POTTER-MANIA descended on London's Leicester Square for the premiere of the boy wizard's latest film adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hundreds of fans, many from overseas, camped out early despite torrential rain to see author Joanne "J. K." Rowling and the star-studded cast of the film attending the red-carpet screening on Tuesday evening (London time).
Soon the nervous wait was over as Daniel Radcliffe, the 17-year-old actor who plays Harry, turned up with his co-stars, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley). Radcliffe said the new movie was darker than previous ones. "Towards the end of the film there's not many laughs to be had," he said, while insisting that there were still some lighter moments.
"While there's not actually direct comedy, there's some really heartfelt emotion. There's goodness in it," he said. Watson, who like Radcliffe and Grint has become a global star and likely a multimillionaire through the Potter brand said she still gets excited at red-carpet screenings.
"Every time I come to a premiere, I see more and more fans. It gets bigger and bigger," the 17-year-old said, while adding of her character: "She's kind of changing, becoming more of a rebel, but it's kind of fun to play." In his fifth film outing, Potter experiences his first kiss, with classmate Cho Chang, though his integrity is questioned when some in wizard circles doubt his tale of confrontation with the evil Lord Voldemort.
Radcliffe described the movie as the film he is most proud of, while Watson reckons it is the "most genuine" of the series. For her part, Rowling said Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was her favourite book, but she was philosophical about the series coming to an end with the publication on July 21 of book seven: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows "Finishing it was very, very emotional. It was a combination of relief and sadness really," she said.
Nearly 1.6 million people worldwide have pre-ordered the book from internet retailer Amazon, breaking the pre-order record, with Amazon describing the huge interest as "extraordinary". Rowling has said she will kill off two characters from the series, without revealing which ones.
As for the 19-year-old Katie Leung, who has sparked the jealousy of Radcliffe's female fans worldwide, she said: "I hope they enjoy the kissing scene. Dan fell ill at one point. "When we eventually did it, it was a very relaxed atmosphere.
Among those green with envy at Leung's kiss with Radcliffe was 15-year-old Anna, who had been hoping for an autograph since she camped out at Leicester Square on Tuesday morning. "I didn't get an autograph from Daniel Radcliffe. I cried every time he walked past," she said after the stars had entered the cinema to watch the premiere, having said earlier that Leung was "so lucky!
" The $US150 million ($A175 million) production will be in Australian cinemas next Thursday. The US premiere takes place on Thursday in Los Angeles. The six Potter books already published have sold 325 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 64 languages.
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