Nico Liersch
German actor (born 2000)
Nico Liersch (born 17 July 2000) is a German actor. He is best known for his role as Rudy Steiner in the 2013 film "The Book Thief". He is also known for his work in the German television series "Das ist Gut" where he played Phillip Greenyard, a caveman without parents.
Personal life.
Liersch was born on 17 July 2000 in Munich, Germany. He is currently resided in Olching.
Career.
Nico started acting at the age of seven, when he appeared in a McDonald's Happy Meal commercial with Kai Pflaume. In 2008, he also appeared in a supporting role in "Der Einsturz".
In 2012, Liersch appeared in episodes of the German TV series "Inga Lindström" and "Das Traumhotel", then later feature film "Kokowääh 2", a sequel to "Kokowääh". In February 2013, he was cast in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel "The Book Thief". He played Rudy Steiner, the best friend of the titular book thief, Liesel Meminger. Markus Zusak, who wrote the novel that inspired the movie, was pleased with Nico's portrayal of his character and wrote: ¨He's magnificent, indeed. He is Rudy.¨
References.
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The Book Thief (film)
2013 film by Brian Percival
The Book Thief is a 2013 war drama film directed by Brian Percival and starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Sophie Nélisse. The film is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Markus Zusak and adapted by Michael Petroni. The film is about a young girl living with her adoptive German family during the Nazi era. Taught to read by her kind-hearted foster father, the girl begins "borrowing" books and sharing them with the Jewish refugee being sheltered by her foster parents in their home. The film features a musical score by Oscar-winning composer John Williams.
"The Book Thief" premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 3, 2013, and was released for general distribution in the United States on November 8, 2013. The film received mixed reviews upon its theatrical release with some reviewers praising its "fresher perspective on the war" and its focus on the "consistent thread of humanity" in the story, with other critics faulting the film's "wishful narrative". With a budget of $19 million, the film was successful at the box office, earning over $76 million.
"The Book Thief" received Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for its score. For her performance in the film, Sophie Nélisse won the Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award, the Satellite Newcomer Award, and the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role – Female. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 11, 2014.
Plot.
Set in Nazi Germany, "The Book Thief" (2013) follows Liesel Meminger, a young girl sent to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the town of Molching during World War II. After stealing "The Grave Digger’s Handbook" at her brother’s funeral, Liesel develops a love of reading, encouraged by Hans, who teaches her to read. She befriends her neighbour Rudy Steiner and joins the Hitler Youth, though she grows disillusioned with the regime.
At a book burning, Liesel salvages a scorched book, an act witnessed by Ilsa Hermann, the mayor’s wife, who later allows her access to her private library. The Hubermanns hide Max Vandenberg, a Jewish man whose father once saved Hans’s life. Liesel and Max bond over books and shared trauma, but when Hans publicly defends a Jewish neighbour, Max leaves to protect the family.
Liesel briefly sees Max again as he is marched through town with other prisoners. Soon after, an unannounced air raid devastates Molching. Liesel survives in the basement, but Hans, Rosa, Rudy, and others are killed. She is later reunited with Max after the war and lives to old age, with the story narrated by Death, who reflects on her life and the enduring power of words.
Cast.
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>* Sophie Nélisse as Liesel Meminger, the titular "book thief".
Production.
A search for an actress to play the eponymous book thief, Liesel Meminger, occurred across the world. On February 4, 2013, it was announced that Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse was cast in the role and that Australian actor Geoffrey Rush and English actress Emily Watson would be playing Meminger's foster parents.
Principal photography began in early March 2013 at Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. Locations included Marquardt Palace. The first trailer was released on August 21, with the Bastille song "Haunt" as the music.
Markus Zusak, Australian author of the best-selling, award-winning book on which the film is based, confirmed on his blog that the film would be narrated by the character of "Death", as was the novel. After some speculation that Death might be voiced by the anonymous American actor who was used in the official trailer, it was announced that English actor Roger Allam of "Game of Thrones" would portray Death in the film.
Soundtrack.
The music for the film was composed and conducted by John Williams, and the soundtrack album containing the score was released by Sony Classical and Fox Music. The album was released in the United States on November 5, 2013. It was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Original Score. It won Best Instrumental Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.
"The Book Thief" marked the first time since 2005 that Williams had scored a film not directed by Steven Spielberg.
Release.
Originally scheduled for January 17, 2014, "The Book Thief"'s limited theatrical release was moved forward to November 8, 2013, due to the fact that it was finished ahead of schedule and in order to compete in the 2013–14 award season. It premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 3, 2013, and was screened at the Savannah Film Festival on October 29, 2013. It expanded to a wide release on November 27, 2013.
Reception.
Critical response.
"The Book Thief" received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 49%, based on 151 reviews, with an average score of 5.80/10. The site's consensus states, "A bit too safe in its handling of its Nazi Germany setting, "The Book Thief" counters its constraints with a respectful tone and strong performances." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In her review for the "New Empress Magazine", Mairéad Roche praised the film for providing a "fresher perspective on the war" through the experiences of ordinary Germans who lived through the Nazi era. In addition to the "Oscar-baiting beautiful" cinematography and John Williams's film score that contribute to the film's emotional appeal, Roche singled out the performance of young Sophie Nélisse as Liesel that "matches the well-measured and seemingly effortless efforts of both Rush and Watson". Roche concluded,
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />"The Book Thief" weaves a consistent thread of humanity through its narrative via the commonality of Death, storytelling, and the concept of free will. The disturbing sight of children in Hitler Youth uniforms and Allied blanket bombing, when shown through the innocence of a child, humanises the German generation just living their lives without the hindsight of history. A blurring of vision due to tears is to be expected, but that effect is delivered with respect and dignity to the audience.
In his review following the Mill Valley Film Festival, Dennis Harvey at "Variety" magazine wrote, "Rush generously provides the movie's primary warmth and humor; Watson is pitch-perfect as a seemingly humorless scold with a well-buried soft side." Harvey also praised the film's cinematography and film score, noting that "impeccable design contributions are highlighted by Florian Ballhaus'[s] somber but handsome widescreen lensing and an excellent score by John Williams that reps his first feature work for a director other than Steven Spielberg in years."
Stephanie Merry of "The Washington Post" was less impressed with the film, giving it two and half out of four stars. Merry felt that the film "has its moments of brilliance, thanks in large part to an adept cast" but that the film ultimately shows the difficulties of bringing a successful novel to the screen. In his review for the "Los Angeles Times", Robert Abele was also unimpressed, describing the film as "just another tasteful, staid Hollywoodization of terribleness, in which a catastrophic time acts as a convenient backdrop for a wishful narrative rather than the springboard for an honest one".
Home media.
"The Book Thief" was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 11, 2014.
References.
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Robert Prosky
American actor (1930–2008)
Robert Prosky (born Robert Joseph Porzuczek, December 13, 1930 – December 8, 2008) was an American actor. He became a well-known supporting actor in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with his roles in "Thief" (1981), "Christine" (1983), "The Natural" (1984), and "Broadcast News" (1987).
Prosky's other notable movies include "" (1990), "Hoffa" (1992), "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993), "Last Action Hero" (1993), "Rudy" (1993), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1994), "Dead Man Walking" (1995), and "Mad City" (1997). His most notable television role was of Sgt. Stan Jablonski on the TV police drama "Hill Street Blues".
Early life.
Prosky, a Polish American, was born in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Helen (Kuhn) and Joseph Porzuczek. His father was a grocer and butcher. He was raised in a working-class neighborhood and studied at the American Theatre Wing, later graduating from Temple University. He performed at Old Academy Players, a small theater in the East Falls section of Philadelphia, adjacent to Manayunk. He also served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, but got a hardship discharge to help with the family store when his father died suddenly.
Career.
Prosky appeared in "Thief", "Hanky Panky", "The Natural", "Hoffa", "Broadcast News", "Things Change", "The Great Outdoors", "Loose Cannons", "Rudy", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Green Card", and "Dead Man Walking". He also appeared as Will Darnell, the man who owned the auto repair shop where Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) rebuilds the possessed car "Christine" in the film based on Stephen King's novel.
In addition to appearing in films, he appeared in many television shows, as a regular on "Hill Street Blues", "Danny", and "Veronica's Closet". Prosky also portrayed Jake "the Snake" Connolly on a two-part 1991 episode of "Coach". He was considered for the role of Martin Crane in "Frasier" and later made a guest appearance in the series as a reclusive writer who befriended the character. He was offered the role of Coach Ernie Pantusso on "Cheers", but turned it down; he later portrayed Rebecca Howe's father on the same show. His role in "Veronica's Closet" was likely a nod to this, as in both shows he played the father of a character portrayed by Kirstie Alley.
In addition to his film and television career, he appeared in numerous productions at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., most notably as Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman". Prosky often performed at Arena Stage with over 100 stage credits to his name at that theatre alone. He played Shelly Levene in the 1984 Chicago and Broadway production of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Glengarry Glen Ross". He was also a board member of the Cape May Stage in Cape May, New Jersey.
Prosky appeared in two films, "Dead Man Walking" and "The Chamber", with actor Raymond J. Barry. He received or was nominated for two Tony awards, two Helen Hayes awards, an Emmy, the Drama Desk award, and the American Express Tribute To An American Actor. He continued to perform on stage and present lectures on his long career at universities, film festivals, for theater benefits, business groups and on cruises.
Personal life.
In 1960, he married Ida Hove with whom he had three sons, Stefan, John and Andrew Prosky, the latter two being actors as well.
Death.
Prosky died on December 8, 2008, at age 77 while living in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. His son John said that the cause was complications of heart surgery at the Washington Hospital Center. "The New York Times" described him: "a craggy-faced, heavyset character actor who, after 23 years in regional theater, became a familiar face on Broadway, in movies and on television, notably as a gruff desk sergeant in the later years of "Hill Street Blues"."
"Playbill" described him: "He was best suited to playing salt-of-the-earth characters, sometimes with a mischievous or slightly sinister edge."
References.
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The Book Thief
2006 novel by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, set in Nazi Germany during World War II. Published in 2005, "The Book Thief" became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 17 million copies. It was adapted into the 2013 feature film, "The Book Thief".
The novel follows the adventures of a young girl, Liesel Meminger. Narrated by Death, the novel presents the lives and viewpoints of the many victims of the ongoing war. Themes throughout the story include death, literature, and love.
Plot.
The story begins in 1939
as Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old girl, travels with her younger brother, Werner, on a train to their new foster home in Molching. Their mother, a Communist, can no longer care for them due to the rising dangers of the Nazi regime. Tragically, Werner dies during the journey, and Liesel, devastated, steals a book, "The Gravedigger’s Handbook", from the train station. This act of theft marks the beginning of her connection to words and storytelling.
Upon arriving in Molching, Liesel is placed with her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is kind-hearted and forms a bond with Liesel through shared moments, while Rosa is strict and harsh, often intimidating Liesel. Despite the difficulties in adjusting to her new life, Liesel finds comfort in her father’s warmth and their growing relationship.
As Liesel settles into her new home, she struggles with feelings of abandonment and guilt over her brother's death. Her friendship with the neighbor boy, Rudy Steiner, provides her with companionship and adventure. Rudy idolizes Jesse Owens, the African American athlete, and the two engage in mischievous activities, including stealing food and pranks.
Liesel’s love for books deepens, leading her to steal more books to satiate her hunger for stories. She sneaks into the mayor’s mansion, where she discovers a library and develops a bond with the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann, who allows her access to the books.
The narrative takes a dramatic turn when the Hubermanns decide to hide a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg in their basement. Max has a connection to the Hubermann family, having known Hans from World War I. As Max becomes part of their household, he and Liesel form a close bond through their love of words and storytelling. Max shares his own experiences in a story titled "The Standover Man", illustrating his struggles.
As the war escalates, Liesel’s world is increasingly affected by the brutality of the Nazi regime. The Hubermanns risk their lives to protect Max. Liesel’s perspective on the world shifts as she becomes aware of the persecution of Jews and the impact of war on her community.
The tension culminates during a bombing raid on Molching, resulting in tragic consequences. Liesel survives the attack, but the Hubermanns’ home is destroyed, and she loses her beloved foster parents, Hans and Rosa. Among the victims of the bombing is Rudy Steiner, Liesel’s best friend and confidant, whose death leaves her devastated. This profound loss leaves Liesel alone and grappling with overwhelming grief.
After the bombing, Liesel is taken in by the mayor and his wife, where she begins to piece her life back together. In her new environment, she finds comfort in reading and writing, continuing to honor the memory of Hans, Rosa, and Rudy. The mayor's wife, Ilsa, recognizes Liesel's talent and passion for storytelling.
As the war comes to a close, Liesel’s experiences shape her understanding of the world. The final chapters reveal Liesel as an adult, reflecting on her life and the memories of those she lost during the war. She eventually emigrates to Australia, where she marries and raises a family, but her heart remains tied to her childhood and the people who shaped her.
In the conclusion, Death revisits Liesel's life, illustrating the impact of her story. He reflects on the enduring nature of human connections and the stories that shape our lives.
Characters.
Death

Death, the collector of souls, narrates the story of a young girl during the horrific times of Nazi Germany and the Second World War. To the reader, Death insists that things "most definitely "can" be cheerful" while relating that they most certainly also cannot be nice. Sometimes Death is "compelled" to take action in sympathy with the human story.
Liesel Meminger

The story's protagonist is a girl on the verge of adolescence, with German blonde hair and brown eyes. The Hubermanns foster her after her biological father is taken away by the Nazis before the novel starts, due to being a Communist. Her brother dies and her mother is forced to send her to a foster home to avoid Nazi persecution. Liesel is the titular book thief; fascinated by the power of words, she steals several books throughout the story from a gravedigger, a bonfire, and the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann.
Hans Hubermann (Papa)

Liesel's foster father and husband to Rosa, Hans was a German soldier during the First World War. He is now an accordion player and painter. He develops a close and loving relationship with Liesel and becomes a source of strength and support for her. Like Liesel, he doesn't have much experience with reading. The two help each other with reading and write all the words they learn on a wall in the basement. He helps Max because Max's father saved Hans in the First World War.
Rosa Hubermann (Mama)

Rosa is Liesel's sharp-tongued foster mother. She has a "wardrobe" build and a displeased face, five feet tall, brown-grey hair often tightly tied in a bun. Despite her temper, she is a loving wife to Hans and mother to Liesel. To supplement the household income, she does washing and ironing for wealthier households in Molching.
Max Vandenburg

A Jewish fist-fighter who takes refuge from the Nazi regime in the Hubermanns’ basement. He is the son of a First World War German soldier who fought alongside Hans Hubermann, and the two developed a close friendship during the war. He has brown, feather-like hair and swampy brown eyes. During the Nazi reign of terror, Hans agrees to shelter Max and hide him from the Nazi party. During his stay at the Hubermanns' house, Max befriends Liesel, and they share an affinity for words. He writes two books for her and presents her with a sketchbook that contains his life story, which helps Liesel to develop as a writer and reader, which, in turn, saves her life from the bombs falling on her.
Rudy Steiner

Liesel's neighbor Rudy has bony legs, blue eyes, lemon-colored hair, and a penchant for getting in the middle of situations when he shouldn't. Despite having the appearance of an archetypal German, he does not support the Nazis. As a relatively poor household member with six children, Rudy is habitually hungry. He is known throughout the neighborhood because of the "Jesse Owens incident" in which he colored himself black with charcoal one night and ran one hundred meters at the local sports field. He is academically and athletically gifted which attracts the attention of Nazi Party officials, leading to attempted recruitment. His lack of support for the Nazi party becomes problematic as the story progresses. Rudy becomes Liesel's best friend and later falls in love with her.
Ilsa Hermann

The wife of the mayor of Molching who employs Rosa Hubermann. She fell into a state of depression after the death of her only son Johann, in the Great War. Ilsa allows Liesel to visit, read, and steal books from her library. She gives Liesel a little black book which leads the girl to write her own story, "The Book Thief".
Werner Meminger (Liesel's brother)

Liesel's little brother who died suddenly on the train with his mother and other sister, was buried in a cemetery near the train tracks. His death is what allowed the first book to be stolen: a gravedigger's manual dropped by a young boy learning to work in the cemetery.
 Paula Meminger (Liesel's mother)

Liesel's mother is only mentioned in the story a few times. She sent her children to foster care to save them from Nazi persecution. For a while, Liesel writes letters to her mother thinking there is a chance she is still alive.
Hans Jr (Hans' and Rosa's son)

Hans Jr is the son of Hans and Rosa Huberman. He is very supportive of the Nazi party and fights with his father about it frequently. He is eventually sent to participate in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Themes.
Mortality.
The book is introduced by the character/narrator Death, which underlines that mortality is very present in the lives of each character. Throughout the novel, the deaths of prominent characters reaffirm the presence of mortality. Because the novel takes place during the Second World War, death and genocide are nearly omnipresent in the novel.
Death is presented in a manner that is less distant and threatening. Because Death narrates and explains the reasons behind each character's destruction and explains how he feels that he must take the life of each character, Death is given a sense of care rather than fear. At one point, Death states "even death has a heart," which reaffirms that there is a care present in the concept of death and dying.
Language, reading and writing.
Throughout the novel, language, reading, and writing are presented as symbolic elements of expression and freedom. They provide identity and personal liberation to those characters who have, or who gain, the power of literacy: "the true power of words", and they provide a framework for Liesel's coming of age. At the beginning of the story shortly after her brother's funeral, Liesel finds a book in the snow, one she is unable to read. Under tutelage by her foster father Hans, she slowly learns to read and write. By the end of the novel, her character arc is largely defined by her progress in reading and writing. The development of Liesel's literacy mirrors her physical growth and maturing over the course of the story.
Literacy skills and vernacular of speech also serve as social markers. Wealthy citizens in the story are often portrayed as literate, as owning books and even their own libraries, while the poor are illiterate and do not own books. Rosa Huberman's abrasive and oft-times scatological speech towards her family and others is emblematic of the despairing lives of the poorer classes.
The Nazi burning of books in the story represents evil incarnate. Symbolically, Liesel's rescue of a book from a Nazi bonfire represents her reclaiming of freedom and her resistance to being controlled by the all-pervasive state.
Love.
In the midst of war and loss, love is a central theme which acts as a catalyst for change and sacrifice throughout the book. Liesel overcomes her traumas by learning to love and be loved by her foster family and her friends. At the beginning of the novel, Liesel is traumatized not only by the death of her brother and her separation from her only family but also by the larger issues of war-torn Germany and the destruction wrought by the Nazi party. As Liesel's foster father Hans develops a relationship with her, this relationship helps create healing and growth. This pattern is reflected in the dynamic between the Hubermann family and Max. In a society ruled by governmental policies that presume to stand in judgment of who is truly human, the Hubermanns' relationship with Max defies the Nazi regime. Furthermore, the love that Max and Liesel develop through their friendship creates a strong contrast to the fascist hate in the backdrop of the story, especially since Max is Jewish.
The theme of love also intertwines with the themes of identity and language/reading because all of these themes have the purpose of providing freedom and power in the midst of chaos and control. Liesel's final words in her own written story are "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right." She has the power to show her love on paper.
Reception.
Upon release, "The Book Thief" was generally well-received. According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on seven critic reviews with three being "rave" and four being "positive". On Bookmarks July/August 2006 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.5 out of 5) based on critic reviews with the critical summary stating, "Zusak, author of "I Am the Messenger", took a risk with his second book by making Death an omniscient narrator—and it largely paid off".
Film adaptation.
A film adaptation was released on 8 November 2013. It was directed by Brian Percival. Michael Petroni wrote the script. It stars Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Ben Schnetzer as Max Vandenburg, Nico Liersch as Rudy Steiner, and Sophie Nélisse as Liesel Meminger. John Williams wrote the music soundtrack. Much of the movie was filmed in Görlitz, Germany.
Musical adaptation.
A musical theater version premiered at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, on 17 September 2022. The libretto was written by Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald, with music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson. Directed by Lotte Wakeham.<ref name="Youngs_9/22/2022"></ref><ref name="Fisher_9/25/2022"></ref>
References.
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The Getaway (1972 film)
1972 American action thriller film by Sam Peckinpah
The Getaway is a 1972 American action thriller film based on the 1958 novel by Jim Thompson. The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers. The plot follows imprisoned mastermind robber Carter "Doc" McCoy, whose wife Carol conspires for his release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas. A double-cross follows the crime, and the McCoys are forced to flee for Mexico with the police and criminals in hot pursuit.
Peter Bogdanovich, whose "The Last Picture Show" impressed McQueen and producer David Foster, was originally hired as the director of "The Getaway". Thompson came on board to write the screenplay, but creative differences ensued between him and McQueen, and Thompson was subsequently fired, along with Bogdanovich. Writing and directing duties eventually went to Hill and Peckinpah, respectively. Principal photography commenced February 7, 1972, on location in Texas. The film reunited McQueen and Peckinpah, who had worked together on the relatively unprofitable "Junior Bonner", released the same year.
"The Getaway" premiered December 19, 1972. Despite the negative reviews it received upon release, numerous retrospective critics give the film good reviews. A box-office hit earning over $36 million, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of 1972, and one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers. A film remake of the same name starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger was released in 1994.
Plot.
Four years into his ten-year sentence for armed robbery, Carter "Doc" McCoy is denied parole from a Texas prison. When his wife Carol visits him, he tells her to do whatever is necessary to make a deal to free him with Jack Beynon, a parole board member and corrupt businessman in San Antonio. Beynon facilitates Doc's parole on the condition that he plan and take part in a bank robbery with two henchmen, Rudy Butler and Frank Jackson. The robbery initially goes as planned, until Frank kills a security guard. Rudy then kills Frank in their car. At the designated meeting place, an old farmyard, Rudy tries to shoot Doc, but Doc anticipates Rudy's double-cross and shoots Rudy several times. Doc and Carol take the $500,000 and flee. Rudy, having secretly worn a bulletproof vest, is only wounded.
When Doc meets with Beynon at his ranch, Carol sneaks in to kill Doc, per a double-cross Beynon arranged with her. However, Carol draws her gun on Beynon and kills him instead. Doc, having just been taunted by Beynon before Carol shot him, realizes that Carol had sex with Beynon to secure his parole. He angrily gathers the money and, after a bitter quarrel, the couple goes to the border at El Paso.
Rudy manages to collect himself and drive to the home of rural veterinarian Harold Clinton, who treats his injuries. Rudy kidnaps the doctor and his wife Fran to pursue Doc and Carol. Beynon's brother, Cully, and his team also track down the McCoys. At a train station, a con man swaps locker keys with Carol and steals their bag of money. Doc follows him onto a train and forcibly takes it back, although the thief has already pocketed a packet of the money. The injured thief and a train passenger—a boy Doc had rebuked for squirting him with a water gun—are taken to the police station, where they identify Doc's mug shot.
Carol buys a car, and they drive to an electronics store. As Doc buys a portable radio, the other radios and the televisions start broadcasting the news of the earlier incidents in which they were involved. Doc leaves immediately, but the proprietor gets a glimpse of his picture on TV and calls the police. Doc steals a shotgun from a neighboring sporting goods store, and shoots up the arriving police car to prevent the officers from chasing them.
The mutual attraction between Rudy and Fran, the veterinarian's wife, leads to them having consensual sex on two occasions in front of her husband, who is tied up in a chair at a motel. Humiliated, the vet hangs himself in the bathroom. Rudy and Fran move on, barely acknowledging the suicide. They check into El Paso's Laughlin Hotel, used by criminals as a safe house, as Rudy knows that the McCoys will be heading to the same place. When Doc and Carol check in, they ask for food to be delivered, but the manager, Laughlin, says he is working alone and cannot leave the desk. Doc realizes Laughlin sent his family away because something nasty is about to happen. He urges Carol to dress quickly so they can escape. An armed Rudy comes to their door while Fran poses as a delivery girl. Peering from an adjacent doorway, Doc is surprised to see Rudy alive. He sneaks up behind Rudy, knocks him out, and does the same to Fran.
Cully and his thugs arrive as the McCoys try to leave the hotel. A violent gunfight ensues in the halls, stairwell and elevator, and all but one of Cully's men are killed; Doc allows him to run away safely. Rudy comes to, follows Doc and Carol outside onto a fire escape, and shoots at them. Doc returns fire and kills him. With the police on the way, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force the driver, a cooperative old cowboy, to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy $30,000 for his old truck. Overjoyed, the cowboy heads back to El Paso on foot, while the couple continues into Mexico, having gotten away with their crimes and the remainder of the money.
Cast.
<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>* Steve McQueen as Doc McCoy
Production.
Development.
Steve McQueen had been encouraging his publicist David Foster to enter the film industry as a producer for years. His first attempt was "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", with McQueen starring alongside Paul Newman, but 20th Century Fox, particularly its president, Richard D. Zanuck, did not want Foster as part of the deal. Rather, Zanuck hired producer Paul Monash, since he was the studio's profit maker, resulting in McQueen's departure from the project. While McQueen was making "Le Mans", Foster acquired the rights to Jim Thompson's crime novel "The Getaway". Foster sent McQueen a copy of the book, urging him to do it. The actor was looking for a "good bad-guy" role, and saw these qualities in the novel's protagonist, Doc McCoy.
Foster looked for a director, and Peter Bogdanovich came to his attention. Bogdanovich's agent, Jeff Berg, set up a special screening of his client's soon-to-be released "The Last Picture Show" for Foster, with McQueen in attendance. They loved it and met with the director, and a deal was reached. However, Warner Bros. approached Bogdanovich with an offer to direct "What's Up, Doc?" starring Barbra Streisand, with the stipulation that he had to start right away. The director wanted to do both, but the studio refused. When McQueen heard this, he became upset and told Bogdanovich that he was going to get someone else to direct "The Getaway".
McQueen had recently worked with director Sam Peckinpah on "Junior Bonner" and enjoyed the experience, but the film proved to be unsuccessful. He said, "Out of all my movies, "Junior Bonner" did not make one cent. In fact, it lost money." McQueen recommended that Foster approach Peckinpah. Like McQueen, Peckinpah was in need of a box-office hit and immediately accepted. The filmmaker had read the novel when it was originally published, and had talked to Thompson about making a film adaptation when he was starting out as a director.
At the time, Peckinpah wanted to make "Emperor of the North Pole", a story set during the Great Depression about a brakeman obsessed with keeping homeless people off his train. The film's producer made a deal with Paramount Pictures' production chief Robert Evans, allowing Peckinpah to do his personal project if he first directed "The Getaway". The director was soon dismissed from "Emperor" and told that Paramount was not making "The Getaway".
A conflict arose with Paramount over the film's budget. Foster had thirty days to set up a new deal with another studio, or Paramount would own the exclusive rights. He was inundated with offers, and accepted one from First Artists because McQueen would receive no upfront salary, but just ten percent of the gross receipts from the first dollars earned on the film. This would become very profitable, but only if the film was a box-office hit, which it was.
Writing.
Jim Thompson was hired by Foster and McQueen to adapt his novel. He worked on the screenplay for four months, changing some of the scenes and episodes in his novel.


Christian Coulson
English actor
Christian Peter Coulson is an English actor known for playing young Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lord Voldemort) in the 2002 fantasy film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".
Early life.
Coulson was born in Manchester. He attended Arnold House Preparatory School in London, before attending Westminster School on an academic scholarship. He was a member of the UK's National Youth Music Theatre from 1990 to 1997, and went on to the University of Cambridge, where he received a degree in English from Clare College in 2000. While at university, he played the M.C. (Master of Ceremonies) in "Cabaret", Arturo Ui in "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" and Claire in "The Maids", as well as appearing in film and television.
Career.
Coulson gained worldwide attention and popularity for his role in 2002's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", in which he portrayed a 16-year-old Tom Riddle, even though he was 23 at the time. However, in 2007, director David Yates indicated on MTV that Coulson would not reprise his role in "Half-Blood Prince", since, at 29, he was by then too old.
He also wrote the lyrics and book for a rock musical called "The Fallen" which was performed at Bedford Modern School in 1998.
As of 2015, Coulson resides and works in New York City as an actor, director and photographer.
References.
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
1998 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the second novel in the "Harry Potter" series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls of the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened and that the "heir of Slytherin" would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families. These threats are found after attacks that leave residents of the school petrified. Throughout the year, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione investigate the attacks.
The book was published in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998 by Bloomsbury and later in the United States on 2 June 1999 by Scholastic Inc. Although Rowling says she found it difficult to finish the book, it won high praise and awards from critics, young readers, and the book industry, although some critics thought the story was perhaps too frightening for younger children. Much like with other novels in the series, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" triggered religious debates; some religious authorities have condemned its use of magical themes, whereas others have praised its emphasis on self-sacrifice and the way one's character is the result of one's choices.
Several commentators have noted that personal identity is a strong theme in the book and that it addresses issues of racism through the treatment of non-human, non-magical, and non-living people. Some commentators regard the story's diary that writes back as a warning against uncritical acceptance of information from sources whose motives and reliability cannot be checked. Institutional authority is portrayed as self-serving and incompetent.
The film adaptation of the novel, released in 2002, became (at the time) the fifth highest-grossing film ever and received generally favourable reviews. Video games loosely based on "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" were also released for several platforms, and most obtained favourable reviews.
Plot.
While spending the summer with the Dursleys, the twelve-year-old Harry Potter is visited by Dobby, a house-elf. Dobby says Harry is in danger and must promise not to return to Hogwarts. When Harry refuses, Dobby uses magic to destroy a pudding made by Aunt Petunia. Believing that Harry created the mess, Uncle Vernon locks him in his room. The Ministry of Magic sends a notice accusing Harry of performing underage magic and threatening to expel him from Hogwarts.
The Weasley brothers Ron, Fred, and George arrive in their father's flying car and take Harry to their home. When Harry and the Weasleys go to Diagon Alley for school supplies, they meet Gilderoy Lockhart, a celebrity author who is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. At King's Cross station, Harry and Ron cannot enter Platform 9¾ to board the Hogwarts Express, so they fly to Hogwarts in the enchanted car.
During the school year, Harry hears a strange voice emanating from the castle walls. Argus Filch's cat is found Petrified, along with a warning scrawled on the wall: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware". Harry learns that the Chamber supposedly houses a monster that attacks Muggle-born students, and which only the Heir of Slytherin can control. During a Quidditch match, a rogue Bludger strikes Harry, breaking his arm. Professor Lockhart botches an attempt to mend it, which sends Harry to the hospital wing. Dobby visits Harry and reveals that he jinxed the Bludger and sealed the portal at King's Cross. He also tells Harry that house-elves are bound to serve a master, and cannot be freed unless their master gives them clothing.
After another attack from the monster, students attend a defensive duelling class. During the class, Harry displays the rare ability to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes. Moaning Myrtle, a ghost who haunts a bathroom, shows Harry and his friends a diary that was left in her stall. It belonged to Tom Riddle, a student who witnessed another student's death when the Chamber was last opened. During the next attack by the monster, Hermione Granger is petrified.
Harry and Ron discover that the monster is a Basilisk, a gigantic snake that can kill victims with a direct gaze and Petrify them with an indirect gaze. Harry realizes the Basilisk is producing the voice he hears in the walls. After Ron's sister Ginny is abducted and taken into the Chamber, Harry and Ron discover the Chamber entrance in Myrtle's bathroom. When they force Lockhart to enter with them, he confesses that the stories he told of his heroic adventures are fabrications. He attempts to erase the boys' memories, but his spell backfires and obliterates his own memory.
Harry finds an unconscious Ginny in the Chamber. A manifestation of Tom Riddle appears and reveals that he is Lord Voldemort and the Heir of Slytherin. After explaining that he opened the Chamber, Riddle summons the Basilisk to kill Harry. Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes arrives, bringing Harry the Sorting Hat. While Fawkes blinds the Basilisk, Harry pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Hat. He slays the serpent, then stabs the diary with a Basilisk fang, destroying it and the manifestation of Riddle. Later, Harry liberates Dobby by tricking his master into giving him clothing. At the end of the novel, the Petrified students are cured and Gryffindor wins the House Cup.
Publication and reception.
Development.
J.K Rowling found it difficult to finish "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" because she was afraid it would not live up to the expectations raised by "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". After delivering the manuscript to Bloomsbury on schedule, she took it back for six weeks of revision.
In early drafts of the book, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick sang a self-composed song explaining his condition and the circumstances of his unknown death. This was cut because the book's editor did not care for the poem, which has been subsequently published as an extra on J. K. Rowling's official website. The family background of Dean Thomas was removed because Rowling and her publishers considered it an "unnecessary digression," and she considered Neville Longbottom's own journey of discovery "more important to the central plot."
Gilderoy Lockhart's character was inspired by an acquaintance of Rowling who was, in her words, "even more objectionable than his fictional counterpart" and "used to tell whopping great fibs about his past life, all of them designed to demonstrate what a wonderful, brave and brilliant person he was."
Publication.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. It immediately took first place in UK bestseller lists, displacing popular authors such as John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Terry Pratchett, and making Rowling the first author to win the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for two years in succession. In June 1999, it went straight to the top of three US bestseller lists, including in "The New York Times".
First edition printings had several errors, which were fixed in subsequent reprints. Initially, Dumbledore said Voldemort was the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin instead of his descendant. Gilderoy Lockhart's book on werewolves is entitled "Weekends with Werewolves" at one point and "Wanderings with Werewolves" later in the book.
Critical response.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was met with near-universal acclaim. On "BookBrowse", a site that aggregates book reviews such as media reviews, the book received a from "Critics' Opinion".
In "The Times", Deborah Loudon described it as a children's book that would be "re-read into adulthood" and highlighted its "strong plots, engaging characters, excellent jokes and a moral message which flows naturally from the story". Fantasy author Charles de Lint agreed, and considered the second Harry Potter book to be just as good as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", a rare achievement among series of books. Thomas Wagner regarded the plot as very similar to that of the first book, based on searching for a secret hidden under the school. However, he enjoyed the parody of celebrities and their fans that centres round Gilderoy Lockhart, and approved of the book's handling of racism. Tammy Nezol found the book more disturbing than its predecessor, particularly in the rash behaviour of Harry and his friends after Harry withholds information from Dumbledore, and in the human-like behaviour of the mandragoras used to make a potion that cures petrification. Nevertheless, she considered the second story as enjoyable as the first.
Mary Stuart thought the final conflict with Tom Riddle in the Chamber was almost as scary as in some of Stephen King's works, and perhaps too strong for young or timid children. She commented that "there are enough surprises and imaginative details thrown in as would normally fill five lesser books." Like other reviewers, she thought the book would give pleasure to both children and adult readers. According to Philip Nel, the early reviews gave unalloyed praise while the later ones included some criticisms, although they still agreed that the book was outstanding.
Writing after all seven books had been published, Graeme Davis regarded "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as the weakest of the series, and agreed that the plot structure is much the same as in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". He described Fawkes's appearance to arm Harry and then to heal him as a "deus ex machina": he said that the book does not explain how Fawkes knew where to find Harry; and Fawkes's timing had to be very precise, as arriving earlier would probably have prevented the battle with the basilisk, while arriving later would have been fatal to Harry and Ginny.
Awards and honours.
Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was the recipient of several awards. The American Library Association listed the novel among its 2000 Notable Children's Books,
as well as its Best Books for Young Adults. In 1999, Booklist named "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as one of its Editors' Choices, and as one of its Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth. The Cooperative Children's Book Center made the novel a CCBC Choice of 2000 in the "Fiction for Children" category. The novel also won Children's Book of the Year British Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 1998 Guardian Children's Award and the 1998 Carnegie Award.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1998 Gold Medal in the 9–11 years division. Rowling also won two other Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". The Scottish Arts Council awarded their first ever Children's Book Award to the novel in 1999, and it was also awarded Whitaker's Platinum Book Award in 2001. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 23 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Main themes.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" continues to examine what makes a person who he or she is, which began in the first book. As well as maintaining that Harry's identity is shaped by his decisions rather than any aspect of his birth, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" provides contrasting characters who try to conceal their true personalities: as Tammy Nezol puts it, Gilderoy Lockhart "lacks any real identity" because he is nothing more than a charming liar. Riddle also complicates Harry's struggle to understand himself by pointing out the similarities between the two: "both half-bloods, orphans raised by Muggles, probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin."
Opposition to class, death and its impacts, experiencing adolescence, sacrifice, love, friendship, loyalty, prejudice, and racism are constant themes of the series. In "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" Harry's consideration and respect for others extends to the lowly, non-human Dobby and the ghost Nearly Headless Nick. According to Marguerite Krause, achievements in the novel depend more on ingenuity and hard work than on natural talents.
Edward Duffy, associate professor at Marquette University, says that one of the central characters of "Chamber of Secrets" is Tom Riddle's enchanted diary, which takes control of Ginny Weasley – just as Riddle planned. Duffy suggests Rowling intended this as a warning against passively consuming information from sources that have their own agendas. Although Bronwyn Williams and Amy Zenger regard the diary as more like an instant messaging or chat room system, they agree about the dangers of relying too much on the written word, which can camouflage the author, and they highlight a comical example, Lockhart's self-promoting books.
Antonello Fabio Caterino, an Italian forensic linguist and philologist, stated that the conversations Harry and Voldemort had through the diary could be considered a "modern transposition" of Petrarca's "Secretum", a text often compared to a diary, which details an imaginary dialogue between the writer and Augustine of Hippo. Caterino analysed similarities between themes found in both books, starting from the idea of a fragmented soul: Harry and Voldemort are both seeking Voldemort's Horcruxes, which are fragments of his soul, and Petrarca also focuses on the concept "animae fragmenta", meaning soul's fragments.
Immorality and the portrayal of authority as negative are significant themes in the novel. Marguerite Krause states there are few absolute moral rules in Harry Potter's world, for example Harry prefers to tell the truth, but lies whenever he considers it necessary – very like his enemy Draco Malfoy. At the end of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", Dumbledore retracts his promise to punish Harry and Ron if they break any more school rules – after Professor McGonagall estimates they have broken over 100 – and lavishly rewards them for ending the threat from the Chamber of Secrets. Krause further states that authority figures and political institutions receive little respect from Rowling. William MacNeil of Griffith University, Queensland, Australia states that the Minister for Magic is presented as a mediocrity. In his article "Harry Potter and the Secular City", Ken Jacobson suggests the Ministry as a whole is portrayed as a tangle of bureaucratic empires, saying that "Ministry officials busy themselves with minutiae (e.g. standardising cauldron thicknesses) and coin politically correct euphemisms like 'non-magical community' (for Muggles) and 'memory modification' (for magical brainwashing)."
This novel implies it begins in 1992: the cake for Nearly-Headless Nick's 500th deathday party bears the words "Sir Nicholas De Mimsy Porpington died 31 October 1492".
Connection to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".
"Chamber of Secrets" has many links with the sixth book of the series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". In fact, "Half-Blood Prince" was the working title of "Chamber of Secrets" and Rowling says she originally intended to present some "crucial pieces of information" in the second book, but ultimately felt "this information's proper home was book six". Some objects that play significant roles in "Half-Blood Prince" first appear in "Chamber of Secrets": the Hand of Glory and the opal necklace that are on sale in Borgin and Burkes; a Vanishing Cabinet in Hogwarts that is damaged by Peeves the Poltergeist; and Tom Riddle's diary, which is later revealed to be a Horcrux. Additionally, these two novels are the ones with the most focus on Harry's relationship with Ginny Weasley.
Adaptations.
Film.
The film version of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was released in 2002. Chris Columbus directed the film, and the screenplay was written by Steve Kloves. It became the third film to exceed $600 million in international box office sales, preceded by "Titanic", released in 1997, and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", released in 2001. The film was nominated for a Saturn Award for the Best Fantasy Film, According to Metacritic, the film version of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" received "generally favourable reviews" with an average score of 63%, and another aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, gave it a score of 82%.
Video games.
Five unique video games by different developers were released between 2002 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, loosely based on the book:
References.
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
2002 film by Chris Columbus
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. It is based on the 1998 novel "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling. Produced by David Heyman, it is the sequel to "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (2001) and the second instalment in the "Harry Potter" film series. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger respectively. The story follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the Heir of Salazar Slytherin opens the Chamber of Secrets, unleashing a monster that petrifies the school's students.
The film was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critics praised its darker plot, sets, performances (especially Branagh, Coltrane and Isaacs), and a story appropriate for a young audience, and it became a critical and commercial success, grossing $878 million worldwide (domestic 29.7% and foreign 70.2%) and becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2002. The film was nominated for many awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects. It was followed by "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004).
Plot.
While spending the summer with the Dursleys, Harry Potter meets Dobby, a house-elf who warns him not to return to Hogwarts or danger will strike. When Harry refuses, Dobby sabotages an important dinner for the Dursleys, who lock up Harry to prevent his departure. Harry's friend Ron Weasley and his brothers Fred and George rescue him in their father's flying car.
In Diagon Alley, Harry, the Weasleys, and Hermione Granger notice a book signing by Gilderoy Lockhart, Hogwarts' new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. There, Harry sees Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius, slip a book into Ginny Weasley's cauldron. After being blocked from entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross railway station, Harry and Ron take the car to Hogwarts. They crash into the Whomping Willow, breaking Ron's wand, and receive detention.
In detention, Harry hears a strange voice and later finds caretaker Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, petrified with a message written in blood: "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir... beware." One of Hogwarts' founders, Salazar Slytherin, supposedly constructed a secret Chamber containing a monster that only his heir can control, capable of purging the school of Muggle-borns. To solve this mystery, Harry, Ron, and Hermione plan to question Malfoy, using polyjuice potion, which they brew in a bathroom haunted by Moaning Myrtle, a ghost.
During a Quidditch game, Harry's arm is broken by a rogue Bludger. Dobby visits him in the infirmary and reveals that he closed the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and made the Bludger chase Harry to force him to leave the school. He also reveals that the Chamber had been opened in the past. When Harry communicates with a snake, the school starts to believe he is the heir. Disguised as Malfoy's friends, Harry and Ron learn he is not the heir, but know that a Muggle-born girl died when the Chamber was last opened. Harry finds an enchanted diary owned by a former student Tom Marvolo Riddle, who opened the Chamber and blamed Rubeus Hagrid, leading to his expulsion. When the diary is stolen and Hermione is petrified, Harry and Ron question Hagrid. Professor Dumbledore, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, and Lucius arrive to take Hagrid to Azkaban and remove Dumbledore from office, but he discreetly tells the boys to "follow the spiders". In the Forbidden Forest, Harry and Ron meet Hagrid's giant pet spider, Aragog, who reveals Hagrid's innocence and provides a small clue of the Chamber's monster.
A book page in Hermione's hand identifies the monster as a basilisk, a giant serpent that kills people who make direct eye contact; the petrified victims only saw it indirectly. The school staff learns Ginny has been taken into the Chamber, and nominate Lockhart to save her. Harry and Ron find Lockhart preparing to flee, exposing him as a fraud. Deducing that Myrtle was the Muggle-born girl that the basilisk killed, they find the Chamber's entrance in the bathroom she haunts. Once inside, Lockhart tries to erase Harry and Ron’s memories so he can document this as his own adventure. However, because he was using Ron's broken wand, the spell backfired, erasing Lockhart's memory and causing a cave-in, separating Harry from Ron and Lockhart.
Harry enters the Chamber alone and finds Ginny unconscious. Riddle, who turns out to be Slytherin's heir and Voldemort's younger self, uses the diary to manipulate Ginny into reopening the Chamber. After Harry expresses his loyalty to Dumbledore, the latter's pet phoenix Fawkes arrives with the Sorting Hat, causing Riddle to summon the basilisk. Fawkes blinds the basilisk, and the Sorting Hat produces the Sword of Gryffindor, which Harry uses to kill the basilisk after a battle, but is poisoned by one of its fangs.
Despite being injured, Harry stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, destroying Riddle and reviving Ginny. Fawkes's tears heal Harry, who returns to Hogwarts with his friends and a baffled Lockhart. This earns Dumbledore's praise and Hagrid's release. Harry accuses Lucius, Dobby's master, of planting the diary in Ginny's cauldron and tricks him into freeing Dobby. The basilisk's victims are healed, Hermione reunites with her friends, and Hagrid is released from Azkaban.
Cast.
Several actors from "Philosopher's Stone" reprise their roles in this film. Harry Melling portrays Dudley Dursley, Harry's Muggle cousin. James and Oliver Phelps play Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers; Chris Rankin appears as Percy Weasley, Ron's other brother and a Gryffindor prefect; and Bonnie Wright portrays their sister Ginny. Tom Felton plays Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival in Slytherin, while Jamie Waylett and Joshua Herdman appear as Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's minions. Matthew Lewis, Devon Murray and Alfred Enoch play Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, respectively, three Gryffindor students in Harry's year. David Bradley portrays Argus Filch, Hogwarts' caretaker, and Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood, the Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Leslie Phillips voices the Sorting Hat. Eleanor Columbus, Chris Columbus's daughter, appears as Susan Bones, Edward Randell appears as Justin Finch-Fletchley, Charlotte Skeoch as Hannah Abbott, and Louis Doyle as Ernie MacMillan; Hufflepuff students. Emily Dale appears as Katie Bell, Rochelle Douglas as Alicia Spinnet, and Danielle Tabor as Angelina Johnson; Gryffindor girls. Jamie Yeats appears as Marcus Flint, Scott Fearn as Adrian Pucey; and David Holmes, David Massam, and Tony Christian appear as Slytherin quidditch players. Gemma Padley appears as Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw student and Percy's girlfriend. Luke Youngblood plays Lee Jordan, the Quidditch comentator.
Christian Coulson appears as Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of young Lord Voldemort. Mark Williams portrays Arthur Weasley, Ron's father. Shirley Henderson plays Moaning Myrtle, a Hogwarts ghost. Miriam Margolyes appears as Pomona Sprout, Hogwarts' Herbology professor and head of Hufflepuff. Hugh Mitchell portrays Colin Creevey, a first year student that is a fan of Harry's. Robert Hardy appears as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Toby Jones voices Dobby, a House-elf, while Julian Glover voices Aragog, an acromantula. Jim Norton appears as Mr. Mason and Veronica Clifford appears as Mrs. Mason. Alfred Burke appears as Master Dippet in a memory of Tom Riddle. Daisy Bates, David Tysall and Peter Taylor appear as moving pictures. Helen Stuart plays Millicent Bulstrode, a Slytherin girl.
Hugh Grant was rumoured to be the first choice to play the role of Gilderoy Lockhart, but due to reported scheduling conflicts he was unable to play the character. Columbus later denied that Grant had been considered and stated that they had not met. Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett were also considered for Lockhart. Cumming backed out over a salary dispute. Jason Issacs also auditioned for Lockhart, but was offered for the role of Lucius Malfoy instead, he was reluctant to take the role as he was already signed on to play Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" (2003), but his family convinced him to take the role and accepted it. Before Coulson was cast as Tom Riddle, James McAvoy and Eddie Redmayne – who later played Newt Scamander in the "Fantastic Beasts" films – auditioned for the role.
Production.
Costume and set design.
Production designer Stuart Craig returned for the sequel to design new elements previously not seen in the first film. He designed the Burrow based on Arthur Weasley's interest in Muggles, built vertically out of architectural salvage. Mr. Weasley's flying car was created from a 1962 Ford Anglia 105E. The Chamber of Secrets, measuring over long and wide, was the biggest set created for the saga. Dumbledore's office, which houses the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, was also built for the film.
Lindy Hemming was the costume designer for "Chamber of Secrets". She retained many of the characters' already established appearances, and chose to focus on the new characters introduced in the sequel. Gilderoy Lockhart's wardrobe incorporated bright colours, in contrast with the "dark, muted or sombre colours" of the other characters. Branagh said, "We wanted to create a hybrid between a period dandy and someone who looked as if they could fit into Hogwarts." Hemming also perfected Lucius Malfoy's costume. One of the original concepts was for him to wear a pinstripe suit, but was changed to furs and a snake head cane in order to remark his aristocrat quality and to reflect a "sense of the old."
Filming.
Principal photography began on 19 November 2001, only three days after the wide release of the first film. Second-unit work had started three weeks before, primarily for the flying car scene. Filming took place mainly at Leavesden Film Studios in Hertfordshire, as well as on the Isle of Man. King's Cross railway station was used as the filming location for Platform 9¾, though St Pancras railway station was used for the exterior shots. Gloucester Cathedral was used as the setting for Hogwarts School, along with Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, Lacock Abbey, and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. The Burrow was built in Gypsy Lane, Abbots Langley, in front of Leavesden Studios.
Roger Pratt was brought on as director of photography for "Chamber of Secrets", in order to give the film "a darker and edgier feel" than its predecessor, which reflected "the growth of the characters and the story." Director Chris Columbus opted to use handheld cameras to allow more freedom in movement, which he considered "a departure for [him] as a filmmaker." University of Cambridge linguistics professor Francis Nolan created Parseltongue, the language spoken by snakes in the film. Principal photography wrapped in July 2002.
Sound design.
Due to the events that take place in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", the film's sound effects were much more expansive than in the previous instalment. Sound designer and supervising sound editor Randy Thom returned for the sequel using Pro Tools to complete the job, which included initial conceptions done at Skywalker Sound in California and primary work done at Shepperton Studios in England.
Thom wanted to give the Whomping Willow a voice, a deep growl for which he used his own voice slowed down, equalised and bass-boosted. For the mandrakes, he combined baby cries with female screams, in order to "make it just exotic enough so that you think, 'Hmm, I've never heard anything quite like "that" before.'"
Thom described the basilisk as a challenge, "because it's a giant snake, but it's also like a dragon — not many snakes have teeth like that. He had to hiss, he had to roar and there were times at the end when he was in pain." He mixed his own voice, tiger roars, and horse and elephant vocalizations.
Special and visual effects.
Visual effects took nine months to make, until 9 October 2002, when the film was finished. Industrial Light & Magic, Mill Film, the Moving Picture Company (MPC), Cinesite and Framestore CFC handled the approximately 950 visual effect shots in the film. Jim Mitchell and Nick Davis served as visual effects supervisors. They were in charge of creating the CGI characters Dobby the House Elf, the Basilisk, and the Cornish pixies, among others. Chas Jarrett from MPC served as CGI supervisor, overseeing the approach of any shot that contains CGI in the film. With a crew of 70 people, the company produced 251 shots, 244 of which made it to the film, from September 2001 to October 2002.
The visual effects team worked alongside creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman, who devised Fawkes the Phoenix, the Mandrakes, Aragog the Acromantula, and the first of the Basilisk. According to Dudman, Aragog was the most challenging character to create. The giant spider stood tall with an foot leg span, each of which had to be controlled by a different team member. The whole creature weighed three quarters of a ton. It took over 15 people to operate the animatronic Aragog on set.
The Whomping Willow sequence required a combination of practical and visual effects. Special effects supervisor John Richardson and his team created mechanically operated branches to hit the flying car. A 1:3 scale set was built on stage at Shepperton Studios, which featured the fully-sized top third of the tree with a forced perspective to appear a height of over high. The courtyard and the tree were built in 3D. Some shots ended up being entirely digital. Jarret identified the rendering as "the biggest challenge" of the scene, because "there was just so much going on in [it] ... It was simply massive."
Music.
John Williams, who composed the previous film's score, returned to score "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Composing the film proved to be a difficult task, as Williams had just completed scoring "" and "Minority Report" when work was to begin on "Catch Me If You Can". Because of this, William Ross was brought in to arrange themes from the "Philosopher's Stone" into the new material that Williams was composing whenever he had the chance. Ross also conducted the scoring sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra. The soundtrack album was released on 12 November 2002.
Distribution.
Marketing.
Footage for the film began appearing online in the summer of 2002, with a teaser trailer debuting in cinemas with the release of "Scooby-Doo" that June. A video game based on the film was released in early November 2002 by Electronic Arts for several consoles, including GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The film also continued the merchandising success set by its predecessor, with reports of shortages on Lego's "Chamber of Secrets" tie-ins.
Home media.
The film was originally released in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada on 11 April 2003 on both VHS tape and in a two-disc special edition fullscreen/widescreen DVD digipack, which included extended and deleted scenes and interviews. On 11 December 2007, the film's Blu-ray version was released. An Ultimate Edition of the film was released on 8 December 2009, featuring new footage, TV spots, an extended version of the film with deleted scenes edited in, and a feature-length special "Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 2: Characters". The film's extended version has a running time of about 174 minutes, which has previously been shown during certain television airings.
Reception.
Box office.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" held its world premiere at Odeon Leicester Square on 3 November 2002, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 15 November 2002. The film broke multiple records upon its opening. In the United States and Canada, the film opened to an $88.4million opening weekend, playing on 8,515 screens at 3,682 theaters, making it the third-largest opening at the time, behind "Spider-Man" and its predecessor "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The film would hold the record for having the largest number of screenings until it was surpassed by "X2" the next year. It was also No. 1 at the box office for two non-consecutive weekends. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was the second 2002 film to return to the number one spot, just after Mel Gibson's "Signs". The film joined "Die Another Day" and "The Santa Clause 2" to outperform the weak opening of "Treasure Planet". Both "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Die Another Day" were the most recent films to reclaim the number one spot for six months until June 2003 when "Finding Nemo" became the next film to do so. In the United Kingdom, the film broke all opening records that were previously held by "Philosopher's Stone". It made £18.9million during its opening including previews and £10.9million excluding previews.
 It went on to make £54.8million in the UK; at the time, the fifth-biggest tally of all time in the region.
Internationally, the film earned $59.5 million during its opening weekend. The film earned $3.7 million in Japan, making it the highest opening of any film in the country until it was surpassed a year