Actress Helen McCrory was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 program “Woman’s Hour” during which she spoke of her upcoming role as Narcissa Malfoy in the “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” film. Appearing on the show to discuss her current role in an Ibsen play now running in London entitled “Rosmersholm,” Mrs. McCrory first spoke of the demanding nature of this part and of how this play came to her attention. Later in the interview, Mrs. McCrory delves into the the “Half-Blood Prince” production, discussing Narcissa’s character, her wardrobe, and even the special care that is shown for her wand. Although stating she can say “practically nothing” about the film, she does go on to say this about her character’s wand:
”...I get a wand. And somebody comes up to you on the set with a wand in a box. You literally use the wand and then it’s put back into the box and it’s taken away… and put in a safe. So, using a wand is no light thing.”
Continuing on, Mrs. McCrory then expands on comments made in previous interviews on her character’s wardrobe in the film, saying:
”...There is a fantastic designer called Jany who is Parisian and, of course, has more style in her little finger than most of us will have in our entire life. And she has designed… it’s very high couture, what I am wearing, which is wonderful. It’s all 50s and very hourglass and pencil skirts and very, very chic.”
Finally, Mrs. McCrory calls the entire experience working on the sixth Harry Potter film “a fantastic thing” because, she says, “it’s like being in Alice and Wonderland” with her fellow actors and the characters they’ve created. She also makes comments on her experience with young fans now that she has taken on this role and of the support she received during the production in regards to filming around her pregnancy.
You can listen to or download the ten minute interview in its entirety right here via the BBC Radio 4 website. Helen McCrory will appear as Rebecca West in “Rosmersholm” through July 5th at the Almeida Theatre in London, England.
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will hit theaters in the US and UK this November.
“It’s all 50s and very hourglass and pencil skirts and very, very chic.” ?? Somehow, that’s not how I envisioned Narcissa . . . Maybe it will work, but I have to say I’ve questioned some of the wardrobe decisions in the movies before now. . .
By the way – thanks for changing the countdown clock to “HBP”! :-)
I’ve never really considered the wardrobe in the movies, but I completely agree, Professor Lily. Pencil skirts just don’t fit with my Harry Potter world vision. Hmm, we shall see.
Very cool, I love that she is so into it and had fun with it. I think the “high couture” suits Narcissa perfectly, I pictured her that way, very understated but elegant, not as flamboyant as Lucius. Can’t wait to see it all!
I gues the thing I find odd is that they keep dressing them in fancy muggle clothing. I think Jason Isaacs has the right take on Lucius Malfoy, and I think it would apply to Narcissa as well, that he wouldn’t be caught dead dressed in muggle clothing. Hence, we have Lucius looking very proper in his cloak rather than the suit that wardrobe wanted for him in the second movie.
Just as long as they give Narcissa blond hair, I’ll be happy.
Oh, and about the count-down clock. Is that available anywhere? I tried looking around for a place to download it and couldn’t find it.
I was wondering that, too, Kate, if she is pregnant again, but if so it is not a problem for DH. That won’t start filming until next February, so she’ll be good to go by then unless she is just barely along, and even if she is they can always do her scenes a few months into filing. That movie is going to take them over a year to complete. :)
I expect they lock them up so they don’t lose a valuable prop or somebody doesn’t take it home and sell it on ebay!
I can’t really picture the pencil skirt either—sounds like Rita Skeeter or even Dita von Teese. LOL. But I guess if they went long and medieval she’d look like a blonde Morticia.
I was like what countdown? Leaky always breaks my computer for a few minutes while it loads, then the site is always broken up weird, so I tried internet explorer, broken Leaky, finally FireFox has a working properly leaky no blocking of the internets, and there is a Half Blood Prince count down YAY! So note to self use Fire Fox to check Leaky!
Malfoy spent much of their next Potions class doing dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.
imagine narcissa malfoy in a pencil skirt! sounds cool Mrs taymore is amazing!