The first Harry Potter movie
"The Sorcerer's Stone" US
"The Philospher's Stone" UK
is scheduled to debut 16 November 2001
Warner Bros. has finished shooting
and are now editing.
Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe 
Hermione Granger: Emma Watson 
Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint 
Hedwig: Ook 
Professor Quirrell: Ian Hart 
Voldemort:
Ian Hart
Draco Malfoy: Tom Felton 
Hagrid: Robbie Coltrane 
Professor Dumbledore: Richard Harris 
Professor Snape: Alan Rickman 
Professor McGonagall:Dame Maggie Smith 
Professor Flitwick: Warwick Davis
Oliver Wood:Sean Biggerstaff
Neville Longbottom: Matthew Lewis 
Gregory Goyle: Joshua Herdman
Vincent Crabbe: James Waylett
Seamus Finnigan: Devon Murray
Dean Thomas: Alfie Enoch
Percy Weasley: Chris Rattling 
Pansy Parkinson: Katharine Nicholson
Molly Weasley: Julie Walters 
Nearly Headless Nick: John Cleese 
Peeves: Rik Mayall
Aunt Petunia: Fiona Shaw 
Uncle Vernon: Richard Griffiths 
Lily Potter: Geraldine Somerville 
James Potter: Adrian Rawlins 
Madame Hooch: Zoe Wannamaker
Mr. Ollivander: Sir Derek Jacobi
Peter Pettigrew: Robert Carlyle
Sorting hats voice: Leslie Phillips
Argus Filch: David Bradley
Ludo Begman: Colm Meaney
Ginny Weasley: Bonnie Wright
Fred Weasley: James Phelps
George Weasley: Oliver Phelps
Gringot's Goblin:Warwick Davis 
Introducing Harry
24/08/2000
Members of the world's press yesterday
met the three child stars of the Harry Potter
movie and within minutes there was no
question that the casting agents had done a
brilliant job.
Daniel Radcliffe, a shy
and gawky 11 year-old
wearing Harry Potter
glasses, was the
reluctant star, admitting
that he hadn't read all
the Potter books.
Having cried when he
heard he'd won the
role, the youngster -
whose mother is a
casting director -
seemed thoroughly
unfazed by his good luck and felt that he was
a 'tiny bit like Harry - I'd like to have an owl'.
Hockey-playing Emma Watson said that while
that she's not a 'top-of-the-form, goody two
shoes,' she felt she looked like her character.
Certainly Emma's cut-glass accent and
general self-confidence left no-one in any
doubt that this was a perfect Hermione. 'I'm
pretty excited,' she told the assembled
journalists, 'and I'm really looking forward to
filming.'
Finally there was red-haired Rupert Grint, who
is in his own words, 'scarily like my character'
- he comes from a family of seven children -
who all turned up to the conference yesterday
prompting one journalist to note that the
Weasleys had arrived. Quizzed on what he
wanted to do with his star salary, Grint
quipped that, 'Speaking as a wizard, I'm
going to be paid in muggle money and I don't
really understand it!'
Director Christopher Columbus said that his
main concern for his young stars were that
they didn't go down the same road as child
star Macaulay Culkin, who he worked with in
Home Alone. Columbus, who hasn't spoken
to Culkin for the last eight years, said he was
'concerned when I got this job that when we
dealt with the children who would eventually
get these roles that we would also make
absolutely certain that the parents were
wonderful parents as well.'
Cast members confirmed
Talking about the search for Harry, Columbus
said he had seen thousands of kids and,
despite rumours to the contrary, it had always
been his intention that every member of the
cast would be British and went on the confirm
several new cast members - Richard Griffiths
and Fiona Shaw as Harry's Uncle Vernon and
Aunt Petunia and Ian Hart as Professor
Quirrell.
The movie, which begins filming in London
next month will be shot mainly in the capital,
Columbus confirmed, with the crew going
outside London to shoot in various imposing
buildings including Gloucester Cathedral.
Commenting on the recent protests by
Christians about the filming at the cathedral,
Columbus called it 'all a bit silly'. Two
versions of the movie will be shot - one called
The Sorceror's Stone for the US market and
The Philosopher's Stone for the UK with the
cast shooting alternate takes for the six or
seven times the title is mentioned in the film.
Asked whether Daniel, Emma and Rupert
were signed up for more than one movie,
Columbus said that he intends to 'examine
the possibilities of an ongoing film series.
Obviously the complexities of the books in
terms of special effects and the amount of
preparation and planning makes it a little
difficult to do one of these films a year, so
there will probably be a point when the
children outgrow the roles. So I couldn't really
tell you how many films we can do with this
particular cast.'
The special effects for the film are being
spread out over a number of companies
including ILM and Jim Henson's Creature
Shop, with Nick Dougman - who was
responsible for The Phantom Menace -
doing the prosthetics work.Columbus intends
to work closely with Potter author JK Rowling
during the course of filming for one good
reason, 'I wanted to have the opportunity to
call or email her and say; "What colour are
the wings of the Golden Snitch? Or how many
uses are there for dragon blood?"'
The casting information and some of the cast photos came from: http://www.homestead.com/AliciaMorton/Homepage.html
The interview and some movie photos came from: http://www.empireonline.co.uk/features/harrypotter/pictures.shtm
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