Harry Potter Wiz: Two-Part Finale a Cash Grab!
Sirius Black crushes young Harry Potter’s innocence forever!
See, Gary Oldman played sketchy wizard Black in several Potter flicks, and he still keeps in touch with series star Daniel Radcliffe. During this week’s press junket for The Dark Knight, Oldman dished on a recent chat with Radcliffe that, like, totally destroyed the young actor’s childlike naïveté.
Oldman doesn’t have any scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowsbeing released in two parts starting in 2010but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the Hogwarts loop.
“[Daniel] called me up to say that [Deathly Hallows] was going to be in two parts,” Oldmen said. “’It’s just so dense, so much material, that’s why,’ he says.
“And I said, ’Uh, no, Daniel. That’s not the reason why. Cha-ching!’ And he was a little crushed. He said ‘Oh, yeah. I see what you mean.’ ”
See? Sirius Black really was a Death Eater after all.
The next movie adaptation of the J.K. Rowling saga, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, debuts in November. And that’s not about money at allright, Gary?
An Oscar for Heath Ledger? Knight Cast Thinks So
Heath Ledger’s costars from The Dark Knight, including two-time Batman Christian Bale, took turns at a press event this weekend praising and remembering the late actor’s intense style. A few of them are even lobbying for a gold statue on his behalf.
“Definitely,” said Aaron Eckhart, who plays doomed district attorney Harvey Dent to Ledger’s droll and very creepy Joker. “Why not?”
Fellow castmember Gary Oldman was more pointed about it.
“Heath had this frequency none of us could hear,” said Oldman. “The Academy tends to overlook movies like this, but this acting is so good it’s going to be very hard for them to avoid it.”
His other Gotham cohorts marveled at Ledger’s obsession with detail:
He patched together influences ranging from A Clockwork Orange to ventriloquist dummies to Charlie Chaplin. The result: a Joker so demented and creepy he makes Nicholson’s 1989 version look like Elton John in a bad mood.
“He called me during preproduction from time to time to tell me what he was working on,” director Christopher Nolan recalled. “He told me he was researching the way ventriloquist dummies talk. It was a bit peculiar.”
But when Nolan finally saw Heath’s Joker onscreen, he got it. Ledger was trying for a vocal style that would match the Joker’s chaotic character; even his pitch would be unpredictable, the same way that ventriloquists’ voices would suddenly switch from low to high.
“He’s raised the bar,” said Bale.
If the Academy does honor Ledger for his Joker character, it would be only the second posthumous acting win ever. The first went to Peter Finch for the 1976 movie Network.
Gary Oldman Confirms Roles in Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol
Gary Oldman not only confirmed that he is in Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming performance capture adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but revealed that he is playing three characters in the film.
“I play [the ghost of] Marley, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim,” Oldman told at the Dark Knight junket. “I saw the designs, and the realizations of London and the characters. The design of it, and the look of it, is beautiful. It’s quite stunning. It should be quite magical.”
Oldman isnt the only one playing multiple roles. The film stars Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. At one point Michael J. Fox was rumored to be Tiny Tim, and Christopher Lloyd as Marley’s ghost. Both Zemeckis regulars are even inaccurately listed as such on imdb. Oldman talks about the unusual performance capture process for Tiny Tim:
“They put you in a trench. They’re on platforms that they wheel in and wheel out. So you’ve got all this crew moving floor around. And when I’m walking on my crutches, the actors are much higher than me, so the eyelines work. And later they will animate little legs on me,” Oldman said. “It would be so expensive to do it [live action]. And you can do things with the ghosts that you couldn’t do in the more conventional way. Much like [Batman Begins and The Dark Knight], [Zemeckis] has sort of reinvented The Christmas Carol. It’s probably closer to how Dickens saw it.”
Oldman insists that while the process is different than a normal movie, it isn’t that different.
“It’s kind of like shooting a regular movie I think. Alot of people say ‘working in that motion capture with Bob Zemeckis, it’s like theater, isn’t it?’ And often the people who have never done theater say that. I don’t think it’s like theater, but I feel it’s like doing a regular movie, but without the breaks abd the costumes. You just keep going, and there is no lighting, so you don’t have to wait for two hours while they turn the set around. You actually keep filming.”
Oldman can be seen next in The Dark Knight, which hits theaters on July 18th 2008.
Gary Oldman Talks Heath Ledger’s Joker, The Riddler For Dark Knight Sequel
Last night in L.A., select film sites including Slashfilm were shown The Dark Knight. The collective positive buzz seems to have only increased in the hours since, reaching frenzied levels that are arguably unprecedented (especially for Twitter). Over the weekend, Movie Hole spoke to Gary Oldman about Heath Ledger’s role as The Joker, and what he thinks will happen per villains for a third film. Note: Some readers feel that Oldman’s quotes fall under spoiler material.
Update: Producer Douglas Urbanski, who is a friend/manager of Oldman, has contacted Slashfilm to say that he was with the actor at the time and believes the following quotes were “taken widely out of context.”
Note: If need be, does he believe The Joker will be recast, and if not, who’s the next villain?…
“I don’t see why not. I mean, they did it with Katie Holmes’ character. I understand that this is a different circumstance, but I think another actor could do the job. I think Heath would want another actor to do the job.” Oldman then took a moment to think about it some more, “Maybe we don’t need the Joker. Because we’ll have The Riddler.”
Nice save, Oldman. Also, poor Katie Holmes analogy. The following question is bound to paint the Earth in the coming weeks, just as it did with the release of Batman Begins (and look how that played out): Will Christopher Nolan return?
“We don’t really know if Nolan is coming back. …I guess I have to come back. …Nolan will come back for a third one. I think we all have to.”
For over a year, the rumor has persisted that Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science, Rusty Griswold) plays Edward Nigma aka The Riddler in TDK. A few commenters have referenced the rumors down below. Slashfilm can confirm that ADH plays TV anchor Mike Engel in the film (as credited on IMDB). Moreover, days ago, Hall shot the chatter down to Sci-Fi…
“…people thought I was playing the Riddler, that I had a cooler role than I actually did. …But I was very happy to hear that there was talk online, I guess with Batman fans suggesting that maybe I was playing the Riddler. I wish I was, you know? I wish I was Batman, to be honest with you, but I think Christian has it locked up.”