In a
new interview Jim Broadbent has confirmed that he will play Horace Slughorn, the new Potions professor, in
Half-Blood Prince. The actor says he has read the Harry Potter books. He is known for appearing in many famous films, including;
Hot Fuzz,
Art School Confidential,
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
Valiant,
Bridget Jones's Diary,
Moulin Rouge! & many many more. Pictures of the actor can be found in our galleries
here.
Quote:
Question: Who are you?
Broadbent: Who am I? He's called Horace Slughorn. He's a retired teacher of magic who's drawn back out of retirement because he's got some secrets they need in the battle against the Deatheaters and he's quite star struck as a teacher and he's drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students, and he's drawn back by Harry.
Question: Is he a comic character?
Broadbent: He is quite a comic character, yes. I haven't started yet. I've had endless costume fittings and makeup and ...
Question: What kind of costumes?
Broadbent: Tweedy sort of things with a bit of padding. He's an older man, I'm aging up again.
Jim also notes that filming on the sixth movie goes on until May 2008. Rehearsals began today with shooting due to commence soon.
Source:
Dark Horizons Update: Harry Potter producer David Heyman actually gave us heads up on this back in July. (sort of) 
Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the article where there's a transcript of our interview with him at the Los Angles Order of the Phoenix premiere!