Creating the World of Harry Potter: Part 1 – The Magic Begins (Behind-the-Scenes Documentary)
Dive into the start of a cinematic legend with Part 1 – The Magic Begins of the “Creating the World of Harry Potter” series. Discover how the casting search for Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint began, how the early set design of Hogwarts and the wizarding world took shape, and what decisions laid the foundation for all eight films. Rare footage, original interviews, and creative breakthroughs await behind every wand flick.
Harry Potter making-of, behind the scenes Harry Potter, Harry Potter documentary Part 1, Hogwarts – the beginning, casting Harry Potter film
#HarryPotter #BehindTheScenes #MakingOfHarryPotter #WizardingWorld
Thank you for supporting our channel
Dive into the start of a cinematic legend with Part 1 – The Magic Begins of the “Creating the World of Harry Potter” series. Discover how the casting search for Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint began, how the early set design of Hogwarts and the wizarding world took shape, and what decisions laid the foundation for all eight films. Rare footage, original interviews, and creative breakthroughs await behind every wand flick.
Harry Potter making-of, behind the scenes Harry Potter, Harry Potter documentary Part 1, Hogwarts – the beginning, casting Harry Potter film
#HarryPotter #BehindTheScenes #MakingOfHarryPotter #WizardingWorld
Thank you for supporting our channel
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:01When I read the first book, it hadn't yet been published...
00:00:04...and I had no idea that it would become this.
00:00:09The books were huge, and it was quite a daunting thing...
00:00:12...because, obviously, you want to get it right for everyone.
00:00:16I was willing to do anything. If they wanted me to sing and dance...
00:00:19...I would have tried that if it meant that I had the opportunity to direct the movie.
00:00:24In those days, I was just a kid who had no idea what she was doing.
00:00:30I was proud. I got a part. It wasn't like, I've got the part of Harry Potter.
00:00:33It was like, you know, I've got a part. I had no idea what I was getting into.
00:00:37Roll, please.
00:00:39Roll, like, speed.
00:00:41Creating the world of Harry Potter. Take one.
00:00:43Set and action!
00:00:47When you begin the process of making any film...
00:00:50...there are innumerable decisions that one has to make.
00:00:55Decisions about the script.
00:00:58Who your director is going to be. Who are going to play the parts.
00:01:02Who your cameraman and production designer is going to be.
00:01:05Who your costume designer and visual effects supervisor is going to be.
00:01:10All those decisions are absolutely pivotal...
00:01:13...to making the film that you as a producer...
00:01:16...and the director's director want to make.
00:01:19...and I feel we've been very lucky that at the very beginning...
00:01:23...that we made some pretty good decisions...
00:01:25...that have held us in good stead as the series has developed.
00:01:29The first day of filming was at the train station...
00:01:33...and I just remember being incredibly nervous.
00:01:36I didn't sleep the night before.
00:01:37That night I felt all of the intense pressure...
00:01:40...of what I was about to do.
00:01:42And I thought, if I fail...
00:01:44...everyone in the world will hate me forever.
00:01:47So it's not that much pressure.
00:01:49Do the sunglasses help with Panthers?
00:01:51Oh, probably.
00:01:52Yeah, I'm going to take them off at the last minute home.
00:01:54Excellent. That's good. That's a good idea.
00:01:55Keep it on at all times.
00:01:56Hi, Will.
00:01:57Hi, how are you doing?
00:01:58We filmed the last scene of the first film.
00:02:00The kids saying goodbye to Hagrid.
00:02:01It was incredibly exciting.
00:02:03I was like, oh my goodness, here we are.
00:02:05165, take one.
00:02:07A and B cameras, common mark.
00:02:09Set.
00:02:10And background action.
00:02:12Action!
00:02:13A lot of what happened on that first day was a blur...
00:02:15...but I remember getting to the set very, very early.
00:02:18Probably an hour and a half before I had to be there...
00:02:20...just so I could be more awake and more alert.
00:02:23I felt the earlier I got there the better chance I had...
00:02:26...of creating some sort of magic in the scene.
00:02:28And when I saw Dan that first day...
00:02:31...he was very nervous as well.
00:02:33It was slightly nerve-wracking.
00:02:35I was terrified...
00:02:37...mainly because that day there were loads and loads of extras.
00:02:41And it was the prospect of them all knowing who I was.
00:02:45Which was quite frightening. I'm trying to blend in.
00:02:47Where is he?
00:02:48The door.
00:02:49The door.
00:02:50The door.
00:02:51It was so long since you lost my mind, please.
00:02:53All right, once again, right away.
00:02:55I'd done a little bit of acting before...
00:02:57...and Emma and Rupert have done nothing.
00:02:59So I listen to him?
00:03:00Yeah.
00:03:01I walk in.
00:03:02Never stepped on a film set in my life.
00:03:04Never acted professionally before.
00:03:06And then you walk onto this enormous set with hundreds of crew.
00:03:09It's not easy.
00:03:10I thought it would be so much easier.
00:03:12I thought it would be, you know, sort of a couple of takes.
00:03:16That's good, Rupert.
00:03:17Okay.
00:03:18And background.
00:03:19I remember being quite nervous when I first seen.
00:03:21None of us had really that experience when we first started.
00:03:24And it was quite a scary world to come into.
00:03:27My first day, I was in Goatland on location at the train station.
00:03:31And I was really nervous.
00:03:34But it turned out it was quite cool.
00:03:37Come on, Dan.
00:03:38We all go to the other end of the platform.
00:03:40Dan.
00:03:41Dan.
00:03:42That first day, we were trying to get Dan's eyes to be green.
00:03:44Because that's what they are in the book.
00:03:45And Dan was wearing contact lenses.
00:03:47Thank you, Dan.
00:03:49But he was allergic to them.
00:03:51And ultimately, we made the decision to remove them.
00:03:53For the first day, we tried to work through it.
00:03:55So for the last scene, when he's saying goodbye to Hagrid,
00:03:59you can see that almost his eyes tearing and his eyes a little bit swollen.
00:04:04Thanks, Hagrid.
00:04:05And it feels like he's about to cry.
00:04:08He probably was.
00:04:09But he never complained.
00:04:11And we removed the contacts.
00:04:12And he's never had green eyes since.
00:04:14In the book, Hermione has buck teeth.
00:04:17And we were obsessed with making Emma more Hermione-like.
00:04:20So in the very first scene that we shot in the film, Emma is wearing fake teeth.
00:04:24It feels nice to be going in, doesn't it?
00:04:27But we realized after the first day of dailies that we could not do that
00:04:32for the entire course of the picture.
00:04:34And we were able to cut it in a way that you really can't tell.
00:04:38But they're there.
00:04:39If you look closely enough, she's wearing false teeth in that last scene...
00:04:41...to make her more Hermione-like.
00:04:43Come on, Harry.
00:04:44It's almost like we want to be down here over Hagrid.
00:04:47And so we're making more...
00:04:48...and over scary clips of the board to come over.
00:04:51On the first day of filming, it actually sunk in.
00:04:54That dumb, I'm playing Harry Potter.
00:04:56And I realized, okay, okay, this isn't a dream anymore.
00:05:01This is real life.
00:05:03Early on in the process, I felt that the picture needed to be purely British.
00:05:09And so the entire casting process began with thousands casting tapes we received.
00:05:15And then we met every potential child actor, any kid who had done a school play...
00:05:20...and wanted to be in Harry Potter, we met in England.
00:05:23I was about nine when I started auditioning.
00:05:26I was already a very big fan of the books.
00:05:29When this rumor started going around my school...
00:05:31...that there were these auditions for Harry Potter...
00:05:34...and they were coming to school.
00:05:35My school teacher, called Mr. Hancock, who's now left...
00:05:39...got, I think, a note, a letter...
00:05:42...saying if there's any kids in the school that you think could act in the Harry Potter film...
00:05:47...would you mind them auditioning?
00:05:49And then I had to go through a lot of auditions.
00:05:53When I was reading the books, I always felt quite a connection to Ron.
00:05:56I was watching, um, Newsround...
00:05:59...and they told us how you could audition for the Harry Potter film.
00:06:03And they said that you could send in a form and a photograph of yourself.
00:06:07So I did that and, um, sent it in there.
00:06:11And a month went by and still nothing, nothing happened.
00:06:17So I was on the Internet and found out this one boy sent in a video...
00:06:22...of himself reading out a little script from the book.
00:06:25So I put together this little video thing and sent that off...
00:06:29...and then I got on audition.
00:06:31It was quite strange, because, um, especially in, like, the canteen...
00:06:34...there was, like, 20 other ginger people...
00:06:38...that sort of looked quite similar to me.
00:06:40So it was quite, quite, quite, quite scary as well...
00:06:43...because I've never auditioned before. It was quite a new thing as well.
00:06:46We narrowed down each role to about...
00:06:49...four or five kids that we screen tested.
00:06:52So in terms of Emma Watson, she was phenomenal.
00:06:55The camera loved her.
00:06:57She had Hermione's sense of humor.
00:07:00She was sharp as a whip for an 11-year-old girl.
00:07:03We had a couple of screen tests where I had to learn lines.
00:07:07No, I don't say they were hard.
00:07:09No, they were quite enjoyable, actually.
00:07:11Seeing Emma Watson's screen test, we were all in agreement...
00:07:15...that Emma was Hermione.
00:07:17For Rupert, for Ron Weasley, same sort of situation happened.
00:07:22He immediately popped off the screen.
00:07:24Rupert is a very shy kid, but he had this devilish, mischievous quality...
00:07:30...and he had a face that I've never seen before.
00:07:32I mean, he was just unique.
00:07:34And his face was a wealth of all these emotions.
00:07:36He had a wonderful sense of humor, but also a real sense of soul.
00:07:39He really felt like he was one of the Weasley children.
00:07:42And we all fell in love with him for Ron Weasley.
00:07:45So we found our Ron and Hermione.
00:07:50But we were becoming increasingly nervous...
00:07:53...because we had a film called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...
00:07:56...and we didn't have Harry Potter.
00:07:58We began looking in November of 1999...
00:08:02...before we had a director.
00:08:04And it was quite scary, because here we were in July...
00:08:07...and we were shooting in September, and we didn't have Harry.
00:08:10There was a sense of pressure, because everybody was talking about it.
00:08:13The press was writing about who's gonna play Harry Potter.
00:08:16The studio was constantly on the phone with us.
00:08:18Have you found him yet? Have you found him yet?
00:08:19Our casting director was going crazy trying to find him.
00:08:24It was interminable.
00:08:25You know, looking and looking and looking and not finding.
00:08:28After we had looked at countless tapes and seen countless kids...
00:08:32...I remember popping in a tape of David Copperfield.
00:08:36And I saw Dan's scene, and I thought...
00:08:39...this kid really has the potential to be Harry Potter.
00:08:42But there was really a general reluctance from the parents.
00:08:45My mom and dad both went, No, that's far too much of an upheaval of his life.
00:08:49So, you know, we can't let that happen.
00:08:52And one night, I went to the theater with Steve Clovis.
00:08:55David Heyman was sat in the row in front of us...
00:08:58...at a production of a play called Stones in His Pockets.
00:09:00I looked up, and there was Alan Radcliffe, who was an agent at ICM, who I knew.
00:09:05And I said, Oh, how are you? Great.
00:09:07And then next to him was Marcia, his wife.
00:09:10And the boy at the end was his son, Daniel.
00:09:13So I went, sat down in the row in front...
00:09:16...and I paid very little attention to the play.
00:09:19I was always looking over my shoulder at the boy behind.
00:09:24And he just had this quality, which was an old soul in a young body.
00:09:29I noticed David Heyman turning around to me every so often.
00:09:32I was like, Who's that man?
00:09:34And then, in the interval, he came up.
00:09:38Him and Steve Clovis came up, and they introduced themselves.
00:09:41My dad just went, Okay, maybe...
00:09:43He saw it as a sign.
00:09:45Like, I don't believe in that kind of stuff particularly.
00:09:47But they took it as a sign that it was somehow meant to be.
00:09:51And so they let me audition.
00:09:53And action.
00:09:54That's a dragon egg.
00:09:55What is it?
00:09:56That's what that is.
00:09:57What is that?
00:09:58Dragon egg.
00:09:59I remember our audition.
00:10:00There was this whole scene about a dragon egg in the first film.
00:10:03I think Chris Columbus broke a real egg.
00:10:05Oh.
00:10:06Uh-oh.
00:10:07And made me laugh.
00:10:08Dan's screen test was amazingly charming and soulful.
00:10:12And he was inexperienced as an actor.
00:10:14But there was one thing that Dan had that you couldn't teach anyone...
00:10:17...which was this sort of haunted quality.
00:10:19If you heard your mom screaming like that...
00:10:21...you're just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget in a hurry.
00:10:24I just saw it in his eyes in more serious moments.
00:10:27And that was the moment, I think, that we all felt...
00:10:30...when we saw that screen test to hire Dan as Harry Potter.
00:10:33Excellent.
00:10:35Dad comes in and says, I've just spoken to David Heyman...
00:10:38...and you've got the part.
00:10:39And I cried, and I was in the bath.
00:10:43Why did you cry?
00:10:44No, I cried with happiness.
00:10:47So we ended up with our three, and I don't think we could have done better.
00:10:50The three of them together were just perfect.
00:10:52They really felt like the characters had jumped from the book.
00:10:56I checked this out first term for British Blight reading.
00:10:59This is life.
00:11:00Shut up.
00:11:01The first time I actually met Rupert and Emma...
00:11:03...I think we'd done a screen test together...
00:11:05...but I still didn't know who'd got the part.
00:11:07And then, when it was announced we got the part...
00:11:11...was the first time we met properly.
00:11:13This is Dan and Rupert on the day that they got the job.
00:11:17We bought all three of them here, and they came into my office.
00:11:21The last time we came in, I thought it was going to be another audition...
00:11:24...but they took us to the producers' office.
00:11:27David Heyman tried to make it...
00:11:28...tried to go into a great big paragraph...
00:11:31...and then Chris Columbus just came out with it...
00:11:33...and said that we want cast her as Ron and Hermione in the film.
00:11:38And I just stood there looking blank at them for about five minutes...
00:11:41...until it really sunk in.
00:11:43I was like, oh, my God, I just stood there.
00:11:47I thought, no, this is all a dream. Pinch me.
00:11:50It was just a complete shock, because it was just so unexpected.
00:11:53But, um, it was just such a cool day.
00:11:56Here's them being photographed on that first day.
00:11:59I remember very little about it.
00:12:01I remember that Terry O'Neill, I believe, was a photographer...
00:12:03...who took the first photos of us, and he continually referred to us...
00:12:06...as the ginger boy, the one with glasses, and the girl...
00:12:09...because, of course, nobody knew our names then.
00:12:12I look back on those photographs now, and I feel like that's a different person.
00:12:16I feel like I don't know that girl.
00:12:17It's really strange. So much, so much has happened since that day.
00:12:26Josh!
00:12:27When you're working with children, you have them for nine and a half hours a day...
00:12:30...three hours for education, and now for lunch, 15-minute breaks every hour.
00:12:36So, ultimately, you end up shooting scenes with children for around four hours a day.
00:12:41That's not very much.
00:12:43And, uh, it necessarily means that our schedule is longer.
00:12:46You know, the longest shoot I'd done was 11 weeks...
00:12:49...and suddenly we were on for 11 months.
00:12:51Set and action!
00:12:53I'll never forget just walking onto that set in kind of the middle of nowhere...
00:12:56...in northern England and just thinking, I've never been so nervous in all my life...
00:12:59...because, I mean, you've got the big steam train, you know, all the lights.
00:13:02Hundreds of extras. Hundreds of extras, hundreds of crew.
00:13:05So we kind of thought, I mean, just what every film's like...
00:13:07...where you've got thousands of crew...
00:13:09...or, you know, like most films last about six weeks, not nine months.
00:13:13This way, first years. Come on now.
00:13:15Hey, Hagrid.
00:13:17Whoa!
00:13:18I thought the kids all had acting experience...
00:13:20...because they seemed completely unfazed by...
00:13:22...I mean, walking onto a big film set is a scary thing...
00:13:26...if you're expected to do something when they shout, go now.
00:13:29As an adult, it doesn't get any less scary, really, the first day.
00:13:33They just seemed completely cool to it all.
00:13:35Did you say, hey, Hagrid, a little earlier?
00:13:37Let's do your press.
00:13:38As soon as he says, hey, Hagrid.
00:13:39Good boy.
00:13:40Good boy.
00:13:41Good boy.
00:13:42Good boy.
00:13:43A little higher on the lamp, Robbie.
00:13:46And action!
00:13:48Right now, first years, this way.
00:13:52Robbie Coltrane was Joe's idea...
00:13:55...because we wanted somebody to play Hagrid...
00:13:57...who we knew could be tough and dangerous...
00:14:00...but at the same time was warm and vulnerable and very funny.
00:14:05And Robbie is all those things.
00:14:08Right then, follow me!
00:14:10There was just no question of not doing it.
00:14:12You knew it was, as long as they were true to the book...
00:14:15...it was going to be wonderful.
00:14:17Live shooting.
00:14:19Okay, roll sound.
00:14:21Great!
00:14:22Okay, class, listen to me.
00:14:23Welcome to your first flying lesson.
00:14:25I want you to raise your hand over the broom.
00:14:27For the flying lesson, I remember saying...
00:14:29...action, and half of the kids started performing.
00:14:32Okay, got it.
00:14:33The other half of the kids are staring into space.
00:14:35We had to stop, and I said, you know, action means we start shooting.
00:14:39And I thought to myself, oh, my.
00:14:43This is the beginning of a very long shoot.
00:14:46So, Peter, this is...
00:14:47...everybody's moving on action.
00:14:48Okay.
00:14:49Rupert, go to your left.
00:14:51Other left.
00:14:53I don't think any of the kids will disagree with me...
00:14:55...when I say that they were extremely inexperienced...
00:14:58...in terms of being on a film set and doing film acting.
00:15:01We had to cast a lot of children for Harry Potter 1.
00:15:04And Chris and David were just as meticulous casting for students...
00:15:08...as the other roles.
00:15:09But actually, one of the great things was...
00:15:11...when we were auditioning, especially the children...
00:15:13...you didn't have to explain any of the characters...
00:15:15...because they knew them better than I did.
00:15:17I was just such a fan of the story.
00:15:19I wanted to dress up like a wizard, and I wanted to go to Hogwarts.
00:15:22And I knew the best way to do that would be to get a part in the film.
00:15:25And it was nothing to do with my career at the time.
00:15:28It was just a little boy wanting to be in Harry Potter.
00:15:31When I first started, we shot a scene where Neville's broomstick takes off.
00:15:35I'd read it in the script, but I don't know.
00:15:38I had no idea what to expect.
00:15:40You know, I'd never done anything like that in my life.
00:15:42Hold on. Let's start at the beginning.
00:15:43Still rolling. Switch your hands.
00:15:44Matt, great.
00:15:45Remember to look to your right. Look down.
00:15:47Be really scared and hover.
00:15:48To come and have stunt department put you in a harness...
00:15:51...and strap you to a broomstick...
00:15:53...and then you're flying around on this roller coaster type thing.
00:15:55Cut.
00:15:56And they call it work. It was brilliant.
00:15:58All right, shooting the plane.
00:16:00Nice.
00:16:01Please stay back.
00:16:03I remember the first time when we went on location.
00:16:05I think it was to Annie.
00:16:06And we were awful. That's really what I've got to think.
00:16:09I mean, we were messing around all the time.
00:16:13You should imagine having a massive group of 11-year-old kids...
00:16:16...just running about, trying to keep them controlled...
00:16:18...and just feel bad for all the people.
00:16:20They're trying to make a film, and we thought we were on a holiday camp.
00:16:23We were having a great time.
00:16:25All right, checking in.
00:16:27My great lament is that we don't really do many locations anymore.
00:16:31There's a great deal more locations in Harry Potter 1 and Harry Potter 2...
00:16:35...than there is in 4, 5, 6 and 7.
00:16:38That's because, in the beginning, the time we were given...
00:16:41...we couldn't possibly build all this.
00:16:44The first person hired was Stuart Craig...
00:16:47...because this world had to be created.
00:16:50Honestly, your first reaction is fear.
00:16:53I thought, oh, my God, how can I possibly do this, really?
00:16:59Starting with Stuart Craig was one of the best decisions that we made on those pictures.
00:17:03And Stuart's just a genius.
00:17:05He really has brought Hogwarts and Joe's universe to life.
00:17:10It is his creation.
00:17:11When we first began this whole series of films, Harry Potter 1...
00:17:14...we met Joe Reiling and had loads of questions, masses of questions to ask.
00:17:22And this was, in fact, her layout drawn at a hotel dining table of Hogwarts.
00:17:28All the major ingredients, the dark forest you see there, the castle...
00:17:31...the Quidditch pitch, the Black Lake, Hogsmeade.
00:17:34Everything is on there, the complete world.
00:17:36Without a little hand-drawn map, I would never have got to grips with it...
00:17:41...in the way that we did.
00:17:43It was the most terrific gift.
00:17:45Boom!
00:17:46Goes up, up, and then back down.
00:17:49Back over here.
00:17:51You're going too far up that way.
00:17:53Okay, cut.
00:17:54Everyone working on the film was committed to finding a way...
00:17:58...to make the material not only cinematic...
00:18:00...but also a magical, faithful retelling of the first book.
00:18:04Hand out, Dan. Freeze in that position.
00:18:08Sean, same with you. Don't move. And action!
00:18:11David Heyman was a wonderful collaborator...
00:18:13...and very passionate about the film.
00:18:15I think that's why David and I got along so well.
00:18:17There was nothing else in our minds except making a great film.
00:18:21Chris was incredibly good to me.
00:18:24I think he respected my passion for the material.
00:18:26He respected the fact that I was there before anybody.
00:18:28He respected that Joe and I had a very good relationship.
00:18:31But there were many people in his position...
00:18:34...who would have cast me aside.
00:18:36At that time, I was a young producer...
00:18:38...and what the director said went.
00:18:40But Chris wasn't having any of that.
00:18:42Not only to keep me around, but he was very supportive.
00:18:44And I learned an awful lot from him.
00:18:47David and I had the same vision for the films.
00:18:50And that vision being that the first film...
00:18:53...was more of this wonderful, sort of rich version of Hogwarts...
00:18:57...this storybook world that we were creating.
00:18:59Then, as we got into Chamber of Secrets...
00:19:01...the facade starts to chip away a little bit...
00:19:03...and we got darker with each film.
00:19:05That question of, what is this world? What does it look like?
00:19:09You always start with the novel.
00:19:11Because J.K. Rowling talks about the great antiquity of the world...
00:19:15...I immediately thought, where would you go on location?
00:19:17What exists from that era?
00:19:19Well, there were bits of Oxford and bits of Cambridge, some of those colleges...
00:19:23...and also the great Gothic European cathedrals.
00:19:27We were able to go to various churches and universities...
00:19:31...throughout England and create the whole world.
00:19:34The creating of the castle carried with it this inherent problem...
00:19:39...of mixing real locations with bits that we had designed.
00:19:43Given that, real locations are often disappointing.
00:19:48They're full of bits that don't quite fit the story that you're trying to tell.
00:19:53So it's the blending of these two worlds.
00:19:56And I found that very difficult.
00:19:59And I think in some respects I have to say we failed.
00:20:03And I'm thinking specifically of the exterior of Hogwarts.
00:20:07When it was all put together...
00:20:09...it didn't amount to a really successful, iconic silhouette...
00:20:15...which is you want it to work on this kind of simple level.
00:20:19What has happened since then on all the subsequent movies...
00:20:22...we have slowly improved the silhouette of those things.
00:20:26We've taken away some of the real locations.
00:20:29Anik was a featured part in One is Less.
00:20:32So Stewart has reshaped and rebuilt Hogwarts...
00:20:35...as the films have developed to become more to his liking, I think.
00:20:40Rupert, hold your head up. Dan, eyes a little wider.
00:20:43He's gone. Look to them.
00:20:44Yeah.
00:20:45But this is important. This is about the sorcerers.
00:20:46Okay.
00:20:47Head up. Eyes wider.
00:20:49She just told you he's gone.
00:20:51Action.
00:20:52He's gone.
00:20:53But this is important.
00:20:55Yeah.
00:20:56Poor.
00:20:59In the early days, I had to find a way wrangling these kids...
00:21:04...to deliver some sort of performance...
00:21:06...because they couldn't have been any greener.
00:21:11It's a lot harder than everyone thinks.
00:21:13And there are 50 billion, trillion, million things going on at the same time...
00:21:17...that you have to think about, like hitting your marks...
00:21:20...getting your line right at the right time...
00:21:22...making sure you step into the light so that the face doesn't shadow you.
00:21:26All that kind of stuff.
00:21:27He's gone?
00:21:28Now?
00:21:29But this is important.
00:21:30This is about the philosopher's stone.
00:21:33Okay. Still rolling. Hold your head up.
00:21:35When you find out that he's gone, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen...
00:21:38...because that means you're dead.
00:21:40In the first movie, I always laughed and said, we should put a camera on Chris...
00:21:44...because what the kids' performance really was...
00:21:46...was a reflection of what he was doing and what he was bringing out.
00:21:49Stronger, and he's gone.
00:21:51But this is important. Set, and end.
00:21:54Should we go from he's gone?
00:21:55Yeah, and end.
00:21:56He's gone? But this is important. This is about the sorcerer's stone.
00:22:02Don't take a pause with me. This is about the sorcerer's stone.
00:22:04Okay. Yeah.
00:22:05Eyes wide, strong.
00:22:07Ah!
00:22:08He's gone?
00:22:09Chris was so wonderful with them. He often had to chin up, Dan.
00:22:14Head up, Dan. Head up, look higher.
00:22:16Rupert, stop smiling.
00:22:17No, don't smile.
00:22:18Emma, look this way.
00:22:19You guys should look at each other after he's gone. Okay?
00:22:22Okay.
00:22:23Somebody said that the difference between children and children on a set...
00:22:26...is that children on a set actually do do what you tell them to do.
00:22:29That was no stranger Hagrid met in the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy.
00:22:37And with Dumbledore gone.
00:22:39Good afternoon.
00:22:40Alan Rickman was so fantastic. I was freaked.
00:22:43You want to be careful. People will think you're up to something.
00:22:52I was constantly having to remind myself that it was, it's only a film, it's only a film, it's only a film, it's only a film, nothing's real.
00:22:58But it was terrifying.
00:23:04It is great.
00:23:05Alan Rickman, to me, was always Snape because Jo Rowling showed me some early drawings.
00:23:10She'd done this sketch of Snape and looked just like Alan Rickman.
00:23:14He was a little reluctant because he has done this particular type of villain in the past, so he didn't want to be typecast as this villain.
00:23:21So David and I took Alan to dinner to convince him he had to play the role.
00:23:25And I remember the car ride through London with David driving with Alan sitting in the front seat and me sitting in the back.
00:23:31And David almost got in a car accident.
00:23:33And I remember saying, David, don't kill us before Alan says no.
00:23:37You know, because we just expected him to say no, but for some reason, two days later, he came back and said yes.
00:23:43I don't think I had much choice in the matter.
00:23:45Lots of godchildren and nephews and nieces were not only excited, I think insistent.
00:23:52He knows how to get past Fluffy.
00:23:55And with Dumbledore gone.
00:23:56Good afternoon.
00:23:57When you see this movie, you're not going to see all of these huge mechanics in the months of editing.
00:24:03You're just going to watch a close-up on two little boys and a little girl's face at the center of the story.
00:24:09And unless that reads, the film won't work.
00:24:12Dan, remember to announce it. Keep your head up.
00:24:15Rupert, don't smile. And Emma, don't put your head out forward. Action!
00:24:19A problem in the early days, and the problem all the kids had, was this sense of total delight at being there,
00:24:25so they could never stop smiling, even if it was a serious scene.
00:24:28And action!
00:24:29Me and Dan both had this giggling problem.
00:24:32And I remember Alan Rickman, the first one, told me to relax my face and just not think of anything.
00:24:37Sorry.
00:24:41Cut!
00:24:42Sorry.
00:24:43Didn't really work, to be honest.
00:24:45But, yeah, he tried.
00:24:47Take ten. A camera.
00:24:49B camera.
00:24:50C camera.
00:24:52Set.
00:24:53Set. And action!
00:24:55In the early days, you might do ten takes.
00:24:57You might be lucky to get the one you really wanted once.
00:25:00What?
00:25:01What did I do?
00:25:02Then, they might have to go off to school, and you may not get it again.
00:25:06So, we had, we, definitely, we would run three and four cameras.
00:25:09Hey, camera.
00:25:10Okay, guys?
00:25:11I don't want you to see the camera.
00:25:13You know she's coming, okay?
00:25:15You reading?
00:25:16I started.
00:25:17Dan, you reading?
00:25:18Yeah.
00:25:19It's important for me to always have a camera on one of them, in case one of them was coming down off of a chocolate rush,
00:25:25or they lost their energy, or they were getting tired, or they were looking into the camera.
00:25:28God knows, there were a million things going on.
00:25:30And, guys, you're interested, Rupert, you shouldn't be laughing at the end when you find out that Dan's gonna potentially be killed by...
00:25:36Dan's just...
00:25:37And the key was, for cinematographer John Seal, was shooting multiple cameras, because I never knew when the kids were going to deliver the performance that I needed.
00:25:47That's the sorcerer's stone.
00:25:49Okay.
00:25:50Gosh, you're laughing.
00:25:51So, if you look at the first film, you see it's very cutty.
00:25:55In other words, we cut to a close-up of a kid, and then I cut away to someone else.
00:26:00We were incapable of getting an entire scene in context.
00:26:03So, John's philosophy of shooting three cameras basically helped me to obtain a performance here and a performance here, unlike any other way we should shoot a movie.
00:26:11It's almost documentary style, and John really knew how to do that.
00:26:15And I had always admired his work, and this was a really golden opportunity for me to work with him.
00:26:20And action!
00:26:21The overall look of the film that Chris and I talked about was retaining a magic of Hogwarts, and then, of course, the adventures within it.
00:26:29We wanted the drama that is written into the books.
00:26:32We didn't want to lose that.
00:26:33We didn't want to make it too sort of glossy and open.
00:26:36So, it was a very delicate balance between making it a reality film and a magical film.
00:26:42And I hope we've done it.
00:26:44We made it!
00:26:46All right, guys, I want everyone to focus on Professor McGonagall and listen to everything she said.
00:26:53What we needed from McGonagall was someone that you were intimidated by, but someone who had a real sense of warmth and heart.
00:26:59And that's exactly who Maggie is.
00:27:02And I thought, this is perfect for McGonagall.
00:27:04And move, Maggie.
00:27:05You meet her in the beginning of the film.
00:27:07She's in the scene where they're walking up the stairs, and she was intimidating.
00:27:10I mean, she was intimidating to the crew because she's so smart.
00:27:12She's so brilliant.
00:27:13And the kids could sense that.
00:27:15But that was good.
00:27:16At that point, she was the disciplinarian.
00:27:18Everybody's looking at her in awe of her.
00:27:21I have to say, a lot of good ideas came from Dame Maggie from our first fitting.
00:27:26She wanted to be Scottish.
00:27:28Her name is Scottish.
00:27:30So, the whole idea of making her witch's hat more like a Scottish tam, that was actually her idea.
00:27:37She had some great ideas.
00:27:39I tried to keep all the kids really classically, British boarding school.
00:27:47Funnily enough, J.K. Rowling said that the kids did not wear uniforms.
00:27:51So, we ended up testing Daniel in regular clothes with a wizard gown and uniforms.
00:27:58And everybody went for the uniforms because graphically it was much prettier.
00:28:02Kevin, take a little, tiny step to your right.
00:28:06Good.
00:28:07Excellent.
00:28:08Good.
00:28:09Hey, Jane, can you see me?
00:28:10Um, no.
00:28:12I'm here, I swear.
00:28:13Okay, there you go.
00:28:14Okay.
00:28:15I was really going for less of a contemporary look.
00:28:18I, I, because I, I always wanted the film to have some, some sort of timeless quality.
00:28:21So, their wardrobe, I remember their wardrobe test dressing them as these adorable little
00:28:25English school children and they just, they looked amazing.
00:28:28Shannon, have a hand.
00:28:30Everybody set with her.
00:28:31Focus.
00:28:32And, action!
00:28:35It's true then.
00:28:37The same in the train.
00:28:39Harry Potter has come to court.
00:28:41Tom was probably out of everyone in those early days the most experienced actor.
00:28:46This is Crab Boyle.
00:28:48And I'm Mel.
00:28:49I'd done a few films before and a few TV things and I was purely up there because my agent had said,
00:28:54You should, you should go.
00:28:55Did you read the books to start with?
00:28:57I had no idea what it was, no.
00:28:59No idea.
00:29:00I was, went for an audition for it and everyone was talking about it.
00:29:04I remember one of the first things they asked at the interview is,
00:29:06What is your favorite scene in the book?
00:29:08And there was a row of us, about seven of us, and of course I hadn't read it.
00:29:11So I just, the guy next to me said, Oh, Gringotts, I love the trolls.
00:29:14So I just said, Yeah.
00:29:15Same as this guy.
00:29:16Yeah, I love the trolls.
00:29:17They're brilliant.
00:29:18And straight away, Chris, sort of straight through that.
00:29:21And I'm pretty sure that gave him a little internal laugh.
00:29:24So that could have helped.
00:29:25I don't know.
00:29:26At one point when we were trying to find who was gonna play Harry Potter,
00:29:29I thought Tom was so good.
00:29:31Let me put some makeup on him and put a scar on him and a black wig and see if he could do Harry Potter.
00:29:36So we tested Tom as Harry Potter in that succession of screen tests.
00:29:40But we realized after the screen test, we felt it was better for Draco Malfoy.
00:29:44Out of the whole book, I'd rather be Malfoy than anyone else,
00:29:47because I get to be a baddie.
00:29:49Rehearsal.
00:29:55Back again, Harry.
00:29:56My first scene with Taras, he came on and he introduced himself.
00:30:02That was quite scary at first,
00:30:04because there were quite a lot of people who've worked with him before.
00:30:07And you've heard things.
00:30:09And you're like,
00:30:10Oh, okay.
00:30:11Okay.
00:30:12But when he gets on set, you're like,
00:30:14Okay.
00:30:15Um, okay.
00:30:16You're quite frightening.
00:30:17Yeah.
00:30:18I'm gonna go over here.
00:30:22I do not need a cloak to become invisible, Harry.
00:30:26When it came time to cast Dumbledore, we needed a father figure who had a sense of mischief and had a twinkle in his eye.
00:30:36So we thought Richard would be a perfect Dumbledore.
00:30:39Let me give you a clue.
00:30:40And Richard, by the way, is my godfather.
00:30:43My father used to be his agent.
00:30:45He was his best friend.
00:30:46So Richard was a very significant part of my life growing up.
00:30:50And he was a true eccentric, a real character, a larger-than-life character.
00:30:56And that was what you wanted Dumbledore to be.
00:30:59Most desperate desires of the heart. Well done, Richard.
00:31:06I remember Dave and I going to dinner with Richard.
00:31:09And he was reluctant to play the role.
00:31:12I must admit that it took me months to say yes to it.
00:31:15I wasn't necessarily very keen on doing it.
00:31:18What really sold it was not me.
00:31:20I wish I could claim such power.
00:31:23But no, it wasn't me.
00:31:24It was the fact that his granddaughter, Ella, read the book.
00:31:28My granddaughter called me and said, Papa, she said,
00:31:31If you don't play Dumbledore, I will never speak to you again.
00:31:36And they say, OK, I'll do it. I'll do it.
00:31:38She's wrapped up in it.
00:31:40You know, and I love the book. I love the script.
00:31:42It's beautifully written and beautiful, beautiful dialogue in it.
00:31:46I see that you, like many before you,
00:31:48have discovered the delights of the mirror of Erised.
00:31:52In hiring a writer, we wanted somebody who could capture the spirit
00:31:56of Joe's writing, and so I sent the book out to a few writers.
00:32:01But I had around, I can't remember, seven first editions
00:32:05of Harry Potter and the Flosser's Stone,
00:32:07which I sent out to many writers who passed on it.
00:32:11Each one of those books is worth like $25,000 now,
00:32:13so the screen rate actually didn't do the book,
00:32:16ended up getting paid anyway.
00:32:17We hired Steve Clovis, who at the time, I suppose,
00:32:20was an unusual choice in as much as he had never written
00:32:23any family adventures, as it were.
00:32:26But he was a writer who I loved,
00:32:29and who was brilliant at adaptation.
00:32:34Writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
00:32:36is probably the most challenging thing I've ever done,
00:32:38because people are so familiar with the book
00:32:40and feel so connected to it
00:32:44that you don't want them to feel cheated in any way.
00:32:48Joe Rowling, Steve Clovis, David Heyman, and myself
00:32:51worked on that script together a lot.
00:32:53We sat and went through the script page by page by page,
00:32:58and slowly the film that Chris ultimately made
00:33:03began to take shape.
00:33:05Joe Rowling's probably been my greatest asset,
00:33:07because from the beginning,
00:33:10she was extremely supportive and understanding
00:33:13of what I was dealing with.
00:33:15And, you know, over the course of about a year and a half,
00:33:19we've emailed each other back and forth.
00:33:21She's made herself available.
00:33:23I've been extremely generous with her time
00:33:25in answering my questions.
00:33:27You know, she's driven me crazy at times,
00:33:29because since this is a series of books,
00:33:31you know, a familiar refrain became, you know,
00:33:34I can't tell you that, because that's gonna happen in book seven.
00:33:37But she would tell me when I was on the right path.
00:33:39I think when we were making the first film,
00:33:41she had showed us in manuscript form the fourth book.
00:33:46And she just, you know, she gave it...
00:33:48I know she gave it to Steve, and Steve then took it on the plane,
00:33:51and he realized, oh, my goodness,
00:33:53here I am carrying this...
00:33:55Wow! I think he was really nervous.
00:33:59Here's Steve on the first, uh, at the Montreux Hotel,
00:34:03looking much younger than he does now.
00:34:05And that's Chris on the phone back there.
00:34:07And that was the first...
00:34:09Yeah, that was the first, uh...
00:34:11God, Steve does look younger.
00:34:13I'm gonna show him this later on today.
00:34:15We're still working on the script for Harry Seven Part Two.
00:34:18I'm going to the line for me and those guys in the top row, okay?
00:34:22And Mr. Harry Potter has his key.
00:34:26In the first film, I particularly remember the scene where Dan has to come up
00:34:30wanting access to his vault,
00:34:32and Chris wanted Dan to kind of look shocked.
00:34:35Dan, when you first walk in, you kind of...
00:34:37That thing really scares you when you first enter frame.
00:34:39Set and action!
00:34:41But Dan really was not fazed by anything.
00:34:44So Chris said to me, on the next take, when you lean over, make him jump.
00:34:48Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you!
00:34:52Does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?
00:34:55Okay, cut.
00:34:56It did not have the desired effect at all.
00:34:58He just burst out laughing.
00:35:02Hey, I told you, one of the other.
00:35:04Okay, thank you.
00:35:05Day 27, it all fell apart.
00:35:07All right.
00:35:08Well, we tried.
00:35:09I was made to look very different as the bank teller.
00:35:12Big ears, the nose, the spectacles, the teeth, the contact lenses.
00:35:16So as that character, there was nothing of Warwick left.
00:35:19And Nick Dudman and the makeup effects department took care of that.
00:35:22The challenge on the Potter films at the beginning was very definitely the goblins.
00:35:27The trouble with something like goblins, most of the designs you look at have been done.
00:35:32And if you say, no, it's got to look new, you find the avenues you're going down get narrower and narrower and narrower.
00:35:38So in the end, we decided the most important thing was character.
00:35:43Make each of these an interesting character and goblinize that character.
00:35:48So that there isn't a set look for goblins any more than there's a set look for human beings.
00:35:54We then decided we would do all the pieces in silicon, but it was a bit of a gamble.
00:35:59Silicon at that point was still pretty iffy and there were a lot of questions about it chemically that I wasn't totally convinced by at that point.
00:36:07Now it's very much a production line, very straightforward and lovely.
00:36:11But this was one of the first occasions where we were using it.
00:36:13There were moments where we were going, Why isn't this setting? Why isn't this working?
00:36:17But we cracked it and we learned a lot.
00:36:20I was very pleased with the way the goblins worked out...
00:36:22...because the way they were shot, the way the sequence was done...
00:36:25...was very complimentary to the work.
00:36:28Oh, Hagrid. What exactly are these things?
00:36:33Okay. So he says his line, you throw them in the cupboard, lock the door...
00:36:37...and then you go down to that block of bars.
00:36:39There's no such thing as magic to the bars, then you close them.
00:36:42Chris Columbus was very interested in the idea of the misery of Harry's situation.
00:36:54There's no such thing as magic!
00:36:57The cupboard under the stairs seemed all the more desperate...
00:37:01...if he was in a huge urban sprawl.
00:37:04And the best and most graphic way to illustrate that huge urban sprawl...
00:37:09...was identical modern houses.
00:37:12Bird! Bird!
00:37:14Privet Drive had to feel like this mean, awful place.
00:37:18And so we intentionally looked for the place...
00:37:21...that felt like it would kill any creativity or originality...
00:37:24...that anyone would ever have to live there.
00:37:27We shot for a while on that real location...
00:37:30...and that really was difficult shooting with owls flying around...
00:37:33...and it would rapidly prove to be a fairly disastrous way to achieve that scene.
00:37:39We didn't finish on the location. We came here to the studio.
00:37:42We rebuilt those houses here, exactly reproduced them.
00:37:46I think now there are five houses on either side of the street...
00:37:49...but it's extended in a matte painting, limitlessly, you know, to the horizon.
00:37:54And that really was Chris's request...
00:37:57...that it be that big and that sprawling.
00:38:00And that set that we built then has been standing for all seven movies.
00:38:06Privet Drive was fun to do.
00:38:08I remember we did spend some time looking for the ugliest sofas...
00:38:12...the worst tiles for the kitchen...
00:38:15...and lots of nasty pictures on the walls...
00:38:17...and lots of certificates of Dudley's achievements...
00:38:22...like swimming a quarter of a width in the swimming pool, I think.
00:38:27I remember they asked when I got the part...
00:38:30...if I could give my baby photos in.
00:38:33And I came in, I was seeing my whole history in front of me.
00:38:37Like, my first bike...
00:38:39...and there was all these baby pictures everywhere of me...
00:38:41...in this tacky house.
00:38:43You will drag him in by the ear...
00:38:45...and as you're being dragged in, you're saying your line.
00:38:48Do you know your line?
00:38:50You're not even listening.
00:38:51You're thinking about whoopee questions again.
00:38:53The oddest thing early on was trying to perform with the owls...
00:38:57...because the owls are not actors.
00:38:59There were some shots where I had to look at an owl...
00:39:01...and the owl had to look at me.
00:39:03And the owls kept looking at the cameras...
00:39:05...because the camera was coming around...
00:39:07...and so the owl thought the camera was very, very interesting.
00:39:09It was much more interesting than the camera than looking at me.
00:39:11So, in the end, we hung dead mice from my apron...
00:39:15...so the owls absolutely looked at me.
00:39:18That's been...
00:39:19...you should never be on any cameras.
00:39:21It was a very, very interesting start, actually.
00:39:23You realise how surreal the very action of playing it was.
00:39:26That was the first time I'd worked with Fiona.
00:39:32Although now we're like an old married couple now, you know.
00:39:34We're very familiar with each other, it's funny.
00:39:36Dan, eyes wide, head up really loud this time...
00:39:38...on I want my letter.
00:39:39And also pound the glass with the palm of your hand.
00:39:41Set and action.
00:39:43Dan!
00:39:44Say, don't burn my letter!
00:39:47Oh, his eyes are right.
00:39:48Hey Chris, just tell them to remind the kids...
00:39:49...I need a huge reaction this time from the ceiling.
00:39:50I need to see it on their faces.
00:39:51...over than your fans away.
00:39:56I want to see it on their faces.
00:39:57Come on, sit with me and you can go in...
00:39:59...over than your sights on that blow...
00:40:00...and comments...
00:40:01...and I want to see it on my меш.
00:40:03Just tell them to remind the kids I need a huge reaction this time on the ceiling.
00:40:07I need to see another face.
00:40:09Come on, I'm too amazed as you go in.
00:40:12I'm going to talk like doors.
00:40:16I remember walking into this great hall the first time...
00:40:19...and just not believing it. It was just so amazing.
00:40:22It's a magic place to be.
00:40:26Early on in the process, there was talk about us...
00:40:30...actually shooting the great hall in a location.
00:40:33Christchurch College in Oxford have a great hall.
00:40:38It was the inspiration for this one, but it wouldn't have made a good set.
00:40:43So we decided to build the great hall.
00:40:46I found out we were doing it in the studio.
00:40:48I thought, how are they going to create something so vast?
00:40:50Will it be as big as it should be?
00:40:52There was a lot of talk about the size of the great hall.
00:40:55I seem to remember that Joe Rowling wrote about 900 kids...
00:41:00...gathering there for lunch and dinner.
00:41:02...and we realized that that was impossible to do.
00:41:05So we whittled it down to a place...
00:41:07...that would probably hold about 400, 500 kids.
00:41:10And that felt large enough.
00:41:12I'll say, one, two, three, and action. The food appears.
00:41:16Set, one, two, three, action!
00:41:19I think what's good about it is that even though it's a source of so much magic...
00:41:27...it's firmly, firmly rooted in reality.
00:41:30...and I think that makes the magic all the stronger...
00:41:33...when it unexpectedly grows out of something that is seemingly so real.
00:41:38I mean, most sets are kind of literally all polystyrene and fake wood and everything...
00:41:43...but a lot of the stuff that's in the great hall is real stone, real wood.
00:41:49We built a lot of fire into the great hall, so it just had this sense of warmth and magic.
00:41:53E.N.F. comes.
00:41:57However, the floating candlesticks were a bit of a problem...
00:42:00...because we decided to do them practically...
00:42:02...as opposed to creating them in a CGI environment.
00:42:05So we placed hundreds of floating candles above tables with tiny strings...
00:42:11...and all of those candles had to be lit before each take...
00:42:14...and all of them were on a sort of a pulley system...
00:42:16...where they moved up and down so they felt like they were floating.
00:42:18It's not real, the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky.
00:42:23I read about it in Hogwarts. A history.
00:42:26When we did the shot where we craned down through all of these floating candles...
00:42:30...you couldn't see the strings.
00:42:32Everyone in the screening room applauded that day.
00:42:34It was just stunning, stunning work from John Steele.
00:42:37It was incredible. It was amazing. Like, no acting required.
00:42:41Come on, guys. This one will be the last thing, no matter what happens.
00:42:45Focus. Big, big reaction.
00:42:49That's almost like that for you guys, yeah.
00:42:51Quiet, please. Be ready. Thank you.
00:42:54The only problem when you've got loads of people is you find that the breaks aren't as much...
00:42:58...because they've got to move so many people out and so many people back in again.
00:43:02Welcome, where are you?
00:43:04Hello.
00:43:07I'm tremendously kind of amazed by the level of commitment and control that the kids have put.
00:43:11I would never have imagined just from going to school to drop my daughter off...
00:43:14...that you could get together that many kids without chaos breaking out.
00:43:18And yet they all seem very dedicated to what they're doing, very focused, very clear...
00:43:22...and they take direction amazingly well. And there's 300 kids in the room.
00:43:25Hold on. Everybody pause.
00:43:27Dan, take a little step back.
00:43:30Rupert, take a little step.
00:43:31You guys okay focus-wise?
00:43:33Chris was in the Great Hall with about 350 children.
00:43:37And if one came up and talked to him, he would automatically just sit down...
00:43:42...as though he'd known them all his life.
00:43:44All right, roll, Sarah.
00:43:46Here it is.
00:43:49Okay, relax. Relax. Okay?
00:43:51I don't know how he does it.
00:43:53If I was here, when I had 100 kids running around, I'd just flip.
00:43:57But he's kept his cool all the way down, and he's been really nice to everyone.
00:44:00I'm scared. You're really terrified.
00:44:03He has helped us through the whole entire film.
00:44:06I've learned so much.
00:44:08I feel like I've learned so much through the acting experience.
00:44:12Got it?
00:44:13Chris had this tremendous enthusiasm...
00:44:16...which is what was very much needed on those first two films...
00:44:18...because, you know, if we came on to the first two films...
00:44:21...and the director had been horrible...
00:44:22...I don't think any of us ever would have acted again.
00:44:25And cut.
00:44:27When we began the process of finding our director...
00:44:30...we spoke to several really fine directors.
00:44:33Even Steven Spielberg expressed interest.
00:44:36And that was, you know, for me, quite remarkable.
00:44:38But ultimately, he had other projects that he'd been working on for a while...
00:44:42...and he decided to work on them.
00:44:45When I read the book, it was just at the beginning of the phenomena.
00:44:49And I called my agent and I said, you know, I think I would really like to make a movie of this material.
00:44:55I really, really responded to it.
00:44:57I saw the movie in my head when I read the first book.
00:44:59And I saw the world.
00:45:01And my agent said, well, you're going to have to get in line.
00:45:03There are about 50 other directors who also want to make this into a movie.
00:45:08And I was completely sort of stunned...
00:45:12...because I hadn't been following it that closely.
00:45:14And then she sent me a list of the people who were, you know, in contention.
00:45:19And I thought, there is no way, shape or form I'm going to get this job.
00:45:23Rob Reiner was on the list. Steven Spielberg was on the list.
00:45:26Everyone was on the list.
00:45:28And she said, Warner Brothers is willing to have an interview with you.
00:45:31Chris arrived at the meeting with a script.
00:45:36He himself had taken two weeks on his own, writing on spec, a draft of the script.
00:45:44And he'd really thought through how he wanted to approach it.
00:45:52I think at that moment, they probably realized that I was very, very serious about making a great film out of this material.
00:46:03We met a lot of people, and ultimately, it came down to studio comfort...
00:46:10...and also the person who had the most passion for the material.
00:46:15And it was Chris Columbus who emerged as the favorite and got the job.
00:46:21I got a call from one of the executives who said, you're our guy, we're going to go with you.
00:46:26So it was an amazing moment. It was an amazing moment because I remember walking into the kitchen of my house and telling my wife, I got the job.
00:46:33I got the potter gig. We're moving to London.
00:46:35This is Chris with Dan and his head covered and with Chris' young daughter.
00:46:40The amazing thing about Chris, one of the amazing things about Chris, Chris, during the pre-production period, his family lives in San Francisco.
00:46:47And he would fly every Friday to San Francisco and come back for Monday morning, because he thought it was important for him to spend the weekend with his kids.
00:47:03Pretty impressive, as far as I'm concerned.
00:47:06And this is what it made him look like.
00:47:14What's the door?
00:47:15Go. Go, guys. All together. All together.
00:47:17Go, go, go, go, go. Come back, come back, come back, come back.
00:47:19My favorite set is the chess set, which is amazing.
00:47:22This is so cool to walk on, man.
00:47:24Yeah.
00:47:25It's so great when it's lit up.
00:47:26Set. And there's the door.
00:47:27Probably my favorite example of Stuart Craig's production design was the gigantic chess set.
00:47:33I just love the attention to detail and the look of those pieces.
00:47:39I mean, they looked as if they were made out of real stone.
00:47:42I wanted to take all of them back home from my office in San Francisco, because they're just stunning.
00:47:47Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are particularly good at chess.
00:47:54Just tell us what to do.
00:47:55Okay, good.
00:47:56Yeah, you loser.
00:47:57All right, try one more time.
00:47:58It was also one of my favorite scenes in the book and the film because Ron actually sacrifices himself.
00:48:05Just tell us what to do.
00:48:07All right, then.
00:48:08Harry, you take the empty Bishop Square and Hermione, you'll be the queenside horse.
00:48:16And as for me, I'll be a knight.
00:48:19That's Ron's kind of moment, and it's the first time he really takes charge, and he gets to ride this great big horse.
00:48:26That was really exciting, because I got to sit on the horse. I remember really enjoying that.
00:48:30Actually, the coolest thing about it was when the pieces got smashed, because they actually exploded.
00:48:39I think we've actually still got a broken piece of the, I think it was the horse. So that was cool.
00:48:44That was certainly one of my favorite scenes to shoot in the picture, because it was just beautifully designed by Stuart Craig and beautifully lit by John Seale.
00:48:57Once I make my move, the queen will take me. Then you're free to check the king.
00:49:05Rupert was so strong in that moment.
00:49:08Harry, you take the empty Bishop Square.
00:49:11We shot that as we were getting closer to the end of the picture.
00:49:14And at that time, the kids were really starting to come into their own as actors...
00:49:18...and the kids delivered just wonderful performances there.
00:49:22Just tell us what to do then.
00:49:25Rehearsing and action!
00:49:29I still need a wand.
00:49:33A wand? Well, you want hollifanders. There ain't no place better.
00:49:37We all felt that Diagon Alley should look like the Dickensian world, so that was a bit of a challenge...
00:49:42...because you think, is there anywhere in London where we can actually shoot Diagon Alley?
00:49:46Well, the reality is that world that we think still exists somewhere, there's very few places that look like that.
00:49:52And if they do look like that, there's always a phone shop or something modern or a grocery store...
00:49:57...that really, that you can fix, but you can't really recreate it completely.
00:50:02So we realized we'd have to build it, and Stuart built it in a way that had a sense of forced perspective about it.
00:50:09So it appears to go on forever.
00:50:11As you can see, the street ends in a green screen.
00:50:13So in the book, your impression is of a much longer, much more complicated street.
00:50:19For the scenes that we have to shoot, this is sufficient.
00:50:24It's a great challenge in the detail, and as you can see, there aren't any vertical lines in it whatsoever.
00:50:31Getting it just right so it looked like a Dickensian street, I think that was the hardest challenge.
00:50:37I had an absolutely obsessive assistant on the first film, one who was deeply into Harry Potter...
00:50:43...and she masterminded Diagon Alley with everything catalogued...
00:50:47...and we took all the names from the book and just sort of expanded them.
00:50:52Oh, Jenny, do you want to do the upstairs bit as well?
00:50:55One of the things you don't really see in the movie, each shop had a shopkeeper that looked like they matched their shops.
00:51:01So there was a wizard apothecary, there was a wizard candy maker...
00:51:05...and when you saw these characters all dressed up in the first day of Diagon Alley...
00:51:09...with Stuart's set and all the props and the set dressing...
00:51:13...everybody had big smiles on their faces that day.
00:51:16Joe, good view here. Yep. Right there. Excellent.
00:51:21It was a very, very magical place to shoot.
00:51:24You're scared of taking that wand. I want to see some real fear. Set and action.
00:51:28I think Ollivander's Wand Shop has a nice feeling about it, has a nice character.
00:51:33I think it's dense and detailed and I think John Hurt's appearance on that moving ladder...
00:51:39...was a good, simple idea. Hello?
00:51:45He comes, just sort of arrives on a trolley...
00:51:47...up with the bookshelves and a certain top of the screen...
00:51:50...and it was a sensational shot. No actor could ask for a much better entrance.
00:51:57I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter.
00:52:01Jackie Rowling came down to Diagon Alley, filming that, to have a look at all the sets...
00:52:08...and she's really nice.
00:52:10When she came to visit Diagon Alley...
00:52:13...I was told that she literally had a sort of tear in her eye...
00:52:16...because she couldn't believe how it was what she had in her imagination.
00:52:22He's so clever.
00:52:25If I use the beginning of one shot and the end of another...
00:52:27Set and action.
00:52:29If you took a million people and J.K. Rowling was one of them...
00:52:33...then she'd probably be the only one out of those people to think up Quidditch...
00:52:37...but, and when I read it, I'm like, oh, that is so cool.
00:52:40I would like all of that.
00:52:44He's beginning to take one and the end to take four. It's okay.
00:52:46Quidditch was a challenge because I was being introduced to a new sport...
00:52:50...so I really wanted to fundamentally understand how Quidditch works.
00:52:54There's a lot of hours spent with Joe Rowling...
00:52:56...understanding the rules, writing down the rules.
00:52:59I have notebooks filled with Quidditch rules.
00:53:01And the other challenge was making those rules...
00:53:04...accessible and understandable for an audience as well.
00:53:08And then the visual demands of making Quidditch real...
00:53:11...were very difficult because of the time constraint we were under...
00:53:15...and because the sets where some of the visual effects needed to take place...
00:53:19...couldn't be built in time.
00:53:20Some of those sequences were pushed toward the end of our schedule.
00:53:23And as we were doing them, we realized that we would have far less time...
00:53:27...in post-production to create visual effects that we would all be happy with.
00:53:30This was a very unusual film. I think we shot for about nine months.
00:53:34So even though they'd finish the main unit shooting, the Quidditch match was a completely separate unit...
00:53:39...that was filming pretty much right up until the end.
00:53:42We were sort of behind the eight ball because we didn't start shooting until June...
00:53:45...and it had to be finished in October.
00:53:47So what we did was to make a cartoon animation of the entire Quidditch match...
00:53:52...prior to actually photographing, and then we'd go in and say, okay, now we're photographing this shot...
00:53:56...that fits into this hole exactly.
00:53:58So the hard part, the daunting part, is actually creating a scene and have it cut...
00:54:03...before you actually start shooting it.
00:54:05And we've never done it before.
00:54:07Now it's fairly easy to even preview it and pre-visit and do all the stuff we did, but back then it wasn't.
00:54:13I have to say, that was one of the scenes in the film I love seeing, but one of the scenes that I know...
00:54:21...if I could go back and do it again, I would love to go back and do it again because I would do it...
00:54:26...I would spend so much more time, I would give myself more time to do the visual effects the way they should be done.
00:54:32Gryffindor wins!
00:54:34It's rare to shoot a film in sequence, and that can cause problems, you know...
00:54:40...especially with young kids who grow up rather quickly.
00:54:43And if you're really alert, you can see the difference in Daniel Radcliffe.
00:54:47He looks a little older in this scene to that scene.
00:54:49And, of course, what was making it worse is that Daniel's voice was getting deeper and deeper each day.
00:54:53We're not allowed to do magic away from Hogwarts.
00:54:56I'm Harry, Harry Potter.
00:54:57The pressure really was a combination of post-production and pre-production on Chamber of Secrets...
00:55:02...overlapping those two things, because Harry Potter is all about beating the clock to a certain level...
00:55:07...because you didn't want to wait another year to start Chamber of Secrets...
00:55:11...because the kids age so quickly that they'd be too old for their roles in that particular book.
00:55:16So the challenge was really devoting enough of my time to pre-production...
00:55:20...and still being able to edit a version of the first film that we were all happy with...
00:55:26...that was under three and a half hours, you know.
00:55:29Orchestra, look at seven, please.
00:55:32If you need to stop it soon, I'm with the wind.
00:55:35The hardest part about a post-production of a movie of this scale...
00:55:38...is that there are constantly changes happening while you're in post-production...
00:55:42...while the sound crew are already working on the sound.
00:55:44Change it to one of our, please, violins for...
00:55:48...tell me how long. Certainly for 41 or 2.
00:55:51It's a constantly changing relationship between sound, music...
00:55:55...and visuals. And very often, the best results we only can anticipate...
00:56:01...when we get all three elements together and we can see and hear it.
00:56:048, 10, 4, take 3, 7, 1.
00:56:10John will always take an early and longer version of the cut to work on...
00:56:14...and he'll just record to the longer version.
00:56:16I remember one occasion we saw the cue played back...
00:56:22...of this long version of the arrival at Hogwarts.
00:56:25And Chris just turned to me and said,
00:56:27...you've got to go and put that back to that long version.
00:56:29Because we'd shortened it because we thought it was too slow.
00:56:32But once we saw it with the music, it was brilliant.
00:56:34What's beautiful about what John does is he creates these moments...
00:56:48...it might be six or seven notes that you remember forever.
00:56:51And those first moments of the Harry Potter score...
00:56:57...which are still being played in the trailer to this day.
00:57:01It's just you know exactly where you are, you know exactly what you're listening to.
00:57:05So I feel very privileged to have had that John Williams experience.
00:57:08It's been a special joy for me, particularly in the musical sense...
00:57:14...that I can go perform with symphony orchestras.
00:57:17It seems like anywhere in the world we play material from Harry Potter...
00:57:20...and people relate to it.
00:57:26Good luck, Harry Potter.
00:57:29I was of the mindset that under the time constraints...
00:57:32...I had delivered the best picture I could at the time...
00:57:35...and I was anxiously awaiting.
00:57:37I wasn't worried about the box office as much because I knew...
00:57:40...it being Harry Potter, people were gonna show up.
00:57:42The question was, were people gonna like it?
00:57:45And that pressure was significant because I knew if I failed...
00:57:50...if my vision for the film failed, if the look of the picture failed...
00:57:54...if the casting failed, all of those things that I was responsible for...
00:57:57...if I was wrong about any of them, the franchise was dead.
00:58:02So what are you most looking forward to about the film coming out?
00:58:06Um, the premiere, the glamorous part.
00:58:15The first premiere was pretty crazy.
00:58:17It was the first time I ever had to really dress up for anything like that...
00:58:19...or be kind of glamorous, so I was kind of really, really crazy feather boa.
00:58:25It was really strange, but I loved it.
00:58:29It was fun and it was the beginning of everything.
00:58:34Two, one!
00:58:36The premiere was just incredible.
00:58:40It was just a really exciting, exciting time.
00:58:46You can pick a Sunday North Star for me.
00:58:48It's in the front, Matt.
00:58:50The premiere was a huge, huge moment for them.
00:58:53I remember sitting in the balcony and the place just erupted into applause...
00:58:59...a standing ovation, which was fantastic.
00:59:01I can't lie, it was fantastic.
00:59:03So it was just a very emotional moment and we released Potter that Friday...
00:59:08...and the following Monday we were shooting Chamber of Secrets...
00:59:11...so there was really no time for celebration or even enjoyment.
00:59:14We saw that the film was gonna be a big hit...
00:59:17...and then on Monday we went right back to work on the second one.
00:59:20I don't think we really did have time to take it in.
00:59:22We knew it had been successful...
00:59:24...because every so often somebody would come in and say...
00:59:26...this is a record we've just broken, but we were kids...
00:59:29...so we just kind of, oh, cool, brilliant, that's really cool, you know, great.
00:59:32We didn't know really what it meant.
00:59:34Yeah, it's bizarre, but looking back, it's seriously cool.
00:59:39As it's been in my career, I had critics...
00:59:43...who loved the film, critics who were mediocre about the film...
00:59:47...and it's an interesting element because it goes hand in hand with me...
00:59:52...and I now accept it for what it is.
00:59:54But I saw this incredible four-star review from Roger Ebert...
00:59:59...and it just changed my life because he'd always been a little reluctant...
01:00:03...to really go there with some of my films and he absolutely loved this film.
01:00:07And I felt, well, that's good. That really made me feel good.
01:00:11I knew it was gonna be a good film, but on the scale it's been the success...
01:00:16...just never anticipated that.
01:00:19It's easy to write history looking backwards, isn't it?
01:00:21I mean, I could sit here now and say, yeah, I knew. I didn't have a clue. I loved it.
01:00:27Ultimately, that's all you can really do is pursue those things that you love.
01:00:33Nobody else, I maintain, could have started this series off in the way that Chris did.
01:00:40Because, you know, before you let people like Alfonso come in and shake things up...
01:00:46...you have to have somebody who gives you a solid basis...
01:00:49...in the foundations of these characters and the locations and the sets.
01:00:53...and that's what Chris did brilliantly.
01:00:57I feel like a proud father when I see how wonderful these kids are...
01:01:01...in terms of being people and how great they are as actors.
01:01:05There are times when I wish I was there.
01:01:07It would just be wonderful to be able to have another Potter moment...
01:01:11...because that was an intensely magical experience.
01:01:16On every film, there's always going to be aspects where I go, I wish.
01:01:19That being said, there are an awful lot of things in that first film...
01:01:23...where I go, wow, Chris and Stuart created this whole world...
01:01:28...and Chris cast these kids and these adults, and he helped set us off on our way.
01:01:34And we wouldn't be sitting here, I don't think, if it wasn't for Chris.
01:01:46.
01:01:51.
01:01:57.
01:02:06.
01:02:10.
Comments