Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Harry Potter fans at the edge of their seats in anticipation of the final film installment are getting two movies instead of one. Warner Brothers said Wednesday that the series' final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is so long — tallying 784 pages — that the filmmakers decided to split it into two pieces. According to the Reporter, instead of compromising the storyline with excisions or making an exceptionally long movie, the flick, to become parts one and two, will be shot back-to-back for releases in November 2010 and May 2011, respectively. J.K. Rowling's Hallows sold more than 11 million copies in its first 24 hours on bookshelves last fall, so the film version x 2 seems to = excellent profits for Warners, plus extra thrills for filmgoers (especially since teen superstar Daniel Radcliffe's signed on). Are you excited for Harry times two? Or ready for Hogwarts to wrap it up? — Anna Dimond
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Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe by Eamonn McCormack/ WireImage.com
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Fan fiction works. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson spent Valentine's night together, the U.K.'s Daily Mirror reports. The pair were spied huddled together at a pub in London, where they're lensing The Half-Blood Prince.... Lord of the Rings' Sean Bean wed British actress Georgina Sutcliffe on Tuesday.... Scary Movie star Anna Faris' divorce from actor Benjamin Indra, her hubby of three and a half years, is finalized. See what you've done, E?!
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Miley Cyrus by Steve Granitz/ WireImage.com
It wasn't enough that they have enough money that they can use it to line their doggie beds, they also had to be under 25. This hurts. Among the top 20 are: bad girl Lindsay Lohan and good girl Miley Cyrus, with $3.5 million apiece; Mitovich's imaginary girlfriend, Scarlett Johansson, No. 12 with $5 million; popsters Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff, $12 million apiece; Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe, No. 6 with $15 million; the Olsen twins, No. 5 with $17 million each; and in the top spot, the clearly overpaid LeBron James, with $27 million. In related news, Mitovich, I want a raise. And Botox. — Ben Katner
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Daniel Radcliffe by Eric Charbonneau/WireImage.com
Will Harry Potter stroll the Great White Way wearing little more than his eyebrows? Daniel Radcliffe says that Peter Shaffer's Equus, the stage play that unveiled itself — and the lad's Brit bits — to London earlier this year could hit Broadway in late 2008. "It will be amazing, but I will be terrified," admits the actor. "[Potter stepdad/Tony winner] Richard Griffiths said the most stupid thing you can do is underestimate the New York audience" — and/or the zoom lens on their fancy cell-phone cameras.
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The current London production of Equus featuring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in a very, er, raw performance, will hit the Great White Way in 2008, according to Broadway.com. Radcliffe doffed his signature eyewear — not to mention his clothes — to play a troubled teen with a thing for horses in the revival of Peter Shaffer's Tony-winning play. Although the 17-year-old actor earned raves for his stage debut, British tabloids carped about his controversial nude scene. New Yorkers, however, are thrilled that Radcliffe is bringing a good old fashioned peep show back to Times Square. —Raven Snook
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows won't materialize in bookstores for another three months, but J.K. Rowling's final installment in her boy-wizard series has already broken a second record. (Click here for the first.) According to Barnes & Noble, pre-orders for the 784-page title have exceeded 500,000, making it the publication with the most advance requests in the chain's history. Sheesh. Hope they're using recycled paper.
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Fresh from Fox:"The original American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, along with Hugh Grant" — as in American Dreamz? — "Keira Knightley, Forest Whitaker, Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Radcliffe" — Emma must be holding out for a bigger per diem — "Teri Hatcher and Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson), are scheduled to appear on 'Idol Gives Back,' a two-night special airing Tuesday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 25. These celebrities join previously announced talent Gwen Stefani, Josh Groban, Pink, Michael Bublé" — really, again? Can I write his material this time? — "Annie Lennox, Il Divo and Borat Sagdiyev."
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This just in from Warner Bros. Pictures: "Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will reprise the roles they have made their own: teen wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, respectively, in Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final two motion-picture adaptations of J.K. Rowling's best-selling book series."Watson, who was rumored to be a holdout as recently as Monday, says in a statement, "I could never let Hermione go — she is my hero! I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I am excited and honoured to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films."What's Parseltongue for, "Back up the Brinks truck?"
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According to wicked, wicked online reports, Emma Watson has yet to sign on for the final two Harry Potter films — and, say some nasty rumors, will hold to that decision, even if producers were to jack up the 16-year-old's pay to £2 million (roughly $3.8 mil) a picture. "Emma doesn't want to do it anymore. She's tired of being known as 'that girl from Harry Potter,'" that redheaded kid from Harry Potter (Rupert Grint) supposedly told the U.K. tabloid News of the World. "Daniel [Radcliffe] and I are distant from her now. We don't text or talk to her when we are not filming." In a statement issued Monday morning, a Warner Bros. spokesperson maintains, "We're extremely confident that Emma will be back for films 6 and 7" — or else they'll get themselves a Gyllenhaal.EDITED to make overall tone of the blurb more Potterphile-friendly. Last thing I need is, like, a spell of Perpetual Flatulence cast on me. (Again.)
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Daniel Radcliffe — currently netting rave reviews for his performance in the raw across the pond in Peter Shaffer's Equus — has signed on the dotted line for the final two of the seven Harry Potter films, Reuters reports.With Order of the Phoenix due out later this year, Radcliffe and Co. will step before the cameras for Half-blood Prince in September. A timetable for the series' ender, Deathly Hallows (in bookstores July 21), has yet to be determined.
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