybody usually goes to that, don't they?

SU: What do you mean?

MA: Well...

JN: Don't we have pictures of the cast at DVD launches?

SU: Yeah.

MA: Yeah, a lot of them have gone. They didn't have one for the fourth movie.

JN: It's not just "The Emma Show."

MA: Well, but she's the first one who said she's going.

SU: You went to one, right? The Prisoner of Azkaban?

MA: Yeah, I went to the Prisoner of Azkaban one. It was fun.

SU: Right.

JN: How fun. I heard that Chris Rankin is unlikely to attend the DVD launch.

SU: Well...

MA: No, John. He's (SU: No, he's unlikely...) unlikely to be in Half-Blood Prince.

SU: Thank you, Melissa.

JN: Aw, Chris! (SU laughs)

SU: Boo! I wanted Percy, but you know.

MA: Well, here's my question: they have no setup for this Percy thing whatsoever, so (JN: I know!) I mean, they have to set it up in the beginning of Movie Seven in order to resolve it. There's really not that much tension anymore. (JN: They just won't. They're not going to do it.) They're not going to do it, which is sad.

JN: Screw it.

SU: Yeah. Boo.

JN: Sorry, Chris. S.O.L.

SU: Well, we love you, Chris and hopefully you can give us a little more, or they'll definitely write that scene in Deathly Hallows, 'cause we love Chris Rankin. And I'm saying that blatantly, we love you! There you go.

JN: Yes. I'm going to send him a valentine this year.

SU: Oh! Is it going to sing?

MA: Yeah, you do that.

JN: Going to be a little cupid with a white beard. (SU laughs)

MA: Okay, Patrick Doyle. This is some serious news from Patrick Doyle.

SU: Yes. (JN: Oh, big news.) I have to say, this is a very lovely article. Patrick Doyle has battled against leukemia and he is in, since, recovery, but there was a very moving interview with him about his struggle against- while he was going through it. He has an aggressive form of it. A lot of people, actually, do not have a good survivor rate of the disease, this form of the disease, (JN: Oh, no.) and during his treatments he received some help from people in the Harry Potter films, including some much-needed help from Mr. Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson who showed up wearing wigs and speaking in Scottish accents while he was in the hospital. I mean...

MA: Aw.

JN: Oh, my gosh, that's awesome!

MA: Wait, they were speaking in British accents?

SU: They were Scottish accents! It said Scottish accents.

MA: Scottish accents! Okay, (JN: Well...) 'cause I was gonna say, they both have British accents, (SU: Yeah.) so that's not a stretch.

SU: No, but Patrick Doyle is Scottish, and he was in the hospital, and he was suffering terribly, and I just can't imagine. But he is great friends with Mr. Kenneth Branagh, and he's composed several scores to Mr. Branagh's films like, most notably Henry V was one of my favorite scores he ever did. But Ken is a big friend of his and did a lot for him, and so they're holding a charity concert this past weekend in London, England, and Alan and Emma and Mr. Branagh are hosting this thing, and were all gonna be there at this thing, so I'm hopeful- by the time you hear this we'll have had some reports from that, but I just think that's awesome, how these people rally around other people involved in the films. Just remember that it's not about...

JN: It's like a big family.

SU: It is! (MA: It's great.) (JN: Aw.) And if you haven't had the chance, the links are on our website. I urge you to read the article because it's very well done. It's really good. (JN: Cool.) (sighs) But speaking of people suffering, Lupin wasn't really suffering too much. According to Alfonso Cuaron, he was a gay junkie, right? (laughs)

MA: I don't understand this.

JN: The best segway ever. (laughs)

SU: I don't even know what to say.

MA: That was funny (laughs). But, okay, (JN: A gay junkie.) certainly, people have thought that Lupin was gay before, but definitely (JN: A junkie?) I never got junkie.

JN: That's terrible, he's the most educated of the Marauders.

MA: That doesn't mean you're not a junkie. It's just, I never got drug user out of Lupin. (laughs) It's weird.

JN: Oh, he does take the Wolfsbane every month.

SU: I guess.

MA: Well, that's sort of necessary.

JN: Yeah, well, he's a junkie with Wolfsbane.

MA: But, you know, they never even mentioned Wolfsbane in the film, there's no such thing as Wolfsbane in the film.

SU: Exactly.

JN: This is true. (MA: So he's just a junkie.) There might've been at one point. We never heard of drugs, really, in the Wizarding World, do we? Other than the firewhiskey?

MA: There's some stuff that they're passing around for staying alert on tests that Hermione confiscates.

JN: Oh, that's right, (SU: Yeah, the dragon dung stuff.) yeah!

MA: Like dried beetle twigs or something.

JN: Dragon dung?

SU: Well, yeah.

MA: Not dragon dung.

SU: With dried dragon dung in it.

JN: Eww. By the spoonful.

SU: You know. (JN laughs) But we have video of Mr. Thewlis saying this, too. But just the idea of Alfonso Cuaron- he gets so much abuse sometimes, (JN: I know!) even though I think- I just- I don't know.

JN: "I want to add a hundred shrunken (SU laughs) heads and make the Defense teacher a homosexual junkie."

SU: No, I just- Mr. Thewlis, he was just really surprised by the revelations. (JN: Yeah.) And the fallout on the revelations still continues even though there's other news and we actually had a pretty good- (MA: Yeah.) Melissa, you actually had a pretty good interview, I thought. Someone about helping us understand this whole issue.

MA: Well, (JN: Yes.) we interviewed the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation because they could provide perspective with how to deal (SU: Yes.) with this in a responsible manner. They specialize in homosexual images and words in the media. Let me just clarify: we're not presenting sides of an issue as to whether it was right that J.K. Rowling said that Dumbledore is gay, or whether she should have or she shouldn't have, that's not what we're dealing with on the site. The fact is that she has said this, so now we're looking at how we deal with that responsibly, and that's what we're trying to help our readers do. So there's been some call for a response, but there is no opposing viewpoint, unless there is a different and opposite viewpoint that also is about how to deal with this revelation responsibly that does not talk about, "Well, she shouldn't have said it," 'cause that's not the issue. That's not what we're...

SU: Mm-hm.

JN: I mean, isn't there the option of just saying, "Okay, whatever," and then not thinking about it anymore?

MA: There is that option. That would be lovely, but clearly we can't do that.

JN: I mean, it's like, what difference is this really than saying, "Hagrid never found love either." Oh, my God, Hagrid the giant didn't find love! It's gonna change everything, too. It doesn't change the book any more than that fact.

MA: Nope. So we have a lot of discussion on this in the Mailbag tonight so let's...

SU: Mm-hm.

JN: We do. Far too much discussion about it.

MA: Yeah. Far too much. So we have just a big, big Mailbag, Kristin is going to join us for the Mailbag, and we will see you at the end of the show!

JN: Woo-woo!