My friends who made it through epic wind and rain to the extra casting in Shelby on Saturday report that the line was long but moved swiftly, and that the movie folks were all trained by the Cinna school of “treating people like human beings, not cattle.” The report from Shelby is positive that the film is Hunger Games, though everyone was warned not to say it out loud, creating a Voldemort-ish Taboo. My friends got positive feedback, especially since some are or are the parents of teenagers, and, if they get to do some work on the movie, promise to give us all the information they can. In the meantime, I’m just thrilled to see the process was not much like the actual Reaping, but seemed fun, easy, and professional. Let’s hope this is indicative of the way the production will be run. Thanks, Connie, for the pictures! Follow me after the jump for more.
Post-Reaping Report on Extra Casting for Hunger Games
A Chestertonian Rebuke to Catholic Harry Haters: On Human Beings and Magic in J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’
Sean Dailey, editor of Gilbert magazine, home of the best in Chesterton studies and Chestertonian reflections on our times, has responded to a recent outbreak of Harry Hating in the world of American Catholics (most notably, a reprinted rant of a Star Chamber priest and yet another EWTN talk with the ever amiable Michael O’Brien, who shares his insight that unrepentant Potter Philes are secretly addicted to their “spiritual pornography”). Mr. Dailey takes the high road in his retort by addressing the usual tack of Catholic culture warriors with a Rowling fixation, namely, their assertion that human beings don’t play with magic in real fantasy literature, by which they mean The Lord of the Rings. The argument he makes is cogent and has the added benefit of taking you to the American Chesterton Society website for a visit. Enjoy the counter-argument to the usual tripe and the time spent abroad among civilized people.
There’s No Business like the Hunger Games: Extra Casting Begins, Maybe
Sure, sure, the Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD is out now, and everyone is dashing home to watch hours of special features, but here in Western NC, there’s buzz of another kind. Extra casting calls begin today for a movie being called Artemis. Since Artemis, like Katniss Everdeen, is an archer and huntress (and since she’s one ancient deity not licensed by Marvel Comics and thus not getting a film of her own), this is very likely The Hunger Games. It looks like there will be several calls in the region, and I do have friends planning to attend, so I’ll give you the full after-action report on the madness as thousands of people try to be one of a thousand needed extras (who will never be seen on the screen and who will likely be replaced with CGI anyway!)
A Conference for Muggles
The academy seems to have finally discovered Harry Potter. And I’m not talking about any of those embarrassing incidents where my fellow academics release ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘field-defining’ monographs which unwittingly reiterate ideas Professor Granger wrote ten years ago. My news today is much more par for the academic course.
The School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication, James Madison University, is hosting ‘Replacing Wands with Quills: A Harry Potter Symposium for Muggle Scholars,’ a two-day conference in November. They’ve invited proposals from scholars and enthusiasts from all disciplines and levels. Their intention seems to be to prove that academic readers care about Harry and his friend just as much as the next reader, and that no one really cares what A. S. Byatt said about the series anymore.
The deadline for proposals is 15 May, so think fast. The academy is inviting us in–is that sort of like asking Fred and George to work in a research library? Hopefully this conference, like the one in Manhattan, will help deluminate the wonderful world of Potter Studies. As the CFP itself says: ‘After all, for us muggle scholars, magic happens when we make knowledge and meaning.’
You can read the call-for-papers below the jump, or at this website.
It’s On! North Carolina Locations for Hunger Games Filming
According to the News in Asheville, North Carolina, the much-anticipated film adaptation of The Hunger Games will be filmed, at least partly, in “Cool, Green Asheville.” Other North Carolina sites purported to be targeted for filming are Charlotte and Shelby. Asheville officials have confirmed some locations around the city are being used for a movie; they won’t say what movie, however, even though the film’s producer has been sighted around town. In case you think this is speculation — the sign at one such location says “Ludus”; for those who may not be Latin-speakers, “ludus” means “game” in the language of ‘Bread and Circuses,’ so that’s probably a good indication that Asheville, or part of it, is District 12.
Recent Conversation