Gary Oldman & Producer Heyman On 'Harry Potter 3'

Heyman pointed out that in "Prisoner of Azkaban," the third in the Potter series, Harry and his pals have become teenagers. "Alfonso dealt with boys at the end of adolescence in his last movie, and in 'Harry Potter' he will deal with boys at the beginning, so there's a logical connection," Heyman said. Cuaron will have more time to craft his "Potter" installment than his predecessor. "Prisoner of Azkaban" won't be out until June 2004.

Gary Oldman, not known for appearing in children's movies, shares title- role honors with Harry. Oldman plays Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, who was framed for the deaths of Harry's parents and banished to Azkaban without a trial. "It's great being on the set," he told us. "It's like joining a family."

We wondered when Oldman, who got raves for directing his first movie, "Nil by Mouth," would be behind the camera again. "It gets trickier and trickier to raise the money," he said. "Every year the bar gets raised. Last year, you could get money with Russell Crowe as your star. This year they say, 'Who's playing his girlfriend?' Since I don't want to make movies with stars, all my projects sit there on the shelf."