Four years since Harry first went to Hogwarts and the Potter express is still roaring along, meaning that a small army of Potter fans armed with umbrellas and signs invaded a sodden Leicester Square for today's premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Even in the grips of what appeared to be a monsoon, the atmosphere couldn't be beaten and the screams that greeted the Potter cast and crew could have broken windows. In spite of the vile weather, an incredible turnout including most of the cast (and Madonna! Crikey!) walked around chatting to the crowds and signing autographs (as Stanislav Ianevski would proudly show Empire later) and if that weren’t enough there was a socking great model of a Hungarian Horntail breathing fire at the crowd. Brilliant!
Safe and dry inside, one of the film's newest members Roger Lloyd-Pack (Barty Crouch) was delighted to be involved in Harry Potter but had one niggle about the changes the book's necessary cuts had taken: “It’s a bit of a shame, when I read the book I was looking forward to being really nasty and I’m only quite nasty!" As Karkaroff, aka Pedja Bjelac explained to Empire: “Actors love to play characters like that (villains), they enjoy it all the time.”
Similarly, Miranda Richardson was delighted to be playing a mean woman, in this case sneaky hack Rita Skeeter: "I call her the caring, sharing face of investigative journalism. She’s a truth-seeker, a heat-seeking missile!”
Newcomer Katie Leung, who plays Harry’s crush Cho Chang, was stunned by the reception the cast got: “I knew there was a big fanbase but not as big as this!” she giggled. “It’s just so surreal, there’s so many crowds outside I just can’t believe it. I mean, they’re shouting your name and it’s just like, wow. I can’t believe I’m here.” Even seasoned Potter star Rupert Grint agreed: “It’s scary, yeah. These premieres are quite hard to get your head round, it’s a bit strange to be honest, but good fun as well.” Growing up during the filming had helped him playing Ron: “Ron’s more of a moody teenager and he gets jealous of Harry because he’s sort of this hero, but he gets over that. It makes it a bit easier I guess because we know what they’re going through. Especially if they find it hard, like Ron, he has some bad experiences with girls!”
Emma Watson, looking pretty swish herself, was delighted that Hermione an excuse to smarten up for the Yule Ball scene: “I don’t know if that’s the word for it, but glamorous definitely. It was really good fun actually, we learned how to waltz! Strictly Come Dancing, that’s the next thing.” You heard it here first folks.
And even after an hour of rain-soaked interviews, Mr Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, was thrilled about the film: “I’m just ecstatically happy. When you’ve got a film like this it’s a joy to promote because when everyone is so proud of the film, as we are and rightly so, it’s a joy to promote! It’s great, we are all really happy with how it’s turned out.”
For more interviews with the cast and Harry Potter news, check our Newsand Red Carpet sections later today.