Castium Revelio: The Return of the Dark Lord and Other Urban Myths
by Brienne Green · March 21, 2019
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I miss Voldemort”? Okay, perhaps not in theory, but we certainly miss Ralph Fiennes‘ superb portrayal of the Dark Lord, and the wizarding world was abuzz this week after the actor indicated he’d love to return to the role if circumstances ever allowed. We’ve got his comments on the subject for you, along with Jamie Campbell Bower puckering up in a pair of new projects, another wizarding world alumnus signing on for the Game of Thrones prequel, and more in this week’s Casting News! Giddy yet? Well, someone is… Castium Revelio!
We can almost hear Cornelius Fudge insisting, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be." But Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) made clear last week on BBC's Newsnight that if he can, he will.
We Got This Covered reports that, chatting with Newsnight host Stephen Smith, Fiennes was asked how he'd feel about returning to the role of the Dark Lord if the opportunity somehow arose.
Well, there are variants, aren't there? 'Fantastic Beasts' and things.
Smith, clearly as close to having a minor tizzy as the rest of us after that statement, pressed Fiennes further.
I feel a kind of affection for Voldemort. So if there was a world in which Voldemort came back, I would be very possessive about wanting to reprise that.
The logistics, of course, don't align favorably, as Tom Riddle would still have been a student at Hogwarts during the timeline Fantastic Beasts is traveling. However, there always exists the possibility of a flash-forward. We saw, after all, Gellert Grindelwald prophesy World War II during his speech to his followers. And at the end of the day, it's J.K. Rowling's world, and we're just living in it. If the author wants to fiddle with dates a bit, she can and has. For now, we'll just keep our fingers crossed and our eyes open!
A trio of Harry Potter alumni will feature this spring on Season 3 of Sky TV's Urban Myths, a British comedy series that fictionally expands upon peculiar true stories from the worlds of entertainment and culture.
Chortle reports Ian Hart (Quirinus Quirrell), Jamie Campbell Bower (teen Gellert Grindelwald), and Kelly Macdonald (the Grey Lady) have signed on for episodes, with Campbell Bower and Macdonald appearing together. And if you somehow need more convincing to either tune in or track down a streaming service, we have five words for you: Campbell Bower as Mick Jagger.
In a currently untitled episode set to air May 29, Bower will pucker up to portray the Rolling Stones frontman opposite Macdonald as Princess Margaret. Jagger and the princess had a decades-long friendship by which Margaret's sister, Queen Elizabeth II, was not amused.
We find out that Tony Blair submitted Jagger's name for the Queen's Honours List annually from 1997-2002; however, every year, the Queen turned him down. This comic tale travels from London to the Caribbean and dives head first into the worlds of rock and royalty to ponder exactly why that was.
Hart, meanwhile, will appear as Hans Christian Andersen in Bleak House Guest, an exploration of the time the Danish author turned up unexpectedly on the doorstep of Charles and Catherine Dickens, quickly proving himself to be "the most impossible (and unshakeable) house guest imaginable." That episode will air April 24.
Macdonald's next movie project, Dirt Music, which we told you about in August 2018, is currently filming, with no release date announced yet. She'll play Georgie opposite Garrett Hedlund (Pan) as Lu Fox.
Campbell Bower has also been steaming up screens on the festival circuit with yet another actress known to Potter fans: Elarica Johnson, the cafe waitress who caught Harry's eye in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
As Jean-Baptiste and Sistine in Six Days of Sistine, the two are described thus by IMDb: "Two souls lost in a world of modernization find each other in a moment's need for clarity and appreciation." It's unclear whether the film will be released to a wider audience, but it won Best Experimental Film at both the Olympus Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Calcutta Cult Film Festival, with Campbell Bower also picking up Best Actor at the Olympus. Director Richard J. Perry posted a festival trailer to Instagram last week, and we've included a few film stills as well.
The long wait for Season 2 of ominous Netflix drama The OA is finally over, and Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) and his castmates were on the red carpet Tuesday in Los Angeles to celebrate the show's return.
The OA features Isaacs as Hap Percy, a scientist the actor urged fans Tuesday on Instagram not to call "mad." Would nefarious do?
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This guy's back. Just don't call him mad. #TheOA #CuringDeath
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Season 2 is set to premiere Friday on Netflix, and you can check out the official trailer and a few photos from the L.A. premiere below, courtesy of Just Jared.
This is just a rumor at this point, and very little is known about the untitled project, other than Variety's description of it as "a massive, innovative action blockbuster" that will be available in IMAX. The film has a July 17, 2020, release date, and production is expected to start this summer. We'll let you know if Pattinson's involvement is confirmed!
The countdown to the release of Hero Fiennes-Tiffin's (11-year-old Tom Riddle) new film, After, is growing shorter, and the film's stars - Fiennes-Tiffin as Hardin Scott and Josephine Langford as Tessa - recently joined Anna Todd, author of the fan-fiction-turned-novel-turned-movie, on a world press tour.
The tour began in Mexico City and continued last week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as the April 12 premiere date approaches. Just Jared has released a bevy of photos from the most recent junket, and you can view a small selection in the gallery below.
Another wizarding world favorite has been added to the cast of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, the Wrap reports.
Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter) has signed on to the project, which is set thousands of years before Game of Thrones and is currently officially untitled, though author George R.R. Martin appeared to dub it The Long Night in an October 2018 blog post. Character details have also not been divulged. MuggleNet informed you in January of the involvement of Campbell Bower and Toby Regbo (young Albus Dumbledore) to many squees from fans, and the prequel is set to enter production this summer.
Few thoughts delight us more than that of crotchety caretaker Argus Filch reuniting with his sources of countless migraines, Fred and George Weasley. The reunion of David Bradley (Argus Filch), James Phelps (Fred Weasley), and Oliver Phelps (George Weasley), however, will no doubt be much more amicable.
The trio has signed on to attend the Pride of Birmingham awards next week at the University of Birmingham. The Birmingham Mail reports the March 26 ceremony will feature more than 30 celebrities, with 12 winners to be recognized for their "courage, caring, compassion, and community spirit." The Phelps twins solemnly swore there would be no mischief... sort of.
James: We'll be on our best behavior.
Oliver: Whatever our best behavior is.
The pair also continues to await the May release of their first silver-screen team-up since Harry Potter, 7 Days: The Story of Blind Dave Heeley, and James Phelps has another fantasy picture set to premiere this year. He'll play Tanion in Cadia: The World Within, which IMDb describes as the story of three grieving teenagers who discover a "mystical realm ruled by unseen forces." You can check out a trailer and a few film stills featuring Phelps below.
Deadline Hollywood reports the ten-part drama will launch this year and is set in a contemporary London being torn asunder by international gangs.
The series begins as the head of one criminal gang is assassinated, and the power vacuum threatens the fragile peace between the other underworld organizations.
No details yet on Bradley's character or when exactly the show will debut, but we'll let you know as more information surfaces!
We let you know last month that Sophie Thompson (Mafalda Hopkirk) and several of her Four Weddings and a Funeral costars had reunited to film One Red Nose Day and a Wedding. The special is part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day campaign to raise funds to combat child poverty, and a new teaser clip was posted last week to Instagram. The special will air May 23 on NBC. We've got our alarms set!
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Trust us, you don’t wanna be late #RNDWedding #RedNoseDay
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Gemma Jones' new television series, Gentleman Jack, finally has an air date. Deadline Hollywood says the show - which tells the story of English landowner, diarist, mountaineer, and traveler Anne Lister - will launch April 22 on HBO and later this spring on the BBC in the United Kingdom.
Jones can also be seen May 31 in the new Elton John biopic Rocketman, portraying Ivy, John's grandmother. You can catch a glimpse of her near the start of the trailer below, looking on proudly as her grandson, played by Taron Egerton (Kingsman), begins composing a familiar tune.
Nick Moran, the actor behind everyone's favorite slightly sleazy snatcher, Scabior, will soon be back on-screen in a new action flick. Avengement was acquired last week by Samuel Goldwyn Films and is set for a May 24 release in United States theaters and on digital download.
Screen Anarchy says the film follows "a lowly criminal" who "evades his guards and returns to his old haunts to take revenge on the people who made him a cold-hearted killer." Scott Adkins (Boyka: Undisputed) will play said killer, while Moran will portray Hyde.
Moran also has several films in postproduction. Gilpin, the story of Charles Gilpin, Broadway's first African-American actor, is slated to debut this fall, with Moran playing Jasper Deeter, actor and founding artistic director of the Hedgerow Theatre. The short drama Temporarily Lost will star Moran as Jack, a man struggling with the torment and confusion of Alzheimer's. Watch a trailer for that film below, along with stills from both movies.
Repeater will feature Moran as Jean Rousseau, a hacker-activist who's run afoul of corrupt corporate powers and is now the target of a hitman, and he'll play Clerk in the sci-fi movie Greatland, the story of a teen who crosses a forbidden frontier to save his childhood sweetheart in a world of perpetual fun and inter-species love. Neither of those movies has a release date as yet.
On a recent episode of CBS's The Talk, Colin Farrell (Percival Graves) was called out for helping fill the swear jar on the set of his upcoming film Dumbo.
The actor pointed out it was a bit amusing to have his language mentioned by, of all people, Sharon Osbourne, coming back at the cohost with, "Indeed, how did you get this job?" He further teased, "There must be somebody backstage with carpal tunnel from hitting the button so much." While Farrell did admit to having contributed his share of funds to the jar, he insisted he wasn't the only one to blame, asking child costars Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins to "nail someone." Hobbins immediately obliged, stating Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton were also quite colorful on set.
Farrell said that while the jar was "rather full" by the end of filming, the money was donated to charity, and you can watch the conversation in the video clip below. Dumbo flies into theaters March 29.
While promoting Dumbo in Tokyo, meanwhile, Farrell was dubbed by GQ as a "boardroom style god" for his ensemble - a single-breasted navy pinstripe Brunello Cucinelli suit, powder-blue shirt, and power tie. The magazine called it "hands down one of the best office-ready suits we (or you) have likely ever seen" and said the actor had pulled off "big-city businessman meets Hollywood heartthrob." We're sure you, as we do, wholeheartedly agree. Any chance of us sitting in on that board meeting?
Kevin Guthrie (Abernathy) recently sat down with the Scottish Sun to discuss his latest film, Connect, and how it felt to trade the massive scale of a wizarding world picture for a humbler project.
In Connect, which confronts the high rate of suicides among young British males, Guthrie stars as Brian, who is trying to start a new relationship while battling with chronic depression. The actor says while the movie is dedicated to shining a light on mental health, it's also a hopeful love story in more ways than one.
The guy has to fall in love again with himself to be able to fall in love with someone else because in that way lies happiness. I don't know about depression firsthand, but from talking to people in my circle who struggle with it, they say it's overwhelming. So I would love to think that if even one spark of a conversation could happen between people because of this film, then it will have been worth it. We just want folk to start having a chat, as it could change your life.
Guthrie told the Sun that, whereas on the sets of Fantastic Beasts, there are "20 people queuing up to look after you in some shape or form," he enjoyed getting out of his comfort zone for Connect, an environment that saw everyone pitching in.
We were helping carry the lights and the camera kit. We were running up and down those hills along the beach in North Berwick, where we filmed it, lugging all the equipment. I could have a frank and honest exchange of views for a scene, and you didn't have to go to five different executives to sign off on an idea.
And while being a part of something as big as the Fantastic Beasts franchise can be a bit overwhelming, Guthrie says his casting was a dream come true.
It makes you feel like you're part of something pretty special. I've always been a huge 'Harry Potter' fan, so to enter into the Hogwarts domain was one of my life's biggest achievements.
Connect is set to screen March 23 at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow as part of its Tartan Features festival. You can view the trailer and a selection of film stills below.
That does it for this week’s edition of MuggleNet’s Casting News. What are your thoughts on the projects and actors mentioned above? Have you heard of any upcoming happenings we haven’t reported? Let us know in the comments, and check back next week for more from your favorite wizarding world alumni!
