Tagline: Everything is about to change.
The pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter’s training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream).
He wants to find out about the mysterious event that’s supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn’t happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal, even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.
Difficult times lie ahead for Harry Potter. Beset by nightmares that leave his scar hurting more than usual, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson).
But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite — the Dark Mark, the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It’s conjured by his followers, the Death Eaters, who haven’t dared to appear in public since Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) was last seen thirteen years ago — the night he murdered Harry’s parents.
Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) can protect him. But things are going to be a little different this year.
Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community’s magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three largest and most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup.
The Hogwarts students watch in awe as the elegant girls of the Beauxbatons Academy and the dark and brooding boys of Durmstrang Institute fill the Great Hall, breathlessly awaiting the selection of their champions.
Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch (Roger Lloyd Pack) and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony fraught with anticipation as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames, the cup names Durmstrang’s Quidditch superstar Victor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski), followed by Beauxbatons’ exquisite Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy) and finally, Hogwarts’ popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson). But then, inexplicably, the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter.
At just 14 years old, Harry is three years too young to enter the grueling competition. He insists that he didn’t put his name in the Goblet and that he really doesn’t want to compete. But the Goblet’s decision is binding, and compete he must.
Suspicion and jealousy abound as muckraking journalist Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson) fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash with her outrageous gossip columns. Even Ron begins to believe his “fame seeking” friend somehow tricked the cup into selecting him.
Suspecting that whoever did enter Harry’s name in the Tournament deliberately wants to put him in grave danger, Dumbledore asks Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson), the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to keep his highly perceptive and magical eye trained on the teenage wizard.
Harry prepares for the challenging Triwizard tasks — evading a fire-breathing dragon, diving into the depths of a great lake and navigating a maze with a life of its own. But nothing is more daunting than the most terrifying challenge of them all — finding a date for the Yule Ball.
For Harry, dealing with dragons, merpeople and grindylows is a walk in the park compared to asking the lovely Cho Chang (Katie Leung) to the Yule Ball. And if Ron weren’t so distracted, perhaps he would acknowledge a change in his feelings for Hermione.
Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. Scared and still haunted by dreams of Voldemort, Harry turns to Dumbledore. But even the venerable Headmaster admits that there are no longer any easy answers.
As Harry and the other champions battle through their last task and the advancing tendrils of the ominous maze, someone or something is keeping a watchful eye. Victory is in sight, but as they edge closer to the Triwizard Cup, all is not as it seems — and Harry soon finds himself hurtling head-first toward an inevitable encounter with true evil…
Year Four: Champions & Challenges
The most exhilarating and difficult times of his life await Harry Potter as he returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his fourth year of study in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular Harry Potter novel series.
Not only must Harry compete in a dangerous international tournament that pits him against his older and more experienced peers, but he will also be forced to confront his nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort, who is determined to return to power – and finish Harry off once and for all. This harrowing news pales only in comparison to Harry’s genuine anxiety over having to find a date for Hogwarts’ Yule Ball.
The school year will also bring significant changes for Harry’s best friends Ron and Hermione, who may finally acknowledge a change in their feelings for each other. Meanwhile, as the teens deal with the onset of hormonal angst, romance blossoms among the adults too – when sparks fly between Harry’s trusted advisor Hagrid and Madame Maxime, the statuesque headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy.
“This is one of the most challenging of all the films,” notes David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter film series. “We needed someone who could direct a dark and suspenseful thriller, drive exhilarating action sequences and yet at the same time, be intuitive and sensitive to the comic angst of being a teenager. You’ve only got to look at films as diverse as Dance with a Stranger, Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings and a Funeral to appreciate that there are very few directors as skilled and multi-talented as Mike Newell.”
“For me, the essence of this story is a thriller,” Newell says. “There are wonderful set pieces, from the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament to the humor and heartbreak of the Yule Ball, but driving the story is this marvelous thriller in which something truly evil is out to get Harry – and only he has the power to do something about it.”
Portending the danger to come, as the story begins, Harry is beset by an eerie nightmare that leaves his notorious lightning bolt scar searing with pain. His pain turns to bone-chilling dread at the Quidditch World Cup, where Lord Voldemort’s fearsome followers, the Death Eaters, scorch the night sky with the wicked wizard’s Dark Mark, publicly heralding their leader for the first time since his disappearance thirteen years ago.
Not even Hogwarts’ venerable Headmaster Dumbledore is certain what to make of these mysterious events. In an effort to establish ties between the three largest European schools of wizardry, Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, a thrilling competition that welcomes students and teachers from two other European wizarding schools to live and study at Hogwarts for the school year.
“Dumbledore is trying to prepare the wizarding world for the dark times ahead,” Heyman observes. “His gesture also underscores a theme of the film, which is learning to get along with people who are different from you. If they’re good, it doesn’t matter where they’re from.”
Due to the life-threatening risks inherent in the Triwizard competition, Barty Crouch, the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, decrees that no student under the age of 17 may enter – precluding 14 year old Harry and his friends from participating. But when the magical Goblet of Fire selects one champion from each of the three wizarding schools to compete in the Tournament, it stuns everyone by naming a fourth: Harry Potter.
Despite Harry’s protests, the Goblet’s decision is binding, and he has no choice but to compete in the grueling Tournament against older students with far superior wizarding skills.
“What I really like about Harry is that he’s not a hero in the classic sense, a brave allconquering Superman,” says Daniel Radcliffe, who watched thrillers like North by Northwest at Newell’s suggestion in preparation for filming. “Harry’s vulnerable. He’s scared. Even though he’s helped so many people, I think he’s always yearned to leave his past behind him and let the ‘hero’ thing end. But when his name comes out of the Goblet, he’s instantly back in the limelight again. Not only does he have to cope with criticism from everyone, he also knows he didn’t put his name in the Goblet – so someone else must have.”
When Harry turns to his trusted mentor for guidance and protection, he is surprised to discover that Dumbledore himself is struggling to uncover the meaning of these mysterious events. “Harry’s world is completely shaken,” says Radcliffe. “For the first time, Harry sees Dumbledore as an old man who is no longer at the height of his abilities, and it’s very unsettling. Something or someone has infiltrated Hogwarts and is trying to get to him, but Dumbledore doesn’t know what it is, where it’s coming from or how to stop it.”
“Dumbledore is no longer in control and he’s frightened,” says Michael Gambon, who reprises his role as the highly respected Headmaster in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. “He carries tremendous weight on his shoulders, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the students, and when evil penetrates Hogwarts, he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
Suspecting that whoever put Harry’s name in the Goblet didn’t intend for him to win the Tournament, Dumbledore asks Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Hogwarts’ eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, to keep his highly perceptive eye trained on the teenage wizard until they discover the true meaning of these ominous events.
Moody is a legendary Auror, or dark wizard catcher, credited with filling half the cells at Azkaban prison with Voldemort’s followers. But years of fighting evil on the front lines have taken their toll. Battle scarred and verging on paranoid, Moody relies on his magical, all-seeing blue eye to help him thwart the evil he sees lurking in every shadow.
“Moody is a gunslinger with a wand,” says Brendan Gleeson, the versatile actor known for his powerful performances in films such as Braveheart, Cold Mountain, Troy and The Gangs of New York. “He’s someone who has chased the demons away from goodness to the extent that he’s gotten quite warped by it. One of the things Mike Newell suggested when we first discussed the character was that Moody’s great wounds have damaged him greatly. It’s a very interesting arc to play with this character, who comes into Hogwarts as death warmed over and grows into someone the kids learn to trust.”
There is a method to Moody’s madness, though his irreverent brand of tough love often terrifies his students and draws criticism from his peers. “What appealed to me about the character,” says Gleeson thoughtfully, “is that he reminds me of some of my old teachers. He has no time for book learning or pussy-footing about. He wants to show these young men and women what they’re up against – evil exists and they better know what they’re getting themselves into. He’s a one-man initiation ceremony, a walking rite-ofpassage. He doesn’t believe in treading lightly with Harry or the other students because that won’t prepare them for the real world.”
“Moody is a complex, challenging character,” Heyman observes. “Brendan brought a great balance of ferociousness and humor to the role that makes him both formidable and lovable.”
“You seldom find an actor of Brendan’s depth and calibre,” adds Newell, who previously worked with Gleeson on the 1992 family adventure Into the West. “Perhaps it’s true of all Irishmen, but Brendan has an elemental quality to him that is part savage and part wide-eyed innocent, which suited him well in playing this multifaceted character.”
Moody’s piercing blue mechanical eye was created for the production by creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and visual effects supervisor Jimmy Mitchell. “The eye became a character in itself,” Newell says, “although to reveal exactly how we created it would spoil the illusion for audiences.”
Costume designer Jany Temime was inspired by spaghetti westerns when she created Moody’s signature black coat, a battered hunk of leather and buckles that appears as worldweary as its owner. “Moody is a warrior. The man has no house, no home. He literally lives in his coat,” Temime surmises. “We had a team of people who spent a week aging and distressing the coat to give it a lifetime’s worth of wear.”
As Moody attempts to protect Harry from the mysterious forces threatening his life, the teenager must contend with a hostile force of a different kind: muckraking reporter Rita Skeeter. As unscrupulous as she is intense, Skeeter will stop at nothing and stoop to anything for her outrageous gossip columns.
“Rita writes what people want to hear or what she thinks will keep them reading,” says internationally acclaimed actress Miranda Richardson, whose diverse film credits include The Hours, Sleepy Hollow, Enchanted April and Mike Newell’s hit 1985 thriller Dance With a Stranger. “She’ll do whatever it takes to get the story she’s already pre-written in her head. Whenever the danger is heightened, she gets more excited. The idea of imminent death or potential injury makes great press. And that really makes her tick.”
“Rita is calculating and tough, but she oozes charm – that’s how she gets the scoop,” Newell explains. “Miranda is such a gifted actress. She has a wonderful sense of comic timing, and at the same time she’s able to portray a delicious menace.”
Skeeter fans the flames of the Harry Potter backlash that erupts in the wake of his dubious selection for the Triwizard Tournament, and delves deeply into his personal life – and Hermione’s. “She’s absolutely horrible!” Emma Watson exclaims. “Rita seems to have it in for Hermione. She highlights the insecurities Hermione harbors about herself, like being a bookworm or the teacher’s pet, much as Professor Trelawney did in the third film.”
It’s no surprise that the flamboyant journalist’s fashion sense is as dazzlingly outlandish as she is. “Rita feels it’s as much her duty to dress for the occasion as it is to tell the truth – as she sees it – for her readership,” says Richardson. “As far as she’s concerned, she’s the only one who is well-dressed.”
“I was inspired by the 1980s,” Jany Temime says of her desgin for Rita Skeeter’s wardrobe. “Strong colors, very angular and specific to the story she’s investigating. For example, when the Triwizard contestants face their first challenge with the dragons, she’s dressed in a snakeskin kind of material with scales. When she attends the diving challenge, it’s no accident that her outfit is a poisonous, sickening green.”
Harry does his best not to be distracted by Moody’s unorthodox manner or Rita Skeeter’s insidious gossip, as he fears an encounter with Lord Voldemort – the dark wizard who murdered his parents – is inevitable. “You-Know-Who,” as he is tremulously referred to by citizens of the wizarding world, is brutal, fiendish and without remorse. Harry is the only person ever to survive the Dark Lord’s killing curse – an astonishing feat that left him with emotional wounds far worse than the scar emblazoned on his forehead.
“The term ‘enemies’ doesn’t do their relationship justice,” Radcliffe says. “Harry hates Voldemort with every fiber of his being. He wants to murder him for killing his parents. At the same time, he is also absolutely terrified of him.”
“It’s quite hard to play someone who is is the essence of evil,” muses Ralph Fiennes, whose career has encompassed a vast range of heroic, romantic and villainous characters in films such as The Constant Gardener, Red Dragon, Maid in Manhattan, The English Patient and his Oscar-nominated turn in Schindler’s List. “In my discussions with Mike about the character, we talked about giving Voldemort human qualities, because to just play ‘evil’ is really impossible. ‘Evil’ is often conveyed through gnashing of teeth and a lot of spit. I wanted my portrayal of Voldemort to be deeply, truly evil. That comes from fear, frustration and unhappiness. Voldemort was a rejected child. He had a very unhappy childhood, and that’s where his anger, jealousy and hatred began to fester.”
“Voldemort is someone who knows no love,” Heyman notes. “He thinks of love as a flaw. He is the embodiment of pure evil. Someone who is powerful and attractive. Ralph is an actor of great depth, and he captures the complexity of Voldemort’s charisma and darkness brilliantly.”
Enraged that the legend of Harry Potter – the boy who lived – has eclipsed his own, Voldemort has spent the last thirteen years regaining the powers he lost on the fateful night that Harry’s parents died. With help from his sniveling servant Wormtail, the Dark Lord triumphanty returns to human form to destroy Harry once and for all.
“Mike was very keen to explore Voldemort’s unexpected mood swings, his explosive rage,” Fiennes says. “There are moments when anger spits out of him at Harry and other moments when he can be almost pleasant. You never quite know what he’s going to do.
“People are incredibly scary when they’re charming but you suspect they might suddenly do something very violent,” he continues. “If you sit across the table from someone who offers you a glass of wine and a present, but you know that he stabbed his wife to death, it’s quite unnerving.”
“Ralph is really frightening as Voldemort,” Newell confirms. “(You can see he’s mad, gone somewhere else in his eyes.) I’m nailed to the floor when he’s onscreen in this film.”
“It was a very intense experience,” Radcliffe says of filming his scenes with Fiennes. “I learned from watching him, the way he used his body and his hands, especially when Voldemort first regains his human form. It’s fantastic.”
“Daniel had to put up with a lot from me,” Fiennes says with a chuckle. “Here’s a boy who’s tied up with a man pushing his finger into the wound on his head, laughing and delighting in the pain he’s causing. He had to act as though he was in agony and terror without having many words to say. I was full of admiration for him.”
Much consideration was given to the design of Voldemort’s look, as it’s the Dark Lord’s first appearance in full human form in the Harry Potter film series. “When Ralph joined the cast, David Heyman said to me, You’re gonna mess about with his face, aren’t you?”
Newell recalls. “I said No, no. Ralph can play evil. He’ll dredge it up from the inside of his psyche. Then I went home over the weekend and thought, I really should mess about with his face.”
“My nieces and nephews were dying to come to the set and see Uncle Ralph as Voldemort,” Fiennes recalls, “but when they arrived they didn’t recognize me!”
Creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and his team created the key concepts for Voldemort’s makeup, in which minimal prosthetics and transfers were used to cast a sickly, transluscent pallor to Fiennes’ skin and suggest a snarl of veins running down his skull, arms and hands.
“The makeup is quite simple and strong in its design,” notes Fiennes, whose head, arms and chest were shaved as part of the process. “I wanted to wear as little makeup as possible, to be free to move. The idea is that Voldemort has just gotten this new skin. He’s new in this body, so he’s testing it, relishing the power of it.”
A light silk fabric was used to create Voldemort’s black flowing shroud, giving him the appearance of a “floating reptile,” as Fiennes describes his wardrobe. “When you see Voldemort in full figure, it’s as if he’s wearing this black, floating skin. And no shoes. It didn’t feel right that he would have shoes on. He’s just come out of a cauldron.”
“We wanted a costume that had a simplicity about it, something that isn’t as heavy as those worn by the professors,” adds Heyman. “It’s quite spare, not overly ornate, because he is anti-aesthetic. The Death Eaters may enjoy the jewels and finery, but not Voldemort.”
In post-production, the visual effects team digitally re-shaped Fiennes’ nose, flattening it and adding slits to evoke a serpentine look that underscores Voldemort’s Slytherin origins. “It’s really creepy,” Heyman says of Fiennes’ digital transformation, “but in a very subtle, disquieting way.”
We Are The Champions
A competition so dangerous it hasn’t been staged for over 100 years, the Triwizard Tournament is one of the wizarding community’s most revered traditions. Three champions – one from each of the largest European wizarding schools – are selected by the enchanted Goblet of Fire to compete for the glory of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup. Once chosen by the Goblet, there is no turning back.
The champions may rely soley on their wits and their wands to navigate three perilous phases of the Tournament. The successful completion of each task yields clues to the next, without which a champion has no hope of surviving – let alone winning – the competition.
Harry Potter and his fellow students watch in awe as their peers teem through the Hogwarts halls in advance of the Triwizard Tournament: the graceful and sophisticated girls from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, led by the majestic Madame Maxime, and the stoic young men of Durmstrang Institute, headed by the enigmatic Igor Karkaroff.
The Goblet of Fire’s first selection is the champion to represent Durmstrang: Bulgarian Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum, a handsome and stoic teen-of-few-words. An exhaustive casting search for a Bulgarian actor with the right look and level of athletic ability led the filmmakers to newcomer Stanislav Ianevski.
“Viktor Krum is the best Quidditch Seeker in the world, and he’s worshipped by fans and other players,” says Ianevski, who compares Krum to England’s beloved Manchester United football star Wayne Rooney.
“Stan doesn’t just look the part, broodingly dark and handsome and athletic, but he can really act,” Newell says of Ianevski, who had never acted before being cast as Krum.
To represent Beauxbatons Academy, the Goblet chooses the lovely and beguiling Fleur Delacour, played by French actress Clémence Poésy (Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, Bienvenue chez les Rozes). “Fleur is very chic and graceful, but she’s also quite serious,” Poésy comments.
“Clémence typifies French poise and dignity,” says Newell, “but at the same time she is strong and determined, like Fleur.”
“Clémence is also a very gifted actress,” Heyman elaborates. “She was able to embody the dignified inner strength and fearlessness necessary to be the Beauxbatons Triwizard champion.”
The Hogwarts students are unanimous in their excitement when the Goblet names Hufflepuff golden boy Cedric Diggory as the third Triwizard champion. “Cedric exemplifies all that you would expect the Hogwarts champion to be,” Newell says. “Robert Pattinson was born to play the role; he’s quintessentially English with chiselled public school boy good looks.”
“Cedric is competetive, but he’s also a nice guy who plays fair and sticks to the rules,” says Pattinson (The Ring).
“He’s the archetypal hero who gets the girl – and in this case, my girl!” adds Radcliffe. “But Cedric and Harry ultimately bond through mutual respect and a combined sense of fair play.”
The Perils of Being A Teenager
Woven through the mystery and suspense of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the humor and heartbreak of adolescence. Not only does Harry have to contend with the return of his immortal enemy, face death in the Triwizard Tournament and contend with a meddling reporter and a backlash by his peers – he’s got to find a date for the Yule Ball dance. But no magic can alleviate the painful awkwardness, shyness and hormonal imbalances that are the hallmarks of teen angst.
“One of the wonderful aspects of this story is the burgeoning interest Harry and his friends have in the opposite sex and the innate awkwardness this brings,” producer David Heyman points out. “Mike Newell has a wonderful sense of humor and incredibly intuitive comic timing, so watching these teens attempt to communicate with each other is painfully funny.”
Harry and his fellow students find themselves transfixed when the exquisite Beauxbatons girls and the impossibly masculine young men of Durmstrang sweep into the Hogwarts halls.
“When the Beauxbatons girls arrive, the Hogwarts boys are in a state of shock,” says Newell. “They ooze femininity and render the boys – Ron in particular – speechless.”
Costume designer Jany Temime’s wardrobe highlights the differences between the different schools and the nervous tension underpinning these sequences. “The Beauxbatons girls are sophisticated and self-aware, so I draped them in the most sensual and feminine fabric I could find, a delicate silk in the blue color of the French flag,” Temime explains.
“The fabric clings to their form, in complete contrast to the restrictive uniforms the Hogwarts girls wear. The Durmstrang boys radiate a masculinity the girls have never seen before with their rough, almost primitive thick wool clothing, heavy boots and wool coats.”
The arrival of the visiting schools and the commencement of the Triwizard Tournament triggers a change in the dynamics between best friends Harry, Ron and Hermione. For the first time, Harry and Ron find themselves at odds.
“Ron thinks Harry put his name into the Goblet hoping to be selected for the competition,” Rupert Grint explains. “He’s very angry with Harry and won’t speak to him. He’s tired of Harry always being the center of attention.”
Radcliffe elaborates: “Harry is already trying to cope with the criticism from everyone who believes he engineered his own entry into the competition, but he also fears he knows the real reason he was chosen, and it all proves too much. His fight with Ron exemplifies this.”
Meanwhile, the pressure to find dates for Hogwarts’ Yule Ball also proves too much for Harry and Ron, who finally recognizes a change in his feelings for Hermione. “Much to her surprise, Hermione gets herself a boyfriend in Viktor Krum,” Emma Watson says. “This proves to be a huge shock for Harry and Ron – particularly Ron, who has only just realized that Hermione is a girl!”
“We’ve always had the sense that there is something growing between Ron and Hermione, although neither are really aware of it,” Grint muses. “In this film, both begin to admit it to themselves. When Hermione turns up at the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, Ron finally realizes that he has feelings for her.”
“Ron is utterly devastated when he sees Hermione on the arm of another man – especially his hero, Viktor Krum,” Heyman points out.
Harry experiences a terror unlike any he’s accustomed to when he falls for the gentle charms of fellow Hogwarts student Cho Chang. “One of the things I’ve always liked about Harry is that he is absolutely pathetic when it comes to the whole romance thing,”
Radcliffe says. “He has no clue how to behave around girls. He’s a character for anyone who has ever felt awkward around girls – which is probably every male in the world.”
Harry’s struggles to muster the courage to ask Cho to the Ball meet with bittersweet results. “Cho is very fond of Harry and she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she’s already said yes to Cedric Diggory,” says 18 year old first-time actor Katie Leung, a Scot who won the part of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Seeker when her parents persuaded her to attend an open casting call with 5,000 other hopefuls. Romance also blossoms among the adults. Hagrid’s heart is set aflutter when he sets his gaze on Madame Maxime, the gloriously tall Beauxbatons headmistress played by revered stage actress Frances de la Tour (The Cherry Orchard, Strike it Rich).
According to de la Tour, “Even though she’s 8 feet 4 inches tall, Madame Maxime is in serious denial about being a giant. She just describes herself as big boned! But despite their cultural differences, with Maxime being so chic and gentile compared to Hagrid’s rustic charm, her feelings for him are genuine.”
“Romance is a little tricky when you’re a giant,” Robbie Coltrane notes. “Hagrid can’t believe his luck when the Beauxbatons arrive and he sets eyes on someone even taller than him!”
Heyman and the cast credit Newell with infusing the film with his distinctly British sensibility. “Mike’s been to a British public school and can totally empathize with boarding school life, and he has a keen sense of the youthful anarchy you often find in these institutions,” Heyman says. “He’s done a fantastic job of bringing the discomfort and awkwardness of school life to the film. Hogwarts feels more alive – and more British – than it ever has before.”
Daniel Radcliffe concurs. “Mike is English, very very English. He wore a waistcoat every day, which I quite like because you don’t see enough waistcoats anymore, really. He has an incredible presence and commands great respect, but he totally understands the British sense of humor and he can relate to what it’s like being a teenager at a public school.”
Newell was able to join in the fun with his young stars, not least with Oliver and James Phelps, who play Ron’s older twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley. When Fred and George take ageing potion in an attempt to fool the Goblet into believing they’re old enough to enter the Tournament, their plan backfires, temporarily rendering them wizened old men. The script called for the twins to blame each other and hit the floor fighting, but Newell wasn’t satisfied with the Phelps’ intensity in early takes.
“Which one of you wants to fight me?” the director demanded. Incredulous, Oliver nervously volunteered. Before he knew what hit him, Newell had wrestled him to the floor.
“I hadn’t planned to demonstrate wrestling, but it just seemed to be a good opportunity to make everyone laugh, even though I pulled a muscle and it hurt like hell for months afterwards!” Newell recalls with a smile. “But it’s good sometimes to make a complete fool of yourself in front of people who see you as an authority figure. I can’t know everything and you don’t get the best out of people when they think you do.”
These production notes provided by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Robert Pattinson, Bonnie Wright
Directed by: Mike Newell
Screenplay by: Steven Kloves
Release Date: November 18, 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $290,013,036 (32.4%)
Foreign: $606,003,123 (67.6%)
Total: $896,016,159 (Worldwide)