It has been 20 years since the first Harry Potter movie came out, paving the way for a full series that changed a lot of kids’ childhoods. Members of the cast and crew got around together to talk about the series and how it changed their (and the audience’s) lives.
P.S. J.K. Rowling is in the special
If the special is something you want to take a look at for yourself, just a heads up that J.K. Rowling is indeed in the special, though briefly. Despite not being in any promotional material, she appears around the 8-minute mark to talk about the difficulty in casting Harry for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and then again towards the end, but all with prerecorded material.
Rowling has previously made some comments which have put her at odds with cast and fans alike, and aside from a few comments from the cast and crew and those two appearances, her presence is minimal.
Originally they used practical effects for the candles in the Great Hall, but that didn’t end well
To make the candles appear to be floating, they originally were suspended from the ceiling with clear fishing wire.
“One of my favourite moments on set ever was the moment when all the floating candles started burning through the ropes that tied them to the ceiling and just started falling around the Great Hall,” Radcliffe said.
Many cast members were fans of the books before getting chance to star in the movies
Books 1, 2 and 3 were already published before filming began for the first movie, so there was a fair amount of cast members who had already read the books.
Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) said her father used to read the books to her and her brother, and they were “obsessed” with them.
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Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas) and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) also spoke of how much they loved the books as children.
James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) also spoke of how much they loved reading the parts that included the Weasley twins: “We instantly related to Fred and George because there aren’t many twins in literature.”
Jason Isaacs originally didn’t want to play Lucius Malfoy
Isaacs originally auditioned for the role of Gilderoy Lockhart and didn’t want to play the Death Eater, he revealed.
Because he was already set to play Captain Hook in Peter Pan (2003), he didn’t want to be playing another children’s villain, but Columbus asked him to audition for the older Malfoy anyway.
“I’m convinced I ended up playing Lucius because I didn’t want to,” Isaacs said. “… I read through gritted teeth, I was deeply bitter. And of course, that was exactly what was necessary, and they asked me to play Lucius, and thank god they did.”
Getting the young cast to focus during the first movie proved to be challenging at times
Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid) said that director Christopher Columbus was great at working with children.
“He was terrific with them, he really was.” Coltrane said. “He used to go down on his knees to talk to them and huddle around so nobody could hear.”
Many members of the younger cast were amazed the director let them “just be kids” on the set.
“They probably made their jobs harder for themselves by letting us have as much fun as we had because it distracted us from the work we were supposed to be doing,” Daniel Radclidde (Harry Potter) said.
Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe were playing each other’s wingman off set
Watson and Radclife were reportedly helping each other text their crushes when they weren’t filming.
“The amount of prep and coaching Emma and I would give each other on texting the opposite sex,” Radcliffe reminisced. “Like if she was texting a boy or if I was texting a girl, I would be like ‘she sent me this many kisses back, what do I do? This is a nightmare’.”
Check out the Harry Potter reunion special on BINGE here.
