LONDON — In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the teenage wizard faces new terrors. A face-to-face encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, for one. Girls, for another. And, still fresh in the mind of 16-year-old star Daniel Radcliffe — ballroom dancing.
"I really wanted to be good at it," Radcliffe said of the scene where he dances at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Yule Ball.
In the end, he said at a press conference for the film, director Mike Newell "very kindly didn't show anything below my waist. You never see my feet move."
Radcliffe's down-to-earth charm is key to the success of the Potter films, which have become a lucrative franchise since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released in 2001.
Radcliffe was 11 when he first wore Harry's spectacles. Five years later, he's an assured and articulate actor.
Producers describe "Goblet of Fire," in theaters Nov. 18, as the darkest Potter film yet. Harry must face a confrontation with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the evil wizard who killed his parents and who returns bent on destroying Harry.
As well as Fiennes, new cast members include Brendan Gleeson ("Troy," "Cold Mountain") as Potter's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the fearsome Mad-Eye Moody; and Miranda Richardson ("The Crying Game," "Sleepy Hollow") as poisonous gossip columnist Rita Skeeter.
The movie also introduces new students to Hogwarts' corridors, including Stanislav Ianevski as Bulgarian Quidditch star Viktor Krum, French actress Clemence Poesy as the heart-fluttering visiting student Fleur Delacour and Scottish schoolgirl Katie Leung as Harry's love interest, Cho Chang.
British director Newell ("Four Weddings and Funeral," "Donnie Brasco") said he was nervous about condensing J.K. Rowling's 640-page book into his first Potter film.
"The book's as big as a house brick, and I was very unsure quite how one would attack it," said Newell, who follows American Chris Columbus and Mexican Alfonso Cuarón at the Potter helm.
One idea was to split it into two films. But Newell said he eventually found the key to the story — "it was a thriller."
"Voldemort and Ralph Fiennes were really in charge of events right from the very beginning, and only little by little did Harry catch up with what was happening to him, until it was too late and there he was facing the devil in a graveyard," Newell said.
"As soon as I could see that, I felt that I could stay true to the book and at the same time keep the length down."
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