"If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us."

- George Clooney
April 30, 2006, Washington




Goblet of Fire Movie Information


Filming for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire began on March 21, 2004 at Leavesden Studios, Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK. However, pre-production on the movie began months earlier. Although some believed (and hoped) that Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron would return to helm the fourth film as well, Cuaron denied these rumors in July 2003 in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly:"
"It was always only Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for me. I never thought [seriously] about continuing." Though he was approached about doing Goblet (slated for 2005), the task seemed too daunting, especially while he was finishing work on Azkaban (which came out in June 2004). "Frankly," says Cuaron, smiling impishly, "I'm extremely lazy." Still, he dreads saying adios to Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. "That will be very painful," he says. "They're growing fantastically as actors. But it's up to the next director to enjoy them."
Rumors that Mike Newell might direct the film began circulating around the Internet in July 2003 and were confirmed by WB the following month - right when Veritaserum was getting off the ground.

A controversial issue regarding Goblet of Fire was the length of the film. Numerous fans were upset at the announcement that the movie would only be two and a half hours long, as it would be difficult to include all of the important aspects from Rowling's 736 page novel. But Warner Bros. and Mike Newell were adamant from the start that Goblet would only be one, average-length film, which gave screenwriter Steven Kloves a tough job. Some of these same fans were disappointed with the final product, as subplots such as S.P.E.W. and Ludo Bagman were axed, but overall, most fans were quite pleased with the movie.

Warner Bros. began accepting casting submissions in January 2004, and the casting process began in December 2003. That month, about 2,000 Asian teenagers queued around London's West End at the open auditions for the characters of Padma and Parvati Patil. Later, in February 2004, WB began searching for perfect actors to portray Viktor Krum and Cho Chang on-screen. (These roles were evetually filled by Stanislav Ianevski and Katie Leung, respectively.) The high majority of other parts in the film, such as Mad-Eye Moody, Rita Skeeter, and Lord Voldemort, were decided through private auditions, and therefore, we have little information about those casting processes.

By April 2004, Goblet of Fire casting was complete. The famous Potter trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson all returned for Goblet of Fire - despite a few doubts - and a majority of the supporting cast from the first three films were back as well.

According to The Daily Mirror, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the most expensive movie in history, with a total budget of $308 million (production and marketing), though this figure was never confirmed by the studio itself.

The first pictures from the Goblet of Fire set surfaced on the net on August 7, 2004. The pictures were from Beacon Hill (near Berkhamsted, England), where the Portkey scene was being filmed. Over the next seven months, numerous other set reports and pictures appear online.

Below is a Goblet of Fire filming timeline. It lists all scenes in the movie that we knew were being filmed at the time they were shot, along with any corresponding pictures and reports from the set available.

  • April and May 2004: Pre-production filming in Evanton, Scotland. Articles: 1, 2, 3.
  • July 30 - August 10, 2004: Stoatshead Hill filming. Pictures: 1, 2. Set reports: 1, 2, 3.)
  • August 26, 2004: The Pensieve scene with Barty Crouch, Jr. Set report: Here.
  • August 26 - 30, 2004: Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Moody, Oxford. Articles: 1, 2. Pictures: Here.
  • August - September 2004: The Second Task. Article: Here.
  • September 4 - 24, 2004: The First Task. Articles: 1, 2, 3.
  • September 25 - 29, 2004: Hogwarts Express. Set report: Here. Article: Here.
  • October 14, 2004 (before this date): Barty Crouch Jr. scenes. Article: Here.
  • October 15 - 24, 2004: Great Hall scene. Articles: 1, 2, 3.
  • October 14 - November 18, 2004: Quidditch World Cup and Dark Mark Filming at Leavesden Studios. Pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4. Articles: 1, 2.
  • November 4 - 6, 2004: Virginia Water Lake. Set reports: 1, 2.
  • November 11, 2004 (before this date): Prefects' bathroom scene. Article: Here.
  • November 18 - 30, 2004: The Second Task. Article: Here. Set Report: Here. Pictures: Here.
  • November 18 - December 17, 2004: The Yule Ball. Articles: 1, 2, 3.
  • November 26, 2004: "Black Lake" scenes. (Note: This may be the Second Task filming, but due to a lack of specification we have categorized it separately.) Article: Here.
  • December 15, 2004: Filming 75% complete, day 120 out of 160. Article and Picture: Here. More pictures: Here.
  • December 17, 2004: Actors break for Christmas. Article: Here.
  • December 26, 2004: Filming resumes; Ralph Fiennes on break due to father's passing. Article: Here.
  • January 20, 2005: Tom Felton finishes filming bulk of scenes, on break. Article: Here.
  • January 26, 2005: Jason Isaacs filming scenes. Article: Here.
  • February 3, 2005: Warwick Davis completes filming. Article: Here.
  • February 4 - 18, 2005: The last sequences, a scene with 100 extras, a scene in which Hagrid makes a cameo, scenes inside the Weasley's Quidditch World Cup tent. Articles: 1, 2.
  • February 22 - 27, 2005: Filming delay. Articles: 1, 2.
  • February 19, 2005: Nighttime dragon scene being shot at Black Park. Article: Here. Pictures: Here.
  • March 14, 2005: Devon Murray wrapping up filming. Article: Here.
  • March 18, 2005: Principal filming ends. The final scene shot in the movie is actually one of the first scenes in it (in which Hermione wakes Harry at the Weasleys' house after his nightmare).

Important dates in Goblet of Fire movie history (really important dates in red):
  • January 30, 2004: Director Mike Newell announces that Goblet of Fire will only be one movie: "As far as I'm concerned it's absolutely possible to do it in one. I think it would be slightly embarrassing to do it in two."
  • March 21, 2004: Goblet of Fire bluescreen filming starts.
  • April 7, 2004: Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon) announces that the Dursleys have been cut from the Goblet of Fire film. Petitions for their reinstatement in the film engulf the Internet ... and change absolutely nothing.
  • April 12, 2004: The GOF release date is announced: November 18, 2005. Fans start counting down...
  • August 7, 2004: The first pictures from the Goblet of Fire set surface, to tumultuous applause from the fandom.
  • September 22, 2004: WB confirms that Patrick Doyle will score Goblet of Fire rather than John Williams, the composer for the first three films. Petitions are started up once again, to no avail. It takes almost a year, but fans later realize that John Williams is not the only man alive who can compose music.
  • November 29, 2004: Total Request Live (TRL) airs the first report from the Goblet of Fire set. Considering that TRL announced this way back in June and it had been delayed numerous times since then, fans are somewhat disappointed at the brevity of the report.
  • December 20, 2004: The first two officially released pictures from the movie make their way onto the Internet. Coincidentally enough, this falls on the same day as the announcement of the release date of book six. Fans almost die of excitement.
  • January 12, 2005: Two more high-resolution pictures are released from the film, showing Rita Skeeter (fans approve) and Harry (fans begin a year-long pickfest at the length of his hair).
  • March 18, 2005: Principal Goblet of Fire filming ends.
  • April 30, 2005: First Goblet of Fire clips, showing five different scenes in a period of about five seconds, air in a commerical on ABC. Much squealing ensues in the comments.
  • May 4, 2005: In the lead up to ABC's special broadcast of Chamber of Secrets, WB releases pictures and videos en masse. Anticipation increases...
  • May 6, 2005: First official Goblet of Fire poster released. General reaction: Ooooh....ahhhh!
  • May 7, 2005: Commonly regarded as one of the most exciting days in the Harry Potter fandom. Here's a breakdown:
    - Official Goblet of Fire website launched.
    - 8 million people tune in to ABC to watch their broadcast of Chamber of Secrets. They also air three GOF interstitials throughout the night, giving us our first look at Cho Chang, the Beauxbatons students, Madame Maxime, behind-the-scenes footage, and a heck of a lot of other cool stuff.
    - And believe it or not, an hour into ABC's broadcast, WB releases the GOF teaser trailer.
    Fans: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • July 9, 2005: First Goblet of Fire screening held in Chicago, Illinois. Numerous reports surface online over the following month, most of which are very positive.
  • July 20, 2005: Official GOF website redesigned.
  • August 8, 2005: MPAA slaps Goblet of Fire with a PG-13 rating. 84% of fans go squee! (The other 16% aren't thirteen yet.) WB later comments on the rating, saying, "We anticipated at some point this was going to happen. It was just a question of when."
  • August 12, 2005: American television show "Extra" airs fifty seconds of all-new GOF footage. Fans simply cannot contain their excitement, though it's doubtful that many even tried. A few days later, GMTV airs the full international teaser trailer with no annoying commentary, and Veritaserum is the only site with the vid. Much rejoicing ensues. WB then posts the raw trailer online a fortnight or so later.
  • September 15, 2005: The Goblet of Fire theatrical trailer debuts on AOL Moviefone at 9 AM EST. All "this-actor-playing-so-and-so" and "this-scene-changing-by-two-words" criticism pretty much ends right here, because the trailer is just that good.
  • September 16, 2005: An almost entirely new, two-minute long trailer for GOF airs in the UK. It's dubbed "international trailer #2," and despite its awesomeness, a few question why on earth two completely new trailers for the movie were released over just two days. But no matter!
  • September 19, 2005: With two whole months to go until the movie's release, the first GOF TV spot airs in the US - weeks before TV spots for the first three movies began airing.
  • October 2, 2005: The second TV spot for the fourth movie airs during "America's Funniest Home Videos." For the first time, we see the classic Moody-turning-Malfoy-into-a-ferret scene, along with some other great shots from the Third Task.
  • October 13, 2005: Warner Bros. releases 51 pages of production notes for Goblet of Fire. Also known as 51 pages of "oohs" and "ahhs." Yeah, we know it's long, but it's really a fascinating read.
  • October 20, 2005: The official Harry Potter website - www.harrypotter.com - is the honored recipient of an all-new, GOF-themed makeover. Finally!
  • October 22, 2005: The very first press conferences for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire along with the first-ever screenings of the movie are held in London, and Veritaserum webmaster Matthew Vines is in attendance. He later posts casting updates from Producer David Heyman, a confirmed runtime of the movie (157 minutes with credits, 143 without), Rupert Grint's first publicly stated confirmation for Order of the Phoenix, and a 2,000-word report from the junket to boot.
  • October 30, 2005: The cast and crew screening of the film is held in three movie theatres in London's Leicester Square. Several VTM readers attend and pass along their reports.
  • November 6, 2005: The world premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is held in London (Leicester Square again), and Veritaserum staffers Matthew Vines and Darren Smith report from the red carpet. Warner Bros. airs a live videostream of the premiere online, so fans on their computers have the advantage of both a close-up view of the action and a dry head (surprise, surprise, it was raining in London).
  • November 8, 2005: Goblet of Fire premieres in Paris. Dan tries his hand at French in front of the massive crowd, and comes away unscathed. But that French accent could use a bit of work. Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour in the film and bilingual in real life) and Producer David Heyman attend as well, along with young French actor Jean-Baptiste Maunier.
  • November 12, 2005: New York welcomes the Goblet cast with open arms at the Ziegfeld Theatre between 6th and 7th Avenue. The weather is perfect, but the crowd's a bit smaller than in London and only about half of the stars make the trip across the pond. Hardly disappointing, though. VTM staffers Matthew Vines and Aris Janetakos report from this red carpet, and a special video with red carpet interviews is released later that month.
  • November 18, 2005: After more than 560 days of waiting, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released in theatres worldwide! The film, like its most recent predecessor, garners rave reviews from both critics and fans of the series, and the general consensus is that it was worth the wait. On the same day, the main GOF cast and crew (excluding Dan and Rupert) participate in press conferences to promote the movie in Tokyo, Japan.
  • November 20, 2005: The release date of the GOF DVD is announced online - April 4, 2006.
  • November 21, 2005: The final box office figures for the weekend are released, and GOF's massive $102.3 million pull trumps the previous three Potter flicks and thrills thousands of rabid fans. "Forget inflation - we finally topped 100 mill at the box office!" they chant.
  • November 25, 2005: GOF premieres in Sofia, Bulgaria. Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum) and Director Mike Newell both attend, participate in press conferences, and walk the red carpet. Stan enjoys speaking with fans in his native tongue. Mike, on the other hand, wouldn't mind a bit more English.
  • December 16, 2005: "Do the Hippogriff," written and performed by Jarvis Cocker for Goblet, is longlisted for an Academy Award, and the movie itself is shortlisted for a Special Effects Oscar. The film eventually received an Oscar nomination in the Special Effects category but was beat by Memoirs of a Geisha.
  • January 19, 2006: GOF's run in most conventional movie theatres in America ends, two months months after its worldwide release. The film grossed an impressive $892 million, second only to the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
  • March 7, 2006: The Goblet of Fire DVD is released in America. A whopping five million copies are sold on this Tuesday alone, and the total tally rises to nine million by the week's end. The DVD is then released in the U.K. on March 20.

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