Behind The Wand - Birthday's, Harry Potter tattoo's & DM Slides

We are back with the third BONUS episode answering YOUR great questions. 

This week we will be talking about 

• Birthday's on set
• Plot lines from the book I wish had been included in the films
• Would I get a Harry Potter tattoo
• Getting guests onto the show
• Sliding into DMs

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Hi everybody, and welcome to thethird bonus episode of Behind the Wand I'm
so pleased everyone's enjoying these episodes becauseI'm really really enjoying making them. And
again this week we have had loadsof really good questions. As always,
I'm podcasting from well, not aweird place, but my dressing my dressing

(00:36):
table again, and my son isasleep next door in his room. But
that's why I probably might be speakinga little bit quietly. But now that
I've got my brand new mic,that shouldn't be a problem. But if
I sound like I'm speaking a littlebit hushed, that's why. Also the
mic is a really making me feellike I'm an ASMR artist. I don't

(01:03):
know if anybody watches ASMR. Ido, and I think it's just like
speaking in this hush tone and havingthe microphone is making me feel like I'm
doing ASMR, which like maybe Ishould do Harry Potter ASMR, where I
like read the book or say spellsor something. I don't think anyone would
listen to that, and my voiceis not really cut out for that soothing

(01:27):
ASMR tone, but the mic isgiving me massive ASMR vibes. So this
week again, We've got five questions, five great questions, and I am
just going to get right into it. So somebody asked what was my fondest
memory with cast and Crewe, whichwasn't on set and filming, And like

(01:51):
I said before, I have somany good memories, and I always say,
like Scotland. The time in Scotlandreally stands out for me as like
a great time. But another thingthat stands out to me is birthdays.
And I think especially because it's justbeen my birthday, and I always remember
Emma's birthday was like four days aftermine. But they always made such a

(02:12):
big deal about our birthdays and wewere truly truly spoilt. So I remember
like during the first film, Ihad this like cake maid that was an
owl, and they got like thethe Green Gots goblins to come and like
give it to surprise me and thecanteen and give it to me, and
all the kids were there and wesung Happy Birthday, and yeah, like

(02:34):
I can't actually really remember we didon the second one as well, but
the third film, I know itwas obviously like my thirteenth birthday, so
I had a card signed by everybodyand they gave me like a feather boa
and there was decorations everywhere and cardsand presents, and they just always really
went above and beyond for birthdays.And that was with all the kids,
like we celebrated everybody's birthday and thecrew really birthdays were really big. I

(03:00):
remember for like one of Dan's birthdays, they took pictures of like everyone holding
like individually holding a sign saying likehappy birthday Dan, and they like photographed
everyone and then put that in sohe has like a scrap book of like
all the cast and crew holding alittle sign saying happy birthday. Dan.
Can't remember what birthday that was for, I'm guessing like fourteenth birthday maybe,

(03:23):
but yeah, that was really cool. So I always have fond memories of
that. And literally on my podcast, I spoke to Michael Sarasin, who
was the cinematographer on the third film, and he said even for his birthday,
they surprised him on set with acake. And I feel like maybe
for like the Harry stunt double stuntdouble Toga, they sort of like came

(03:43):
down from the ceiling with a cakefor him. So it was always a
big deal and I've always got goodmemories of birthdays because they never flew under
the radar. They were always abig deal. Next question. Okay,
so this one I thought was reallycool plot from the book that didn't make
the film, or like a storylineor a scene or something that was in
the books that didn't make the film. And I kind of got to the

(04:08):
first one is Hermione storyline with thehouse elves and trying to free them from
the kitchen work, and I kindof feel like, not so much for
Hermione, but I'd just like tohave seen more of the house elves other
than that creature and Dobby. Iknow there was Winky, and I believe

(04:30):
when I spoke to Rob Bliss,who was a concept artist, he did
say he did the concept art forWinky, but obviously the character never materialized
because that storyline doesn't ever really materialize. So I think, not so much
for Hermione to be the savior savingall these house elves, but I think
just to see a more just moreof the house elves and just more of

(04:51):
the different characters behind the house elves. Be obviously Dobby so different to creatures,
so different to Winky. It wouldhave been nice to introduce that,
So I kind of would have likedto see that storyline. And then a
sort of scene rather than a storylinethat I would have loved to see is
when Harry gives his winnings. Soin the fourth book, when you win

(05:15):
the trivers of competition, you geta thousand gallons, I believe, so
obviously, when Harry wins, hegets a thousand gallions and he gives that
to Fred and George, and thatis how they start their joke shop.
And I kind of wish they'd keptthat scene in of him telling them that
he was giving them their money,and that money. I feel like that

(05:38):
would have been a really cute moment. And I feel like Harry's relationship with
the Weasleys is so lovely that itwould have just added to that sort of
him being like an honorary member oftheir family. And I actually did google
how much a thousand gallions was,just for context and just google k.
I don't know if this is trueor not. Google came up with it.

(05:59):
The fact it came up with thata thousand gallions is equal to twenty
five thousand dollars, which is aroundtwenty thousand pounds. Yeah, So those
are two things I would have likedto see. Next question, and this
is actually from my friend Leah.She asked me about a Harry Potter tattoo
and would I get a Harry Pottertattoo? And I actually would. I
have actually got tattoos, so itwouldn't be so far far out there for

(06:24):
me to get one. And Ifeel like Harry Potter has such a big
place, such a has played sucha big part in my life and has
such a big part of my heart, that I would get a tattoo because
I don't think I would regret it. It's not something I'm going to go
off or is suddenly not going tohave been such a big part of my
life and shaped quite a big partof my childhood. So I definitely would

(06:46):
get a tattoo. I've just honestlynever thought about it. So then I
did start thinking what would I getif I did? And at first I
thought, oh, maybe a littlelightning bolt could be cute, But then
I feel like a lightning bolt isquite generic, that doesn't definitely scream Harry
Potter. I think quite a fewpeople have lightning bolts. So then I
was thinking maybe Hermione's time turner.Would that be cool? I don't know,

(07:12):
but I'm going to look into it. If you have any ideas or
suggestions, send them to me.I'm open to getting a tattoo and then
I can I'll instagram at live viewlBut yeah, what do you think would
be cool? I know my mumlistens to these episodes, and I know
she's going to be texting me rightnow saying do not get a tattoo.
But I kind of think it couldbe cool, So this summer I might

(07:34):
do it. Let me know whatyou think I should get. And my
initial thought is Hermione's timeturner only small. I'm not going to get a full
sleeve or something, but something reallysmall, fine line would be super cute.
So send me your ideas and I'lldefinitely I'm going to get one.
I think that'll be really fun.Right, And then somebody asked me also

(07:58):
about getting guests on the podcast,so I was just gonna talk a little
bit about that. So every guesswe've got on the podcast is somebody I've
reached out to my self, andat the beginning, I just reached out
to people I saw of knew,which was like Nick Dudman, Sarah McKenna,

(08:28):
I think those were the first twothat I actually booked in, and
then I was cold emailed John Seal'sagent, and then just from those three
interviews that then snowballed into like JohnSeal intro introduced me to like Richard Francis,
Richard Francis Bruce the editor, andto Duncan Henderson, and then they

(08:54):
would introduce me to somebody else.He'd introduce me to somebody else, and
it kind of snowboard like that,And that's how I have kind of managed
to get guests, which has beenreally really lucky that people have been or
have enjoyed being on the podcast enoughto say they would be happy to put
me in contact with other people.That's always really really lovely because I think

(09:18):
if you had an absolutely terrible experience, then you would definitely not be up
for else because you wouldn't want toinflict that pain on them. So I
always take it as a compliment whenpeople intro me to somebody else. But
there are a few people who I'vejust literally emailed agents or gone about it

(09:43):
that way. So yeah, that'skind of how I get how I get
the guests, the guests on andI'm really lucky I've never really had a
no. I think I've had oneor two too that I can think of
that I'm not going to say whothey are because I don't want them to

(10:03):
feel bad. But the main thingthat comes down to is people just being
a bit shy and feeling a bittoo nervous to be on a podcast.
I guess I don't know. Yeah, I guess it's quite hard. Some
people just don't really like talking aboutthemselves, or they feel like they can't

(10:24):
remember enough from twenty years ago.So will their stories be interesting? I
always say, like, you willone hundred percent be interesting and encourage people.
But yeah, I think two peoplehave turned it down just because they've
been too embarrassed or not too embarrassed, but too shy to be on the
podcast. Then I also got askedabout getting sort of Dan Ruper and Emma

(10:48):
on the podcast, which is reallyinteresting, and I do actually get this
quite a lot of people saying,oh, do you think you'll get them
on? And it's not at allthat I don't want to obviously, I
know it would probably be a reallygreat episode. But I think when I
first thought about doing the podcast,the initial idea was that we would that

(11:11):
I would try and find. Okay, let me go back a step.
So the initial idea for the podcast, actually it wasn't even mine. It
was a friend of mine, Chris. I always name check him because he
deserves credit for the whole being likethe original person to say I should do
this, and all of this hasgrown from him telling me to do this.

(11:31):
But he sort of likes film,and whenever I'd talk about my time
at Harry Potter, I'd say,that's really interesting. And I don't think
people know that much about that,or if they do, they just don't
know the ins and outs. Andobviously it's quite a unique situation to be
like a child on a film setworking with adults, and then also just
working with like incredibly talented people whoare like huge names in their field.

(11:52):
Like all that sort of thing hesaid was really was really interesting. So
the initial idea was to get incontact with people that I'm not saying I've
never been interviewed and you've never heardfrom, but not the most well known
interviewed people, and just get theirstories that aren't necessarily out there. And
I always love that about the podcast, that I speak to people that sometimes

(12:16):
I think I know quite a lotabout their job, or I worked quite
closely with them, and I willalways hear a story or more than one
story that I've had absolutely no ideaabout a whole area of the film industry
that I just had no concept ofor didn't really fully understand, and or
you know, just they've got amazingstories of little things that happened behind,

(12:39):
you know, behind the scenes,like talking about Nick Dudman, just as
I was talking about him a minuteago, you know, like his anecdote
about when the Obamas came to visitthe set and you know, the security
that had to come and do asweep of the studios the day before to
check it was all safe for themto come. Like those That's a story,

(13:00):
sorry, I've never heard of before. I didn't even actually know that
the Obamas came to visit Harry Potter, which actually this isn't a question,
but it does lead me on tonicely that when I was speaking to my
mum, she actually had reminded meabout all the famous people that had actually
come to visit the set whilst wewere filming, you know, like the

(13:20):
Obamas, like Kylie Minogue, likePeter Jackson. I think Lindsay Lohan came.
I can't remember it was a famousauthor. She said that came too,
just to see what was going on. Just because it was such a
huge franchise, people were just interestedin obviously new people, people who work

(13:41):
on films, new people who workon films. Oh, the woman from
Texas was really good friends with what'sher name, Charlene. I'm googling it
now, guys, sorry, staywith me of Texas Charlene's PETTERI yes,
she was really really good friends withAlan Rickman and she came to the set

(14:01):
and then she left a Texas albumin everyone's dressing room that was like really
really cool. So yeah, loadsof famous people came to visit, and
yeah, So that's just like anexample of one anecdotes that I got told
that I had no idea about.But those are in all the episodes,
stuff that I just had no ideaabout. And then I just think that

(14:24):
like Dan Rupert and Emma, Ijust don't know. The reason I sort
of initially didn't contact them was becausethere are so many interviews with them and
so much stuff that I didn't know, And obviously I think they are probably
could be a little bit more guardedwith their stories and what they want to
say and what they want to talkabout that I don't know if they would
be an episode where we would findout loads of stuff that we hadn't heard

(14:48):
before from their experience because they've doneso many interviews and spoken to so many
people. So that was why initiallyI didn't approach cast. I think actually
the only cast member I've ever doneis Chris Rankin, who I absolutely adore
and has now actually become a friend, and I really really love him and

(15:11):
his partner ness. They're just fantastic, And I've done conventions with them before
and they I've always had like noidea what I'm doing and have like an
absolute breakdown and suffer from severe imposterasyndrome of being like why am I here?
Blah blah blah, and they alwaystake me under their wing and made
me feel so much better about it. And also they are just so much

(15:31):
fun to be around. They areso so cool. So I think he's
the only cast member I've had onso yeah, but definitely. Oh then
and then the second thing is Ialso feel like I so the person who
does Dan's pr is the person isthe person who did his pr when we

(15:52):
worked on the film, so Iknow, I'm obviously aware of her,
had met her before, and Ihave had had sort of brief conversations with
her. And the thing is is, I feel like Dan does very very
limited press about Harry Potter now,not because he's not incredibly proud of it

(16:12):
and doesn't love Harry Potter, butjust because you know, he's been spending
quite a lot of time moving awayfrom that character, and I think we
know from the choices he's made inhis career so far, he's trying to
take a step away from Harry Potter. So I don't even know if he
would want to do it, becauseI feel like it would be not on

(16:34):
the journey that he's on, Butwho knows. Never say never. I'm
always happy to send people emails andtry and get them on, So yeah,
I hope that sort of answers that. But for the amount of people
that say, why don't you getthem on, they're obviously you guys would
like to hear an episode like that. But I do hope you also enjoy

(16:56):
listening to the episodides with with thelesser known people, because I just find
them truly truly fascinating, and thepeople who made such huge decisions that really
influenced the film and what we endedup seeing. They were real decision makers

(17:17):
that you know, really affected how, you know, the tone of the
film and the design of the film, and you know, I think that's
always really really exciting to see howit goes from script to screen and the
big decisions that people were making andwhy they went in certain directions. Like
I loved asking Lauren about Hermione's colorchange in her dress, Like that sounds

(17:41):
such a small thing, but itwas such a big thing to readers that
she has a blue dress in thebook and it's a pink dress in the
film, And it's like talking tothem about those big decisions that obviously that
doesn't sound like a huge decision,but it kind of was. Anyway,
I hope that answers that. Andthen the last question, which is so
funny, was somebody asked me whetherand this kind of goes hand in hand

(18:04):
because I have actually DMed people aswell on social media to ask them to
come on the show. I'm notscared of sliding into dms. But somebody
asked me whether anybody from the filmhas ever slid into my DMS, and
one person has, but there isno way on earth I am ever,

(18:27):
ever ever saying who it is andwhat they said. But that just made
me laugh because I put my handsup and say, I slide into people's
DMS all the time to try andget them onto the show. But yeah,
there was one person that slid intomy DMS. But I'm sorry to
be really annoying, I'm not goingto say who it was. So that

(18:52):
I think is the five questions Iwas thinking I was going to answer this
week, and sort of six becauseI added in my mum, say,
do you remember all the famous peoplethat came to visit the set? So
I'm hoping that's made another interesting,hopefully interesting bonus episode for you to listen

(19:14):
to. Again. I know Isay this at the end of every episode,
but I do keep a record ofthe questions you've asked, so if
you asked one, there's still achance I'll answer it. But again,
keep asking questions. Quite a fewfrom this week. I actually questions I
got asked this week, and soyeah, keep them coming in again.

(19:34):
Thank you always, guys for supportingthe show and listening and commenting, and
oh my goodness, So I putout so I don't know if you remember
last week I got asked about picturesfrom behind the scenes. Blabs asked us
that, and I actually went throughsome of my photo albums. I picked
out a few I thought were cuteand sort of like sort of gay,

(20:00):
a good peek behind the scenes anda good idea of what it was like.
I put together a little real andit's really blown up. Like let
me check. Last time I looked, it had like a really big number
of views. Let me see whatis on now. Yeah, it's had
almost six hundred and fifty thousand views, which is insane. So yeah,

(20:23):
I will try and keep the picturescoming. I've got loads more, so
hopefully I can make another little realof those so you can see a little
bit more. So thank you toeveryone who's watched that and it has loads
of likes and comments. That's alwaysreally really sweet and really encouraging that you're
enjoying my content. I'm not anatural content creator, so as I always

(20:45):
say, this feel's quite exposing tome. So when you show me any
love, I really really appreciate it. So yet get your questions in.
We're back on Tuesday. With anotherwith the regular episode, which is with
Nicholas Hooper, who was a composerfor the the was a composer was the
composer for the fifth and sixth film. I talked to him about scoring Dumbledore's

(21:10):
death and sirius as death, whichI think are huge parts in the film
and the plot line, and hetalks to me about that and just generally
about composing the process. He issuper close with David Yates, and before
Harry Potter had worked on with himon every single project bar one. So
if you're a big David Yates fan, lots of great David Yates info in
there, and then we'll be backagain on Friday with the bonus. But

(21:34):
until then, have a magical week, and I love you all.