Movie news

[anneinchicago]

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No: HPFGUIDX C6613
From: anneinchicago
Subject: Movie news
Date: 8/11/00 4:47 am  (ET)

Harry Potter Meets Gloucester Cathedral
by Emily Farache
Aug 9, 2000, 1:35 PM PT

The owl delivery just arrived and we have the latest news on the movie
version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

The much-anticipated big-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's best-selling
phenomenon is taking shape, with producers settling on a real-life castle
to double as Harry's home away from home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry.

The part of the school will be played by England's ancient Gloucester
Cathedral.

The cathedral, with its Gothic spires, fan-vaulted cloisters and medieval
stained-glass windows, is 900 years old and houses tombs of the murdered,
the fantastical and the ingenious--not unlike the literary Hogwarts.

The cathedral's authorities agreed this week to let the edifice serve as
the key location of the cinematic Harry franchise, which director Chris
Columbus is supposed to begin shooting this fall. (Although the cathedral
will be used for the setting, most of the movie will be shot at Leavesden
Studios in Hertfordshire, where parts of The Phantom Menace were filmed.)

Gloucester was actually Warner Bros.' second choice for Hogwarts. Last
month, the dean of Canterbury Cathedral said he had turned down a
"generous" offer from the studio because of concern at the use of pagan
imagery in the stories.

The dean of Gloucester didn't see the book the same way. The London Times
reported the Very Reverend Nicholas Bury to be as intrigued as young
Harry about the cathedral's role in the film when he announced the deal.

"Gloucester is one of the most beautiful cathedrals, and its friendliness
and human scale have often been remarked upon," he told the paper. "It
is an atmospheric place and good for a story about a boy making friends
in his first year at school."

The dean also admitted to being a fan of the books. "It is also amusing,
exciting and wholesome. In the book, goodness, honesty and integrity
overcome lies and deceit."

Although the site has been used as a church since 679, it wasn't
consecrated as such until 1100. King Henry III was crowned in the
cathedral in 1216, when he was only 9 years old--just two years younger
than Harry Potter.

Meanwhile, as the hunt for a screen Harry apparently continues (there's
been no confirmation of reports that young actor Liam Aiken is the
leading candidate), other key roles are being filled.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Alan Rickman (Dr. Lazarus in Galaxy
Quest) is in talks to play the slimy Professor Snape, while Richard Harris
(Gladiator's Marcus Aurelius) may take on the role of kindly Professor
Dumbledore, Hogwarts' headmaster.

The Reporter also says that Robbie Coltrane is in negotiations to play
the large, friendly giant Hagrid--the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. And
Maggie Smith is still in talks to play Professor McGonagall, the school's
second-in-command.

No word on who will play the nefarious Lord Voldemort, Harry's enemy,
or the young wizard's school chums Ron and Hermione.


posted by anne in chicago