This won’t earn me any points with the ladies, but I remember back when “Star Trek” turned 25, I headed down to Washington DC to check out the traveling tour of props and uniforms from the movies and TV shows. Well, now you Muggles can do the same for your own fantasy franchise as Warner Bros brings a roaming circus of “Potter” memorabilia to a city near you.

Launching in Spring 2009, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” is set to hit at least ten cities worldwide and will include 10,000 square feet of “elaborate displays” dedicated to the actual costumes, props and artifacts from the film. Among the items cited are the Gryffindor common room and Hagrid’s hut, as well as others from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The company says the exhibition will run over the course of five years; the final “Potter” film will likely hit theaters somewhere in 2011 or ‘12.

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

Both were mothers who, around the time of their thirtieth birthday, first imagined a fantasy franchise that would bring them fame, fortune, and a loyal fanbase. This winter, both will provide Hollywood with an eagerly-anticipated blockbuster.

So, when I was interviewing “Twilight” novelist Stephenie Meyer this week for the story that just went live over on MTV.com, I had to ask: Has she ever met J.K. Rowling?

“No,” the affable author revealed. “But I would love to; I would love to sit down and talk with her.”

Once Meyer’s first non-”Twilight” book, entitled “The Host,” arrives in bookstores May 6th the comparisons might dwindle a bit. But while both continue to rule the world of teen-lit, she understands that they’ll always be compared to one another.

“I can see that,” she explained. “The interesting thing about the comparison is that I think you can compare my fans to her fans more easily [than me to her]. I do think that we both have people who are just really really enthusiastic, and will come miles to see you and be involved, and everybody really cares about our characters. But the [’Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight’] stories are just so different.”

“J.K. Rowling’s audience is everybody, so that means we all have a piece of her audience,” Meyer laughed. “It’s terribly flattering to be compared to her, but there’s never going to be another J.K. Rowling; that’s a phenomenon that’s not gonna happen again.”

Still, Meyer insisted that if she ever did meet the “Potter” mastermind, they’d have plenty to talk about. “I’d like to hear her thoughts on her fans; I know she has this big group of people who say ‘Oh no, Harry should have ended up with another girl,’ and I wonder how she feels about that when they think they have a better ending than she does,” the writer said sympathetically. “I’d also like to hear her thoughts on the movies, and what things about them she enjoyed, and how she feels about privacy and e-mails and fan letters and that whole experience as a popular writer.”

“We have a few things in common,” she laughed. “It would be fun to share that common ground.”

Stephenie Meyer or J.K. Rowling: Whose writing style do you prefer?

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

In a recent interview with the “Herald Sun,” “Harry Potter” producer David Baron revealed details of an extra scene to be inserted into “Half-Blood Prince,” generally good news for fans of J.K. Rowling’s fantasy epic.

So why does his explanation make me hotter than a Hungarian Horntail? (Warning: Book Seven spoilers ahead)

It’s not just because the scene, which Barron says will take place at the Burrow, isn’t from the book. Baron states, and I of course acknowledge, that certain things from a novel don’t necessarily translate to film – it’s the nature of any adaptation. That means sometimes things have to be added and, truthfully, this particular quandary seems as good a candidate as any.

“Jo (Rowling) was able throughout the quite lengthy book to keep dropping little snippets of what was happening in the outside world - there’d be people reading newspapers and talking about how somebody’s parents had been killed, or somebody had been withdrawn from school because their parents didn’t think it was safe,” Baron explains. “And we’re making aware that the Muggle world is also experiencing these disasters…This was brought in because even in what would normally be considered the safe haven of the Burrow, nobody’s safe.”

Fine. Agreed. No, what makes me mad is that this added scene, if it’s indeed an attack on the Burrow from Death Eaters, will almost certainly be a detriment to a similar scene – a much more powerful and important scene – at the beginning of Book 7, when the Burrow actually is attacked for the first time DURING A WEDDING.

When Kingsley’s patronus lands smack in the middle of Bill and Fleur’s nuptials, I nearly lost my breath. So why would they have an attack scene at the Burrow in the preceding film? My great fear is that it’s because there won’t be a wedding at all. Last week, Clémence Poésy told MTV News that she won’t be appearing in “Half-Blood Prince.” Could it be that she’s not appearing in “Deathly Hallows” either?

I’m all for adding scenes – heck, I want each “Potter” film to be three hours long – but not at the expense of actual story.

But what do you guys think? Do you like the added scene? Would you like it more or less if it was indeed an attack by Death Eaters on the Burrow? Sound off below.

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

Is the “Harry Potter” film franchise done passing the wand? After the first two films, Chris Columbus stepped aside as Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and then David Yates expanded the Potter-verse. But could it be that Yates, who shot “Order of the Phoenix” and is in the middle of “Half-Blood Prince,” will be the last one to leave his mark?

Children’s writer Lois Lowry thinks so, as she wrote on her blog Tuesday, telling her fans that Yates had pulled out of shooting an adaptation of her book “The Giver” so that he can do “Deathly Hallows” instead. “He has just decided he wants to do the final ‘Harry Potter’ first,” she wrote, “thereby postponing ‘The Giver’ for several years.”

Now, just last week, producer David Heyman told the Daily Telegraph that a few directors were still under consideration, and the studio hasn’t announced whether Yates or someone else will helm “Hallows” — as rumors circulate that everyone from Steven Spielberg to Guillermo del Toro is in the running. When asked by MTV News, a rep for Warner Bros. said that there’s “nothing official yet” but an announcement is expected “within the next week or two.”

Until then, we’re left to speculate — is Yates the last director to take on Voldemort? What could have “Hallows” looked like if someone else came aboard? Will having the same director for the last three book adapations provide continuity? And will “Hallows” actually be one or two films, as has also been rumored?

Producers Heyman and David Barron did little to dispell the possibility that “Hallows” would be split in two when talking to the Daily Telegraph. Their worry was that if they did, “people could possibly perceive it as being one last chance of cashing in,” Barron said. ” But the real positive, if we were to do that, would be that we wouldn’t have quite the battle we always have of ‘How do you compress all that book into just over hours of screen time?’ It would be brilliant not to have to cut anything. But at the same time, we have to think it through properly. We’d have to be very certain that there were two proper, stand-alone films that could be generated from the source material.”

Either way, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” isn’t slated to start filming until February 2009. Until then, might we make a few suggestions as far as directors and casting are concerned?

RELATED POSTS:

- ‘Harry Potter’ In Rob Zombie’s Hands? ‘Very Violent With A Lot Of Nudity’
- Harry Potter, You Got Served! How Other Directors Would Handle The ‘Potter’ Flicks
- ‘Harry Potter’ Casting Call: We Want Mick Jagger, Peter O’Toole In ‘Deathly Hallows’

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

Fleur Delacour doesn’t know her own fate — at least, be Clémence Poésy, the actress who played her in “Goblet of Fire,” hasn’t read beyond that book yet. Poesy told MTV News that she’s not back in what she calls “Harry Potter world” just yet and won’t be appearing in “Half-Blood Prince” — which probably means that the subplot of her character’s engagement to Bill Weasley has been cut out or is only a mention, no actual scenes.

Still, there’s hope for Phlegm — we mean, Fleur — in “Hallows,” since the couple’s wedding is a major action sequence when it’s disrupted by Death Eaters, and the newlywed’s home at Shell Cottage becomes a place of refuge — but don’t tell her that.

“Somebody already told me the end of ‘Order of the Phoenix,’ and I was like, ‘You’re ruining everything!’” Poésy laughed, since she plans to read the remaining books on her next vacation “back to back.” Still, she can’t resist asking for one one spoiler: “Has Harry done some bad things?”

Maybe that’s the influence of her latest film “In Bruges” speaking. Reunited with several of her Potter castmates, including Brendan Gleeson, Mad-Eye Moody in Potter, now as a hitman named Ken, and Ralph Fiennes, who as Voldemort is always trying to kill Harry, now playing a hitman boss named …Harry. “Isn’t that funny?” exclaimed Poésy. “We didn’t tease [Ralph] about it, but maybe we will now. I had met Brendan before, and he was really sweet. He liked scaring kids with his costume, showing it to all the extras, who were like, ‘How do you do that with your eye?’”

Not that Poésy isn’t above scaring the kids as well. “It would be nice of you not to write that,” she teased. “The kids think I have powers, so I can say, ‘Be careful, otherwise I can turn you into a frog! I’ve learned.’ So don’t tell anyone I don’t have witchcraft powers.”

In “In Bruges,” Poésy has powers of a different sort — able to magnetically attract Colin Farrell, who plays yet another hitman, when he crashes a film set she’s on. Her character Chloe’s not an actress though. “She tells him she sells drugs to film crews, and he doesn’t believe her,” Poesy said. “He says, ‘I murder people for money,’ she says, ‘I sell drugs,’ and nobody believes the other. I think she just likes him. He seems innocent, childish, talking about midgets, and his eyes, they’re so big and completely innocent for a hitman who’s just committed a huge murder.”

And compared to her character’s ex-boyfriend, with whom Chloe scams tourists, Farrell’s Ray seems “kind of nice.” Can she say the same thing for Colin? “I know he kills people for money, but he never tells anyone,” she joked. “It would be very presumptious of me to tell you what else Colin is like.”

Despite their characters crimes, they remain pretty likeable, well, save for Fiennes’ Harry. “They’re doing bad things with a good heart,” Poésy said.

“It’s never black or white. It’s all greys. If we were all perfect, it wouldn’t be as beautiful. Even in simple fairy tales, you’ve got some awful things.”

It’s a running joke in “In Bruges” that Harry set Ken and Ray there because the town is like a “f–king fairy tale.” But Poésy thinks perhaps her character was the only one who got a happy ending. And as for her Potter world counterpart, she’s hoping for a happy ending there as well. “They get married, have lots of kids, never have a fight, and never divorce,” she guesses. We don’t want to spoil it for her, but let’s just say Fleur makes it to the epilogue. “It’d be a pleasure,” Poésy said, “to go back and pop in before it all finishes.”

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]