In a new interview with the Belfast Times, Ciarán Hinds (Aberforth Dumbledore) talks about his time filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Ciarán will be in attendance at the Belfast Film Festival for the premiere of his movie The Eclipse on April 23rd, you can get tickets to it here.
One wonders what other dark characters Hinds might have been well-suited for in his career, but his next big role as the brother of Professor Dumbledore in the final two Harry Potter films offers up the possibility that he could have played quite a wonderful Severus Snape. “Oh yeah!” he laughs, adding quickly, “But Alan Rickman’s great as him.”
He will be joining a veritable who’s-who of British and Irish acting talent in the cast list of the movies, which are due for release this year and next year. And he jokingly wishes he had been approached sooner in the hugely successful series. “It would have been nice to be asked earlier — I would have been a few bob richer!” he laughs.
As it is he will be buried under layers of prosthetic make-up to play the eminent Hogwarts headmaster’s younger brother Aberforth. “I disappeared, as I was unrecognisable,” he says. “I won’t have any trouble in the street doing my shopping as usual because no-one knows who was in there because of the amazing make-up job that they did. I went up to introduce myself to the actress Miriam Margolyes on-set and she looked at me in this costume and make-up and said: “Well, anybody could have played your part!”
In a new interview with movieline Ciaran Hinds talks about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
[SPOILER ALERT] How did you wind up in a Harry Potter film (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) playing a member of the Dumbledore clan?
Dumbledore’s kid brother! Dumbledore was about 123, so that makes me 115. Dumbledore’s passed away in the story, but there’s some link back to his earlier childhood that needs to be revealed to the… well, they’re not so much kids anymore. They’re young adults. I was asked, “The director wants to meet you, because he knows your work and thinks you might suit this role.” We just met, and he was very lovely. It was just, “I’d like you to do this; I think it’s going to work out.” It was only like four days’, five days’ work. But it did involve a lot of prosthetics. What’s great is that I won’t be hassled by anybody in the street because they won’t know who was in there.
In another new interview Rhys Ifans, who plays Xeno Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, spoke about what it means to him to get a role in the franchise.
Cinematical: Speaking of Harry Potter, was that a weird world to step into? Rhys Ifans: No, it wasn’t. It was a rite of passage, in a way. There is no way in English culture that I would be rewarded for my endeavors. I am a bad boy from beginning to end. So, as an actor, being in Harry Potter, you get your stripes. As shallow as it sounds…
That doesn’t really sound shallow at all.
It is a beautiful … I’m really touched. I was really touched to participate in a … what is a trilogy six times?
I don’t even know if there is a word for it.
No. Whatever. I am just happy to have been a participant in the telling of that story. I am really touched. Harry Potter is an amazing brand. I am, you know, really touched. It is like getting a f**king medal. And I am a renegade. It is good. This is not an egotistical thing, but it is like, I guess, Johnny Rotten gets to f**k Lady Di in the tunnel, before she dies.
John Hurt, who plays Ollivander in the Harry Potter films, was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement award at an international film festival.
The 70-year-old actor, who has starred in films such as Alien, The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, was given the Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF) accolade for work that has spanned over six decades. Fans gathered to watch the ceremony at the city’s National Media Museum with BIFF artistic director Tony Earnshaw. The presentation was followed by a screening of The Elephant Man.
Mr Earnshaw said: “John Hurt has been leading man, supporting player and scene-stealer. Always he has breathed vivid life into believable, plausible and credible characters, often against a backdrop of fancy, whimsy or plain bafflement. He appears in the final films in the Harry Potter franchise, thus enchanting an entirely new generation of admirers. It’s what going to the cinema is all about.”
The Belfast Telegraph has a new interview with Domhnall Gleeson, who is playing Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He talks about filming a movie with his father Brendan (Mad-Eye Moody) and brother as well as mentioning filming Harry Potter.
The father and son team took a break from filming Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows to spend four days in freezing snow and ice shooting the short film in Shannonbridge, Co Offaly.
Domhnall’s debut as a director was a challenge with only €10,000 to make the magic happen.
Domhnall, who plays Bill Weasley in the new Harry Potter movie, said it was “fantastic” to work alongside his father and brother on the project.
Brendan Gleeson, of course, is well-known for his role as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody.
“Being an actor in Harry Potter is a different experience. It’s fantastic at the same time but there are so many extras and it’s just so huge, you’re not in control of anything,” Domhnall said.
— 