'Harry Potter' Author 'Seriously Considered' Killing Ron Weasley

'Midway through, I started thinking I might polish one of them off,' J.K. Rowling says in DVD special feature.
By Eric Ditzian


Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
Photo: Murray Close/ Warner Bros.

It's no secret that a great many fans in the "Harry Potter" community — a whopping 89 percent, according to a wildly popular poll over at MTV Movies Blog — would have preferred that Hermione Granger end up with the boy wizard rather than with good ol' Ron Weasley. Perhaps the same sentiment occurred to author J.K. Rowling, who recently admitted that she almost sent Ron to an early grave.

"Funnily enough, I planned from the start that none of them would die," Rowling told Daniel Radcliffe in a special feature on the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" Blu-ray and DVD, according to the U.K.'s Guardian. "Then midway through, which I think is a reflection of the fact that I wasn't in a very happy place, I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite. 'There, now you definitely can't have him anymore.' But I think in my absolute heart of heart of hearts, although I did seriously consider killing Ron, [I wouldn't have done it]."

Rowling kept this franchise-altering potential story line a secret not only through completion of her "Potter" novels in 2007 but the end of the film series this summer. Now the author says she feels a sense of creative liberation that she can share news of the discarded plot point. "It's a real relief to be able to talk about it all," she said.

The full Rowling-Radcliffe chat will be available on November 11, when the Blu-ray and DVD releases hit shelves. In September, MTV News debuted an exclusive clip from the chat in which Radcliffe compared "Harry Potter" to "Star Wars" and touted the way in which Rowling's characters "exist in the collective consciousness of a generation." That's hardly an exaggeration, and it's difficult to imagine Weasley, played by Rupert Grint in the films, not living on in the imaginations of fans. After all, Weasley finished in second place in our Harry Potter World Cup this summer, a fan-driven effort that attracted over seven million votes and was ultimately won by Alan Rickman's Severus Snape.

For Rowling, Weasley and "Potter" fans, then, any other fate for Ron would be unimaginable. "I'm going to miss the screaming. You don't get that everywhere, and I'm going to miss that definitely," Grint told MTV News at the final film's red-carpet premiere. "I'm really going to miss playing [Ron] in these films."

Check out everything we've got on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Kris Humphries Robbed by Wedding Guest!

Just because Kris Humphries spent Halloween away from wife Kim Kardashian doesn't mean they're having problems with their recent marriage. What Humpries, 26, is having issues with, though, is the fact that -- according to TMZ -- one of his wedding guests just stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kris-humphries-robbed-wedding-guest/1-a-397621?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Akris-humphries-robbed-wedding-guest-397621

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Ice T and Coco Step Out Halloween Style

Ice T and Coco hosted an event at LAX club in Las Vegas and got the crowd into the party spirit. While the Law and Order: SVU star went as Hannibal Lecter and wore an orange prison suit, Coco was decidedly more adventurous. She wore a revealing outfit which showed off her devilish curves.

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Night Of The Apparitions

Last night I attended my 7th performance of the SIMPLY BRILLIANT off Broadway show Sleep No More. Just like Thursday night’s show, last night’s performance was Hallowe’en themed … called Night of the Apparitions. Audience members were required to wear all white, which added to the show’s ominous appearance. Once again, even tho it was [...]

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American Idol News: Kelly Clarkson Says She?s Not A Lesbian, Lauren Alaina?s Lost Some Weight & More!

It’s time for some American Idol news, folks. Yes, AI judge Steven Tyler is on the mend after suffering a fall in his hotel shower while in Paraguay this week. The accident left him with two missing teeth and cuts and bruises to his face. He set the record straight by telling Matt Lauer of ‘Today’ that he did not have a drug relapse and that he simply had a bout with food poisoning, ‘I started to get sick and I fell on my face and I just passed out. I woke up with the water running on me … and the next thing you know my tour manager was calling the American Embassy and we found the best hospital.” Speedy recovery to you, Steven! Kelly Clarkson appeared on ‘The View’ yesterday and once again addressed the rumors of her sexuality. No, she’s not a lesbian, telling the ladies, “I’m from a small town so, like, everyone’s married with children or about to have children. So it’s a little hard when you go home and people are like — and that’s why people think I’m gay — because they’re like ‘Why aren’t you married?’ And I’m like, ‘it doesn’t happen [...]

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Michael Jackson Overdose Re-Enacted In Court Video

Prosecution aimed to prove MJ's death could have been prevented if Dr. Conrad Murray had the proper equipment and staffing.
By Gil Kaufman


Steven Shafer
Photo: Pool/Getty Images

After five days of recess, the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray resumed in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday (October 19) with the airing of a dramatic video showing an actor going into cardiac arrest and being revived following a propofol overdose.

The Witness
» Dr. Steven Shafer, anesthesiologist

Key Testimony
» After the trial was recessed for two days to allow Shafer to attend a conference -- which he did not make it to in light of his father's death -- the anesthesiologist, who emphasized the fact that his pro bono consultation on the case is motivated by his desire to restore faith in the public that propofol is not fatal when administered and monitored properly, completed his testimony from last week. Shafer, an expert on the surgical anesthetic propofol, narrated a video in which jurors watched an actor pretending to go into cardiac arrest while being administered propofol. The Los Angeles coroner's office determined that Jackson died of "acute propofol intoxication," which caused the singer to go into cardiac arrest.

» In the video, doctors and nurses successfully revive the patient using equipment and staffing that Murray did not have in Jackson's home. The dramatic re-enactment capped a case from the prosecution aimed at proving that Murray acted in a negligent, unprofessional manner in his treatment of Jackson.

» Murray lawyer Ed Chernoff argued vehemently against showing the video, calling it "a terrifying dramatization of a person experiencing cardiac arrest" that he said was intended to inflame the jurors' minds. Prosecutors countered that it was aimed at educating jurors about the safe way to administer propofol. A judge allowed the video but ordered Deputy District Attorney David Walgren to re-edit the video mid-morning to delete several scenes that he said were not relevant to the case.

» Over the course of the afternoon, the prosecution walked Shafer through his analysis of 17 major infractions -- what Shafer termed "egregious violations" -- in Murray's treatment of Jackson. Four of those violations were deemed "fundamentally unconscionable," such as Murray's failure to purchase and implement the proper medical monitoring devices and his failure to chart and document his treatment of Jackson, or keep any records. "It's a setup for disaster," Shafer said, adding that the violations were all contributing factors in Jackson's death.

Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of involuntary manslaughter, is facing four years in prison if convicted. But new sentencing laws in California meant to mandatorily reduce state prison overcrowding mean that, as a nonviolent offender with no prior record, he could be sentenced to county jail instead. If that is the case, his sentence could be reduced to two years and, because of overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jail, he may be allowed to serve the majority of his time under supervised house arrest.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672843/michael-jackson-conrad-murray-death-trial-steven-shafer.jhtml

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'Lone Ranger' Is 'Built Around Tonto,' Director Says

'You've heard the Lone Ranger's story; you just haven't heard it told from this guy,' Gore Verbinski tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner


Gore Verbinski
Photo: MTV News

Now that Disney, Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp have ironed out most of the budget kinks surrounding their production of "The Lone Ranger," we can all rest easy that the masked man and his trusty sidekick Tonto are headed to the big screen soon.

When MTV News caught up with Verbinski at the Hollywood Awards Gala Monday night, where his quirky animated film "Rango" received the Hollywood Animation Award, we asked how he was feeling about the film and what his plans are for the adaptation.

"I feel great. We're not shooting a Western in the middle of winter; the whole thing is pushed into a more reasonable time of year, so now we have to go make the movie," Verbinski said, speaking to the film's new May 31, 2013, release date. "There's been a lot of talk. Hopefully in a year and a half we'll have something we can talk about."

Verbinski went on to say that he's been hard at work on the screenplay for two years and that the central character is not the Ranger.

"It's all built around Tonto," he said. "You've heard the Lone Ranger's story; you just haven't heard it told from this guy, and he was there."

Depp has already teased that their take on the beloved duo's Western adventures will be "interesting," to say the least.

"I like the character. I think I have interesting plans for the character, and I think the film itself could be entertaining and very funny," he said. "But also I like the idea of having the opportunity to make fun of the idea of the Indian as a sidekick — which has always been [the case] throughout the history of Hollywood. The Native American has always been a second-class, third-class, fourth-class, fifth-class citizen, and I don't see Tonto that way at all. So it's an opportunity for me to salute Native Americans."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673145/lone-ranger-movie-tonto-gore-verbinski.jhtml

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