SCOTLAND/ENGLAND: EDINBURGH PREMIERE OF 'HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE'

Record ID: 633298

  • Title: SCOTLAND/ENGLAND: EDINBURGH PREMIERE OF 'HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE'
  • Date: 4th November 2001
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 5, 2001) (REUTERS) MCU (English)ROBBIE COLTRANE SAYING "Oh it would have been sacrilegious, it would have been completely innappropriate to do anything other than the book. Really, because children are very particular and they would notice if you were to do anything wrong." HARRY POTTERBOOKS
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, LONDON, ENGLAND AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA41CD68GEVAEY2K1JK5EC1ELEY
  • Story Text: A few years ago J.K.Rowling was a penniless writer Sitting in an Edinburgh caf struggling to get a publishing deal. Now she's the second highest earning woman in Britain, beaten only by Madonna. Returning to Edinburgh for the true premiere of this Scottish creation, J.K. Rowling has brought Harry Potter home.
    The Scottish capital has been awaiting this day for some time.
    J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter was born here. Her first book was written in the famous Nicolson caf where the struggling single mother would sit and drink coffee in the warmth away from her poorly heated tiny Edinburgh flat.
    Joanne Kathleen Rowling now has a luxury home in Kensington, West London to enjoy writing in as well as a place in Edinburgh, having amassed a personal fortune of around 65 million pounds sterling. But not until the 36-year old author's Harry Potter was repeatedly rejected.
    "Loads of publishers turned me down, yeah, I won't name names. They felt it wouldn't be commercial. Ironic really in the light of what's happened but I had that feeling myself, I didn't think it would be very commercial either.' Warner Brothers are counting on their big screen adaptation of the first Harry Potter tale to generate at least 1 billion pounds sterling in box office takings and merchandising deals. There's even talk of advance ticket sales overtaking Titanic, which grossed 1.25 billion pounds sterling internationally. 100 million copies of the books have sold around the world, translated into 47 languages. And that's for something deemed not very commercial.
    There's no messing with children's taste.
    And children arrived at this exclusive charity premiere dressed appropriately as their hero, accompanied by mothers in witches gowns. This is a story that has managed to bridge the gap between children and adult fiction. And Chris Columbus's film, which on November 16 will be released on an unprecedented 1,000 screens across Britain is expected to have the same broad appeal.
    This with not one Hollywood name. 'Putting Hollywood stars in it would have taken away from the magic' said director Chris Columbus. He famously persuaded J.K. Rowling that he would translate her books into a true visual interpretation of her novel after the writer turned down numerous film offers. The promise of an all-British cast was one of the deciding factors. So Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Dame Maggie Smith, John Hurt and a young boy called Daniel Radcliffe are now the talk of Hollywood.
    Not even the studios of Los Angeles could have the mammoth audition process that went into finding the real-life Harry Potter.
    'We began looking in October 1999 and we didn't find him until July of 2000.' said producer David Heyman.
    American child star Haley Joel Osment was one of the many to be rejected. 'We were shooting two months later and I was a little bit worried it was going to be called 'Ron Weasley and the Philosopher's Stone'. Heyman met the star of his film during a trip to the theatre with screenwriter Steve Kloves. 'During the intermission I was walking out to get a drink and bumped into, saw this boy, and he had these eyes and he had this wonderful old soul quality, a mixture of openness and generosity. You could read it on his face, and here we are today. Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter.' Radcliffe didn't attend his Edinbugh premiere.
    After being shuttled from junket to school to pre-production read-throughs for the next film which starts shooting in a handful of days, Radcliffe was advised to catch up on some sleep. There's only so much excitement a 12-year-old can take.
    But his creator J.K. Rowling is ready. The little wizard who makes his ways from Platform 9 and 3/4 to Hogwarts first came into her head during a train journey in 1990. She's had eleven years to prepare for this. Now she's busy writing the rest of Potter's tales. Three more books are to be published before Rowling abandons this child who has captured the imagination of almost everyone in the world.
    --
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