Richard shot interviews with the cast of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in New York in July and Canada AM will bring them to you! For air times check this space or ctv.ca. Watch the Daniel Radcliffe interview here!

Here's some info on the film!: As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past. This is the first Harry Potter film to be rated PG by the MPAA since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004.

Check out Richard's interview with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince star Emma Watson here! They discuss her fans and life after Harry Potter.

Here's some info on her character (from IMDB): Hermione Jean Granger (Emma Watson) is the extremely smart and clever best friend of Harry Potter.

While Harry and their other friend, Ron Weasley, may act rashly or without thinking, Hermione tends to be the rational and realistic one of the group. Though she usually is very bossy and down to earth, she still can become very emotional and is not as brave as Harry, nor as optimistic or friendly as Ron.

She met Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express in their first year, but the trio didn't become friends until Harry and Ron saved her from a mountain troll - a danger she only faced because Ron made her cry and run to the bathroom where the troll eventually would be.

As she grows up, she begins to develop into a strong young woman, who has a weak spot for the mistreatment of others, whether they be humans or house elves.

She is Muggle-born and her parents are dentists. She is a perfectionist and an over-achiever, and is the only one of the trio to have ever read, or even opened, Hogwarts, a History.

Check out Richard's interview with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince star Rupert Grint here! They discuss the fans, the pressure of making the Harry Potter movies and the much anticipated kiss between Ron and Hermione.

Grown-up Radcliffe is all business on Harry Potter set
Tue. Jul. 14 2009
Constance Drogances, entertainment writer, CTV.ca

It's a mistake many Harry Potter fans make. They look at Daniel Radcliffe and think "Wow, he's so like Harry. He's grown up before our eyes just like him."

Yes and no, says 19-year-old Radcliffe.

"Everyone always says he's grown up on screen. No, I haven't. Harry has. I've been quietly doing my growing up away from the cameras," Radcliffe told Canada AM movie critic Richard Crouse on Tuesday.

Starring in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth entry in Warner Bros.' golden film franchise, Radcliffe, Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Tom Felton (Malfoy) return to the big screen after a two-year absence.

Much has happened since audiences last watched these kids wield their wands in 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters are terrorizing the Muggle and wizarding worlds. Teenage hormones are wreaking havoc at Hogwarts. It all makes for a wicked blend of laughter and drama in what critics have dubbed the scariest Potter movie yet.

"I have a laugh with the crew and the cast. But when it comes to work I'm very serious about it," says Radcliffe, who turns 20 on July 23.

Speaking with clarity and confidence, Radcliffe calls working with Gary Oldman in "Order of the Phoenix" a pivotal experience in his career. It brought about an enormous shift in the young actor, both personally and professionally.

"It was the first time I ever went, 'Oh, I'm good there. I'm proud of the work that I did there. I haven't really felt that before or since. But I've felt it once. That was enough to sustain me," he laughs.

Radcliffe owes one of his favourite set memories to Richard Harris. The late, great Irish actor portrayed Professor Dumbledore in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001), the first film based on J.K. Rowling's books.

Harris complained about being given the wrong scene to learn. Eleven-year-old Radcliffe bravely walked up to the disgruntled legend and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Harris. Would you mind running my lines with me?"

"It was a moment of what I will unashamedly call dramatic political genius," says Radcliffe. "I am still very, very proud of that moment. I haven't done anything nearly like it since."

As for discovering joy on the job, Radcliffe points again to Oldman, whose brilliant career includes such films as "Sid and Nancy" (1986), "Dracula" (1992), "Batman Begins" (2005) and "The Dark Knight" (2008).

Oldman gave Radcliffe his first insight into "real" acting while working together on "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004).

"It was the moment where I realized a kind of joyous and rewarding thing about acting," says Radcliffe. "The more you give it, the harder you work, the more seriously you take it the more fun it becomes."

As the maturing star says, "It gives something back to you. Yeah, it's lovely." 

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE:
FOR HARRY’S FANS: 4 ½ STARS
FOR EVERYONE ELSE: 2 ½ STARS

Full disclosure: I am not a Potter Head.

While everyone else on the planet was busy getting sucked into Potter’s world of wizardry I missed the boat. I read the first book and have seen all the movies but never really understood what all the fuss was about. The books are phenomenally popular—they’ve made J. K. Rowling the first billionaire author—and the movies have made a fortune—they are among the highest grossing film series of all time—but it wasn’t until the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth entry in the series, that I began to understand the allure.

I don’t usually review the audience I see a film with, or even how they react to the film—the only criteria I use is how I feel about the movie’s quality—but in this case I have to remark on the connection Harry’s fans have with these characters. I saw the movie in a screening room with about twelve other people. Directly in front of me were three twenty-something women who cooed during the romantic scenes, gasped during the adventure sequences and laughed when the silly stuff happened. Normally their amount of distracting interaction with the movie would have ticked me off, but in this case it actually enhanced my appreciation of the film. People have tried to explain the appeal of Potter to me but it wasn’t until I became aware of this trio that I finally began to understand what a deep connection people have to these characters.

Filmmakers often try to make audiences care about the characters in their films, but Rowling, the actors and the franchise’s succession of directors have actually made it happen. Having spent hundreds of hours reading the books, seeing the characters grow up, fall in-and-out of love and inch closer to ending Lord Voldemort’s reign of terror, readers and viewers feel real empathy for Harry, Ron and Hermione.   

That’s all well and good, but is The Half Blood Prince a good movie?

Yes, mostly. This is a pacer installment, a place holder which sets up the next chapters and like the others it has high production values, imaginative special effects that will make your eyeballs dance; a talented cast all of whom prance about on beautifully designed sets in spectacular costumes but, “Merlin’s beard!”, as with every film since the first one (the only book I have read) I was occasionally left in the dark as to some of the story’s finer points.

Harry Potterland is a singular place with its own particular customs, history and culture and for those familiar with its trappings the movies are magical things that bring that world to life. For the rest of us all this talk of potions, half blood princes and horcruxes might be a bit head scratching, unless of course, you’re sitting just behind the trio that made the screening of The Half Blood Prince so enjoyable for me.   

Official plot summary from Warner Bros.:

“Emboldened by the return of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that new dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. He needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort's defenses critical information known only to Hogwarts' former Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn. With that in mind, Dumbledore manipulates his old colleague into returning to his previous post with promises of more money, a bigger office and the chance to teach the famous Harry Potter.

“Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry's long friendship with Ginny Weasley is growing into something deeper, but standing in the way is Ginny's boyfriend, Dean Thomas, not to mention her big brother Ron. But Ron's got romantic entanglements of his own to worry about, with Lavender Brown lavishing her affections on him, leaving Hermione simmering with jealousy yet determined not to show her feelings. And then a box of love potion-laced chocolates ends up in the wrong hands and changes everything. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.”

Richard interviewing Daniel Radcliffe in NYC, July 2009.

Richard interviewing Emma Watson in NYC, July 2009.

Richard interviewing Rupert Grint in NYC, July 2009.

Richard reviewing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on CTV's Canada AM, July 2009.