Amidst all this nonsense over The Twilight Saga franchise, Warner Bros. does not want you to forget that they're gearing up for one helluva two-part finale when it comes to their just-as-popular Harry Potter franchise. The first official image from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has arrived online courtesy of USA Today, and right off the bat we have our three franchise heroes, Daniel Radcliffe (as Harry), Emma Watson (as Hermione) and Rupert Grint (as Ron). They look sort of determined in that image -- as if they're about to lay the wizardry smackdown on some unlucky evil soul.

Director David Yates tells USA Today, "It's going to feel very real. We're going for a vérité approach. Being away from Hogwarts, they're like these three refugees on the run. They're out in the big bad world, facing real danger, unguarded by those wonderful benign wizards at Hogwarts. They don't have a home to go to. We're kind of pulling away from the magic a bit and bringing more reality to it." The first installment, which hits theaters on November 19th, 2010, find our heroes dropping out of school and roaming the streets of London in search of Voldemort's remaining three Horcruxes. Says Grint, "They're paranoid. It's quite a scary world because the Snatchers and Death Eaters are running around everywhere. Harry, Ron and Hermione are just camping out in random places, living rough, in regular clothes."

Sounds pretty badass. I like the sound of a grittier, real-world Potter film -- how come they didn't get Michael Mann to shoot this one? Watch it when it drops in November; meanwhile the second (and final) installment will arrive in 2011.