JKR has said that ‘Half-Blood Prince’ is her best book yet
No, she hasn’t. She is superstitious about saying things like that! What she said – on this very website – was that she had not been this happy with a book since she finished ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’.
J K Rowling ‘veto-ed Steven Spielberg as the director of the first Harry Potter film’
I don’t choose directors for the Harry Potter films! I’ve met all three men who’ve had the job to date – Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell – and I’ve liked all of them very much, enjoyed answering their questions about the characters and plots and have been delighted with the films they made (I haven’t seen Goblet yet, but the omens are good!). But that’s the full extent of my involvement with directors. Steven Spielberg did consider directing ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, but decided against it; anyone who thinks I could (or would) have ‘veto-ed’ him needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced.
JKR has written 750 pages of book 7, and told a journalist this at the tea party for ‘Driving Lessons’.
Oh pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. I haven’t written 750 pages of book seven, and if I had, I’d be very worried, as I’m not close to finishing it yet. I was at the tea party for Driving Lessons, though, so this isn’t pure fiction. The journalist reports that I said that Rupert is ‘absolutely terrific’ in the film. He is, so that bit shouldn’t be in the rubbish bin at all.
J K Rowling demands 2 million rupees from religious charities in India
Recently there were a number of reports that Warner Bros. and I had taken legal action against religious charities in India because they constructed a Hogwarts castle as part of a Hindu festival. Here are the facts. The defendants were not religious charities, and theirs was not a religious celebration. On the contrary, it was a large-scale, commercial, sponsored event involving corporations that included a major Indian high street bank. The event was, however, set up while a Hindu festival was going on. It was Warner Bros who brought the case, because the rights that were being infringed belong to them, not me. My name has to be attached to such proceedings as a legal technicality, because I am the underlying creator of Harry Potter series. Also due to a technicality, Warner Bros were obliged to claim damages as part of their claim. However, they waived this right, and neither sought nor obtained any financial compensation. It is completely false to assert that they, or I, were trying to take money from anybody, let alone two million rupees. The court ruled that Warner Bros. rights had indeed been infringed, and that events such as the one in question would need Warner Bros.’ permission in the future. The court also restrained all the defendants from any future events infringing Warner Bros. rights. Some of the news agencies and newspapers who misreported this story subsequently issued corrections and apologies, but the original, false story is still doing the rounds. In the immortal words of Mark Twain, ‘a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.’
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