Kingston Harry Potter nominee flies out for Oscar ceremony

The man who helped bring Harry Potter elves Dobby and Kreacher to life is flying to Hollywood after being nominated for an Oscar.

Kingston University illustration graduate Christian Manz was shortlisted in the best visual effects category for his work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

The 36-year-old visual effects supervisor helped redesign Dobby to appear more human in his final, darker appearance in the series.

Mr Manz's team at Framestore removed the bodies of the two actors playing the elves and replaced them with animations.

He said: “It's rare to have the chance to work for 16 months on one project. There were only about 60 of us which, believe it or not, is quite a small team.

“Dobby is a central character in part one of the Deathly Hallows, as he dies at the end. We created more than 300 different facial expressions for him.”

He and his three fellow co-nominees are competing against Alice in Wonderland, Hereafter, Inception and Iron Man 2 at the awards show on Sunday, February 27.

'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling's story to be made into a movie in Canada

'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling's rags to riches story is to be made into a movie in Canada.

The film based on Rowling's rise from struggling single mum in Edinburgh to multimillionaire author of the Harry Potter book series is set to begin shooting next month.

Scotland's The Herald newspaper reported that film producers initially toured Edinburgh in their search for shooting locations, but decided to move production to Canada to save money because they found similar buildings there that could be used as backdrops.

Rowling, 45, has not authorised the television movie, reports News.com.au.

She refused to comment on the film, which has the working title 'Strange Magic'.

Australian actor Poppy Montgomery, who stars as FBI agent Samantha Spade in the hit US television series Without a Trace, will play Rowling.