Harry Potter Fan Film Puts a Female Protagonist at the Center of the Story




Voldemort: Origins of the Heir comes from Gianmaria Pezzato, not Warner Bros. But considering how impressive this Harry Potter fan film is, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

There have been some notable “fan films” over the last several years that look like more than just a labor of love – they also look like a Hollywood audition. (There was that Futurama one last year, and the guy behind that Portal short film? Dan Trachtenberg who went on to direct 10 Cloverfield Lane.) Harry Potter fan films have a fun history in an of themselves though and this new take is no exception. Here’s the summary:

Voldemort – Origins of the Heir talks about the early life of Voldemort, powerful dark Wizard from the Harry Potter saga, and all the reasons that made his name so well-known and feared among his peers.

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film franchise is giving us new details of Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald’s earlier days and from J.K. Rowling’s seven main Harry Potter books we got a great deal of Voldemort’s backstory but there’s always room for more. Indie production company Tryangle is attempting to take a journey all their own.

What made Tom Riddle become Voldemort? What happened in those years, and what really went down at Hogwarts when he came back? There are some clues in the books which have not been transposed at all in the movies, but a lot goes unspoken. This is the story we want to tell: the rise of the Dark Lord before Harry Potter and his first demise.

While they story is based around the evil wizard, Voldemort – Origins of the Heir has a female protagonist, something different for the wizarding world. Maddalena Orcali plays Grisha McLaggen, heir of Gryffindor. Presumably she’s a relation to Cormac McLaggen who is a character from Rowling’s series. While Cormac is known to be “well connected,” had a very high opinion of himself, and was sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts, there was never any mention of him in the books as having ties to the famous founder so this is indeed a bit of a departure from the source material. Grisha apparently “loves quidditch and potions.”

Along with a team of other professionals, Gianmaria Pezzato directed, wrote, edited, and worked on VFX for the non-profit fan film. Originally they had a Kickstarter but Warner Bros. had it removed for obvious reasons. An update on their Facebook page from last October says: “This is a fanmade project. The film will be available for free on our youtube channel by the end of 2017. And for what concerns the copyright, we have an agreement with Warner Bros, so no worries.” The new trailer says the film is still shooting and they have a PayPal link posted to support the project.

Here’s some behind-the-scenes and promotional shots:

What do you think?

(via Nerdist)

2 Responses to “Harry Potter Fan Film Puts a Female Protagonist at the Center of the Story”

  1. MisterShoebox says:

    Voldemort became Voldemort because he was a psychopath. Not a sociopath, mind you, but a genuine psychopath. Dude ticks everything on the list.

    The problem with movies like this is they can be…difficult to do right, let’s put it. Not necessarily automatically bad writing or Leather Pantsing the guy, but it’s a risk.

    Alls I’mma say.

  2. “What if Merida was even more magical?” I dig it.