PotterCast 138: This is SnoggCast Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 13:14)

Melissa Anelli (MA): We are recording early on Thursday 'cause there's a new episode of "Lost," and that's more important than anything else. Welcome to PotterCast...

John Noe (JN): Ooh.

MA: One thirty-eight. (laughs) Aren't you glad you're a Potter fan, and that's why we're here?

JN: Blasphemy.

Sue Upton (SU): Oh, it could be 138, or it could be one- or, what would we do if we ever get to PotterCast 815?

MA: (laughs) We would not do it. We would skip it. (JN and SU laugh) Like the thirteenth floor on a building, we would just skip it.

SU: Okay, sorry.

MA: No.

JN: Good Lord, (MA: We'll also be dead.) what year would that be? (MA laughs) In this case...

MA: That would be out sixteenth year.

JN: That's insane.

MA: No John, I take that back. Yeah, that would be the end of our sixteenth year (SU: Oh God.) or the middle of it or something.

JN: That's disgusting.

SU: We'll go crazy. Sorry, (MA: Anyway...) a little Lost trivia. Okay, let's move on.

MA: Again, PotterCast Number 138. We're here with myself, Melissa, and John, and Sue. And we have a lot of great fun Harry Potter stuff for you this week. Before we do anything else, let's check in with our news muse, the Sues.

SU: Oh, we have news. You know why we have news? Because we have filming, on location. And we have new photos of Mr. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, in his little- first we see him walking in, just as Alan Rickman, and ta-da! A minute later, we saw another photo of him pop up, with the black hair back, and he's looking awesome. He's very excited.

JN: What is it? Snape has new hair?

SU: No, it's the same old black hair. (JN: Ah.) But we have photos (MA: His hair's not black?) from location photos. (MA: Gloucester?) Mm-hm. And they show the crew- the actors walking in on set. And we saw photos of Rupert Grint walking in. But then, it was really funny because, the first photo that popped up was Alan Rickman just walking casually, his nice jacket, just Alan Rickman-y. And the next photo we saw, he had his black wig on and he's all in costume and he's all changed.

JN: He wears a wig?

SU: Yeah, yeah, pretty much. (laughs)

JN: Ooh. (MA: That's true.) I thought he was just dedicated to the role. He's maintained that wonderful hair.

SU: You think he walks away? That means he's got quick grow hair. Maybe that's the new magical thing that Jo made for him, I don't know. (JN: Hm.) I don't know. But we saw doubles. It was the first time I think I'd seen a double for Tom Felton. And we saw doubles for Snape, and Harry, and Ron, and a couple more but...

MA: I have to share with you a little piece from what happens on set. We're okay with embargo, because this is not particular to one movie but, (JN: To our knowledge.) the weirdest thing happens, you think you've seen somebody to your right, and you turn around, and their on your left too, and you have a moment of hysteria until you realize that it's their double. (SU: Ooh.) (SU and MA laugh) It's so funny, so in the lunchroom, you'll see the whole cast sitting at one table, or whatever, a bunch of the cast, and almost the same group of doubles are sitting at another table. (laughs)

JN: That's so cool.

MA: I'm telling you it takes, you just...

JN: Why don't they all sit together? That would be awesome.

MA: Well they're probably- if they're filming together, (JN: Sit across from each other, like a mirror.) they're probably are- end up- they probably end up hanging out together. But it's just so weird. I like the doubles, it's always fun. You see them from behind and you're sure it's the actor, (SU: Mm-hm.) and you turn around and you're like, "Oh".

SU: (laughs) That's so awesome.

JN: That would be kind of creepy.

SU: That would be weird.

MA: That would be hard to adjust.

SU: I mean I can't imagine sitting there, across from them, trying to eat lunch, John. That would just be a little too freaky. It would be like a mirror mime thing. I don't know.

JN: They look almost identical right? The guy who plays Dan isn't six foot four or something?

SU: No, he's not.

MA: They're sim- no. They're similar. I mean they're similar. Sometime the outfits just- you can tell the difference from a double and a stand in because, the double, (SU: Yeah.) I think, has the exact same outfit, and a stand in, who they just use for lighting purposes, (SU: Right.) (JN: Yeah.) is similarly dressed with a couple of small changes. They didn't go to too many extents get them in the exact outfit. (SU: Yeah.) So there's technically (JN: True.) I think three sets, but you really only see two. It's weird. I don't know how people adjust.

JN: They put the other one in a cage.

SU: No. (laughs)

JN: Feed them table scraps.

SU: No actors in a cage, no, sorry John. That doesn’t happen.

JN: I think there's unions to (SU: Probably.) regulate that.

SU: Just a little bit, something illegal, maybe, I don't know.

MA: All right, so what else...

JN: We demand individual cages please. (SU: This is kind of neat.) Not just one community cage.

MA: This is terrible.

SU: You're terrible. (laughs) One more thing too, we had heard this before, but we saw James Phelps, who plays Fred Weasley, he's working as a runner, again. I think he did it last on Order of the Phoenix too. But he's working again on Half-Blood Prince. I thought that was kind of cool, that these guys are trying to work their career along. I mean, we had heard that about Matt Lewis, and then here's (JN: Yeah.) and they’re trying to work their career along. I think that's...

JN: I think that's a pretty common thing. (SU: Really?) I think (MA: Yeah.) at least the stories that I've been hearing, is that you can get work study experience and their finishing- their wrapping up schooling and they're in the middle of an opportunity to learn from the other departments and things like that, that are already there. It makes pretty good sense, (SU: Yeah.) (MA: They spend a lot of time there.) I would think.

SU: It, it was. Yeah, I think it was pretty cool. One more piece of film news, they got a new actress cast as Pansy Parkinson. (JN: Oh no.) (laughs) And I love her name, her name is Scarlett Byrne. Scarlett...

MA: (laughs) Byrne.

JN: Byrne.

SU: No. Rhett, Scarlet, her- and she's playing Pansy and Draco. I don't know. I'm a goof.

JN: Scarlet woman.

SU: I don't know. No.

JN: Uh-oh.

SU: Not so much.

MA: Uh-oh. Okay, what else is happening this week?

SU: Congratulations go to the Order of the Phoenix team because they got six nominations at the Empire Awards for- Dan and Emma both got acting nominations. It was weird because the movie got nominated for "Best Overall Film" and also got nominated for "Best Science Fiction Film". And I...

JN: Really? Science Fiction. (SU: Yeah.) Interesting.

SU: Do you guys normally think of the Potter films as Science Fiction?

JN: Absolutely not. (SU laughs) (MA: No.) There's nothing scientific about it. (MA: I want spaceships and aliens...) It's all fantasy. (MA: Not wizards) Gosh, that's ridiculous, Sci-Fi.

SU: Yeah. It seemed kind of weird. But then also, the score, the soundtrack got nominated and so did David Yates, so good.

JN: That's good.

SU: Yeah, it is kind of cool.

JN: I like the soundtrack.

SU: I know, and we're wracking up more nominations. Jim Dale also got a nominated for an Audio Award. I mean he's got nine or ten of those things, I don't know. But for his recording of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audio book, (JN: Whoa.) he does the U.S. versions for those that don't know. So it's pretty cool, so he's awesome. And then, okay, I'm just blabbering on. (MA laughs) I know, woo hoo! (laughs)

MA and JN: And then...

SU: And then. Okay, I'll breath. (sighs) (JN: And then...) Jo, J.K. Rowling, gave a new interview to some Spanish paper. I can't- I'm not even going to try and slaughter that name, (MA laughs) it's just, I promise I won't. And she said that- well we don't have the complete- we're trying to get a complete translation of the article but she said that the model of the post return of Voldemort world was based on Neville Chamberlain's pre-Churchill era. Which I think that was the first time she openly said that, I don't know, maybe. (MA: Yeah.) How he kind of denied the return of Nazi-Germany. And so that kind of fits, (JN: Huh.) so that's kind of- and one more, one more, nomination for Jo, or award for Jo, she was named, (JN laughs) I know. Keep a score list at home. She was named overall "Great Briton" of 2007. So you go Jo, rock.

JN: I wonder if, when they're doing her calendar, when Figgy's sitting there, (SU laughs) everything's color-coded, there's a whole separate color for it, (MA: Awards.) for picking up awards (MA laughs) and everything. (SU laughs) (SU: I don't know.) 'Cause it's- you might as well at this point.

SU: Because it was interesting because she got this award a couple days- just very shortly after she was at the South Bank Awards, and she was in London. It was the same thing, but she accepted it via her home in Edinburgh, by video.

JN: Oh, did they? (laughs)

SU: Yeah. (laughs) (JN: Cool.) So she's like, "Okay". So maybe she does.

JN: Was her dogs in the shot?

SU: You know, I don't know. (laughs) That's a good question, (JN: That would be cool.) I don't know. We should ask her the next time she's on John.

JN: I'm just racking up good questions. (JN and SU laugh)

MA: Very nice.

SU: Yeah.

JN: I'm going to make so much better use of the time then I did last time.

MA: Because all the talk of bling and Dawlish was an excellent use of time.

JN: That's all things everybody wanted to know, not just me.

MA: I think the value of having Jo say bling though was- (SU: Was pretty awesome.) just hearing J.K. Rowling say the word bling just made my life.

JN: There you go.

SU: Yeah, pretty much. And then, sad news right? Serious news.

JN: And then...

MA: Well, more serious, the latest updates have occurred on the ongoing lawsuit between the Harry Potter- well, the proposed Harry Potter Lexicon book, the publishers of that book, and J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. For all the updates on that situation, you can go to LeakyNews.com. We've been covering it probably more thoroughly than we cover many things, but it's of great interest to fandom, so we've been trying to follow it very closely. And that's (laughs) all for now! (SU: Yeah.) We may- (JN: T.T.F.N.) there may come a day where we can just talk about it freely on here. Right now, we're going to just hang on for at least one more week. (SU: Yeah.) So- (JN: Vonderful.) okay!

SU: (laughs) Vonderful! You sounded like Boris and Natasha. "Vonderful." Wasn't that...

JN: Must be all the Twilight I've been reading.

SU: Is that what it is? How very vampirish of you.

MA: I read it, too!

JN: Anybody out there read Twilight?

MA: I'm sure a lot of people out there read Twilight. (SU: Yeah.) Do you know what they are, Sue?

SU: Yeah, that's that series about the vampires. I know that my friend, my Hufflepuff hero is going to be in it. Robert Pattinson's gonna be in the film version of it.

JN: Yes!

MA: Let me tell you, what a perfect role for that guy. I know there's all this drama in the Twilight fandom. "He's not the vampire!" Whatever. He's a very good-looking person, and (SU: Yeah.) he'll be a good vampire. I'm curious...

JN: Well, I mean, the guy's written- he's the most perfect guy in every (MA: Well, that's it exactly!) way somebody could be perfectly attractive.

MA: It has to be such a compliment (JN: Who would you cast?) to be cast (laughs) for that role.

JN: You'd think he'd have to be a C.G. character, or something, (MA: Yeah!) because nobody's possibly that perfect.

MA: He's the most gorgeous thing that's ever walked the face of the Earth, the most beautiful...

JN: I'd be a little nervous, if I was Robert, for this. I'd be like, "How do you prepare for this?" (MA: Yeah.) Gonna have every little eyebrow plucked, (MA laughs) every...

SU: No!

MA: How many eyebrows does he have, John?

JN: Little percentage of body fat burned off. (MA laughs)

SU: He is a beautiful man, I'm just saying! (MA: Get mad at (inaudible)) And plus, he's a Hufflepuff, so he will be just fine.

MA: No, he's a very good-looking person. The reason...

JN: I don't care how beautiful you are, man. That's- those are big shoes to fill, (MA: Those are.) that character.

MA: But the reason I say it's good for him is that he's- if you've seen him- in Harry Potter he was this very wholesome character. But if you've seen him at the premiers, you've seen pictures, and stuff, he looks just a little different, a little edgier in person, (SU: Mm-hm.) and I think that, with a little tweaking of his image, they can make it really good, so...

SU: Yeah.

JN: Yeah. Tune in next week for (MA: Interesting.) more Twilight podcast.

MA: (laughs) TwilightCast. (SU laughs)

JN: Yeah, I- there's actually a few of them out there already. You should go to YouTube.com/twotwilighters, (SU: Yeah.) with the number two. Couple of girlies talking about Twilight about every day, so...

MA: I bet you don't know either of those girlies, John.

JN: No. Well, maybe.

MA: Yeah, maybe.

SU: I actually have not read those, so hopefully by next week I'll have the book. They were on my Christmas wish list, but I haven't read them yet. But I just...

JN: They're pretty quick reads.

MA: They're very- they're faster reads than Harry Potter.

JN: Yep.

SU: Well, that's good.

JN: There's only three right- actually, they just announced, a fourth one is being released August 2nd (SU: Ooh.) of this year.

SU: Well, very cool! That's right when we'll be at Terminus, so that'll be fun!

JN: Oh, is that right? (laughs)

MA: There’s nothing like...

SU: Right before!

MA: (laughs) That is when we'll be at- no, its two days- yeah, you're right! (SU: It'll come out that week, though!) Can you imagine walking around Terminus looking at everybody with a black and red book in their hands? (SU laughs)

JN: No, they better not!

MA: (laughs) You know they will! Come on!

JN: That's not right! That's tainted! (SU laughs)

MA: Come on, you know they will.

JN: You can't do that!

MA: It's different. Harry Potter - it's not like Harry Potter, it's a romance series, (SU: Yeah.) is the best way to describe it, but...

JN: If you're a guy who's read Twilight, actually, I'll be interested to talk to you, as I feel like I'm still in the minority on that.

MA: I think you're in the large minority. Small minority, but a large- you know what I mean. (JN: Yeah.) Extreme minority of guys.

JN: I don't know. I enjoyed it. I thought there were some pretty good action there, towards the end of every book. (SU: Well...) Good stuff. (SU laughs)

MA: All right. So, TwilightCast is over, let's move on.

SU: Yes. (laughs)

JN: Okay.

MA: To what, now?

SU: To either Phoenix Files or Bit by Bit! We don't know! (All laugh)

JN: Why don't we- let me reach my hand into the bin and pull out- oh, we're going to the Bit by Bit!

SU: Oh!

MA: Woo hoo!

JN: The Bit by Bit! Here it is!