UPDATE: The Ellen Degeneres show have sent us links to more of Dan’s interview.  He talks about being a Giants fan and that he’s excited about the Superbowl.  He then asks Ellen for a bet on the game.  They both decide on a bet of $5,000 in which the winner would send the money to The Trevor Project.

Here are a few excerpts *caution for adult language*:

Professionalism is clearly important to you…

It’s a vastly underestimated quality that a lot of young actors don’t have. It comes down to the fact that actors get away with a lot of sh*t they shouldn’t, so people expect a certain level of complacency. I always feel that’s the perception of me I’m coming up against and I want to counteract that as strongly as I can. One of the main reasons I want to direct is so I can be really f*cking bossy with actors. I won’t take any sh*t [laughs].

There’ll be no mucking about for the blooper reel, then?

God, no. Even when I was 11 on the first Potter film and the other kids would say, “Let’s do something funny on this take,” I’d think, “No. Why don’t we just do our jobs?” The crew don’t f*ck about, do they? They don’t do one take where they all f*cking shake the camera. So why should the actors do it?

There’s been a lot written about your drinking…What’s the truth?

It’s ridiculous that it’s been talked about so much. The drinking was unhealthy and damaging to my body and my social life. That’s beyond question. I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone. I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic — it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person and it turned me into a rude bore. For a long time people were saying to me, “We think you have a problem,” but in the end I had to come to the realisation myself.

Was there ever a point when you regretted signing up to Potter?

There was a time after the third film when I thought about quitting. It was only for a second, but I thought, “If I do the fourth, I’ll have to do them all,” and that seemed quite daunting. If I was going to leave, that would have been the perfect time because it would have given whoever came in to play Harry enough films to establish himself properly. It wouldn’t have totally dumped him in the sh*t. But then I started thinking, “What other good parts are there for 15-year-olds? None.”

You’ve talked in the past about getting hassle at school – did that contribute to you thinking of quitting?

I don’t know. I mean, school was sh*t because the kids didn’t like me, but I wasn’t there very often. The problem at school was that I ended up getting cocky. Although most of them were brighter than me, I’d spent five years on film sets, so I’d developed a sharp tongue. Kids would shout, “Oi, tell Hermione she’s fit, yeah?” and I’d say, “Definitely. You’re exactly her type, actually. She’ll go ape-sh*t when she hears you’re interested.”

Do you ever Google yourself?

I try to stay away from the internet. Occasionally, I’ll type my name into Google to see what comes up — that’s funny. At the moment, it’s ‘gay’, ‘Twitter’ and ‘alcoholic’. That’s the top three [laughs]. ‘Gay’ always comes up, although it comes up for most people — even Florence Welch. So, really, if people aren’t saying you’re gay, you don’t have a career. I’m sure there are a few ostensibly straight celebrities who are gay, but that’s their f*cking business. They’ll choose if and when they come out — they can’t be forced into it.

Is there anyone you’re desperate to work with?

I’d love to work with Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. I find those gentlemen incredibly funny.

Having already worked with Ricky Gervais on Extras, you’re in a good position…

Yeah, but [Ferrell and Carell] come from a school of improv that wasn’t there in the English Office. Ricky improvises a bit. In the Extras episode I did where Warwick [Davis] attacks him, he was improvising all these funny little lines — “He’s coming at me like Björk!”, “He’s all arms!” — but at that age I didn’t have the confidence to try any of my own.

But you think you could contend with Ferrell and Carell now?

I definitely think I could keep up with them. Not that I wouldn’t have a lot to learn from them, of course.

You don’t fancy another big franchise, such as Bond, then?

I’d like to be in the new one, with Sam Mendes directing. But I don’t know if I’d be any good as Bond. I definitely wouldn’t want to follow Daniel Craig.

What have you got coming up next?

I’m shooting a film called Kill Your Darlings. I’ll be playing Allen Ginsberg.

You can see the preview video of his interview on their Facebook page here.

Click here to download the free app and for more information.

Thanks to Band of the Day for letting us know!

After clicking on the size that you want, right click on the calendar, and click ’set as background’ for IE, or ’set as desktop desktop background’ for Firefox.  For those who use Chrome, you’ll have to save the file, right click on your desktop, personalize, go to your background settings and browse to where you saved the image.

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A HUGE thanks to Crmhpfan for the great calendar and for making us have nightmares!  haha!

This Thursday he’ll also be on the Ellen Degeneres show.  First Lady Michelle Obama will also be a guest on the same day.  You can see a preview of the show here.  Make sure to check your local listings for channel and time.

He was also interviewed by ShortList Magazine.  You can see a preview on their Facebook page here.  You will get to see a video of him answering some great questions, including that George Clooney’s career is something that he’d like to emulate.  The full version of the interview will be released on Thursday.

Others nominated were The Adjustment Bureau, Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and X-Men: First Class.

You can see the list of all the SAG nominees and winners here.

Congratulations to all!

John  Richardson who was a special effects supervisor on the Harry Potter films said the Knight Bus was complicated to construct for Prisoner of Azkaban:

He said: “Although many people think the Knight Bus was a CGI creation, it is in fact a real-life working bus. To construct it, we cut up two iconic Routemaster buses, reworked the structure and bolted it all back together to create one bus with three decks.

“It took weeks to put it together and it was no easy task. Routemasters are 60 years old, so we had to do a lot of strengthening of the structure.

“Another issue we had was filming on location in London.

“During the shooting of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban we found we could not drive it across the capital due to the number of low bridges. This meant that we had to transport the bus in two pieces between locations and put it back together between filming.

“That definitely was a challenge.”

The public will have the opportunity to see the Knight Bus and the other exhibits when the Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter opens on March 31.  For more information about the tour, click here. 

Click here to read the complete article and view a photo of the Knight Bus.

• Art Direction – Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• Make up – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
• Visual Effects – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

So, the big disappointment is, of course, the fact that Alan Rickman did not receive a nomination.  The competition is stiff this year, and I’m sure everyone is very pleased with the nominations.  It’s a huge honor.

You can see the full list here (PDF).

Congratulations to all!

The awards ceremony takes place Sunday, February 26, 2012, at 7PM E/4PM P and will show on ABC.

You can also see the entire show on SNL’s website here.

• Production Design (Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan)
• Sound (James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener)
• Special Visual Effects (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery)
• Make-up and Hair (Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin)

You can see the entire list of nominees here.  The awards ceremony takes place Sunday 12 February at London’s Royal Opera House.

Here is a video of the announcement.

We previously reported that Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live tonight on NBC-TV (check scheduled listings for the time in your area).  Entertainment Weekly interviewed the Harry Potter star about appearing on the live show which parodies and satirizes current events and trends.

In the video interview, Radcliffe mentions that he was “scared” and “honored” to be asked to host Saturday Night Live; but he believes his Broadway experience (appearing in Equus and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying) has prepared him for another venture of performing in front of a live audience.  Also, he talked about the preparation he did with the show’s cast and crew for tonight’s performance.  Radcliffe did hint that one member of the cast will portray a familiar character, but would not say more in case it may have to be cut or edited from the show.

Click here to view the video and read the complete article.

Source:  Harry Potter Official Twitter Page

The winners were chosen by the number of votes from fans who voted on the People’s Choice website.

Harry Potter fans rock!  Congratulations to all the winners!

Click here to read the article.

Source:  Harry Potter Official Facebook Page

In order to enter, the participant will have to arrive at the world premiere dressed in an interpretation of the Woman in Black.  Then, the participant will gain access to a special VIP area of the red carpet where the two best-dressed fans will be selected and win the tickets!

Thanks to Momentum Pictures for letting us know! 

So, Harry Potter UK fans, we are counting on you to click here to vote for the final Harry Potter film to be the first to receive the Evening Standard Award for “Blockbuster of the Year”.

Click here to read the announcement and vote.

Source:  Harry Potter UK Official Facebook Page

The final three films to be considered for the award will be announced live with the other final Oscar nominees on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The other six films on the Best Makeup shortlist are: Albert Nobbs, The Artist, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, Anonymous, The Iron Lady, and Hugo.

The 84th Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre and televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Click here to read the complete article.

Source:  Awards Daily

The show airs at 11:30PM on NBC. Make sure to check your local listings for correct times and channel.

Thanks to Harley for letting us know!

Columbus would not reveal any details beyond this summary of his series:

The Pagett kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . But everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by a troubled fantasy writer with a penchant for the occult. Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Pagett family’s secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.

Here is a bit from the interview:

…As you’re writing the novel, do you find yourself constantly thinking of it as a movie?
Not at all. The thing that Ned and I both wanted to do anything we can do to get kids back into reading and make it really, really fun. I’m not presumptuous enough to say, “We’re going to take over the Potter series,” but I got to see firsthand how that series affected kids and how it got so many hundreds of thousands of kids into reading. You hope for just a section of that in terms of being able to inspire kids to read. And that’s really one of the themes of the book – that reading is essential to your development as a child and as an eventual adult. That really has inspired us in moving forward. So I look at it primarily as working first and foremost as a novel.

Click here to read the complete interview.

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7

Did get a chance to enjoy the first game? You can also enjoy it on Steam as well for $19.99.

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

Source: Steam

Source: HarryPotterFilm Official Twitter Page

Katie Leung, who appeared as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films, has posted on her official Twitter page that she will appear in A YoungVic/American Repertory Theater/Actors Touring Company co-production of Wild Swans, based on the novel of the same title by Jung Chang.  The play will first be seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the American Repertory Theater from February 11, 2012 to March 11, 2012.  Then, it will be performed at the Young Vic in London, UK from April 13, 2012 to May 13, 2012.

Kt_Leung Katie Leung …either @americanrep or @youngvictheatre. x

 Kt_Leung Katie Leung  So if you’re in/near Boston next month or London in April, come and see me and the rest of my Wild Swans family performing on stage…