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Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for March 9

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Filming “Harry Potter” for a decade straight was no easy task for Rupert Grint.

Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the popular film franchise, recently opened about his time filming the “Harry Potter” series and revealed how it felt “suffocating” at times.

“There was a time where it felt quite suffocating,” Grint, 32, said on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast on Monday. “Because it was heavy going, because it was every day for, I think, 10 years in the end… Sometimes it definitely felt like, ‘I want to do something else. I want to see what else is out there.’”

The first “Harry Potter” flick, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was released in 2001 when Grint was 13-years-old. The franchise would run for another decade and ultimately came to a close with 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part II,” shortly before Grint’s 23rd birthday.

‘Harry Potter’ ALUM RUPERT GRINT ALMOST WALKED AWAY FROM THE FRANCHISE

Left to right: Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.
(Warner Bros.)

“It never ended. Every year we came back. It was kind of like Groundhog Day,” the actor continued. “The same sets, the same people.”

For Grint, the actor revealed that he never saw a career beyond Ron Weasley after that.

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Grint was 13-years-old when the first ‘Harry Potter’ film premiered in 2001.
(Gary Gershoff/WireImage)

“I was obsessed with that character, so for me, it was all about being Ron. I didn’t really see a career after it was done. I didn’t see that far ahead,” the actor noted.

In an interview with Variety last month, Grint revealed that he has not seen any of the “Harry Potter” movies past the third film — “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

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“I’ve probably seen the first three at the premieres, but after that I stopped watching them,” Grint revealed in the interview. “But now that I have a daughter, I will probably have to watch them with her.”

Though she never had any lines, Hedwig the owl managed to become one the most beloved characters of the Harry Potter franchise. Despite her popularity, one of her most dramatic scenes had gone unnoticed until recently. Thanks to a viral tweet, Harry Potter fans now realize that the boy wizard came close to killing his pet in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Newsweek reports.

The beginning of the second Harry Potter movie shows Harry and Ron at King’s Cross Station in London preparing to board the Hogwarts Express. They have to pass into Platform 9 and 3/4 to get to the magical train, but by the time they’ve arrived the portal is closed. The two characters discover this by running at it at full speed and crashing into solid brick.

While Ron and Harry were behind their luggage carts, Hedwig took the brunt of the collision, as the viral clip tweeted by user @MuskTillDawn shows. For a split second, you can see the helpless bird getting knocked around in its cage. Luckily, the scene cuts to a shot of a slightly ruffled, but uninjured, Hedwig before young viewers have the chance to panic. You can watch the moment play out in the video below.

Hedwig was brought to life on screen by seven different snowy owls throughout the series’s production. Though stunt owls were used for some of the action-packed sequences, the real-life animals received much better treatment than Hedwig the character. For scenes where Harry’s pet is in danger, like the one in the viral tweet, the live birds were replaced with puppets or CGI.

J.K. Rowling chalks up Hedwig’s unusual behaviors to her magical abilities. Perhaps that also explains her resilience to the trauma Harry puts her through. Here are more interesting facts about the world of Harry Potter.

[h/t Newsweek]

“Parity for women appears to be decades away,” said Felicia Willow, chief executive at the Fawcett Society, a major women’s rights group. “Government and businesses must tackle deep-rooted gender inequalities in our society and address gaps that have been widened by the pandemic.”

“Men dominate every sector of politics, public life and business,” she said, “so it’s no surprise to see this gulf mirrored in political donations.”

Supermarket tycoon Lord Sainsbury is the UK’s biggest political donor overall, handing out some £40m. In 2016, he gave £2m each to Labour and the Liberal Democrats ahead of the EU referendum.

Sainsbury announced he would end his political donations in 2017, only to then give £8m to the Lib Dems in the run-up to the 2019 election. The gift was the largest single donation ever recorded by the Electoral Commission.

The top ten donors also include Lord Farmer, a former Conservative Party treasurer and hedge fund boss.

Farmer, a born-again Christian, started supporting the Conservative Party two decades ago, reportedly in reaction to Labour’s policy of giving welfare payments to unmarried mothers. He has now given more than £8m to political parties and campaigns.

openDemocracy analysed every donation from individuals given to a political party, MP or campaign group since 2001.

MPs must declare all gifts over £500 on the Electoral Commission’s register, while political parties have to report donations of more than £7,500.

“You agonise over it, is it really worth it?” he says.

It was a $1 billion-a-week decision, but it worked. Days later, cases finally started falling. Cheng was typically working 14 or more hours a day, starting at 7.30am with a conference call with senior government officials to discuss the latest numbers and testing rates.

In the morning he would prepare notes for press conferences, readying himself for questions, which he says felt like prepping for an exam.

Days were a blur of Zoom meetings. In the evenings, meetings were scheduled with ministers, the premier or national cabinet following hours of talks with business, religious and ethnic leaders. He helped work out the priorities for improvements and nutted out policy for next steps.

As the second wave eased, focus shifted to things that could be done to reduce the pressure on the public. The single social bubble was developed for those suffering while living alone.

And it is because we are all awake, responding to the world and others around us, that a show is never exactly the same. An actor’s performance can differ depending on their mood that day or that of the audience. In a show as long-running as this one, significant life experiences – such as living through a pandemic – have changed how the themes of our story resonate.

During one of our first post-lockdown rehearsals, when the actor playing Scorpius delivered their line – “I mean, normally, being in lockdown, being in constant detention, it’d break me, but now – what’s the worse they can do? Bring back Moldy Voldy and have him torture me?” – there was a collective cringe. Elsewhere, in scenes that ruminate on loneliness and isolation, there was a slower, sadder delivery of lines. And, of course, the experience of gathering in crowds will never be the same. It’s likely that all audience members now arrive at the theatre with some anxiety.

I spent most of the months out of work in 2020 working on edits of my debut novel, Small Joys of Real Life. While I was missing my workplace, I drew on my skills of rewatching in order to see my words afresh with every reading. If a character is inserted or taken out of a scene, how does that effect the rest of the work? What happens if you switch around a sentence? I applied the same close reading to a stack of novels I reread – works by Sigrid Nunez, Sally Rooney, Elena Ferrante and Peggy Frew – novels I remembered reading in large gulps, almost without looking up. Already knowing their endings, I wasn’t wondering what would happen, but trying to figure out how. Mostly, I tried to replicate the experience of seeing a show. Remove any distractions and pay attention. What’s happening and how does it make me feel today?

Much like seeing the same show on repeat, lockdown forced this narrowing of focus on all aspects of my life. Without weddings, concerts or holidays to look forward to, I had to learn to appreciate the joy of the changing colours of foliage in my neighbours’ yards, my local restaurant’s weekend dinner special, the sponginess of a fresh loaf of sourdough.

Fantastic Beasts 3 is ready for another round, courtesy of Mads Mikkelsen. The Harry Potter spinoff franchise has recast Grindelwad, replacing Johnny Depp with Mikkelson (who recently turned in a memorable performance in the Oscar-winning Another Round). The rest of the cast will be back, though, including Eddie Redmayne Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 follows the 2016 first film and 2018’s Crimes of Grindelwald. The franchise follows the adventures of Newt and magical friends in the Harry Potter universe, several decades before the Boy Who Lived discovered he was a wizard.

If you haven’t already heard, the Harry Potter Flagship Store in New York has officially opened as of June 3. New images of the interior have been released and you won’t believe your eyes! Let me just say I absolutely can’t wait until I get to visit this store in person. It is beyond anything I ever imagined and looks so full of magic J.K. Rowling herself should be beyond proud with seeing everything from her imagination come to life!

This three-storey retail experience houses the largest collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts products under one roof. The store features 15 different themed areas, exclusive products and interactive elements, all celebrating different facets of the wizarding world. From photo opportunities to upcoming virtual reality experiences, here’s just a peek at what you can expect for when you get a chance to visit this amazing store.

The Wizarding World website states:

Upon entering Harry Potter New York, visitors will be greeted with a huge, floating model of Fawkes the phoenix, created especially for this new store. Created by a team of specialist propmakers over a number of months, Fawkes weighs over 100kg and is just one of several meticulously detailed homages you can expect to see. In fact, the shop will be home to hundreds of Wizarding World props, with some authentic items featured in the films on display.

When you plan your trip to this store you will want to make sure you have plenty of time because the store is filled with photo-worthy spots! There is a Ministry of Magic London-style phone box and an extremely immersive setting where you get to pose inside one of Hagrid’s boots!

Just look at all those books! I’m totally channeling my inner Hermoine Granger and can’t wait for the opportunity to be surrounded by magical books galore!

Are you a Slytherin fan? You’ll have to check out the amazing Basilik snake coming out of the wall in the Slytherin themed section of the store! It looks like here you will be able to find Death Eater masks, shirts featuring popular Knockturn Alley shops and Azkaban on them.

Coming soon there will also be two sensory VR adventures, the first called Chaos at Hogwarts, which invites customers to step inside the beloved castle. The second is called Wizards Take Flight, where fans will be gifted with the feeling of flying on a broom across the skies of London. These two experiences are expected to open later this summer!

Speaking of wands, the store has its very own Wand Shop which is host to over 50 wands, inspired by the characters, locations and props within the Wizarding World! We watched Harry test out wands at Ollivanders, and now guests will have the chance to try out their own wands at at an interactive wand table. So wicked! Be sure to check out wands you won’t have seen anywhere else – such as the Golden Snitch Wand, especially created for Harry Potter New York!

The Wizarding World website also states that the interactivity doesn’t end there:

Members of our very own Harry Potter Fan Club who have our official app will be able to unlock extra surprises as they explore. Simply look out for our Enchanted Keys, which can be scanned in your app to bring up extra details about the store and your surroundings and learn a few behind-the-scenes snippets alongside your shopping experience. These keys have been precariously placed around the store – so keep a watchful eye.

Last but definitely not least, don’t forget this store has a Butterbeer Bar! Here you can enjoy a frothy cup of Butterbeer served in a souvenir tankard, a scoop of refreshing Butterbeer ice cream, or freshly-poured bottled Butterbeer — all alongside a range of other Wizarding World-inspired treats.

How excited are you to visit the new Harry Potter New York Store?!

A South Derbyshire teacher who died from breast cancer 16 years ago has unwittingly left her daughters a Harry Potter first edition book which could net them up to £30,000 – and it has left them stunned.

The former primary school teacher, who was first diagnosed at the age of 36 and died aged only 44 in 2005, was always passionate about encouraging her four children to read – and filled the house with books.

Little did she know that a book she bought for them at a school fete in Leicestershire around 20 years ago could potentially net her daughters a windfall in 2021.

Her 31-year-old eldest daughter, who works for Staffordshire County Council and lives in Burton, said: “The book, which has been gathering dust on a shelf for years, is a Harry Potter first edition. We were really shocked to find out it’s worth £20,000 to £30,000.

“I couldn’t believe it when Hansons Auctioneers confirmed it was genuine and told me the estimate. It was like one of those moments on TV’s Antiques Road Show. When mum bought the book all those years ago, I would imagine for no more than £1, she would have had no idea it would end up being so valuable.”

The hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, one of only 500 in the first print run in 1997, is the ultimate Potter collector’s item. It’s due to be sold in Hansons’ Harry Potter Hogwarts Auction on May 5 and is the 10th book of its kind the auction house has uncovered in 18 months. They have sold for hammer prices ranging from £17,500 to £68,000, dependent on condition.

The seller said: “Mum has left us a fantastic gift thanks to her passion for books and her determination to encourage us to read. She loved books. There was always one by her bedside. I remember a study in our home being filled floor to ceiling with books.

“She made us look after them too. We always had to put them away. Consequently, it’s in pretty good condition even though we all read it. She was a teacher through and through and a wonderful mum.”

The family realised they might be sitting on something special shortly before Christmas. “The book was on a shelf at my dad’s house in South Derbyshire. Dad had seen a couple of news stories about Potter first editions selling for a lot of money and started Googling and printing off the information to show me.

“Our book seemed to have all the key first edition issue points. Most importantly, the number on the copyright page must read 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, and ours did. Dad gave me the book and said, ‘I think it’s time for you to have this, it might be valuable’.

“Mum was always buying things at fetes, fairs and car boot sales. She bought the book at a fete at Ravenstone County Primary School, near Coalville, we think just before it closed in 2003. They must have been having a clear out.

“It’s been on a book shelf ever since. No-one will read it again and it’s gathering dust, so we decided it’s time to sell it to someone who will appreciate it. It’s a lovely legacy for mum. The money will be split between four sisters and will be much appreciated, especially by my youngest sister who is only 21.”

Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, in Etwall, said: “A mother’s love lasts forever and this unexpected gift for her daughters seems heaven sent. The sale of this book is a delightful way to remember a Derbyshire teacher who did everything she could to help her daughters and whose time was cut short far too soon. I’m looking forward to making some magical memories at auction.”

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When the last Harry Potter movie hit theaters nearly a decade ago, Instagram was still in its infancy. So it’s no surprise that Rupert Grint and his castmates weren’t sharing snaps from the premiere on that platform then. It is a little surprising that it took him almost ten years to join his co-stars on Instagram — but he finally made the leap in November 2020. In his first Instagram post, Rupert Grint expressed his own disbelief that he was joining “the Gram” 10 years late and took the opportunity to introduce the world to his new daughter, Wednesday with a selfie of himself holding her. It was, to put it mildly, adorable.