10 interesting facts about “Harry Potter”, left behind the scenes and the book

“Harry Potter” was the very book that forced to read even those children who, in principle, could not stand this boring activity. (Well, then – where to go? – they had to read all its continuations). The British JK Rowling managed to create such a real (but magical!) World that not only millions of children, but also an entire army of adults soon became his fans. And so “Potteriana” was filmed quite quickly.

I remember that readers among the most ardent fans of the “boy with a scar” were seriously afraid that the magical story would be distorted in its film version? Thank God, their fears turned out to be in vain, and the on-screen Potter “increased” the number of fans of the franchise to a truly huge number.

Naturally, when writing her famous books, Rowling left something (for the time being) a secret, and some storylines were originally supposed to be not quite the same as we know them.

The writer now willingly talks about all this in various interviews. And the actors who starred in 8 films about the school of young wizards and the secret world of magicians often share with journalists interesting cases that happened in the process. Here are some interesting facts about Harry Potter that were left behind the scenes and the book.

10 Daniel Radcliffe could be Draco Malfoy

Try now to imagine someone other than the blond Tom Felton as the spoiled and arrogant “hereditary magician” Draco Malfoy. What goes wrong? Oh yeah! Felton really “fit” in this role perfectly.

But in fact, this character initially really wanted to play (you won’t guess) – ta-da! – Daniel Radcliffe. The boy took the tests so seriously that he even did somersaults.

But, much to his dismay, He was not approved for the role of Draco.. And even then Daniel went to audition for the role of Harry Potter. And in the end he became the very “boy who survived”, in whose place it is now also impossible to imagine any other actor.

By the way, during the audition, Daniel had a vague idea of ​​​​the plot, because I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books..

9. A chic view of Hogwarts castle is just a mockup

Already after the release of the first film, the audience, delighted with the beautiful views of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, tried to find out where this magnificent castle actually is. In other words: where do you need to go to see with your own eyes the place where the best movie about young magicians was filmed?

And so: no such lock! Not in the UK, not in Ireland, not anywhere else. Because Hogwarts is just a model created by the hands of talented artists. Yes, huge, occupying a large room, but still a layout.

By the way, it was created using real stones, flowers and other natural materials.

8. Hermione’s romantic twists and turns

Despite the fact that there are actually a lot of girls in the Potter books and films, their main character (including the romantic one), of course, is Hermione Granger. Yes, she is too “correct” and diligent, for this big-eyed young sorceress, the main thing in life is studying (by the way, all fans are aware that JK Rowling wrote the character of Hermione from herself in her youth). What kind of boys are there? Exercise comes first!

And yet, the audience was waiting, with whom did Hermione finally start a romantic relationship? The main role of her future boyfriend, of course, was most often appointed in absentia by Harry.

Rowling herself admitted in an interview that such a turn was the most expected. And what was the surprise of the fans of clever Hermione when she in the end, she chose not Harry Potter, but the red-haired Ron Weasley!

And in fact, Ron (by temperament) suits her much more – they balance each other perfectly. Harry is too similar to Hermione herself – the same serious and thoughtful.

By the way, JK Rowling also told that Draco Malfoy, defiantly despising Hermione and calling her a “Mudblood”, was actually just trying to hide his secret love for her in this way. He is, after all, a Malfoy!

7. Only Brits could play in the film about the young wizard

When JK Rowling was offered to film her books, she immediately set the strictest condition: These films will only be played by Brits, because both Harry Potter and all his friends (and enemies) come from Britain.

Thus, she screened out in advance many well-known actors who could take part in the creation of the film version of “Potteriana”.

Naturally, in the fourth film (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”), an exception was made to this rule, because there, according to the plot, delegations from many other (foreign) schools of magic come to Hogwarts.

So the beautiful Frenchwoman Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour), Serb Predrag Belac (Igor Karkarov), Bulgarian Stanislav Yanevsky (Victor Krum) and others got into the film. By the way, Poesy and Yanevsky at that time were no longer teenagers.

6. Essay about the main characters

Once the director of the third film about young wizards (“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) Alfonso Cuaron decided to make sure once again that the leading actors correctly understand the nature of their characters. And he gave Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint the task of writing essays about their characters.

The result is pleasing: Emma wrote 16 pages (in the best tradition of Hermione), Dan limited himself to one piece of paper, and Rupert did not do the work at all.

5. The meaning of the name Voldemort

Literally translated from French, Voldemort means “escape from death.” Death is what the most evil magician feared the most (that’s why he tried by any means to gain immortality).

And by the way, the letter “t” at the end is not pronounced (according to the rules of French phonetics). Although … All the same, everyone pronounces it.

And one more interesting point: Initially, Voldemort wanted to make bright red eyes – of course, for a greater intimidating effect.

But Ralph Fiennes convinced the directors that he could play the Dark Lord so strongly and reliably that the audience would believe even without special effects. And he kept his word.

4. About magic wands

Potter fans know that Vol de Mort’s wand is made from yew. And this is not a random choice, because the yew tree, according to ancient beliefs, has great power and embodies death and rebirth (that is, everything that the Dark Lord wanted to achieve).

In fact, all the wands that were in the hands of the performers of various roles in Harry Potter are unique. None of them repeats the other – there were no identical ones in principle (even among the twins Fred and George Weasley).

Only one Daniel Radcliffe for the entire time of filming in 8 films used 70 (!) different magic wands.

3. How did they try to change the appearance of the actors

The familiar to all of us characters from the film version of the Potteriana could initially look a little different. When preparations were underway for the filming of the first part of the film, the make-up artists tried to slightly “correct” their appearance for the leading roles.

So, for example, Daniel Radcliffe was asked to wear green lenses (after all, Harry Potter, according to the book, has green eyes). But Dan developed an allergy almost immediately, and I had to give up lenses..

And Emma Watson was put on false teeth (again, in the “book” Hermione they were a little sticking out, “hare”). But since, because of this, Emma could not speak normally (she got a funny “whispering” diction), then got rid of the teeth.

But poor Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) was less fortunate – he not only made big incisors, but also protruded ears.

Another actor who had to be “customized” to the original image is Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley (Harry Potter’s stupid and fat cousin). The fact is that Melling suddenly lost a lot of weight just before the filming of The Deathly Hallows, and he had to be dressed in a “fat” suit.

2. “Actors” who played the owl Harry Potter

After the release of the first Harry Potter, white snowy owls became terribly popular throughout the Western world (including as pets).

In fact, in the role of Buckley – Harry’s owl – as many as seven birds were filmed: Gizmo, Wook, Sprout, Casper, Swoops, Oh-Oh and Elmo. Each was trained for at least 3 months. And by the way, they are all males.

The fact is that female snowy owls are larger (and they have more black spots on their wings). The young and then still very “compact” Dan Radcliffe, of course, was more comfortable working with a small and light bird.

Most of the scenes in the first and second parts of the film were shot by Gizmo, while his other “colleagues” were used in long shots and for lighting checks. Buckley’s death, according to JK Rowling, marked the end of Harry Potter’s childhood.

1. Interesting Cases with the Sorting Hat

The Magical Sorting Hat usually calls out the name of the house as soon as it touches the head of a first year student. But, as we remember, in the case of Harry, Hermione, and also with Neville Longbottom, she “thought” a little longer. But this is far from a record!

Rowling sometimes mentions that twice in the history of Hogwarts, the hat could not decide which “verdict” to give for more than 5 minutes. For the first time this happened with the future professor Minerva McGonagall (then the hat chose between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor), and the second time with Peter Pettigrew (Slytherin or Gryffindor), who betrayed his friends at Hogwarts.