PotterCast 133: The Bard’s Tale Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 23:11)

John Noe (JN): First show of the new year guys! Happy 2008!

Sue Upton (SU): Woo! (laughs)

JN: And we are Melissa-less for this week. (SU: Aw!) It is the last week where she is finishing writing her little book, (SU: Yay!) her little project there she's working on. (SU: Mm-hm.) But it's Sue and I here, and we'll be joined by a few more Leaky peoples to get some more voices in here talking about things, (SU: Yeah.) but welcome. Glad to have you with us. I think we have a few new listeners out there (SU: Mm-hm.) who we managed to reel in there with our awesome, well, I think it was pretty awesome, J.K. Rowling interview.

SU: Who? Who? Who was it? (laughs)

JN: Some talented author, person, lady, friend.

SU: Oh yeah, I've heard of her. Okay.

JN: Yeah, but it was good times. It's good times. We don't have her on this week, actually. I think I might just keep reminding everybody. One of these weeks we'll have her back. You'll have to just keep on downloading. I don't know, (SU: Ooh!) but there has been some cool news, and some news that we have to catch up on, because we've been having our Jo shows and our clip shows and things.

SU: But some relevant news and the fact that we got to see the J.K. Rowling- We got to hear a little bit more from her in the form of her documentary the A Year in Life documentary that aired in the U.K on ITV. (JN: It did!) You can still see it online if you- Their site was replaying it, so we're able, for those of us in the United States who are fanatics, we're able to see it and it was just- It was really marvelous!

JN: Should we do a spoiler warning here for anybody? If you have not yet watched the ITV interview, (SU: Mm-hm.) (makes siren noise) Actually was there anything? Yeah, I guess there was spoilers.

SU: There was a spoiler, because in the course of it, Jo spoke about her life growing up. We saw some moving photos of her when she was- They're actually funny, because I related to it, of her and her sister and how they used to dress alike and they had the world's worst haircuts. Although I had some pretty bad haircuts when I was little, too. Don't worry, Jo, you're not alone! (JN: Yeah.) She does talk a little about post-Deathly Hallows, so there is a segment in it, if you haven't read the book!

JN: But definitely, definitely worth checking out, you guys. I'm sure most of you (SU: Mm-hm.) who are savvy enough to download PotterCast have been savvy enough to watch the documentary online or in your living rooms, if you're lucky enough to live in the Uck. So tell me, Suze, it's been about three or four weeks now, we've had some crazy news, (SU: Yeah.) I don't know how crazy it is, honestly, I just like to call all the news crazy. (SU: Yeah.) But some cool news. I know that there's some new cast members thrown in there somewhere, but where do we want to start here first?

SU: Can we just talk a little bit more about the documentary? (JN: Okay.) I really don't want to talk too much, but it does bring up something that has been on the minds of fans and it is related to our news. It has to do with the new Harry Potter theme park that is happening at Universal Studios (JN: Yes!) in Orlando, Florida which is just wonderful. And right before the holidays Universal sent out an email and they have a poll on there, where people could go vote where they would like to be able to go and have a snack. (JN laughs) I know! We're not mentioned, but the choices are The Hog's Head, The Three Broomsticks, or Honeydukes. Well, unfortunately the poll was not working, but now...

JN: Now it is working? (SU: Yes.) But they don't probably have to include Leaky in there, because of course Leaky's going to be in there, so (SU: You'd hope! You'd hope so.) they're trying to decide between these three places to make a sign for.

SU: Yeah, that would be one. We would vote for that. (JN: Yes.) Thank you. Please, Universal. Grovel, grovel.

JN: (laughs) What would you vote for, Sue?

SU: I actually voted for The Hog's Head, (JN: Really?) because- I know it's not- In the books it's a (JN: Yeah.) run down kind of place, but then it turned out to be a pretty cool place. Aberforth really came...

JN: I definitely would vote for The Hog's Head, and I'll tell you why. (SU: Why?) Because when I was being- Puttin on my thinking cap one day, and thinking, "What would be cool to happen in this park?" I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if you had The Hog's Head as the entrance to a ride? That was very subtle, (SU: Oh, that would be sweet.) though, because you had to go behind the- Above the fireplace or whatever, inside the picture frame, (SU: Right.) and it's like a DA kind of thing. The DA ride and that is how you'd climb up to it.

SU: That would be sweet.

JN: It would have to be in The Hog's Head.

SU: That would be neat, that would be like- You could be on walkway, like on different exhibits and things. You could do a moving walkway. They could have you go through that. (JN: Yeah.) That would be sweet.

JN: That would be cool, just a little- you'd really have to know your Deathly Hallows. (SU: Yeah.) It would be confusing to other folks but...

SU: Yeah, but I don't know. I think anyone that is going to go there is going to have kind of a general knowledge of the Harry Potter.- (JN: Yeah.) Maybe not, but I think most people will.

JN: And they could have goat air freshener that they could have in the air. (SU laughs)

SU: I was going to be good and not mention the goat at all. (JN laughs) I was not going to say anything about feeding stations or anything about the little charm things. Yes.

JN: It would be a little petting zoo. (SU laughs) Just don't overdo it. We don't need twelve goats or all the little kids will go in there.

SU: Aberforth's Petting Zoo. I'm not even...

JN: Yeah, this isn't in Animal Kingdom, for gosh sakes.

SU: But okay, so on the documentary one of the great things is they show Jo as she went through her life as she got ready for the release, (JN: Yeah.) and she got to meet with the fine folks from Universal. And on the table, obsessive fans.

JN: Hollywood comes to Jo.

SU: Yes, she was talking. She goes- she always felt like she's the thirteen year-old, and she can't get over why these people are all looking at her. (JN: Oh!) Obviously, I know! It's like, Jo, come on.

JN: Modest Jo.

SU:But they were going over the plans and discussing the new things for the park, and if you look closely which I did, (JN: Yeah.) obsessively, you could see the blueprint of Ollivander's (JN: Hm.) is going to be there. And we hadn't heard that before so I was like, "Whoa!" There we go. Very cool.

JN: Ollivander's. Now, I'm very curious because if it's just a wand shop, that would be cool. But it could be a whole wand experience, and they could just hire a bunch of old guys to play Ollivander at whatever part of the day, and let you try out your wands and things, and they could have little areas set up to once a kid swings a wand in that direction some dude hits a button, and the flowerpot falls off the shelf or whatever.

SU: Oh! That would be awesome.

JN: Who wouldn't buy the wand at that point? That would be a brilliant way to sell wands at this place...

SU: Oh, sure it is. (laughs)

JN: To actually show it do magic in the store...

SU: It would be, and I would- I'd totally jump on that! Are you kidding me? That would be fabulous, just to say I bought my wand at Ollivander's. The potential for this really is endless. (JN: Absolutely.) I just think it's amazing. And you could hear the guys in the background. I didn't mean to be rude to Mr. Runcie, because he did a fabulous job on the narration, but in the background the guy was saying to her- and I was trying to listen to what he was saying about, if you stand at a certain spot you could- someone could overhear what they're saying. It sounded like he was saying maybe Peeves or one of the ghosts or somebody would come along, so if you're going through this exhibit or something, or going through the castle in Hogwarts. (JN: Yeah.) How cool would that be?

JN: They call that hypersonic sound, (SU: Oh.) and that's what they actually mentioned in the thing.

SU: Oh, could you imagine? And then you'd never want to leave. You'd want to keep running back and going to that same spot, because I'd want to hear it over and over again. That would be a problem but that would be amazing.

JN: This is from an article in USA Today, it says essentially, hypersonic sound for the first time does for sound what laser did for light. It intensely focuses and channels it, so it can travel great distances without dispersing. So, essentially it's like a sound gun. (SU: Okay.) It's kind of similar to a microphone. It looks kind of like a gun that focuses in on a particular area, (SU: Mm-hm.) but it's like you're hearing it. So if Sue's across the room from me, you could essentially aim this speaker-type device in Sue's direction, and only Sue can hear this music, and the people three feet away from Sue can't hear anything.

SU: That's extraordinary. That seems like magic, (JN: That kind of stuff is made for theme parks.) that's really cool.

JN: That's a brilliant usage of this kind of technology. (SU: Wow.) And if it's like having the knights of Hogwarts (SU: Yes.) able to talk to you if you're right in front of them, but somebody who's right next to you can't hear any of it.

SU: That would be fabulous, because you could have Peeves swooping through saying all sorts of hysterical things. And people would be looking around going, "What? What did you say?" (JN: Yeah.) Oh, I love it. For me, I'd like to see Hufflepuff (JN laughs) Fat Friar come flipping down. It'd be awesome. (JN: Yeah.) It'd be so much fun, though. You could have a blast with that. I just think that's...

JN: You could do crazy things, and it's great that we'll get to see it in a theme park probably, because (SU: I know.) eventually it'll be everywhere. You'll be walking by advertisements, and when you're in front of an ad, you'll hear that thing (SU: Yeah.) reading. It'll read it's jingles to you.

SU: But that was just brilliant. So that is happening, and it is set for a late 2009 or early 2010. I don't think they've specified yet. A few weeks ago, as we saw, the construction has begun. So, this is very exciting, can't wait to go.

JN: It had begun for sure? There was no big ground breaking ribbon- (SU: Well...) not ribbon cutting, but ground breaking ceremony (SU: This month.) or anything? A bunch of old guys with shovels?

SU: Maybe Jo will show up in her hardhat. (JN: Nothing like that?) Jo hat.

JN: I don't think Jo- I don't think she'd fly out for the ground breaking, but she'll certainly be there for the opening. But I thought they'd do something (SU: I thought they would, too.) big for ground-breaking.

SU: Clearly they've started stuff. We saw photos, so- I don't know if that's official.

JN: The photos were building the construction walls (SU: Yeah.) for sure, weren't they?

SU: No, we saw the bulldozers, and they were definitely plowing, preparing the ground. Yeah.

JN: Were they?

SU: It'll happen. It'll happen soon. I'm sure there'll be a big formal press release, but we can expect that this year, and I think that's very exciting for fans.

JN: Yeah, totally.

SU: And speaking of fans being excited, we are now in the month of January, and filming has begun again, and it still continues on Half-blood Prince, but now the students are back. As they said, they're coming back, yes, and all those (JN: Sweet.) new cast members we saw.

JN: Sweet! New kids on the block. (SU: I know.) Sorry, Eve, you're old news now, I guess. (SU: Yeah. Well, you know...) Evanna Lynch is no longer the new girl.

SU: Aw! But you know what? She'll be an old pro, though, (JN: Yeah.) she can help guide the other ones around.

JN: Well what did David Yates call her recently, (SU: Mm-hm.) the walking encyclopedia?

SU: Yeah! Yeah, he did. She's great, though, Evanna. She knows her stuff. Her and Matt Lewis, they both are just...

JN: (laughs) So who are all our new kids now, that we have to dish about?

SU: (sighs) Let me find the list of names.

JN: We have little guy Voldemort, Tom Riddle.

SU: Yeah, who is the nephew of (JN: Nephew of the man.) actor Ralph Fiennes. His name is Tiffin, I think, right?

JN: His uncle Ralph.

SU: Yeah. Do you think they have parties and are like, "Hey, how are we gonna play Voldemort?" and dress like big Voldemort and little mini Voldemort?

JN: (laughs) I shall call him "Mini Me."

SU: Mini Me. (laughs) It's so funny. But I just wanna say, because Emma Watson updated her website with news about filming. She talked about them filming scenes for Half-Blood Prince, and they had just filmed the scene when Ron snogs Lavender Brown.

JN: Oh gosh! Now, I hope that doesn't mean it's just gonna be one time.

SU: She said it was really funny, and she was really positive about the actress who was playing (JN: Yeah.) Lavender.

JN: And I'm sure Rupert's not complaining much.

SU: No. With Won-Won. So the Won-Won scenes are in.

JN: I think it would be hilarious, if it was just more than one kiss scene. We had our big one dramatic kiss scene with Harry last time, (SU: Yeah.) under the little grindylow mistletoe. Not grindylows. Whatever the hell it was.

SU: And it was so long. I still go back to that.

JN: (laughs) What was that stuff? Nargles, not grindylows. (SU laughs) What the hell.

SU: Grindylows. Those are those little things, right? The little creatures. (laughs)

JN: (laughs) I guess I wouldn't want to kiss anybody underneath a grindylow. (SU: Yeah.) But yeah, I want every time we're in a scene that Ron's there, he needs to be making out with Lavender. Everything. Even if it's totally ridiculous, like in a classroom.

SU: They can not have a complete snoggage city but they could have her like clinging on him.

JN: I know, I'm exaggerating slightly. (SU: No, you?) But she should be the most ridiculous clingy, annoying, girlfriend possible. (SU: Yeah.) And Hermione will be nuts, it'll be hilarious.

SU: I just think it's really, really funny. (laughs) So that's really cool that Emma Watson is talking about this. The actress' name is Jessie Cave. I keep saying Jessica, like Jo's daughter, Jessica, but it's Jessie Cave.

JN: Jessie Cave?

SU: Cave. C-A-V-E. She's playing Lavender Brown.

JN: Nice. And she's twenty-three, or something? (SU: No, I don't think...) No, I think she's twenty, right?

SU: Yeah, she's not that old, (laughs) but she is an older woman.

JN: Scarlet, even.

SU: Scandal. Scarlet. Scandal. Okay, I do want to talk about that filming is going back, and Mr. Rickman. Alan Rickman is in a new movie called Sweeney Todd.

JN: Oh my God, I saw that over Christmas.

SU: You did? I did, too. I thought it was good.

JN: I thought it was crazy cool. And to see Snape and Wormtail (SU: Yes, Timothy Spall.) and Bellatrix (SU: Mm-hm.) doing other things. (SU: Yeah.) And they would never be appreciated being called their character names from another movie, but...

SU: But he was wonderful, and in one of the press conferences, he said that he is going to be getting here. He should be filming actually by the time this comes out, as Snape doing his scenes again, so woo hoo!

JN: Really? It's cool because Half-Blood Prince is the movie where, or the book where, Snape bosses around Wormtail early on, and in Sweeney Todd Snape is- Snape? Alan Rickman is a judge, and his little manservant is Timothy- what's it? Sprall? Spall?

SU: Timothy Spall. Mm-hm.

JN: Spall, yeah. Good old Tim is basically his helper dude. (SU: Yeah. Yeah.) And it's funny to watch him boss around.

SU: That movie's really pretty good, and it's obviously not for children, it's quite gory, (JN: Yeah.) but it's a wonderful adaptation of the musical, if you've seen the musical. I thoughtJohnny Depp did a good job.

JN: Is there a role for Johnny Depp in Deathly Hallows?

SU: Oh, God, please.

JN: Somewhere.

SU: I think he's mentioned on the dream cast list for Sirius Black.

JN: Oh, God. (laughs)

SU: (laughs) I think if they ever do the American remake that they would cast him. I don't know, maybe not, but he would be, yeah.

JN: He's not English, is he? What's his nationality?

SU: No, he's from Kentucky! He's not. (JN: Kentucky?) I believe he is from Kentucky. He's certainly not British. I know he's American. I could've sworn he's from Kentucky, but yeah. Someone correct me. I don't know where he's from but I believe it was. I'm pretty sure. (JN: Yeah.) Alan Rickman is superb. I just think he is, and I can't wait to see his scenes. I'm so (sighs) looking forward to that last part of the movie. It's so pivotal. That last...

JN: The part where somebody spells somebody off a giant something?

SU: Yeah. Yeah. About this time last year, Newsweek had profiled- Stuart Craig, was building the astronomy tower, so we know that that is all going to be taking place.

JN: That's gonna be huge. It's funny, because about this time for Phoenix, (SU: Mm-hm.) we started to hear the words like, "Now don't spoil what happens." (SU: Yeah.) "Don't say who dies." (SU: I know!) It's like, (laughs) "Um, (SU: Sorry.) people have read the book, (SU: It's already been out for a while.) and if they listen to the podcast, more than likely, (SU: Right.) they've read the book." (SU: Yeah.) I don't know if we should start spoiler warning, talking about (SU: Yeah.) S. zapping D. (SU: Yeah, maybe we should...) off the A.T. (SU laughs) onto the H.G. (SU: I love your not so...) ending up in the W.T. turning into a giant P.

SU: (laughs) If anyone can figure that out, please send emails to...

JN: Of course they can figure that out. (SU: Yeah.) That's easy.

SU: I know it is. That's very exciting. So that's back. But you know what, one thing I have to say, this is goofball of me, but why, in the movies, did they decide to have Alan Rickman whack Ron Weasley on the head?

JN: I love that! (JN and SU laugh) It's so stupid, but it's so funny! (SU: It is!) They're just giggling at the whole Snape getting interrogated, and Snape's all like, "You jerks," and he whacks them across the head.

SU: I know, because he did it, (JN: Yeah.) and you could just see him start to crack up. You could just see Rupert Grint just start to lose it, even before it happens. (JN: Yeah.) If you watch it on the DVDs, split-screen, boom, and then...

JN: Who knows what take that was?

SU: Oh, yeah, you can imagine. You imagine just how much fun they must have on the set, (JN: Yeah.) so I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm sure that'll be in Deathly. I'm sure they'll continue they're streak. (JN: Sure.) yeah. As the movie is ongoing, we still do not have a confirmed director for Deathly Hallows, (JN: Hm.) and we've heard, again, from (www.imdb.com/name/nm0868219/)Guillermo del Toro. (JN: Yeah.) He did a new interview with MTV, (JN: Uh huh.) and he said he is definitely interested in taking on the directorship of the Deathly Hallows movie.

JN: That is very, very interesting. I actually just watched Pan's Labyrinth last night (SU: What'd you think of it?) for the first time, (SU: That's very good.) all the way through. (SU: Yeah?) I just watched it that time, kind of watching it for the movie that it was, and not dissecting it to see how it could- how he would translate Potter. (SU: Mm-hm.) But it was strikingly a beautiful film, in how it was shot. And I don't know how much of that is a credit to the director or the cinematographer, but it was very well done, and it was a very interesting story, too.

SU: Yeah, it is.

JN: I don't know, I think that guy would do a good job, Alfonso would probably do a good job, and (SU: Yeah.) even Columbus I don't think would totally pull everything into reverse, and shoot the movie like he shot One and Two. (SU laughs) I don't think he's that ridiculous.

SU: No, I don't think so. But Mr. Columbus takes- I've certainly been a critic of him, too, but the actors are a lot older, so he will be able to be much more freer to work with them. (JN: Exactly.) And certainly, the cast has matured in their acting skills, (JN: Yeah.) so I think that could be, but I just worry. That book is so- there's so much subtext going on, I just wonder what scenes they will cut for that, and that needs to be handled by a very good director, I think. I think Kloves,- (JN: And a screenwriter.) yeah, well... (sighs)

JN: Do we know if (SU: Kloves is coming back?) Kloves is back for Seven for sure?

SU: I don't think so, but I believe he said that he was going to do that.

JN: I'm more curious about that announcement than I am the director, to be honest.

SU: Me, too. Because I am one of the people who would like to see Mr. Goldenberg come back, but (JN: Yeah.) I don't think that's going to happen. (JN sighs) Yeah. (JN: I don't know.)

JN: We will see. We'll wait with (SU: Right.) rapt attention.

SU: Right. Just a minor note that Cinesite, the wonderful production house company that does so much of the special effects, said that they were going to begin their production on the special effects in May, which means- (JN: Interesting.) they're going to be wrapping up, I think, in the next few months, so hopefully we'll get to see more (JN: Yeah.) of the first trailers soon, and stills.

JN: They'd have been working on a lot of the post-stuff even during production, (SU: Right.) for a lot of those big effects shots, certainly. I think they try to schedule shoots for those kinds of scenes early on, so they have it to work with. (SU: Yeah.) Do we have a full list of which studios are involved at this time?

SU: No, because some of them haven't committed. Although, Rising Sun says they're back, and I'm pretty sure that ILM- get it out- is back, but I don't have a complete list. I'll look around. That's a good thing to go ferret out and find out for sure.

JN: Yeah. I'd love to talk with some of those people, though, (SU: Oh, yeah.) for Six and Seven. Those are people we've never interviewed really, I don't think.

SU: We saw some, to some extent, some interviews with them. I guess if you purchase the high definition. Warner Brothers, as we know released those on December eleventh. They put a lot more content, but we still don't have enough, I mean, not to my. The Cinesite guys- am I saying that right?

JN: Cinefex, the magazine?

SU: No, Cinesite, the company. Is that right? (JN: Oh, yeah.) They make the models for Hogwarts, and that's the one I most. I just love those models. (JN: Yeah.) I'd like to talk to that guy. Let's see, what else is going on? Speaking of the movies, Dan Radcliffe has taken on a new movie. He's going to be playing a young man named Dan Eldon who was a photo journalist who was actually murdered in Somalia.

JN: I tell you, this guy can't sit still.

SU: No, he cannot, Mr. Radcliffe.

JN: Mr. Radcliffe. (SU: No, he's...) He's gotta be doing something all the time. (SU: Yeah, I think so.) I'd go crazy! (SU: I know.) How do you do it, man? (SU: I don't know.) That's nuts. And he's got the money where he could just go off to some British island (SU: Yeah.) filled with whatever honey he wants, (SU: Yeah.) and he'd be fine, But he's doing more movies.

SU: Yeah, he is. Plus, about the time that Half-Blood Prince is released in theaters in November, he will have already been on Broadway, because he's coming back in Equus with Richard Griffiths.

JN: Now, when is that happening?

SU: I believe it's in late September, early October, that that's opening, so in the fall.

JN: I saw it, and I enjoyed Dan, I didn't enjoy Richard Griffith's understudy (SU: Yeah.) whatsoever. So I (SU laughs) think I'm going to have to give that show another shot.

SU: Yeah, I think so. I definitely want to go see him on Broadway. Dan on Broadway! I just think that's fabulous.

JN: You don't think they're going to change the show at all, bringing it over here?

SU: Probably not.

JN: They're not going to make them all talk in American accents?

SU: Oh, God. (JN and SU laugh) Please! Please stop now!

JN: That would be awful.

SU: (laughs) That would be horrible.

JN: Anything else in our huge news wrap, catching up for the past month?

SU: Just one more thing. I just want to say congratulations to Richard Griffiths and Julie Walters, who received honors with the Queen's New Year's honors list, when they give them like you know. They made them OBE, which is an officer, and you get your title. Julie Walters was named a Commander, so I guess that's really pretty cool.

JN: That's cool.

SU: Very good for them. That's pretty neat. So yay! We have more royalty! (laughs)

JN: Let's delve in this a little further, and (SU: Okay.) let's bring in our guys, (SU: Yay!) our good friends, to chat about a few more.

SU: Beedle the Bard.

JN: Beedle the Bard, and the stories thereof.

SU: Mm-hm, right.

JN: Let's just remind everybody about the Beedle the Bard because we can play a clip of Jo talking to us about Beedle the Bard.