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THE MAGIC MAKERS

INTERESTING BITS

Rosie, who absolutely loves the Harry Potter novels, first introduces Daniel Radcliffe, whom she calls “cutie-patooty.” Daniel comes from stage right wearing all black, and his hair a bit mussed. He seems a bit nervous, and is not quite sure if he’s in the right seat, and she tells him yes, he sits next to her. The audience is screaming, and giving a standing ovation.

“Hi Daniel!” She says. He says hello back. She asks him how old he is. He states he is 12. She asks if he started filming the show when he was 10 ½, he says 11. She asks about his acting experience, in which he mentions “Tailor of Panama” and BBC’s “David Copperfield.” She asks if he read the books, and he says yes. She then asks him if he was nervous about trying for the part, and he says that he really didn’t think that he would get it, but that it would be a good experience. He stated that he just kind of ‘went up for it’ to meet Chris Columbus and David Hemming. He stated he just tried not to be too nervous.

He is wringing his hand together, obviously nervous at the moment. Rosie, though, who is known to be very good with kids, is good at making them at ease. She asks again if he was nervous. Yes, he says, he was nervous, but Chris made him feel at ease. Rosie states that she loved the book so much and that the movie was beautiful. She tells Daniel that she felt he did great in the movie, in which he says, “Thank you very much.” She says that this was a big challenge because Harry Potter could be considered on the largest literary figures of our time. That’s a “Big thing,” she says. He states, “Not only is it a big thing, it’s a great thing. I mean, it’s amazing.”

She goes on to ask how his parents felt about him going up for the part. He said his parents were worried about him getting hurt, because he had a tendency to get his hopes up. She asks if he knew that thousands and thousands of kids had gone up for the part, which he said he hadn’t known. “You were it, Daniel!” The audience claps, and he says with a laugh, “Thank you.” She asks how long it took to film it, and he said late September (00) to late April (01). She asks how he did the quidditch scene. He says with a small smile, “I can’t tell you.” “It’s a secret?” she asks. He laughs and says, “Sorry, I’m not able to divulge that information.” He then states how impressed he was when meeting JK Rowling, and that she’s ‘really cool.’ He said he was in ‘awe’ of her. When asked about the premier in London, he says it was ‘terrifying.’ He said that because of all the photographers, it was like being in a strobe light. Rosie then asks about the placement of the scar. He says that it never actually states in any of the books where it is, but JK Rowling approved everything. “So,” says Rosie, “she wanted it hidden a little bit?” “Yeah,” he says.

Rosie then says that she wanted the part of Mrs. Weasley. “That was my role,” she says. The audience laughs. “They didn’t think I could do the British accent,” she states. She says that they were probably right, as her accent sounds like Dame Edna. She gives a very funny example.

She asks him how he feels about being on the cover of magazines, in which he states, “Very privileged. I mean, how many boys my age get to actually be on all these magazines? It’s so cool.” She asks him if he’s doing the future movies, and he says he’s only doing the second one right now. He said he’d do the others if they wanted him to. In which Rosie states, in a like ‘are you kidding?’ way, “I think they might.” She said he did a great job, “little adorable Daniel Radcliffe. You’re so adorably cute and shy. I mean, I just want to take you to Great Adventure and put you on a roller coaster.” He giggles sheepishly, and doesn’t know what to say. Rosie gives him a funny grin back. He continues to laugh. By this time Daniel is much more at ease. “That’d be cool,” he says, like ‘let’s go!’

She says that British people are so distinguished because an American kid would be loud about it, in which she gives an example. She then repeats Daniel’s response was complete with English accent. “That’s a good accent!” he says, pointing at her. “See, I could’ve had the part (Mrs. Weasley),” she says.

Next Rupert and Emma are introduced. Emma is wearing a brown shiny jacket and brown pants, and Rupert is wearing a dark green jacket with a black hooded sweatshirt underneath. Rosie says hello, and they both smile and laugh, both kind of nervous and excited. Rosie asks if this was their first film, and they say yes, that they had only done school plays prior to this. She asks how they got the part, and Rupert states he was watching Newsround (on BBC) and they had said that if a person wanted to audition to send in a photograph and some information about themselves. He said that he is the ”biggest Harry Potter fan and I love the books.” He said he waited weeks and weeks for a response, and later on he was on the Newsround message board, where some of the kids were stating that they had sent in some videos. So he made a video where he dressed up as his drama teacher, who was a girl, so it was really ‘scarry.’ “So,” Rosie says, “you dressed up as a woman.” Everyone laughs. He giggles, “Yeah.” Then he explains that he did a rap song that stated how much he wanted to be in the film. He later got a phone call that asked if he wanted to audition. “And it was just so cool!” He said. Rosie says, “So you’re advice to young kids who want to act: Dress up as a woman and send in a tape.” “Yeah,” he says. She asks him how his family felt, being that he is the oldest of five kids. He says that they were really excited.

Rosie then asks Emma how she got her part, and Emma states, “Oh, my story is so boring.” She says that some of the auditioners were going to the schools, and about 16 people in her drama class were chosen to audition. She did the audition in her school gym. She stated that it was just like a drama lesson. Rosie states that she heard that Emma was very similar to Hermione. The boys nod their head yes behind Emma's back, which the audience laughs at. Emma states that she enjoys school, but she isn’t obsessed with school, as Hermione is. She states that her grades are ‘averagy.’ “You bullied the boys on the set, I head?” Rosie asks. Emma turns to the boys on her right with an evil look in her eyes. They both back away, Daniel stating, “We did not say that. We did not say that.” Rupert says, shaking his head, “No, no.” “Is this true?” Rosie asks. “They die afterwards, by the way,” Emma states. The boys look at each other, like “Oh, no.” In a very Hermione sort of way, Emma finally answers the question, “Maybe a little.” She states that she printed out labels that said, “kick me,” “pull my hair” and “punch me” and stuck them on the boys’ backs, and they didn’t know it until about 20 minutes later. The boys stated that, yes, they did get kicked and hit. Rosie stated that a similar joke happened to her during one of her films by her costume lady, who was angry with her because she played jokes on everyone. They both agreed together that that’s what happens when you play jokes on people.

Rosie goes on to ask Rupert if he felt she’d be a good mother for him, as she had called Chris Columbus and begged for the part of Mrs. Weasley. She wasn’t considered, though, because she wasn’t British. She then went on to say that was good, because she felt the film was very authentic, with an all-British cast.

Robbie Coltrane was introduced next. Rosie stated that he was, “so good in the movie, so very good.” He asked, “Am I going to disagree with that?” She stated that when she saw him in the movie she understood immediately why he got the part, to which he stated, “Because Hagrid is such a handsome guy, right?” He stated that JK Rowling wanted him for the part, and his eight-year-old pressured him to take it. He wanted to make sure that the movie gave the book justice. He said, “There would be nothing worse in the world to be in a crap Harry Potter movie.” She asked about the beard, which he stated was applied with some type of medical glue that hurt a lot when it was removed. Rosie stated that she was surprised as she thought he would be taller. She asks how they had made him tall in the movie, which he said was a secret. He stated that Hagrid is 8’6”. He said he had asked JK Rowling why Hagrid wasn’t just 9’, but JK stated because 8’6” was ‘just right for a giant.’ Rosie asked him how it was working with the kids, and he says it was a ‘nightmare’ and laughs. He then says that the kids were fantastic. He then points at Daniel, saying “This man” had changed his cell phone language to Turkish. He couldn’t change it back himself, so they had found a make-up lady whose father was Turkish, and had to speak with the man for three-and-a-half hours to fix it. Rosie asked if he’s Scottish. He says, with a side look out of his eyes, “Slightly.” She says that he’s not British and he’s in the movie. Then she realized her mistake and then confirmed that, yes, Britain is comprised of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. He said that Hagrid is from the West-Country (Devon, Cornshire).

Richard Harris was introduced next. She asked him if he accepted the role of Dumbledore right away. He said that, no, he hadn’t. He had not read the books, because they’re not his type of reading, but the script was wonderful. The problem was that if he did one, he had to do all seven, which meant that he’d be 86 by the time the last one would be done. He asked the kids if they were signed up for all of them, they said no. He asked Robbie, and Robbie said, “Ehhh” and shook his hand back-and-forth. Mr. Harris laughingly said that Robbie’s agent wasn’t as good as his own, then. He stated that his granddaughter called him and told him that if he didn’t take the part she would never talk to him again. He said that he normally doesn’t really watch the movies he makes, but that he had seen this one, and it was wonderful, and that the children were magical. He said the premiere was like the Beatles, “Harry Pottermania.”

He then pointed at Rupert and said he wanted to tell a story about him. He said that Chris Columbus had asked him to come down and do a reading with Rupert, Emma and Daniel. “You know, I’ve made 73 movies. After I finished reading the scenes, Rupert looks at me very serious and very quiet and says ‘You know that was quite a good reading you gave.’” The audience laughs. Mr. Harris holds up his finger, “He then paused, and states, ‘I think you’ll be quite good in this part.’”

They then went with Rosie's recipe lady (from her magazine) to make some Harry Potter food. They made butterbeer, which Daniel said was very good. They had some ‘acid pops’ which were round lollypops dipped in honey and pop rocks. Rupert got a little taste, and said, “Cool!” Daniel goes on to put the entire pop rock and honey covered lollypop in his mouth, then removes it and has to cover his mouth from the shock. They also make cockroach clusters. Daniel is still in shock from the pop rocks. They make cauldron cakes, with some cotton candy and chocolate cakes. Daniel ate the cotton candy. They then made some chocolate frogs with Tootsie Rolls. Rupert helps her to make these. Daniel is busy eating. Emma stands to the side and watches. They make some pumpkin tasties, too. The recipes can ordered from the following address: Rosie O’Donnell Show Recipes, 30 Rockefeller Plaza Suite 800E, New York, NY 10112, or AOL keyword ‘Rosie.’ The show ends showing Daniel pretending he is grabbing all of the food.