Club Jade

Check out the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Run, don’t walk! Tom Riddle is PERFECT! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Several publicity stills from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince adaption have made their way online over the past few weeks. Leaky has the gallery, and MTV provides some analysis.

The movie is due out in November.

According to MTV, the Daily Prophet (??) headline is “More Disappearances At Ministry Of Magic.”

Just in case you were wondering.

One of my two favourite economists found a couple gems today (thanks, Diane!). First, what is the real secret of Harry Potter? And, second, one French philosopher celebrates the release of Harry Potter et les Reliques de la mort there by asking whether Muggles represent the Thatchero-Blairite middle class clawing their way up from the lower middle class to the upper middle class, while Harry is… er, well, I’ll let you read it yourself. Bonus points if you can do it in the original French (and you already have yours, Paula).

In other news, filming of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is popping up all over England. And a certain set of twins were recently spotted sporting identical haircuts and red hair.

Justice League of America script might have leaked. Emphasis on the might, but there are possible spoilers. In slightly more plausible news (it’s from Variety!) Jessica Biel may step into Wonder Woman’s boots. Well, we know she’s kicked ass before, but is she superhero material? I don’t foresee any complaints from the Karrdes.

Meanwhile, in another franchise…

• Daniel Radcliffe looking forward to filming Inferi scene for Half-Blood Prince.

• Transformers 2 in Summer 2009.
• David Duchovny claims second X-Files might begin shotting in December.
• Rumor mill: Rachel Weisz and Chloe Sevigny fighting for role in… Terminator 4? Yeah, right.
• Technician dies on the set of The Dark Knight.

Jim Broadbent reveals that he’ll play Professor Slughorn in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. He’s everywhere! (He also talks about his Indiana Jones role at the link.) In other casting news, looks like Zoe Saldana will be playing Uhura in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.

In other news…

• First Prince Caspian poster. Fangirls, meet your new girly-man squee magnet. (Sorry, Orlando.)

• Heath Ledger talks about being the Joker. (Link links to video.)
• The Last Starfighter: The Musical. …What? Why? Were the rights cheap?

Rumor mill

• Geoffrey Rush talks Pirates 4. Nothing really solid, but I am just taking this opportunity to say I would so watch a Barbossa movie.

• Shia LeBouf as Y: The Last Man’s Yorick?
• Viggo Mortsensen in The Hobbit? Well, someone has to bring the pretty, I suppose.

The new Entertainment Weekly is chock full of Potter, including Daniel Radcliffe’s thoughts on the new book.

The HP week in review

• Naomi Watts, Joseph Fiennes, and Stuart Townsend are not going to be in Half-Blood Prince, their agents say. But I read it it on the internet!

• John Ostrander on HP alternatives.
• Amy H. Sturgis recs political analysis of Potter.
• Slate’s Book Club dissects Deathly Hallows
• Would you send your kids to Hogwarts?
• Fans translate Hallows into Spanish.
• “Yes, Virginia, there is a Potterdammerung.” But nothing beats the Russian Snape fans who burn a copy of DH. Dude. We’re crazy, but not that crazy.
• A mind-cleansing LOLcat.

Be sure to click through to see the whole thing!

Since the list is currently speculating on Snape’s role in the new book, here’s a take on his vital moment from Half-Blood Prince: The Lightning-Struck Tower by Margaux Kindhauser.

Stuart Townsend, Joseph Fiennes and Naomi Watts in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Now given there’s not a single legitimate source involved yet it’s far from certain, but folks are speculating Watts for Narcissa Malfoy, Fiennes for Tom Riddle Senior (ha ha!) and several parts for Townsend, most of which he seems to be too young for. (Rufus Scrimgeour? Fenrir Greyback?)

Warning: Don’t expect the comments at the link to be spoiler-free for Deathly Hallows.