Harry Potter

by Ambika Muttoo (@missmuttoo)

Emma Watson’s Harry Potter Premiere Look: Fab Or Fail?

So, it’s pretty clear we all love Emma Watson, right? Anything we say about her which has a negative tilt is more like constructive criticism rather than a b—chfest.  Let the record clearly state that. We showed Emma immense love in that Oscar de la Renta gown at the London premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It was dreamy and walked the exact line between frou-frou and couture which is like, our favourite line to walk.

Whereas Emma’s London look was Swan Lake, Emma’s New York look is more Black Swan, if you get our drift. Look at that make-up? It’s those black and gold-leaf eyes! We can get on board with it, because it’s edgy and she balanced it out with a nude mouth and slicked back hair. The minimal jewelry helps too and Emma’s bone structure will lend itself to any style she chooses to experiment with. That’s make-up and hair we’re talking about folks, because as hard as we’ve been trying, we can’t get on board with her gown. It’s Bottega Veneta and we get where she’s trying to go with it. We even dig the textured, frayed, fitted bodice. It’s that draped skirt that has us all meh. That fabric — which wrinkles super easy too, as you can see —  and those folds look good only when arranged perfectly and at certain angles. Otherwise the skirt tends to look like an over ambitious napkin.

by Ambika Muttoo (@missmuttoo)

Harry Potter Premiere Hits New York

The Deathly Hallows premiered in New York last night and we couldn’t help but sniff a little looking at all the pictures. Each premiere means we’re inching gradually towards the end. A lot of the tertiary characters didn’t show up for the event but our main squeezes did. After wearing a dreamy Oscar de la Renta to the London premiere, Emma Watson chose a Bottega Veneta gown, Giuseppe Zanotti platform peep toe heels and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry for the NYC leg. We’re not totally feeling the look and the harsh make-up, but more on that in our next post. Not much smiling from Emma at this one. She looks like she’s taking this quite emotionally, and we don’t blame her.

Props to Daniel Radcliffe for turning up in Prada as well!  Completely the trio was Rupert Grint who cleaned up quite nicely in his suit as well. He also looked like he had taken a brush to his hair and what a difference that made! Alan Rickman — possibly one of our favorite actors and the only one who could pull off Severus Snape — looked as cool as cool could be. Pulling up the handsome quotient were Tom Felton and Matt Lewis aka Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom. Growing up has agreed with these two. A couple of celebrities also turned up for the premiere. Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker brought their son, James Wilkie. (Note to SJP: Stop putting your son in twee hats.) America Ferrera brought new husband Ryan Piers Williams. Sarah Hyland showed up looking lovely in an LBD, and our happy WTF of the day was Jay Manuel! All-in-all, a pretty successful premiere.

[Photos: Getty Images/]

by Jordan Runtagh (@JordanRuntagh)

40 Up-And-Coming Brits We Have Our Eye On

Ever since James Bond first crashed onto our shores in some tricked out experimental car/boat/plane hybrid thing, Hollywood has been nuts for hip young British thespians. They’re everywhere! They’re in our vampire movies (make some noise, Twi-Hards), our wizard movies (pour one out for Harry, Ron and Hermoine), our rom-coms (hats off to trailblazer Hugh Grant), and our TV shows about British monarchy (OK, that one makes sense). We simply can’t get enough. It’s been said before, but it’s like their hotness is magnified by that accent.

This Saturday the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is hosting a 42 Brits To Watch gala in Los Angeles. The BAFTA president is HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (that’s Prince William and Kate Middleton to the rest of us), so these guys aren’t messing around. In honor of the big event, we’ve decided to compile our own list of 40 beautiful Brits that we’ve got our eye on; from upcoming Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, to action hunk Alex Pettyfer and dream queen Juno Temple. And of course we have our franchise favorites from the Twilight and Harry Potter sagas. Check out the gallery below to see the Anglos we’re expecting big things from!

[Photo: Getty Images]

by Ambika Muttoo (@missmuttoo)

Daniel Radcliffe Defeats An Alcohol Affliction We Were Totally Unaware Of

Did you know that Daniel Radcliffe had a drinking problem? This comes as news to a lot of people, because his excessive boozing was kept as a well-guarded secret. That’s just bad news, isn’t it? That’s how celebrities — specifically the younger ones — start sliding down fame’s very slippery slope and end up burning out. Luckily, DanRad seems to have a solid head on his shoulders and controlled what could have spiraled into quite a nasty addiction.

Daniel’s now a teetotaler who prefers nights in as opposed to nights out. And he’s spending them with a girlfriend, explaining, “I’m actually enjoying the fact I can have a relationship with my girlfriend where I’m really pleasant and I’m not f—ing up totally all the time!” He hasn’t specified who “she” is, but we’re guessing it’s one Olive Uniacke. If so, she’s turned a new leaf too because Olive was known to be quite the party girl. Radcliffe talks about his complete dependance on alcohol, especially after he turned 18 and during the time he was filming Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. His choice of poison? Whisky and some hard partying.

Don’t look at us — we didn’t know and we’re not making it up either! He said, “I became so reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff. There were a few years there when I was just so enamoured with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me.”Daniel also talked about how nobody knew about this destructive streak of his. A lot of it was pure luck, as he revealed, “I really got away with that because there were many instances when a shot like that could have been taken. Our Boy Wizard has apparently, not touched a drop of booze since August last year. Good for him and thank God, he’s so level-headed! It takes some serious cojones to stop dead in your tracks like that.

by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

Emma Watson Reveals Massive Draco Crush During First Harry Potter Films

It looks like all of that Hermoine/Draco fan fiction you’ve been slaving over for the past ten years was thisclose to playing out in real-life, as Emma Watson’s Tom Felton crush gets revealed in her new Seventeen interview. The Snape/Hagrid stuff…not so much. “He was my first crush,” Watson says about her fellow Hogwarts student. “He totally knows. We talked about it — we still laugh about it. We are really good friends now, and that’s cool.” Sure, Felton laughs about it until Watson’s out of earshot, then weeps with regret under a pile of old Sorting Hats in the prop closet.

The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 actress says her “huge crush” on Felton faded away after the first two Harry Potter films, but Emma Watson’s dating life still has her figuring out how to find the next malevolent wizard of her dreams. “I’m so impatient – It’s one of my worst traits,” Watson says. “If I want to see someone, I want to see them, and if I don’t, then I don’t. My friends are always telling me I have to play hard to get because I’ll pretty much say to a guy, ‘I like you – let’s go hang out.’ But my friends are like, ‘You can’t do that! You have to string this guy along. It’s a nightmare.” Sure, but not so much of a nightmare as realizing that you missed the chance to make the romantic fantasies of millions of fans comes true. Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane, there’s still time for you to make it work!

[Photo: Getty Images]

by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

J.K. Rowling Announces Pottermore, Details She’s Been “Hoarding For Years”

After days of build up/stifled squeals, J.K. Rowling announced Pottermore today, though she doesn’t do much to clarify exactly what that means. Instead of a gaming site as a Pottermore leaked memo suggested, or the launch of an eighth book like our shrieks begged of her, the site will be a “a unique online reading experience” built around the series. While most Muggles don’t yet have access to the site, Wired has some Pottermore photos that look extremely promising. Perhaps most importantly for fans, Pottermore offers the first chance to buy Harry Potter e-books (currently unavailable), as well as, per Rowling’s description, “additional information I’ve been hoarding for years about the world of Harry Potter,” including, we hope, a complete dating history of Albus Dumbledore.

While fans can submit their email now and return July 31 to potentially get early access to the site, Pottermore doesn’t officially launch until this October, in part because it seems like Jo and the gang are still figuring out what the site will actually be. “Pottermore will be built, in part, by you,” Rowling explains in her launch video. “Pottermore will be a place where fans of any age can share, participate in, and rediscover the stories.” Based on the feedback they’ll get, we can probably predict the final product will be just be a massive archive of Snape ships. Give the people what they want!

 

 

by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore Will Be A Gaming Site, Leaked Memo Says

If you’ve spent the last fourteen years living, breathing and occasionally eating the Harry Potter-verse, you might been feeling at a loss for how to navigate your Snape-free existence after the release of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Luckily for you, it looks like you don’t have too! Per a leaked memo, it looks like Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore is a gaming site with an interesting twist: while participants take part in an online Potter-themed world, gamers must also search for actual wands planted in different geographical locations as part of a game called “Quill Quest.” Pottermore has been counting down the hours until a press conference stated for tomorrow morning, and prior to the leak had set off rumors of a potential new book or spin-off, in addition to dozens of asthma attacks and hysterical meltdowns across the globe.

Says Rowling’s rep Mark Hutchinson, “Much as we would like to say this is an elaborate stunt to create excitement, I’m afraid it was a simple error. The document is an old plan which is now out of date.  The full details about the Pottermore project will be revealed at the press conference tomorrow.” Reportedly the memo was accidentally send out by a staff member at StonehillSalt public relations firm, who is undoubtedly being set upon by Death Eaters as we speak.

by Liz Black

Rupert Grint (Huffle)Puffs On A Bong

We can hear Molly Weasley’s screeching voice now, yelling Ron’s name in horror after seeing this photo. Yes, that’s Rupert Grint taking a bong hit —although if Miley Cyrus has taught us anything, it’s that you can even smoke legal drugs out of those things, so who knows if this photo actually has Rupert engaging in illegal activity. More importantly though, Rupert’s pretty buff, huh?

[Photo: Socialite Life]

 

by Liz Black

Watch A Preview Of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

There are few franchises that make us squee the way Harry Potter does. Twilight? Not really (sorry, Kate Spencer). The Hunger Games? We love it, but it still can’t hold a candle to the epic battle between The Boy Who Lived and He Who Must Not Be Named. So we’re thrilled and sad to watch this preview of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part Two because while we’re really excited to see it, it’s the end of an era. The movie comes out on July 15, 2011, after which point, Ralph Fiennes will finally get his nose back.

by Anthony Miccio

Emma Watson Puts School On Hold For Movie Career

The boys at Brown must be crying onto their laptops today: Emma Watson is putting University on hold to focus on movie projects. “I love Brown and I love studying pretty much more than anything but recently I’ve had so much to juggle that being a student AND fulfilling my other commitments has become a little impossible,” she said on her website. “I’ve decided to take a bit of time off to completely finish my work on Harry Potter (the last one comes out this summer) and to focus on my other professional and acting projects. I will still be working towards my degree… it’s just going to take me a semester or two longer than I thought.”

Watson hasn’t done much film outside of the Potter films—just a BBC original movie Ballet Shoes, voice work for The Tale Of Despereaux, and a small role in Kenneth Branagh‘s upcoming My Dinner With Marilyn. Her decision to put school, which she just began in Fall ’09, on hold, suggests she’s serious about maintaining a career after the franchise is finished. We’ve already heard Watson will film an adaptation of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, but does she have more roles in store before she heads back to Brown…assuming she actually returns?