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The director of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - the two-part final cinematic chapter based on the series of seven books - says Daniel Radcliffe will do several nude scenes in the upcoming movie, one of them of the steamy variety....a monster tortures Harry's friend Ron (Rupert Grint) with images of Harry in some sort of tryst with Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), with whom Ron is passionately in love.

It is no secret that people have long protested not only the Harry Potter books but the movies as well. Many of those people who protest do so with their religious conviction in mind. Back in 1999, an Associated Press writer reported that a group of parents wanted the books kept from classrooms. One parent, Elizabeth Mounce, was quoted as saying, "'The books have a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect and sheer evil.'" At the time, the school principal, Jerry Locke, asked teachers to stop reading the books in classrooms until the issue was resolved. He...

We have some troubling news to report tonight regarding one of the actors in the Harry Potter films. Stemming originally from a UK tabloid, world wide media have now carried the story that actor Jamie Waylett, who portrays actor Vincent Crabbe in the beloved film series, was arrested on charges of possessing an illegal substance. A rep for Scotland Yard told the BBC that police made the arrest after searching a car carrying 19 year old Jamie and a friend. "The car was searched and officers found eight bags of a substance believed to be cannabis," he said. The report...

In this trailer released by WB, Dumbledore narrates the story of Tom Riddle. We see glimpses of the inferi, more orphanage footage, the gates of Hogwarts as Harry and Luna travel up to them, Harry under his invisibility cloak on the train, Dumbledore grabbing a chain from the cave, a close shot of Narcissa, Draco working on the wardrobe, explosions in Diagon Alley and fire at the Burrow, Harry battling off the Inferi, Fenrir Greyback, Harry shouting at Snape, the bridge collapsing, and another "Once again, I must ask too much of you, Harry."

UK tabloid The Mirror is reporting tonight that a stuntman "who doubles for Harry star Daniel Radcliffe," was injured as part of prep work for filming on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The paper says that the accident with the stuntman happened while "rehearsing a flying sequence using a harness when he was sent plummeting by the blast, which was part of the stunt. He was conscious after smashing to the ground but told horrified colleagues: “I can’t feel my legs.” The paper continues: A source said: “The stunt double was badly hurt. He was rehearsing a flying scene...

The sixth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, originally scheduled for a November 21 release, has now been moved to July 17, 2009 in the US and major international markets, according to MarketWatch.com. WB has confirmed the move to TLC. The press release says the reason for the move was two-fold: First, the studio says summer releases are better for "family tentpole" events, and second, they are still feeling the aftereffects of the writers' strike and need the time to make sure the film reaches the widest audience possible. The new date, said Jeff Robinov, president of...

Muggles Rejoice! 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' A young Dark Wizard emerges in this exclusive first look. Watch the 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' trailer in HD: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 114 Days to Theater Premiere Fri Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2008 Synopsis Adolescent wizard-in-training Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for another year of schooling and learns more about the dark past of the boy who grew up to become Lord Voldemort in this, the sixth installment of the film series Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is...

The Telegraph has reported today that Dame Maggie Smith, known to Potter film fans as Prof. McGonagall, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She has had a tumor removed and has undergone a course of chemotherapy; the prognosis “looks good,” a friend of hers told the paper. Everyone on staff at, and, we’re sure, reading Leaky wishes this fine actress a double measure of luck and health to counteract this difficult turn of events. You can write to Dame Maggie Smith at Leavesden Studios: c/o Harry Potter Production Leavesden Studios P.O. Box 3000 Leavesden, HertfordshireWD25 7LT United Kingdom

Potter Author JK Rowling Equates Christians Who Avoid Potter with Islamic Fundamentalists Says "fundamentalists across all the major religions, if you put them in a room, they'd have bags in common! They hate all the same things" By John-Henry Westen EDINBURGH, March 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The newly released edition of the Edinburgh University Student newspaper, the oldest student newspaper in the UK, includes an interview with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.  In the interview Rowling claims to have received death threats from Christians opposed to her novels, calling Christian 'fundamentalists' "dangerous" and comparing them by inference to Islamic fundamentalists....

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The final "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," will be adapted into two films, Warner Bros. said Wednesday. Titled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the movies are set to be released in November 2010 and May 2011. They will be shot back-to-back by David Yates, who is directing the adaptation of the sixth novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," due in theatres November 21. Steve Kloves, who has written all but one of the "Potter" movies, also is returning...

(IsraelNN.com) British actor Daniel Radcliffe, who is best known for his role as the famously-bespectacled magical prodigy "Harry Potter," will donate the first pair of glasses he wore as a child to a Liverpool exhibition remembering those who died in the Holocaust. The glasses will be linked with others to form the shape of a railway track, reminiscent of those upon which Jews were transported to concentration camps throughout Europe. The 18 year-old actor, whose mother is Jewish, sent the oval, gray metal-framed glasses he wore as a 6 year-old to be part of the memorial. Former British Prime Minister...

As if any more evidence was needed, researchers from Oxford University who have been studying aspects of wizarding genes, found that evidence points to Harry Potter descending from a magical bloodline. The Telegraph has a fun look this evening at ‘an analysis of wizardry’ study on the genetics of wizards from the Harry Potter novels. Their aim is to study wizard lineage in hopes to “address the heritability of magic.” They have found, and have published in the British Medical Journal, that magical ability could indeed be passed down from generation to generation. Basing its research on elements of the...

PARIS (AFP) - Harry Potter is a left-winger and the seven books by J.K. Rowling are a diatribe against Thatcherite Britain, a French philosopher said Friday on the day of the last novel's publication in French. "It must be said from the start that Harry Potter is deeply political and that the books speak of today's England," Jean-Claude Milner told the left-wing newspaper Liberation. "Reading it, one can see that J.K. Rowling -- like many cultured English people -- believes there was a real Thatcherite revolution, that it was a disaster, and that culture's only chance is to survive as...

"The story line is not important. We have to take into account that reading itself is what's lacking in Arab nations. Those nations do not even read the Koran. I say we must learn the love of reading from the West without saying that reading that book is a waste of time. Hundreds of thousands of [Westerners] stood in line to get a copy of the book and no one in the Arab nations even goes into a bookstore more than once a year. There's no crowding in bookstores. People crowd around the television, and they're highly skilled in wasting...

Saturday, July 21, 2007 (Mexico City) The leading exorcist of Mexico's main archdiocese said the popular Harry Potter book and film series could allow the devil to enter children's minds, and does ''a lot of damage.'' The Reverend Pedro Mendoza, a Roman Catholic priest and exorcist coordinator of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, made the comments at the end of a five-day exorcism conference in Mexico City. ''If you put all these ideas in a child's head, that he can become a wizard, the child believes that, and that is opening an avenue through which the devil can get in,''...

The witching hour is almost here. Thousands of would-be warlocks, sorcerers and ordinary, non-magical Muggles lined up outside bookstores from Sydney to Seattle on Friday, eager to get their hands on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume in the boy wizard's saga. In a now-familiar ritual that is part sales frenzy and part Halloween party, bookstores across Britain were flinging open their doors at a minute past midnight Saturday. Shops as far afield as Singapore and Australia were putting the book on sale at the same time; the United States was to follow from midnight...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- One Oregon couple's wedding night will be especially magical. Courtney Lanahan and Shawn Gordon of Clackamas are heading straight from their wedding reception Friday to a bookstore to get the final Harry Potter book. The book's official release date is Saturday but many stores will be hosting midnight events to celebrate the debut of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The wedding starts at 7. The reception will follow. And at 11:30 the limo will whisk the new Mr. and Mrs. Gordon away -- to the mall. "It's the best wedding present," Lanahan said. The couple...

It was either the biggest trick since Harry Potter turned invisible, or internet pirates had on Tuesday night beaten all publishers in getting the final episode of the boy wizard’s adventures into a public arena. The web buzzed night as users visited a site offering a download of scanned images of pages from a book purporting to be the seventh and final episode of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

Nearly a decade ago, Eileen McNally caught an NPR interview with an obscure writer named J.K. Rowling. The book being discussed, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, sounded like fun, so McNally picked it up for her 9-year-old niece. "I bought it for her to read on the plane home to Buffalo," says McNally, now director of the Florida Center for the Book at the Broward County Library. "But Shannon read the entire thing standing in line at Disney World. I was flabbergasted. That's when I knew this was something special." Special, indeed. The six Harry Potter books published since...

Previously we told you there was to be an open casting call in the coming weeks for the roles of young Tom Riddle as well as Lavender Brown for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film. MTV now has an article online quoting director David Yates about his quest to cast the perfect person to play Lavender Brown, the girl who will capture WON-WON's fancy in the sixth Harry Potter film. The director has a test in mind, and it involves...snogging.

Ga. judge: Keep Potter books in schoolThe adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter can stay in Gwinnett County school libraries, despite a mother's objections, a judge ruled Tuesday. Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court. "I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up," said Mallory, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing. Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor's ruling upheld a decision by the Georgia Board of Education, which had...

Dear Ms. Rowling: I am writing to you today for a couple of reasons. First, I want to tell you how much pleasure I’ve been taking in the Harry Potter series. Now, I realize that you’ve heard that from thousands of fans, and that there’s no reason that my enjoyment deserves any special consideration from you. Still, I did want to tell you how much the amazing adventures of your boy wizard and his intrepid friends—Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and the rest of your brilliant creations—have meant to me. In fact, I am distraught that, with the next installment, Harry’s...

Here it is, the cover art for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This post will continue to be updated with links to the art and the text of the summaries. Bloomsbury has also confirmed that the book is 608 pages in their edition.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales of model trains are picking up steam again thanks to deals linking them to the "Harry Potter" and "The Polar Express" movies, along with a new approach to marketing the old-fashioned toys. Lionel, one of the big names in model trains in the 1950s, has watched as its business had to focus less on selling toys to kids than serving an older but much smaller hobbyist market. Folk-rock singer Neil Young, 61, is so passionate about trains that he bought a fifth of the company in 1995. Now, the company is bringing trains back to...

February 18, 2007 -- HARRY Potter is not going to die. But Professor Snape will. Harry Potter will not hook up with Hermione. But his best friend will. And Harry Potter will never see Dumbledore alive again. But Dumbledore will still manage to help him. How do I know these things about the recently completed seventh and final book in the beloved Harry Potter series? I don’t. Like millions of other Potter-loving muggles, I’m just guessing. That’s half the fun.

ATLANTA, Georgia (Reuters) -- Harry Potter fans in Gwinnett County, Georgia, can breathe a sigh of relief. The Georgia department of education Thursday upheld a decision by the county board that would allow the wildly popular series by British author J.K. Rowling to remain in school libraries, Gwinnett school system spokesman Jorge Quintana said. In October 2005, Laura Mallory, a mother with children at Gwinnett elementary schools, asked a local committee to ban the books about a young wizard, saying they were violent and promoted witchcraft. The application was denied, so she appealed her case before different local and state...

(snip) "Phoenix," the fifth book in author J. K. Rowlings's series, is by far the most ideological, and seems allusive to post-9/11 politics. Harry knows that the evil Lord Voldemort has been reborn and is building an army, but the wizarding government, the Ministry of Magic, refuses to believe him. .... "There's a really interesting principle at the heart of this story," says Yates, in an exclusive NEWSWEEK interview. "The ministry is this bureaucratic authoritarian regime trying to impose a fundamental doctrine on this liberal wacky school. The ministry isn't very good at accepting the beauty of differences. Everything has...

"A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools." "Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series is an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion." "Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella.""

The star of the flicks based on the wildly successful fantasy books appeared in an off-color skit, dressed as a Boy Scout, propositioning an older woman (played by Dame Diana Rigg) and playing with a condom. The skit has been picked up by YouTube, where it’s drawing some outrage, but mostly amusement

Two of America's top authors, John Irving and Stephen King, made a plea to J.K. Rowling on Tuesday not to kill the fictional boy wizard Harry Potter in the final book of the series, but Rowling made no promises. "My fingers are crossed for Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The author of "The World According to Garp" and a string of other bestsellers said he and King felt like "warm-up bands" for Rowling, who is working on the seventh and last book...

4 hours ago LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling said two characters will die in the last installment of her boy wizard series, and she hinted Harry Potter might not survive either. "I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I've always planned seven books, and I want to finish on seven books," Rowling said on Monday's "Richard and Judy" television show. "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, `Well, I'm gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels. So it will end with me,...

A former Episcopalian priest claims reading Harry Potter during a mid-life crisis led him to eventually decide to become a Wiccan priest...Haney is now a practicing minister of the Sacred Birch Society, a Wiccan group that meets regularly in the Lapeer Michigan area. Claiming that he does not proselytize, Haney hopes nonetheless to be a resource for enquirers into his new found faith. Wiccans claim that their system of beliefs is compatible with other religions, even while they deny Christian teachings as to the identity of Jesus Christ.   According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, Haney says that it was...

London: Pop diva Madonna has reportedly refused to allow her daughter Lourdes from auditioning for the role of Luna Lovegood in the next Harry Potter flick. The star stopped her nine year old daughter from joining hundreds of other girls who tried out for the role, in new movie'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. Lourdes, who is also known as Lola, was desperate to audition after film bosses

Harry Potter

Potter and friends turn 14, and 'Goblet of Fire' pours on the menace Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series' fourth film. . . . Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. With Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon. Director: Mike Newell (2:37). PG-13: Fantasy violence and frightening images. There's a delicious chill in the air at Hogwarts this semester. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is the darkest, most thrilling entry yet in the movie franchise based on novelist J.K. Rowling's magical...

The full theatrical trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is now available at The Official Harry Potter Website and other download sites.

Harry Potter popular with Guantanamo detainees: report Books about boy wizard Harry Potter have become favourite reading material among Islamic terror suspects at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Quoting a librarian working at the centre, The Washington Times newspaper says JK Rowling's tales about the boy and the school of wizardry are on top of the request list for the camp's 520 Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects, followed by Agatha Christie novels. "We've got a few who are kind of hooked on it. A couple have asked if they can see the movie," the librarian identified only...

As well as being extraordinarily popular, the [Harry Potter] books have encouraged millions of children to start reading for the first time.... For those who have a problem with the idea of fantasy and alternative universes alongside ours, we need to recognize that almost all children play imaginative games in their minds starting at a very young age and have no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between fantasy and reality.... Additionally, the Harry Potter books send a strong message about moral order. There are beautiful and enjoyable human relationships among the characters, and there is a depth of commitment and service...

Bill Clinton's memoir joins 'Harry Potter' as a bestseller in Iranian bookshops By Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday, July 01, 2005 TEHRAN: Iranians may shout "Death to America" and burn the Stars and Stripes in demonstrations, but the memoir of former U.S. President Bill Clinton is on its way to becoming a runaway bestseller in the country. According to publisher Farhang Fattemi, who has just released the book, "many Iranians like the United States and want to hear history straight from the horse's mouth." First published in the U.S. last summer, "My Life" has hit the shelves in Iran in...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium apologised to the Dutch prime minister on Monday after its foreign minister compared him to Harry Potter, the boy wizard of children's literature. Following the outrage caused by the remark over the weekend, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende to apologise. Verhofstadt later released a joint statement with Balkenende, saying they had agreed to put the matter behind them and focus on the "major challenges" facing the European Union. Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht described Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a brave rigid bourgeois" in an interview published...

LONDON (June 4) - A man who allegedly tried to sell a stolen copy of the forthcoming Harry Potter book to two tabloid newspapers fired a handgun next to the head of a reporter who came to meet him, police said Saturday. The reporter was not injured. The Sun newspaper said its journalist agreed to meet two men who contacted the paper saying they had obtained copies of the highly anticipated book. The newspaper contacted police, who were waiting outside the meeting site in Kettering, 80 miles north of London, and arrested the two suspects on Friday. The Daily Mirror...

We parents still don't get it. We still don't understand that our children live in a reality steeped in violence, sex and the occult, and that they move and breathe and have their being in a culture we would not have recognized even fifteen years ago, one that has caused them untold harm. We also don't get the fact that the series of Harry Potter books, lauded by educators and parents, and bemusedly encouraged by religious commentators (except fundamentalists), not only propagates occultism, but offers advanced indoctrination into it. That said, if we step back from the controversy and ...

The first Goblet of Fire trailer is available on-line. I found it here at the Official Harry Potter website. A quick google search reveals it is available from multiple sites.

How quickly they neglect. That's our reaction to the news that Portland, Oregon, has decided to withdraw from the FBI's counterterrorism task force over fears that the civil or constitutional rights of its citizens might be violated. Mayor Tom Potter made that call last week, in one more sign that memories are fraying as September 11 grows more distant. Mr. Potter tried to put a happy face on his decision in a press conference Friday, saying the city is "changing" its ties with the FBI, not "severing" them, and that Oregonians will still be "safe." But what about the rest...

Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture The realm of human imagination is a God-given gift, a faculty of the mind that is intended to expand our understanding by enabling us to visualize invisible truths. In the modern era this zone of man's interior life has moved to the forefront of his experience. With the advent of film, television, and now the near-virtual reality of special-effects videos and other electronic entertainment, the screen of the imagination is stimulated to a degree (both in quantity and in kind) more than at any other period in history. This has prompted a...

Mr. Potter is WinningAll hail Pottersville! Above are two different articles that use the Jimmy Stewart/Donna Reed Holiday classic Its a Wonderful Life as a basis for attacking Republicans. This is a widespread meme, I've seen it in other places but couldn't find them online. Basically these articles suggest that mean old Mr. Potter was obviously a Republican because he worked to keep the people of Beford Falls poor and without the things they wanted. He was always out for himself and profits and paid no mind to the concerns of the little people. Personally I think it's disgusting that...

This is probally an old movie but it is funny as heck. The guy that runs the video website calls it Harry Potter Hillary but the guy that made the movie on his website calls it Harry Potter vs the New York b*tch so I got a feeling he doesn't like Hillary very much. Click me to see Movie

HARRY Potter star Fiona Shaw and Troy beauty Saffron Burrows have set up home together, The Sun can reveal. The lesbian pair are said to be deeply in love and are planning to cement their relationship by going public with it.Fiona — Harry’s aunt Petunia in the boy wizard films — is 45. And Saffron, Trojan warrior Hector’s wife Andromache in Troy, is 14 years younger at 31. But the age gap has not affected their romance — and Fiona has now moved into Saffron’s £500,000 penthouse in Clerkenwell, North London. A close pal of the pair said yesterday: “They...

The new Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie trailer is now available on the internet.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - An appeals court Thursday blocked the publication of the Dutch translation of a Russian children's book in the Netherlands, saying the story was stolen from the popular "Harry Potter" books. The decision by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal reaffirms a lower court ruling that the stories by Russian author Dmitry Yemets about a magical girl named Tanja Grotter too closely resemble J.K. Rowling's best-selling character. The judges rejected the argument from Byblos publishers in Amsterdam that the Russian work is a parody of the Potter series. It said the story violated copyright law and ordered Byblos...