Variety reported CinemaNX, a new film financing and production venture bankrolled by the Isle of Man, has revealed its three new projects. Two of those projects will be Heartless and Wild Target whose cast will include stars from the Harry Potter films.

Heartless, an urban horror movie written and directed by Philip Ridley, will star Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacoeur) and Timothy Spall (Wormtail), along with Jim Sturgess and Noel Clarke. Wild Target, a “hitman caper” produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose of Magic Light Pictures, will star Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Bill Nighy.

We previously reported that JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, will write a storycard for the "What's Your Story" auction event at Waterstone's on June 10. According to a blog on the Guardian's website, Ms. Rowling's card will be included with the cards of the other 12 contributing authors in a book of postcards. The book will go on public sale later this summer. The proceeds will also be given to English Pen and Dyslexia Action.

Thanks MuggleNet

Maxim listed Emma Watson, known as "Hermione Granger" in the Harry Potter films, at 94 on its Hot 100, "The ultimate list of the world´s most beautiful women".

Thanks HPANA

J.K. Rowling has won an award from the Children's Book Council (CBC) for Author of the Year for her work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The awards were presented last night at a gala in New York City. Children from across the US voted for the winners at Book Week Online, with over 55,000 votes.

Congratulations, Jo!

Thanks to HPANA.

The Scotsman has reported a confirmation from the Scottish Highlands and Islands Commission that filming for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and II will take place in Lochaber later this year. Since David Heyman, one of the producers of the Harry Potter films, has stated that full production for both parts won’t begin until February 2009, it is unconfirmed as to whether or not any of the cast will be in Lochaber for the filming.

Thanks The Leaky Cauldron

Ray Winstone, who plays the voice of Mr. Beaver in the Chronicles of Narnia movies, stated that he was offered a role in the Harry Potter films.

"I nearly did a (Potter) movie. They earn fortunes from those films but for the time that is involved in making one they don't want to pay you. I'm sorry, but I make movies to get a living."

Read the rest of the article here.
Ray Winstone also starred in the 2008 movie, Beowulf.

Producer David Heyman recently spoke with Movie Magic magazine about the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film. More specifically, he spoke of the development of Tom Felton and his Draco Malfoy character. You can see scans of the article in our gallery (thanks much to SnitchSeeker) here: pg 1, pg 2, pg 3, pg 4

Happy Birthday, Ms. Wanamaker!
Zoë Wanamaker (Madam Hooch) is 59 years old today. She was born on May 13, 1949 in New York City. After her father Sam Wanamaker, an actor, director, and producer, was blacklisted in 1952, Ms. Wanamaker’s family moved to England. Becoming a British citizen in 2000 to receive a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) from the Queen, Ms. Wanamaker still retains her American citizenship.

Although she has done quite a few television, theater, and film roles, she is currently known for her role as “Susan Harper” in the British television series My Family. Ms. Wanamaker recently agreed to do an interview for the May 2008 issue of UK’s Woman & Home. Click here to read an edited version of the interview.

Thanks Snitchseeker and Zoe Wanamaker Official Fansite

We previously told you of a contest Amazon was holding for fans to win the chance to visit London for a weekend with J.K. Rowling's hand-written book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Amazon have now announced the two finalists. They are 16-year-old Rhiannon D. of Jones Hill, Australia, and Laura H. of Fresno, Calif., representing the 18 and older age group.

Amazon customers have one week to vote for who they'd like to win. US customers can vote here and UK customers can vote here.

The winner will be announced on May 22nd.

Thanks to HPANA.

A new report from the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince set has been posted over at the Leaky Lounge. Read more for some excerpts.

Hagrid's hut was a short bus ride away, it had been burned, even saw Hagrid's pumpkin patch though there were no pumpkins. They filmed it burning with a load of cameras (I forget how many they said) because they only got one chance to film it burn. A lot of the outdoor sets have camouflage nets around them. This is because the neighbours complained that the light was reflecting off them and that they were ugly.

I saw The Burrow both the inside and outside sets; the outside set had been burnt out in a Death Eater attack. The inside of The Burrow was amazing, the attention to detail. I climbed up the stairs to Ron's room, the bedrooms aren't there but the corridors have doors coming off them with pictures and ornaments. One of the doors had a picture of mushroom on it. Downstairs there were two clocks, one with the whole family's names on and scissors for hands, the other was smaller with a list of jobs to do. There were even postcards to Ron on the bookcase, howlers (or just letters like paper aeroplanes), a wizarding newspaper on a coffee table and children's painting of magical creatures framed on the walls. The guy showing us around said that it was the hardest set to build because nothing was straight or regular sized.

We walked around Diagon Alley. Ollivanders had been destroyed, all the windows were smashed and it was trashed. The shops had complete interiors in case the camera caught a glimpse inside by accident. Quality Quidditch supplies had a Quidditch equipment display, uniforms on dummies and drawers full of clothing. Florean Fortescue's had fake ice cream sundaes lining the walls on shelves. Florish and Blotts had hundreds of books inside the doorway piled up and on shelves. The large books in the windows are actually Watford phone directories covered!

But WWW stood out in bright orange with a curved front door. It was the most wonderful place. It was like every dream you had as a kid. There were skiving snack boxes, puking pastels, U-no-poo, sweets from floor to ceiling. It had a set of stairs winding up the middle and was three floors high. The detail was amazing; the shelves were crooked with brightly coloured goods on every surface. It was truly breath taking. At the end of our tour we watched them filming a scene there. When you see the scene where Fred and George are talking to Ron on the stairs, he asks how much for an item, they say '5 galleons', Ron says 'but I'm your brother' and they say '10 galleons'. Well I am standing behind the stairs (out of sight) by the door! It took eight takes just for that few seconds and I was told they only complete 2 minutes of film a day.

We saw Knockturn Alley but the lights weren't on so it was by torch light! Saw Borgin and Burkes that way. The vanishing cabinet was in the centre, it was dark wood with a slanted roof. There were lots of skulls and creepy looking objects – even creepier due to the lack of lighting. There were wanted posters on the alley walls for Bellatrix and the Carrows.

We were taken to the tank where all the underwater scenes are filmed. We went downstairs and there was a large window looking into the tank. It is the deepest tank in Europe and the smell of chlorine stung my eyes. The water was bath temperature and there were scaffolding towers inside the tank. Next to it there were a row of wetsuits and breathing apparatus. The scenes in the cave with Dumbledore and Harry were filmed here.

We couldn't get into moaning Myrtle's bathroom because it was locked. They filmed the Sectumsempra scene there last week. They told me Tom had to lie in the fake blood and water for hours. He had a prosthetic chest on which pumped out fake blood and for each new take he had to get cleaned up and dry his hair before starting again. There are some pictures floating about of the scene and they look like Tom is lying dead in a pool of blood, very freaky for his friends to see!

Well, it looks like they ARE having the Sectumsempra scene, but just not with Moaning Myrtle.

Read the entire thing here.

Thanks Porkey for letting us know!