Where it all began…
It wouldn’t be Harry Potter without, well, Harry Potter… or Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger. And as we are taking a trip down memory lane, why not start at the beginning when Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson found out that they would get to play this iconic trio.
The softer side of Peeves
Peeves isn’t the type of Poltergeist to put people at ease. He specialises in making people uneasy, perhaps mildly amused or filled with the rage of a thousand Hungarian Horntails (if you happen to be Argus Filch). Luckily, the actor who was slated to play this impish character – comedy legend Rik Mayall no less – was far more welcoming and calmed a nervous James and Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins) at the first read-through…
“I can remember being pretty scared about the read-through, even though we only had about four or five lines to say,” says Oliver. “I didn’t really like reading in front of people at school, let alone a load of actors. But we had Rik Mayall sitting next to us. He was in the cast for the first film as Peeves [later cut from the movie], and I can remember that he totally took all the nerves away, just chatting and having a joke with us, and that really calmed me down.”
Someone has overdone it on the Cheering Charm
We’ve all been there, you’re supposed to be taking something seriously and you just can’t help but burst out laughing. It even happens to film stars! It certainly happened to Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe. The two of them could not get through the scene where they first meet on the Hogwarts Express without giggling. In the end, they had to film it separately with Chris Columbus standing in for each of them as the other filmed their lines. This wasn’t the only time when it appeared this pair had overdone it on a Cheering Charm – see for yourself…
Life imitates art
Gary Oldman is a powerhouse of an actor, so we understand why Daniel Radcliffe might have been nervous to work with such a talent. You know who else was intimidatingly cool? Gary’s character, Sirius Black. And in a lovely chain of events, life started to imitate art when (according to the director of Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuarón), Daniel Radcliffe’s relationship with Gary Oldman began to mirror Harry’s with Sirius.
“That was an amazing turning point in Daniel’s life as an actor,” Cuarón enthuses. “Very soon I could see Daniel alive, but in a different way. Suddenly there was an emotional core within him that was alive. At the beginning, he was so scared to do his scenes with Gary; he was so insecure. Daniel was thinking to himself, ‘I’m doing everything wrong; look at this guy.’ So I said to him, ‘Gary is also concerned about how he’s delivering his lines and how he’s listening to you. Just get into that.’ I could see from that point on, when I was prepping the shot or doing technical stuff with the camera, Gary and Daniel walking together in the distance and rehearsing the scene between the two of them. I think that was the point in which Daniel started approaching acting in a different way.”
Heroic deeds indeed…
This behind-the-scenes clip is supposedly about how to navigate the tricky moving staircase, but really we think it is about a lovely moment between our main three… and Daniel Radcliffe’s wit.
A friendly face
Being away from home is tough – especially the very first time. Emma Watson found herself in that exact situation, but luckily she had a few squishy friends to keep her company…
“Looking back, I have no idea how I did what I did,” Watson remembers. “We were on location for four or five weeks in Newcastle and I was away from home for the first time; I’d never been away from my family for that long. I brought my Beanie Babies and cuddly toys with me.”
The many faces of Lucius Malfoy
Lucius Malfoy is a foul Death Eater, cruel character and a terrible father. So, we think its lucky (especially for a young Tom Felton) that Jason Isaacs was not a method actor. Instead, he took young Tom under his wing and dazzled him with his amazing acting skills…
“I was a bit daunted when I heard that Jason was going to play my dad, but he’s the nicest guy you’d ever meet, and we just clicked. He is the consummate actor. Usually, most actors would give themselves a moment to get into character. But he’d be telling me a story right before a scene, and as he’s saying, ‘I was working with Scorsese on this film . . .’ we’d hear ‘Action!’ and boom, he turns straightaway into this insane person—literally Lucifer himself. It’s a crazy transformation, and he does it in a heartbeat, which, for me to watch, was great.”
Finding the perfect McGonagall
Professor McGonagall is a wonderfully complex character who knows exactly how to walk the line of strict but fair. And we couldn’t think of anyone who encapsulates that better than Dame Maggie Smith – and we’re not the only ones…
Weasleys stick together!
Imagine being cast in a series of films, only to find out you can’t stand those playing the rest of your family. An absolute nightmare, right? Luckily, this was not the case for the Weasleys. From the moment he met his onscreen mum (the wonderful Julie Walters), Oliver Phelps knew this was something special…
Meeting their new mother was also a memorable experience for the twins, remembers Oliver. “We were in King’s Cross station, and we were all standing next to the Hogwarts Express, just waiting to go on, and we heard this voice shout, ‘Where are my boys?!’ Julie comes up, and that’s when we met her, and I think that’s when we knew that we were all going to be a pretty good match for the Weasleys.”
The end of an era
All good things must come to an end but not before saying goodbye. Here’s the cast of the Harry Potter films saying theirs…
