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New 'Goblet of Fire' picture and info
Last year's instalment of Potter bewitchment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, has not only attracted huge revenues at the box office (£46 million in the UK), but it has also been recognised with four Bafta nominations, three of which salute the considerable skills of the behind-the-scenes crew.
Nominated production designer Stuart Craig (who won Oscars for The English Patient, Dangerous Liaisons and Gandhi) has worked back-to-back on the series for five years and is in the middle of filming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, to be released in November. From the start, Craig and his set decorator, Stephanie McMillan, have created vigorously embellished settings - from the thousand-year-old school, Hogwarts, to the Weasley family home. "There's nothing more elegant than adding detail to the point when you're almost throwing it away. You almost feel there's more stuff beyond the edge of frame."
For the new film, directed by Mike Newell, the main challenges for Craig are the ambitious new set-pieces - the arena for the Quidditch World Cup, complete with massive tented city, which appears (via digital manipulation) sunk into the South Downs, and the graveyard where Voldemort and Harry Potter are to have their final showdown. "The gravestones bear the names of the crew, which is fun, in a rather macabre way. The lawyers are so concerned with copyright issues, we had to use our own."
Although much Potter sorcery will be created digitally - even the dragon's egg Potter wins after duelling with a dragon has its resin body enhanced to create its magical interior - the film also incorporates extensive use of animatronics (the dragon) and prosthetics, designed and coordinated by the Bafta-nominated creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman.
He particularly enjoyed creating Timothy Spall's Wormtail. "We're hinting at the rat he once was - with new ears made from a translucent gelatine-like material, a bald cap to give him a scabby head, and a very thin animal-like hair wig on top. It's all fake, but Timothy Spall just transcends that."
News: Thanks to Sheryll for letting us know that Saturday's edition of The Telegraph Magazine (U.K. based) included a new picture of Harry and the opened golden egg from Goblet of Fire. Unfortunately, Sheryll has no scanner, so if any of you are able to scan in the picture, please send it to veritaserumnews@yahoo.com - thanks!
Update: Thanks to MuggleNet, we have a scan of the picture! The attached article includes some new info:
"Although much Potter sorcery will be created digitally - even the dragon's egg Potter wins after duelling with a dragon has its resin body enhanced to create its magical interior - the film also incorporates extensive use of animatronics (the dragon) and prosthetics."
Source: MuggleNet.com
-02/13/05
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