Chris Rankin spoke about his thoughts on coming back for Deathly Hallows and his character Percy Weasley’s transformation in the final book at the recent Ring*Con. You can also read interviews with Stan I and Jamie Y.

What scene are you most looking forward to?
One of Percy’s finest moments is walking back through that portrait into the Room of Requirement at the end of the seventh one when he finally comes back. I can’t remember what he says, something like ‘Did I miss anything?’ (laughs). I just remember reading that in the book and going ‘YES! Good boy!’.

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Melissa has posted another part of her interview with JK Rowling!

JKR: In many ways it would have been a neater ending to kill him. For sure, I knew that all along. felt that the books’ overriding message was that love is the most powerful force in this world. My model with Harry really was war veterans, who have seen horrors and are asked to go home and rebuild, and go back to ordinary life and care for a family, be a father – particularly be a father – [it is] a difficult job, in troubled times. I felt it would be a betrayal of my character if I did anything other than show him doing that. And I think it’s an absolutely heroic thing to do, to go home after that, not to become a mercenary, not to live forever frozen in a time of excitement and danger, but to be mentally strong enough, to an extent physically strong enough, to return from war and to raise a new generation with values that you hope will not lead to another war. That’s massive.

Of course you can say, yes, to an extent, as ever in life, that’s the eternal paradox. What’s is most worthwhile may well be seen as slightly dull, but God knows without those people who were prepared to come home and raise the family and rebuild, help rebuild… rebuilding is much more difficult than destroying. So, I felt it was almost a cop-out, morally, to kill him. I wanted to show a man who, yeah, he went back and got his hands dirty and tried to rebuild. I liked that. And again, it made a lot of people were livid, but God knows by that time I was used to that by then!

Several people who were in the audience when Dan was on Inside the Actors Studio posted reports from the taped program.

They talked about how for the first three weeks of the first HP movie, they had him wearing green contacts. But his eyes were allergic to them, so they did it using computer editing…then gave up. But he was like, “Cause they’re always saying how ‘Oh, Harry. He’s got the eyes like his mum. Green,” and then he pointed at himself and was like, “Um. No.”

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There is a new interview online with Ralph Fiennes who plays Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films.

“I hesitated for a bit before committing to the role because it sort of requires you to personify evil, and I don’t know how you do that,” Fiennes says. “I latched onto what was maybe crude psychology in working out Voldemort’s obsession with Harry. Harry was loved by his parents, which Voldemort can’t stand. He is, of course, a rejected person. It’s quite basic: the rejected child who’s emotionally been denied affection turns violent. You have to suggest there’s more there, a life, a spirit, a mind. It isn’t just a creepy voice and makeup. I always think you can find more in something. It’s good to just keep asking questions until someone says cut.”

Thanks SS!

Yesterday Emma Watson visited Harvard University.

She was sighted at approximately 10:30 yesterday morning at Quincy House by Chase Russell ’11 and Brian P. Hill ’11.  Russell, who had a brief chat with Watson, said she seemed “nice” and “very American.”

Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 declined to comment on Watson’s interest or admissions chances, saying he does not discuss individual cases. Watson herself gave away little to Russell of her plans, saying she was “just visiting.”

Thanks Amy!

Derek Blasberg, a blogger at Style.com recently spoke to Emma at Paris Fashion Week!

“I’ve been to fashion shows before, like the Chanel show that was in London in December. But this is the first time I’ve been to shows like this. This is my first time at fashion week, and let me tell you, it’s pretty intense.”

But Watson’s got her sights on something beyond mere fashion: After her time in Paris, she’s planning a trip to the East Coast to look at universities.

Thanks EW.net