The Top 10 Lists

10. Director Guillermo del Toro turned down the chance to direct this film so he could work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).

 

9. Helen McCrory had been cast to play Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), but had to back out because she was pregnant. She will play Bellatrix's sister, Narcissa Malfoy in this film.

 

8. Hero Fiennes-Tiffin has been cast as Tom Riddle, Age 11, while his uncle, Ralph Fiennes plays Lord Voldemort (formerly Tom Riddle). His parents are Martha Fiennes (Ralph's sister) and George Tiffin.

 

7. Quidditch at Hogwarts makes a grand (and much publicized) return, after being completely absent since the fourth installment.

 

6. The changing of the release date from November 21, 2008 to July 17, 2009 actually helped increase the number of IMAX theaters that Half-Blood Prince will be available in. The November release had only 40 IMAX theaters showing the film; that number has increase by 60 theaters for a total of 100 IMAX theaters releasing the film in July.

 

5. Director David Yates says that he hired Hero Fiennes-Tiffin to play the young Voldemort/Tom Riddle because of his resemblance to his uncle Ralph Fiennes (who plays Voldemort/Tom Riddle as an adult) but not specifically because he was the actor's nephew. He liked the dark haunted quality about the young actor.

 

4. In the movie we see a collapsing of the Millennium Bridge. This differs from the source book since the Millennium Bridge was built in 2000, and the plot of Half-Blood Prince takes place in 1996, according to J.K. Rowling. However, in the movies there are no references to which year the setting of the story takes place.

 

3. There is a scene in this movie in which Death Eaters, led by Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) and Fenrir Greyback (Dave Legeno), attack The Burrow where Harry, The Weasley's, Lupin, and Tonks are staying. This particular scene was not in the book but was made just for the movie to add excitement.

 

2. Two new scenes were added that do not appear in the book: The collapsing Millenium bridge (at the beginning of the film, and which appears in the Third Trailer) and the Death Eater attack at the Burrow (seen in the second trailer). An attack on a Muggle bridge is actually mentioned in the original opening of the book by Cornelius Fudge, but not shown.

 

1. J.K. Rowling read through the script for this film, and found a line where Dumbledore mentions a girl he had a crush on when he was younger. After reading it, she informed the filmmakers that Dumbledore is in fact gay, and that his only romantic infatuation was with the wizard Grindelwald, whom he later had to defeat in a wizard duel. She later made this information public while promoting the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 

Sources: Movie Trivia, Mugglenet

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.