Dean on The Remembrall Live

Yes, another one!

I spoke with C'Belle at the Remembrall Live podcast a few weeks ago. You can listen to episode 57 here. Once again, it was a great time. I'm so pleased, and not surprised, how many of these Potter Podcasters are also the Drama Kids at their schools. Well, C'Belle goes to a performing arts school, so they're, like, ALL the drama kids, but you get my point. She and I wound up talking long after the real interview was over, about matters theatrical and playwrighterly.

Also, this episode includes not only the SALLY clip I recorded with Crissy, but also another scene I recorded with some of the Remembrall crew. That was great fun, and I got to play both Ryebread and Underdrawers. Will you be able to tell they're both me? Um ... yes. Mel Blanc I ain't.

Every contact I make with fandom reminds me how full of smart, fun people it is. One of my goals with this play was to praise J. K. Rowling for what she has created. Learning more about the fandom she has spawned ... well, now I know what to praise in the sequel.

Dean on the Accio Potter Podcast

My ongoing plan to become ubiquitous in the Potter Podcastosphere procedes apace. Now you can hear the first ever interview I did about SALLY COTTER, with the Accio Potter Podcast. I recorded this in April, before I knew the play would be published earlier than I'd been told, and before I realized the kids I saw reading a Potter book in 2009 were reading Chamber of Secrets, not Prisoner of Azkaban. It took a little while longer to get this one up because they had to edit it together. See, I was recording my end and Shannon, my interviewer, was recording hers. This leads to a couple of jumpy edits (we actually did this over the course of two days) and at one point I seem highly egotistical asking Shannon what her favorite part of my brilliant play was. But I promise it flowed naturally from our conversation! Oh, and I'm not blaming Shannon! All her edits make total sense and were necessary!

Now that I've mentioned the few TINY little problems ... It's a great interview. Shannon was great to talk to, and I've really come to like the whole Accio gang. And I quite like that I'm not the WHOLE SHOW this time, just one segment on an episode full of news, discussion and general bonhomie.

Please drop by Accio Potter and friend me on Potter Profiles. If you do, once I rule the world, I will spare you and your loved ones.

how I tweeted away a perfectly good workday

That's right, gang! I'm on Twitter and you can follow me like exhaustion followed LeakyCon (which looks like it was a total blast and I'm really jealous I couldn't go). My name, if course deanocarroll

Yesterday, I got on a jag of tweeting "Tweets from Fairy Tale Characters." Here's what I wrote. If you feel so compelled, g'head and add more with the obligatory #tweetsfromfairytalecharacters tag.

Living with seven guys! Don't tell dad!

What the hell is this big green thing in my yard?

Going to grandma's! Dammit! Forgot flowers!

Traded my voice for legs by I can still Tweet! Take that, Sea-Beyotch!

Tip for campers – breadcrumbs no substitute for map and compass

Anyone find a shoe at the ball last night?

I've been asleep for 100 years! How can I still be tired?

Um ... okay, if YOU gave birth to a magic dwarf who could spin straw into gold, what would YOU name him?

These instructions are in Swedish! Last time I buy a house of twigs from Ikea.

Siriusly Potter

Hey, when it rains, it pours! Last week I spoke to the young and very impressive folks over at The Siriusly Potter Podcast. I'm having such a great time doing these interviews. I hope it comes across when you listen. It's edited and up and downloadable!

You can check it out here.

Interview with Harry Potter's Page Cast is now up!

I've done a bunch of interviews with Podcasts, as I've said, but this one wins the lickety-split award for getting it up and on iTunes the same day we recorded it!

(That's no knock against the other episodes who haven't edited theirs together yet! You guys rule, too!)

I had a great time talking to Michelle and Duan and now you can hear our conversation here.

Sally Cotter audio clip!

It occurred to me, that since I keep promoting this play on podcasts -- which has been SO MUCH fun; I'll let you know when they're available -- it would be handy to have a clip to play, like when celebrities go on talk shows to promote their movies. So I invited my friend Cristina Cimellaro over last night to record a short scene from the beginning of the play. You might recognize Crissy as the bride in that Sprint commercial where the bride winds up marrying the substitute groom. Crissy's great, and, while we did this quickly and cheaply, I think it's pretty cute. My "Ryebread" voice is ... a very nice effort. I don't know how to imbed an audio clip on Blogger, so I made it into a fake movie.

Harry, A History, A Movie

Melissa Anelli of Pottercast and The Leaky Cauldron was trapped in an airport the other day and asked her Twitter followers to tweet questions at her, for her to answer on her vlog. (Think how little sense that sentence would have made ten years ago) She was kind enough to answer some of mine, but didn’t have time to answer one I asked about what actors should be cast when they make the movie version of her book Harry, A History. She apparently has discussed this (not that there is going to be, or will ever be a movie … unless WB gets REALLY hungry for more Potter) with Matt Maggiacomo (AKA The Whomping Willows), but didn’t have their list on hand. So … I made my own.



Melissa, our hero … Jenna Fisher
A fan suggested Amy Adams. Now, I love Amy Adams, but she’s far too fairy-princess for Melissa. If we’re casting hot-young-thang actresses, I’d prefer Anne Hathaway. Now, I think of Melissa as having a strong New York Italian streak (as Boston Irish, I find that a little intimidating … I was very glad to learn Melissa is not a Yankees fan), and my go-to actress for NY Italian (under 40) is Alyssa Milano. Hey, if you grew up as a straight adolescent boy in the late-eighties/early-nineties you were required, by law, to have a crush on Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate, and/or one of the “Saved by the Bell” girls. It’s not my call, it was the law. But Milano’s not quite right. I briefly considered newish “SNL” castmember Casey Wilson, who is taller and more zaftig than Melissa, but has somewhat similar features. But in the end I went with Fisher, who has the comic and dramatic chops for the role. Watch her on Season 3 of “The Office” sometime – it might be the best television acting of this decade.

John, Melissa’s Pottercast cohost … Justin Long
Yeah, the Mac and PC guy. He would really be perfect. He can do the schtick, do the cool, and get serious if he needs to.

Sue, Melissa’s other Pottercast cohost … Drew Barrymore
I found Sue hardest to cast. But thinking of Justin Long made me think of his ex, Miss Barrymore. I think she could pull off the squeeing and make it seem cute, not cloying.

JK Rowling, okay, maybe SHE’S the hero … Jennifer Ehle
Sadly, the late Natasha Richardson would have been perfect. Miranda Richardson (no relation), yes, Rita Skeeter herself, comes to mind, as does Emma “Professor Trelawney” Thompson, though both are a little old. Nicole Kidman is closer in age, but it would be nice to stay British. Ehle doesn’t look that much like Rowling, but she’s the right age and was so good in Pride and Prejudice (the miniseries, not the recent movie).

Laura Mallory, anti-Potter crusader … Missi Pyle
If you saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, she played Mrs. Beauregard. I think this would be a variation on that, with a southern accent. (now that I look at her on IMDB, she actually looks a little like Sue … only a little, though)

Harry and the Potters, Wrock Pioneers …Two out of the three Jonas Brothers.
Okay, I know very little about the Jonas Brothers, but they are brothers in a band and they would probably attract teen girls to the movie.

Emerson Spartz, Mugglenet muckymuck ... Anton Yelchin
Okay, I kinda pulled that one out of my toochis, but why not?

Matt Maggiacamo, Whomping Willow … Seth Rogen
He, he’s lost a lot of weight recently!

Cheryl Klein, Scholastic Muckymuck, got to read the books before all of us … Elizabeth Mitchell
I have no idea how old Cheryl is. Probably younger than Mitchell, but the casting still works, I think.

It begins!

Made my first sale of SALLY today! Actually, it was my first four sales, schools and theatres in Texas, Minnesota, Missouri, and British Columbia bought scripts! Yes, just scripts, not productions, yet, but, still, it's great.

Oh, hey, you can hear me, briefly, calling in to discuss the play and request a song on Episode 15 of the Accio Potter Wizard Rock podcast. I did an interview with their sister Podcast, the Accio Potter Podcast, which should be out soon (I'll let you know). But they were doing a really fun live show, so I figured "what the heck." I requested "There's A Face" by Alas Earwax, even though I got the title slightly wrong when I requested it and briefly broke the show. Sorry guys.

That song is great, by the way. Clever and very funny. Aw, heck, you don't have to take my word for it: