Hero Complex has updated with a new interview with Barry Wilkinson the prop master for the Harry Potter films.
He’s handled thousands of Potter props — brooms, quills, potions and all manner of magical items — over the course of a decade. Just for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the two-part franchise finale, Wilkinson had more than 500 wands manufactured. “Everyone’s got their own continuity wand, even down to the Death Eaters,” Wilkinson said. “All the principal characters have their own wands, and they’re all listed and accounted for, and it’s an amazing system. And each wand is individual. It’s an incredible job just designing those and to keep trying to think up different designs for wands, but when you look at them, they are just totally different.” “Each one’s got a number, and it’s checked out and it’s checked in at the end of each day,” Wilkinson said. “We have some broken, but they’re all accounted for, and we have to make notes of and keep records of everything.”
The two-part finale will focus on Horcruxes and Deathly Hallows — props that Wilkinson says he can’t yet discuss in detail. Working on those props took a lot of “sitting round the tables and discussing, and there were numerous designs for those going backward and forward,” he said. “They’re such special items, and there’s so much [that] goes into it. They’re all designed and drawn up really before they come down to us to start getting manufactured. … They play such a vital part — and all the props do in this series of films — that they’re really done quite differently from other movies.”Wilkinson said he and his team reflect on the series and all its behind-the-scenes workings with awe. “We don’t think we’ll ever see the likes of this series of movies again, not for a while anyway,” Wilkinson said. “It’s just a fantastic franchise. It’s just gone on and on, and got bigger and better. When you see this stuff and you walk on the set, and you know your men have dressed them, you’re just all so proud of it, because everything does look absolutely wonderful, right down to the boys’ dormitory, the detail, the stuff that the set decorator puts there, the Great Hall, the Common Room, and you know, the stuff when we’ve been out looking for props and finding them. It’s been amazing.”
The Hero Complex blog has been updated with an interview with Jason Isaacs.
PKD: Would you say Lucius is the worst villain you’ve played? JI: No, he’s not the worst. He’s a terrible coward. And in the end he doesn’t really get to do very much. He’s all bark and no bite, really. If he were capable of doing anything, he might be among the most vicious and the consequences would be calamitous. But he’s far more concerned with what he looks like and what he sounds like in the mirror and being in the newspaper than he is about taking action. And I think Voldemort’s quite right in seeing that he’s addicted to his status and addicted to his swanning around and spending too much time at the tailors and not enough time getting his wand sharpened.
PKD: I read how you read the first four “Harry Potter” books in three days’ time. Are you a big fan of children’s or fantasy literature? JI: No, not at all. In fact I was slightly sniffy about these books. I didn’t understand why some of my contemporaries were laughing at them and asking if I’d read them. I take the tube a lot in England and grown-ups – people of drinking and volunteering for the army and marriageable age – were reading children’s books. I got slightly stuffy about it until I dove in myself. They’re so beautifully written, you’re transported. There’s great value in that. They’re such a beautifully realized escape. It’s like sitting on a magic carpet when you open the front cover.
Matthew will be in attendance at the Argentinian Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on November 13th in Buenos Aires. We don’t know any more details yet, but as soon as more information appears online I’ll be sure to post it.
E! Online has released twonew video features on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The clips have a bunch of new scenes and interviews and can be watched below thanks to SS! (the first clip is missing the ending, but we’ll have the full one soon I hope)
The Official site for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been updated with TWELVE new high resolution clips from the film that you see as transitions when you change pages. Watch them all below in a playlist!
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