Já, ég veit að þetta er frekar gömul frétt en þar sem að enginn hefur tekið sig til og skrifað um hana hér á huga þá ákvað ég að bæta úr því.

Nú þegar upptökur eru hafnar á Fanganum frá Azkaban, þriðju myndinni í Harry Potter seríunni, hefur kvikmyndatökumönnum tekist að fá svakalega athygli í Bretlandi. Ekki eru það gæði myndarinnar (sem vonandi verða góð) sem vekja umtalið heldur sú staðreynd að kvikmyndatökuliðið tókst að kveikja mikinn eld á tökustað myndarinnar í skosku hálöndunum. Til þess að gera langa sögu stutta þá voru þeir að taka upp atriði með Hogwarts lestinni þegar neistar skutust undan hjólum lestarinnar og á nálæga grasflöt. Til allrar ólukku kviknaði í grasinu og eldurinn breiddist smám saman út um allt svæðið í kring og er orðinn einn mesti eldsvoði í Skotlandi í langan tíma.

Ég fann ágætis frétt um þetta á netinu (<a href="http://news.scotsman.com/movies.cfm?id=228402003 ">http://news.scotsman.com/movies.cfm?id=228402003</a> ).

Hérna er hún (afsakið C+P… er í smá tímaþröng):

THE new Harry Potter movie yesterday set the heather alight, months before it is due to be seen by cinema audiences.

During filming, the veteran steam train cast as the Hogwarts Express sparked a fire which destroyed up to 50 acres of heather moorland and trees on a Highland hillside.

A helicopter had to be brought in to bomb the blaze with water as over 20 firefighters and forestry workers struggled to prevent the fire, close to the Glenfinnan Viaduct in the West Highlands, from spreading and causing more damage. At one stage, fire was raging along a one-mile front.

Film-makers working for Warner Brothers were filming scenes for the third Potter movie - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Filming was temporarily suspended in the wake of the fire.

The train is used as the Hogwarts Express, which, in the JK Rowling novels and the films, magically transports Harry and his fellow pupils to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It has been used in the previous two Harry Potter films.

Sparks flying from the wheels of the train or from its funnel are believed to have ignited tinder-dry undergrowth as the train completed a run over the 90ft-high viaduct towards Glenfinnan station. Unusually for February, the area has not had any rain for 10 days.

The film-makers must have wished they had access to the Hogwarts book of spells for a vanishing trick as the blaze, which started around 12.30pm, raged out of control.

Although four appliances from Fort William and Mallaig rushed to the scene, fire chiefs quickly decided that a helicopter was needed to tackle the fire.

A spokeswoman for the Highlands and Islands Fire Brigade said: “We have dealt with several fires of this type across the Highlands today, but the Glenfinnan incident is clearly the largest.”

One eyewitness described the fire as “absolutely spectacular”. He said: “It looked as though the whole hillside was going up in flames. It was amazing to see the smoke and the flames dominating the landscape.”

The devastated hillside belongs to the Glenfinnan estates, which is being paid by Warners Brothers for access to its land for filming.

A spokeswoman for the estate said: “The fire had a front of about a mile in length at one point and got into a forestry plantation.

”I wouldn’t like to say what caused the fire. The crew are here filming Harry Potter and they have been reversing the Hogwarts Express backward and forward over the Glenfinnan Viaduct.“

The picturesque railway line had been closed yesterday to accommodate the filming. ScotRail passengers were being diverted by bus.

Around 40 extras, children recruited from local primary and secondary schools, were sent home early.

Sandra MacCallum’s son Lewis was one of the children, aged between eight and 14, who are being paid £35 a day to be extras on the Hogwarts Express.

She said: ”He has had a great time, but I don’t think the youngsters were there at the time the fire started. Its great money for the youngsters."

The steam engine that was being used is owned by the West Highland Railway company.

The West Highland scenery has already ‘starred’ in the two previous films - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - with Glen Nevis and the Glenfinnan Viaduct being prominently used in some spectacular scenes.

Locals had welcomed the film-makers back with enthusiasm, as the exposure received for the area from its prominence in the second film created a tourism bonanza.

Highland councillors expect the area to bank at least £3m from the filming of the third instalment alone.

Around 400 cast and crew are involved in the production and planning permission has just been granted for massive film sets in Glencoe and Fort William. The Hogwarts School of Magic Wizardry will be built at Torren near Clachaig. The longer term tourist revenue is likely to dwarf the initial direct income.

Visitor numbers at the Wallace Monument in Stirling more than doubled after Braveheart, which involved six weeks of filming in Scotland, and Badenoch and Strathspey now markets itself as Monarch Country to cash in on the international success of the Monarch of the Glen television series.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, due out next year, marks the directorial debut in the Potter series of Mexican Alfonso Cuaron, taking over from Christopher Columbus.

—————————————

Jæja, það er aldeilis! Við skulum bara vona að þetta seinki ekki myndinni neitt :)

En hvað finnst fólki annars? Myndin er alla vega strax byrjuð að „kveikja“ í kvikmyndaheinum og þá aðallega í Skotlandi :)

Með fyrirvara um stafsetningarvillur,

Kveðja,
Pires