Harry Potter Casting Call

Production on the film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, to be directed by Home Alone's Chris Columbus, is scheduled to begin in July. Owing to delays in casting and, reportedly, special effects, the release date has been postponed from next summer until November 2001.

Although filming is due to start in just weeks, the search is still on for Harry.

After months of accepting traditional applications—head shots and resumes—Warner Brothers Pictures has issued a new casting call via their web site. They are asking British children aged 9 to 11 who look like Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, or Hermione Granger to send a videotape on which they "say their name and age, tell a joke and read a paragraph of their choice from any of the Harry Potter books."

The tapes should include phone number and address and be sent to:

 Harry Potter Casting P.O. Box 7788 Burbank, CA 91510-7788 

It was rumored that Steven Spielberg, the first director to be named to the project, hoped Oscar nominee Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense would play Harry—but author J. K. Rowling disagreed. Rowling reportedly wants an unknown British boy in the lead.

You may be a Muggle, but you don't have to dress like one.

Warner Brothers is already selling T-shirts and mugs featuring the Hogwarts school crest. Also available are Quidditch team shirts and T-shirts with the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin house crests.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—which until recently was known by its working title, Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, or simply as "Harry Potter Book IV"—will be released in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 8. On the evening of July 7, a ticker in Times Square will count down the time until the book's release.

American booksellers have been required by the publisher to sign written, authorized documents promising they will not sell the book earlier than one minute after midnight on the day of its release. Many bookstores will open at midnight on July 8 so that fans can get their copies as soon as possible. Some will host Harry Potter parties, offering Hogwarts-style treats to visitors in costume.

The U.S. edition of the book, which has wider margins and more illustrations than the U.K. edition, is expected to be just over 750 pages long.