Harry’s “Goblet” Gets Going
The Hogwarts Express is heading out again.
Principal photography on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth feature based on J.K. Rowling’s magical mystery series, is now underway, Warner Bros. announced Monday.
Goblet of Fire is being shot at England’s Leavesden Studios and is being helmed by Mike Newell, whose credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco and the recent Mona Lisa Smile. The film is being produced by David Heyman and features a script by Steve Kloves, who masterfully adapted all three previous installments.
Potter’s troika of young stars, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) are once again on board. This time the action takes place during their fourth year at Hogwart’s School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, a term in which the lightning-scarred boy magician will encounter his greatest challenge yet–taking part in the life-threatening inter-school Triwizard Competition.
As usual, the movie will feature a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, this one named Mad-Eye Moody, who will be played by Brendan Gleeson (Troy, Cold Mountain).
Other new additions to the cast include Robert Pattinson as Harry’s heroic rival, Cedric Diggory, Stanislav Ianevski as Quidditch star Viktor Krum, Clemence Poesy as Fleur Delacour, Katie Leung as Harry’s new crush, Cho Chang, and Francese De La Tour as Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.
Returning to their respective parts are Tom Felton, the young actor who plays Harry’s nemesis, Draco Malfoy, along with Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Michael Gambon (Professor Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), Alan Rickman (Professor Snape), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) and Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy).
One major role yet to be cast, however, is Voldemort–the wizarding world’s ultimate practitioner of the dark arts and Harry’s archenemy, who finally reveals himself in Goblet of Fire (not including the fleshy bloated face that pops out the back of Professor Quirrell’s head in The Sorcerer’s Stone).
According to London’s Daily Mirror, producers are in talks with Ralph Fiennes to play You Know Who once the actor wraps The Constant Gardener opposite Rachel Weisz currently shooting in Kenya.
Fiennes is a fine choice to play the villainous Voldemort, having earned an Oscar nomination for his work as a Nazi thug in Schindler’s List and playing the serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy in 2002’s Silence of the Lambs prequel Red Dragon.
There’s a hitch, however. Reportedly Fiennes isn’t sure he wants to commit to at least three additional Potter installments, which will likely feature Voldemort.
But if all goes accordingly, Fiennes could be on the Leavesden set by the end of the year
Meanwhile, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–the Alfonso CuarÛn-directed third film in the franchise, which received overwhelming praise from critics as the best of the three–has so far grossed more than $211 million domestically in four weeks of release. The film is projected to fall short of the $261 million and $303 million in ticket sales respectively generated by its predecessors, 2002’s Chamber of Secrets and 2001’s Sorcerer’s Stone.
Goblet of Fire is scheduled to hit theaters in November 2005.
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