2011

Harry Potter Set Burns to the Ground, Film Set Back

You all know there are three things in life that make me tingly happy and shine with the light of a thousand fairies. Those gifts from Baby Jesus are Jake Gyllenhaal, Blueberry vodka (aka breakfast in a bottle) and Harry Potter. So when I hear the set for the final Harry Potter film burned to the ground I clutched my pearls and gasped with horror.

Firefighters (ok, four things in life that make tingly happy) fought with a fire that destroyed the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Hogwarts set after some pyrotechnics caught the set on fire. Luckily no one was injured.

Six fire engines were spotted racing to the Leavesden Film Studios on Friday. The fire was caused from some explosives stunts gone wrong. *SPOILER ALERT* At the end of the final Potter film, there is a huge battle that nearly destroys Hogwarts as Voldemort and his Death Eaters attack the school. The children of the school rise together to fight back in a war that blows up walls and engulfs the Room of Requirement in flames as battles ensue all around the castle.

“We were shooting the scenes where Hogwarts gets blown up during the battle. But fire managed to catch hold of the set and it went up in flames. It was completely out of control at one point.”

“A fire service spokesman said: “There was a big battle scene involving a lot of pyrotechnics and explosions. There was a mocked-up castle made of timber, steel and plastic and somehow it caught alight.’

Warner Brothers confirmed the fire and insist that production is still going, but didn’t completely rule out another setback in the date for the final Harry Potter film. A rep downplayed the fire despite it taking nearly an hour to extinguish, six fire engines to control, a confirmed $135,000 damage bill and insiders stating it was “out of control.”

Via PopEater:

“It was a big special effects scene. Unfortunately, there was a small fire as a result of that. As a precaution, as we had already mobilized our own in-house fire team who had it under control, the fire brigade was called and it was put out in under an hour. The scene was where the set was being destroyed and then it was to be rebuilt for a new scene, as part of a battle for Deathly Hallows part two.”

I am no genius…but why rebuild a set you could do the before and after scenes in and then destroy versus building it, filming it, destroy it, rebuild it again? So far the release dates of both parts of the film are still November 19, 2010 and July 15, 2011.

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Oprah Ends ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ in 2011 – VIDEO

After 25 years on the air, Oprah will announce tomorrow that she will NOT renew her contract and her talk show will end on September 9, 2011.

She reportedly told staff Thursday afternoon that this will be the last her talk show so she can focus on her new network.

ABC reports:

Back in January of 2008, Oprah announced she was launching OWN – The Oprah Winfrey Network. It was widely expected that the TV talk queen would stop doing her syndicated program in September 2011 to focus on the cable network. Sources said that the Oprah Winfrey Show would not move to OWN.

If Oprah does indeed retire her show another matter of who or what will take her place will be buzzing around soon. Ellen DeGeneres will certainly have a corner on the market.

UPDATE:

Tim Bennett, president of HARPO, has CONFIRMED that Oprah will be making the announcement tomorrow that the show will end in 2011.

“Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history. The sun will set on the “Oprah” show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011.”

Yours truly will be hiding in a bomb shelter and living on vodka and Kashi for the next few days until the shrieks of homemakers every where turn to gentle sobs.