PotterCast 141: Oh Frak! Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 16:35)

Melissa Anelli (MA): Welcome, everybody, to PotterCast 141. I am Melissa, I'm here with Sue and John...

MA: No?

Sue Upton (SU): No?

MA: (gasps) Who is that?

Frankie Franco III (FF): I don't- what? Where's John?

MA: This is our friend, Frak. John is not going to be with us for the next couple of weeks (SU: Aw.) because he is getting ready to graduate from school.

SU: Yay! (FF hums)

MA: And we fought and he- I didn't want him to leave, but he beat me. No, he won the conversation. (SU: Yeah.) He did not, he did not. We kicked him out, we told him to go. And...

SU: It worked! Yay! No, I'm joking.

MA: And to finish school and not worry about PotterCast. So, I'm very sad to say it won't happen for a few weeks, but we're very happy to welcome our substitute for a while, Mr. Frank “Frak” Franco the Third.

FF: Holla! (SU: Yay. Yay!) I'm very happy to be here. I miss you guys. It's fun to help out whenever I can.

MA: That is your full name. Frank (FF: What?) “Frak” Franco. Can't say your name three times fast. Frak, Frank, Fre...

SU: I just prefer the "Frak!" Everyone's like, "Oh my God! What's that to my ears?" But that's what they did. That's what we do. Frak!

MA: Anyway, if you guys remember the Jingle Spells CD that we put out over Christmas, with all the Wizard Rock songs? (SU: Mm-hm.) That artwork on the front cover, Frak did that.

SU: Oh, yes! And I wanted to ask him about this, too. Because he's on now, we can talk about this a little bit more. Because there was a great mystery about those three people on the back of the cover.

MA: Oh, ok! Then let's do that afterwards. We'll save that for the end. (SU: Okay, good!) But right now, Suz, what's happening this week in Harry Potter news?

SU: Well, I know that we're in a bit of a lull now, because there's no trailer. Although, we're- hopefully soon, and we don't know. We don't know anything. We don't know when the new pictures are coming. People keep asking, but what has been going on is that Dan Radcliffe did win an award for his performance in the play "Equus". He won at the What's On Stage Theatre Awards for the London New Comer of the Year. (F: that's awesome!) So well done, Dan. Yeah. You know, it was funny too- the play won for Best Revival, but it also got an award for the Theatre Event of the Year for his naked pictures. (FF laughs) Ooh, can we say that?

MA: The pictures didn't win Theatre Event of the Year.

SU: It did! The publicity photos won.

MA: Oh the publicity did! (FF laughs) Oh, that's right. Okay.

SU: Yes! Those.

MA: Seriously? The publicity?

SU: Seriously! They gave it an award! The publicity... (FF laughs)

MA: The photos in which there was an artfully placed horse?

SU: Yes!

FF: A conveniently placed stallion.

MA: Yeah. Like a fig leaf. But use a horse. (SU: I mean...) Wow.

SU: I know, can you imagine? I just- I had to read that three times but that's what it was.

MA: I'm assuming they're talking instead about that beautiful picture where he has his head back and his torso turns into the head of a horse. (SU: Mm. No.) That was a fabulous. No? (SU: It is a gorgeous...) Really, no?

SU: No. Really, no. I'm really sorry.

MA: Wait a second, I didn't read this news article right. I'm gonna go read it right now.

SU: It's the What's On Stage Theatre awards. He won for the- It's the AKA Theatre Event of the Year. There it is. Also, who also won, Dame Maggie Smith won for Best Actress for her performance in The Lady From Dubuque. Which, I think that you guys, Melissa and John, saw when they were there. Fiona Shaw also won, too, for Best Solo Performance for "Happy Days".

MA: In "Happy Days."

SU: Yes, you saw that too, right?

MA: Yeah, John and I saw that and I have to tell you that that is a really misleading title to that show. (SU laughs)

FF: What do you mean?

MA: "Happy Days?" Happy Days. The immediate images of that Fifties sitcom and or that a play called "Happy Days" would be maybe even a little...

FF: That's what I thought, it was about the sitcom, it's not?

MA: No. No, no.

FF: Okay, I was gonna say- they did a sitcom- a musical that was a sitcom?

MA: I thought that maybe there'd be some happiness in "Happy Days," but apparently not. It is a one woman show, with a couple of extra people around as kinda- more props, than real characters. (SU: Mm-hm.) And basically, for the first half of the show, she's buried to her waist in sand, (SU: Yeah.) and for the second half of the show she's buried to her neck in sand. And it's a really phenomenal acting feat that she can command a stage doing that. But, I have to tell you. (SU laughs) Samuel Beckett is not the most literal of writers there's ever been. (FF laughs) And I personally prefer to read rather than watch that show. (FF: Oh. Okay.) (SU: Yeah.) Maybe that makes me not a theater elite. I don't care. At all.

FF: Yeah.

SU: Plus, too, wasn't that one of John's first plays that he's seen? And there was this kind of (all laugh) abstract thing going on.

MA: Yes. He's seen a ton of musicals, never a play, and I drag him into a play. And it is this one person, very abstract, very high minded, requires an interpretation. But, the funny thing about it is that you know, you know that ninety-nine percent of the people in the audience are thinking the exact same thing. (FF laughs) That it maybe a fant...you know? (FF laughs) (FF: Yeah.) That it maybe a fantastic piece of tour-de-force performance. Wonderful theater. A brilliant piece. But, it is not that entertaining. And people, literally, jumped to their feet, screaming and jumping. Which I just- maybe I'm severely out of touch. I can't imagine that the majority of the people in that theater were that riveted. Honestly.

FF: It's just they're intimidated by the surrounding so they have to look like they're all behind it.

MA: Let me make no qualms about it. She was brilliant because the performance was amazing. And you can recognize that without thinking it's like, you know, (SU: Yeah.) "Cats." But anyway. Sorry. There's my little theater rant. (FF laughs)

SU: No, that's- (laughs) it's funny, she also- Fiona Shaw was also recently honored right before the Oscar Awards. It was like a special U.S., Irish celebration. It was Oscar Wilde Award, or something. She got recognized for her contributions to stage and movies and stuff, so well done her. That was great. So, go Fiona. (MA: Yeah.) Yeah.

MA: No. She's phenomenal.

SU: Because I think it was on the Bravo channel or one of those ovation channels, or something. And there's a whole half hour special on her. They had talked about her portrait. She really enjoys art and everything, and she talked about that portrait we'd seen a couple years ago that was done of her. It was really kind of interesting. She's really an interesting person. I don't really know too much about her other work. I haven't gotten to see many performances on stage with her, but it's a pretty interesting show. I'm sure it'll be repeated some time. Okay, one other...let's see, speaking of honors, congratulations go to Julie Walters who is now a Commander of the British Empire.

FF: What?

MA: How many (SU laughs) Harry Potter actors (SU: unintelligeble) are part of the British Empire?

SU: Think about that. Well, I know...

MA: Coltrane, Christie...

SU: Yes. John Hurt was, I'm pretty sure.

FF: What does that mean? Is it like being knighted?

SU: Well, yeah, it is. It's part of the honors, like their awards presented by- I don't know especially from the Queen or the monarchy or whatever that's presented for your contribution and service to whichever. Like in this sense it was for her, Julie's, commitment and service to drama in the U.K. and her work in movies and stuff. So, yeah.

FF: Oh. Very cool!

SU: And Jo! Isn't Jo one? Didn't Jo get one, Melissa?

MA: Jo is. Jo is. Also, Sir Michael Gambon. (SU: Yeah. Yeah.) Wasn't Richard Harris a sir?

SU: Yeah. I think he was. (MA: Lots.) Well, Maggie Smith is, right? Dame Maggie Smith.

MA: Mm-hm. Dame Maggie Smith. So, if you got all the Harry Potter actors who are member of the British Empire together could they like overthrow the government?

FF: (laughs) They should start for the Ministry of Magic.

MA: Could you imagine?

SU: That'd be awesome.

MA: Here they come in witch hats (FF: That'd be awesome.) and (SU: Yeah.) commanding armies and fleets.

SU: That'd be fun if you could rule the world. You know? Because I love this magazine called Vanity Fair and they have- there's this fabulous photographer named Annie Liebowitz (MA: Yeah.) and she always does these great poses. Wouldn't that be fun? (FF: Yeah.) She could do that portrait of all of them sitting in their hat like the Ministry thing. That would just be a fabulous portrait. That would be pretty fun.

MA: Kinda brings a whole new meaning to Dumbledore's Army. Buh-dum-bum.

SU: Oh! (laughs)

FF: (laughs) Hey-oh. (laughs)

SU: (laughs) That's awesome! Awesome.

MA: We're without John, someone's got to make the cheesy jokes.

SU: Yeah, okay. Yeah. (MA: Okay.) (FF laughs) Our friend Mrs. Jo, can I just say this? She's still continuing her charity work, and she's continuing to bring awareness to the Children's Voice Campaign, about the poor children that were in cages. (MA: Cages.) Yes. She met this time with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, recently, and his wife. They talked about the Romanian- and I think the Prime Minister or the President was in town, and they met with the wife of the Prime Minister to talk about how they can improve these conditions. So Jo is still active, she's not just doing these charities things and just dropping the ball. She's still working on it. There was a big blurb about that, and I thought that was really pretty cool. Here's Jo just hanging with the UK Prime Minister. (laughs) And you kinda think about that image in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince, you know? (MA: Mm-hm.) When the wizard pops into the Prime Minister's office, here's Jo popping in. "Okay, here I go."

MA: (FF laughs) Maybe it was all a ruse. Maybe she had to check up on the painting on the wall, maybe it's all real!

SU: (gasps) You mean it's not? (FF gasps)

MA: Oh, jeez. (SU and MA laugh) That's right. All right, what else is happening with the news?

SU: Just one more thing. There was yet another endless survey, this time I think it was for charity on the Best Fifty Children's Cook of All Time. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was actually the one that was chosen, and it came in at number six. (MA: Interesting.) I know. (FF: Huh, interesting.) And it was the only one in the series that was picked. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was number one, (FF: Really?) The Very Hungry Caterpillar was number two, and the Famous Five, (FF: Caterpillar!) which was pretty famous, but I don't think many American children- nothing against her at all, but I just don't think many American children have read those series, but they were number three. And Winnie the Pooh was number four.

MA: Aw, Pooh.

SU: I know. (FF hums)

SU: I loved him. I love Eeyore, though.

FF: Eeyore. "Thanks for noticing." (imitates Eeyore)

MA: We can't get into the whole cartoon character stuff with us because it'll never end.

SU: I know.

FF: Yeah, it won't.

MA: In other news we had is that there has been an update in the J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers versus RDR Books case in which J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers are trying to stop an unofficial encyclopedia from being published. You can read the details on the latest filing on leakynews.com. Also, I want to mention this as news because they're friends of mine and they're very proud and I want to be proud of them, and I am proud of them, but I want to share. The people who have made a Harry Potter documentary called We Are Wizards have been accepted at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. In Texas, which is the first week of March. (FF: That's awesome!) I'm really excited for them, because I know they started work on this in November of 2005. (FF: Wow.) They recently finished it at the beginning of this year. It will have its premier on Saturday afternoon, March 8th, in Austin, Texas. You can get more information by going to We Are Wizards dash the movie dot com. There's a lot of Wizard Rock in it, there's really funny stuff with Brad Neely who does the Wizards, Dear Reader. My cat is in it.

SU: That's what we heard. (laughs) The cat.

FF: Moochka.

SU: Moochka! Not forget about Melissa! (laughs)

FF: I wanna meet Moochka!

SU: It's a cat.

MA: Seriously, I had to laugh because we were watching this movie. They'd interviewed me a bunch of times over the past two and a half years for this. I'm very flattered, even though I really can't stand watching myself on those things. That aside, the first thing they showed, the first thing they showed of my life, was my cat, (laughs) and I couldn't stop laughing (FF laughs) and I kept thinking, this cat has got more press than any animal has a right to. Paul, who she hates and she trys to eat him regularly, started cursing a blue streak when he saw her on the screen. It's very funny. So anyway, the movie, aside from that stuff, is really really funny, especially with the Wizard Rock and the Brad Neiley stuff and gives a nice slice of what has happened in the fandom over these past years, and I'm really proud to have been associated with it in any way.

SU: Very cool, that's really cool.

FF: That is very awesome. (SU: Yeah.) I look forward to seeing it.

MA: Josh, Jerrald, and Miles. What, Frak?

FF: How long is it?

MA: It's about an hour fifteen.

FF: That's a healthy length.

MA: It is, it's a healthy length. And it's nice, they have a really nice life with the cameras, especially the stuff that they filmed around the Deathly Hallows release, and the way that they used Harry and the Potter's music and other movies and sixties clips. It's really- I think it's a nice retrospective of these years.

SU: I remember they- for those of- and I know that a lot of you guys came to that, the Leaky Mug, the trailer is up and you can see a really quick shot of me and John in there, too. (laughs) To plug us in there.

MA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The whole Leaky Mug crew up in the New York- the first New York Leaky Mug is shown briefly, (SU: Yeah.) as well as the second one. (FF: Aw.) The August of '06.

FF: The August of '06 one is the one where I met you guys. (MA: In Los Angeles.) In- yeah, it was in L.A., though. (MA: That's right, that's right.) That's the one I could have went to, (MA: That's when I met Frak.) but I couldn't make it happen.

SU: I remember the one in New York was so hot. That's when they had those terrible heatwaves. (MA sighs) That was just...

MA: Just terrible. It was so, so hot- that was a crazy day. (SU: It was.) But yeah, it's really nice. If you get a chance to see it, you should. It's a really interesting look.

SU: I had wanted to go, but I hurt my foot, so I don't know if I'm going to go down there, but I'd love to go. That festival is so awesome, though.

MA: Yeah, I'm so proud of those guys because they have been- they are honestly two of the nicest guys, three really, but I really mostly only knew two of them through the process. Some of the nicest people we've ever met.

SU: Very cool.

FF: That's really cool.

SU: But we need something positive about the fandom 'cause there's other news.

MA: Well, there's always positive stuff about the fandom, we can't focus on things that bring it down. I know a lot of people have been upset about the Lexicon lawsuit and that's- it's upsetting, (SU: Yeah.) it's upsetting to everyone. (FF: Yes, yes it is.) And that's probably the most we've said about it publicly, but it is an upsetting thing, but we don't have to- there's still- doesn't take away at all the wonderful things that have happened in this fandom and continue to happen in this fandom. So...

SU: Right, very good.

FF: That's a very good point. It's healthy to remember that.

MA: Well, the weapon we have is love, people!

SU: Yes, that's right. Woo hoo! Well, that's it. So, we're waiting for news on the movie front, but that's all I've got for ya. (laughs) We could always talk about Cedric- okay, there was an article about Robert Pattinson, he mentions Cedric once, but he died, so- (FF laughs) Cedric, not Robert. (FF gasps) there you go. (MA laughs)

SU: See? I'm trying to be good (FF: Cedric dies?) because people start saying, "Sue, all you talk about is Hufflepuff." What can I say? (FF laughs)

MA: Okay, can we- let's get on with this. We're going to do Bit by Bit, a Pheonix Files, and then we'll have some chatter at the end. (SU: Cool.) Okay, peoples.

SU: Chatter. (laughs)

FF: Some what?

MA: Some chatter. (laughs) Not cheddar.

FF: What's that?

SU: I like cheddar cheese.

FF: Oh, chatter. Oh, chatter. Do I get to talk during the drums?

MA: You do get to talk through the drums.

FF: (gasps) I'm so excited! (SU laughs) (MA: Frak! Frak! Frak!) I've never got to talk through the drums before. Oh wow, this is going to be so much fun.

MA: Can we do some Disney sing along at the end?

SU: Oh yes, let's. (applauds)

FF: Yeah, (MA: Rock on, lets go people.) of course, (MA: Okay.) we better, or else I'll be disappointed.

MA: Okay. (laughs)

FF: Can I say the password this week?

MA: Yes, you can. (FF: Hm.) Better start thinking, 'cause we got to go do Bit by Bit.

FF: I think it's going to be...

MA: Don't say it now! Don't say it now!

SU: Don't ruin it, don't...

FF: And- oh, crap.

MA: Oh we're off, we're off to Bit by Bit. See you guys there.

FF: Bye! (laughs)