Thanks to DanRadcliffe.com we have the full two-and-a-half-hour audio of the BD Live chat with Dan Radcliffe and David Barron, downloaded here (mirror here).

Also, Warner Bros has announced that the BD-Live screening will be shown on BD-Live’s site in a few weeks, I will post when it’s available.

In a bunch of new interviews (one, two, three), David Heyman, David Barron, director David Yates, and actors Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, and Jessie Cave talk about the Harry Potter Films.

“Ultimately, what makes these books work, what I love about the books, is that for all the spectacle, for all the adventure, (there are) the characters.” Part I will be “the road movie” with the young stars on the run, Heyman says. The final battle comes in Part II. “And what we are trying to do in this final battle, as much as we can, is root it in characters! For me, it’s really all about the characters and it’s about the people who are battling and, if you’re invested in that, that is what will make it work!”

Heyman has predictions about co-stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson:  “Dan will continue acting and maybe directing. I think he’s interested in that.  Rupert will continue acting. Rupert is one of the most original people you will ever meet, really lovely. He’s a one-off. And I think Rupert is a really talented actor with great comic timing.  Emma, if she wants, can be a movie star. She is hugely talented and incredibly in touch with her imagination. She is fiercely intelligent and I think she could do whatever she chooses to do.”

Thanks SS!

As many of you probably know, the BD Live Event where fans can watch the Blu-Ray with Dan and David Yates (now David Barron as Yates is ill) is taking place right now.  A few Potter sites were able to watch the event and have been Tweeting updates about it.  Some of the more exciting things are as follows:

• Dan and David confirmed that the five actors, Dan, Rupert, Bonnie, Emma, and Tom, will play their adult selves in the epilogue. (via SS)
• On Deathly Hallows filming, Barron said that filming will end around late-spring early-summer, then there’s the dubbing stage, and post-production. They will be doing work on it for another year, at least. There are plans for Leavesden after the movies are done. (via SS)

There are some additional details on the Half-Blood Prince BluRay including some fun news about the special features!

• WB Maximum Movie Mode with director David Yates, producers David Heyman and David Barron, and cast members Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton, including Focus Points, picture-in-picture and image galleries (BD exclusive)
• Additional scenes (6’31”)
• Close-Up with the Cast and Crew of Harry Potter: hosts Matthew Lewis (“Neville Longbottom”) and Alfred Enoch (“Dean Thomas”) lead us on an entertaining look at the cast of Harry Potter as they explore their interests away from acting and spend a day on set with the production team (28’30”)
• J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life: a fascinating and intimate look into the life of J.K. Rowling over the last year of writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (49’32”)
• One-minute Drills: the cast has 60 seconds to describe their character’s personality, history, relationships and other traits before time runs out (6’43”)
• What’s on Your Mind: hosted by Tom Felton, the cast is put on the spot when asked a series of rapid-fire questions on their likes and dislikes. (6’41”)

Thanks Lewis Lovers!

There is a new press release online with details for the HBP New York Premiere!

WHEN:
Thursday, July 9, 2009
WHERE:
Ziegfeld Theatre
141 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019

Crew Arrivals: 4:45 pm
Celebrity Arrivals: 6:00 pm
Screening: 7:00 pm

From the film: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Bonnie Wright, Tom Felton, director David Yates and producers David Heyman and David Barron. Other celebrity guests to be announced shortly.

There is another person you all know attending the premiere, but I don’t know if I can say yet, I need to ask permission 😉

UPDATE: I can say who else is going, ME! I’ll be on the red carpet! woot!

Guardian.co.uk has a new article about Harry Potter that includes a new photo from the Half-Blood Prince filming.  The article shows us a behind the scenes view of Harry Potter filming.  The article has interviews with Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Jim Broadbent, David Yates, David Heyman, and David Barron.  See the photo here in the gallery.

It is indeed fascinating to watch the young cast grow up on screen – have a look at early interviews on YouTube and you’ll notice their feet dangling above the ground – and Yates has also got around the potential problem of being lumbered with an existing cast by giving cameos to older actors with whom he’s previously worked. One of the best things about the Potter films has always been the appearance of national acting treasures such as Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis and, in The Half-Blood Prince, Jim Broadbent.

I ask Broadbent about his experience of playing Horace Slughorn, Potions Master and head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, and it seems that he, too, has been bitten by the Harry bug. “It was an extraordinary thing to be part of. The main sets feel so permanent, having been there since the start, which means it’s very easy to get drawn into the world of Hogwarts. It was rather daunting turning up on set with all these young actors; it could so easily have been a nightmare, given that the five films have had such huge success. But the kids turned out to be terrific. There was no brattish behaviour or starry, Fame Academy behaviour; they just get on with it.”

And perhaps this is the key to the success of the films: producers David Heyman and David Barron have created what the latter describes as “our reality”. The young cast have never been allowed to develop attitude. Each new director has had to stay within the perimeters of the world so carefully set up at Leavesden; accordingly, there’s no room for an individual director to take off on a flight of fancy. And the continuity of cast and crew is impressive, too; although Radcliffe initially signed on for the first two films and seriously debated doing three and four, he did finally sign up till the end.