April 5, 2024 • 41 mins
Our very first bonus episode answering YOUR questions!!
Flick answers:
1) What was your Harry Potter scene & who was your fave character
2.) What was the layout of Leavesden studio
3.) When did we realise the franchise was going to be BIG
4.) What was the most emotional scene you had to film?
5.) Did everyone flirt with each other?
Flick answers:
1) What was your Harry Potter scene & who was your fave character
2.) What was the layout of Leavesden studio
3.) When did we realise the franchise was going to be BIG
4.) What was the most emotional scene you had to film?
5.) Did everyone flirt with each other?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the veryfirst bonus episode of Behind the Wand this
bonus episode, I'm kind of makingthings up as we go along, but
it kind of stems from the factthat after an episode's gone out, or
actually just in general on social media, I get asked like loads of questions
(00:21):
about what it was like working onHarry Potter, and so many of them
I think are really really interesting questions. So I just thought that it would
be cool to make a little bonusepisode every week where I answer some of
the questions I get mainly yeah,mainly via sort of Instagram. The idea
is that I'm going to answer aroundabout five questions each week, might be
(00:43):
less, might be more, dependingon how long I go on for which
I'm guessing if you're listening to this, you listen to the podcast, so
you know I can ramble on andon, but I will try not to
do that. But before we getinto the questions, just a few things.
I wanted to say a huge thankyou to everyone who's listened to the
first episode of series three. Obviously, we've not published anything for well over
(01:08):
a year, well well over ayear and a bit, and I was
really really nervous about putting that episodeout, like more so than even probably
when I put the very first episodeout, because I was so scared that
people just would have lost interest andwouldn't download it or listen to it.
And yeah, I was just reallyreally nervous about that. But it's gone
(01:30):
out and it's done. You know, loads of you have tuned back in,
and I just am so so gratefulto you guys for listening and just
being so loyal to the podcast.Really from doing this podcast, like so
many amazing new opportunities have come myway, you know, from doing conventions,
I've been doing some other work whichactually I can't really talk about yet,
(01:53):
but I definitely will when I cantalk about that. It's so annoying
when people do that. But yeah, some really exciting stuff. And that's
all because you guys really like supportthe podcast and download it and listen and
ask me questions and just keep likeHarry Potter going in my life, which
I'm really really grateful for. Sothank you so so much for downloading and
(02:15):
listening. Second thing, am Isitting on my son's bedroom floor recording this
podcast fueled by a diet coke becauseI had a baby three weeks ago,
Yes I am. So if youhear crying children in the background, yes,
that probably is my daughter, butdon't worry. She is with her
dad, and my two year oldson is also downstairs. And I also
(02:38):
have my dog Meadow, who regularlymakes appearances in the podcast, and also
my mum's dog, Miley. Soif you hear some background noise, yes,
that is everybody going mad downstairs.And I have disappeared to the furthest
point of the house, which ismy son's bedroom, and I am literally
sitting on the floor recording this.So yeah, I think that's all I
wanted to say before I got started. Again, I'm just sort of free
(03:01):
wheeling here, so yeah, Ihope this is good. So let's start
with the first question, which isI think from Steve. Sorry, I
should have written down who asked thesequestions and I haven't. Steve, I
think these are from you, andthey are great questions. So he asked
(03:22):
what my fav scene to shoot wasand fath character, so I thought I'd
just merged this into one. Sotalking about favorite scenes I think is kind
of tricky because my favorite scenes tofilm generally were the ones in The Great
Hall, and I think I've spokenabout this a bit before, is because
everybody was in shooting those days,so it would be the forecast and just
(03:46):
the studios would be really buzzy,like up in hair and makeup would be
really busy, and you'd be seeingpeople who haven't seen in a while and
everyone will be catching up and itwould always just be like really really fun.
It would be absolute chaos. ButI kind of like after that chaos,
and yeah, so I feel likethat was often my favorite scenes when
(04:08):
I saw those were coming up onthe coll sheet, because a lot of
the time it is just Harry Ronand Hermione or you know, in the
third film, it's actually just alot of like Harry and Hermione when they
go back in time. And Ican definitely remember days where I didn't really
see anybody apart from I'd just bewith my mum. And I'm not complaining,
but that's quite can be quite lonelywhen it's a week of just you
(04:30):
being on your own in the studiosworking. I remember definitely being at Sheperton
Studios and just being on my ownwith my mum and like really sadly what
we do on the break is justwalk to like the little shop and I'd
get a pack of polos, which, don't get me wrong, like I'm
saying, I'm not complaining. ObviouslyI was still working and filming, which
(04:51):
was amazing. But you know,as a child, you just want to
be around other children playing, sowhen everybody was in that was always so
much fun. But I think asidefrom that, a time I remember being
really really fun was in the firstfilm where they we filmed in the Forbidden
(05:14):
Forest, and that was a nightshoot, and night shoots for the crew,
they absolutely hate them. For elevenyear old children, we loved it
because you started work at night,so we'd get there and obviously on a
normal day we'd get into the studioshave our breakfast. But instead we got
to the studios and we had dinner, and we like shot throughout the night.
(05:35):
So and in I think it wasBlack Park, I need to double
check that, and we were allin just like little cabins with like little
space heaters and little you know,like the handwarmers that you like rub together
to activate, and just trying toscare each other so much like everyone was
trying to jump out at each other. And this is the scene where they
(05:57):
find the unicorn. I think theyare in trouble and they're tension. They're
out with Filch and the Forbidden Forestand they find the unicorn. Mouth Woy
was there as well. It's likeHarry Ron Hermione. That was so so
so much fun. I remember thatso clearly, and I think it's just
mainly doing anything out of the ordinary, like our normal day, our normal
(06:18):
nine till seven ish was brilliant,but if we went somewhere different or there
was lots of people in that wouldalways bring like extra energy to the day.
So those are sort of my favorite, my favorite scenes to shoot.
Favorite character. Now, I don'tknow if this was meant in who is
(06:40):
my favorite character in Harry Potter orwho was my favorite person character on the
film. So I'm going to kindof answer the second one because I don't
really know who my favorite character isin Harry Potter. I feel like it's
a bit of like a cop outto say Hermione, even though I love
Hermione and I think she's a greatcharacter, I feel like I don't want
(07:02):
to say him mindly, So I'mactually going to answer, like, who
was my favorite person who worked onthe film. And again this is sort
of like from a far away view, not in terms of like who was
my closest friends, because obviously thatwas like the Other Doubles and Emma and
people like that were obviously my closestfriends working, but in terms of like
(07:25):
who did I just love was DavidBradley, who played Filch. He couldn't
be more different from Filch if hetried. He was honestly one of the
loveliest people I've ever met. Hewas so kind to all of us.
He was great with children. Andalso what I loved about him is before
even working on the films, heloved Harry Potter. I think he has
(07:46):
two young daughters who had sort ofencouraged him to take on the role of
Filch. But he really like knewthe stories and loved, you know,
Harry Potter, and like so muchof Filch's character, he sort of suggested
being in the film like he Forexample, there's a line where he says,
(08:07):
well, well, well we arein trouble, and I think he
was meant. I think he doessay that in the book, but when
they film the scene, they cutthat line, so he then brought it
back at another point because he feltlike his children had said that was a
really iconic filter line. So that'skind of like how much he really loved
the character of Filch and knew abouthim that he knew the lines that the
(08:28):
kids loved that sort of brought hischaracter to life off the page, and
then he tried to incorporate them intothe films. I think that's like great,
And like even at the very endafter the Battle of Hogwarts where you
just see him in the background witha broom like sweeping a little bit of
rubble, you know, that's likereally hilarious And that was all him.
So I really have such like asoft spot in my heart for him and
(08:52):
just have only really good memories ofhim. And I mean, like the
run he does in the Great Hallwith like the knee coming up, that
was all his, his like creationof filter And I think, yeah,
to turn like a character that's prettyhated in the books into sort of a
character that we love to hate waslike really really clever. So yeah,
(09:13):
definitely think that. So I hopethat's answered your question, Steve. Next
one was asked by Jemma, andthat was about the layout of the studios,
because if you've been to the studiotour. It's obviously completely different.
It was nothing like that when wefilmed there. If you've listened to the
podcast, you will have heard everysingle interview people say how Rundown Leavestone was,
(09:37):
how drafty it was. It wasliterally, like, I don't know,
not a glamorous movie studio as youwould think, but it was our
home and we loved it. Andit was a huge, like plot of
it. It's an old airfield,so it's like absolutely huge, and I
can't really go into too much detailabout like what was around in the back
(09:58):
because there was well, okay,I'm going to try. When you'd come
through the gates, the very firstthing you would see was the animals area
where they would keep all the owls, the dogs, like anything they had
sort of like routinely there was inthe animal huts. One of my favorite
places to walk to on my lunchbreak, just to go and see all
the animals and how amazingly well trainedthey are, which now as a dog
(10:22):
owner, makes you realize how likenot well trained my dog is compared to
what these animals could do. Absolutelyamazing. And then you could sort of
like fork right and then round theback would be sort of workshops, which
the only one I really have anyexperience of was creature effects, and that
was Nick Dugman's department, and you'dgo in there and that's where you'd find
(10:45):
like the unicorn, aragog forks,the phoenix, like they would create all
that they're on site, which isreally really cool. Also around the back
was loads of old movie props,and I wish I could remember from what
films, but like from all differentfilms that had been filmed in the UK.
There was loads of like old justabandoned props, which again, like
(11:09):
on our lunch break would often dowalk, so we'd walk around, but
sort of being ten years old,thirteen years old, whatever that time period,
you're not really clued up about thefilm trivia and props from different films,
so I probably totally do you knowwhat it did have? It had
the wagon from Will Smith film TheWild West, and I'll remember that film
(11:31):
Wild Wild West. I think Ihad a song that went with it that
was there, so like really reallyrandom, and then you'd carry on through
and then where we lived is aplace called Door five, which is because
you go through Door five, downthe bottom there would be transport. That's
(11:52):
the first place you'd come to.They would sort out all the sort of
transport of like us getting picked updropped off. That's where you'd go at
the end of the day to pickup a like meet your driver. That
sounds really like Nobby, but mydriver was Tony and he'd like drop me
home, so I'd meet him there. That was like the first thing you'd
(12:13):
come to. But they'd also doloads of like other logistical transport things.
Then there was an office straight awaywhich did have producers in it, but
I cannot remember which producers, butthat was definitely sort of like a first
production office stand alone to the productioncorry door. Then next to that was
(12:35):
wardrobe, which was amazing because thatwas just like a huge room full of
everyone's costumes, every single character,just Rose and Rose of school, uniform,
cloaks, everything. It was absolutelyamazing, just textiles, fabrics,
just really really cool. Absolutely wouldlove going in there and seeing what they're
working on. Obviously they're like athe're like making the costumes there, which
(12:58):
is like really really cool. Andalso you'd go down there just like fittings
as well. If Hermione was likegetting a new jumper or something. We'd
go there for fittings, and alsosometimes they would just want to do show
and tell, which I think I'vespoken about a little bit before, where
they might just want to see afew different costumes for Hermione, and if
Emma was busy, I could godown there and I'll try them on that
(13:20):
we could show them to like ChrisColumbus or whoever, just to see what
they look like, maybe see themon camera, because those decisions would constantly
be being made whilst we were filming. Then if we stay on the ground
floor, you'd carry on through.And then there was the canteen, which
(13:43):
was just as you'd expect a canteen, and we had the same coach as
the whole way through. They wereabsolutely amazing. Obviously they'd get to know
what you like, what you don'tlike. They'd always give us treats as
kids. There was like a roomthat I remember which just had like loads
of chocolate bars and stuff. Justgo in there and get them, which
obviously not necessarily great when you're achild, like for my mum trying to
(14:07):
be like not too much sugar,but for me like absolute dream and every
morning I'd have a bacon sandwich,which is just like so luxurious to do.
You know, I would never nowhave a bacon sandwich every morning,
but yeah, that was the breakfastof choice. And then at lunch,
(14:30):
I would ninety nine point nine percentof the time have a baked potato,
which again I think is I don'tknow if this is just a really British
thing, but it's just like astaple for a lunch, like baked potato,
beans and cheese or tuna cheese orsomething like that. Yeah, and
everyone would eat in the canteen.It was really really social place, like
(14:52):
you go pretty much any time toget sort of food and drinks. But
yeah, like everyone would have theirlunch together. It was rare that Obviously
you could eat in your dressing roomsif you wanted to, and sometimes if
you're having a really busy day,you might choose to do that and you
could sort of like order your lunchand they would bring it to you.
But really, like not many peopledid that because I think everyone just loved
the social side of it. It'sjust a really nice social thing to do
(15:15):
that breaks up the day and it'sjust time away from sort of the pressures
of filming just to really socialize,So I mean like even sort of you'd
see like Alan Rickman and Dave,Maggie Sneath and people, they'd all be
in the canteen. It was reallyjust everyone sit together and be together,
and that was like really really nice. Then if you go through outside the
(15:35):
canteen, there was a lot ofsort of marquees which would sort of change
for as different needs that people wouldneed. But that's where also you'd find
the golf buggies. And the golfbuggies are what the runners would drive to
take us to and from set,which sometimes was mad because it would literally
be about two minute walk. Butwe'd still get the golf buggies because like
(15:56):
that's fun. But sometimes the setscan be like right over the other side
of the sh studios, so itmade sense to just jump on the golf
buggy. Obviously, everyone always wantedto sit on the back you know when
you're facing backwards. Yeah, thatwas quite funny, always trying to like
fight with the other kids to geton to get the back seat. But
I won't go over to the setpart yet because actually, then from the
(16:18):
golf buggies, if you went upstairs, that's where our dressing rooms were there
was sort of two floors of dressingrooms, and then at the end of
the corridor of dressing rooms was ourrooms that we would do schooling in,
which were really quite small. You'dprobably only be able to fit like i'd
say, five kids in a room, and that's normally how many children would
(16:41):
be in tutoring at the time.Obviously there was times where I was just
on my own. I think Danhad a tutor, just had a different
tutor to himself, and then Ithink Gruper and Emma I can't actually remember
they did some lessons with us.I think they also had more one on
(17:03):
one tutoring with the tutors that wehad. So Lena was just Dan's tutor
who just did schooling with him.Then there was like Jane, Ken,
Peter and Janet who was in charge. So like Jane would sort of do
arts Ken and like we're do likeEnglish art, that sort of thing in
history. Ken I can only rememberdoing mass and Ken was actually like the
strict tutor that we were all scaredof, which is so funny to think
(17:26):
of now. Compared to the othertutors, he was like really scary,
and we used to do this numbergame with him though that we did love
where you'd like turn over a cardand it would be a number, and
then you turn over another card andit would be like ad divide subtract,
and then the next person would turnover the number they'd have to do the
equation. I remember playing that.That was really really fun. And then
(17:47):
Peter was like the science see tutor, and I actually had like a timetable
of where I would be at eachtime, which obviously you wouldn't always fulfill
that because you could get called toset any time, and obviously there was
only a legal requirement to do threehours tutoring, so you have a timetable
as if you would be in schoolthe whole day, but obviously you wouldn't
(18:07):
be in school the whole day.So yeah. Also, I was just
to go back to the about everybodybeing in school was obviously way more fun
when the classes were busy, wheneveryone was in, all the children were
in, rather than just being likeone on one with a tutor is quite
intense. But you know, Ishould be really clever from all that tutoring,
(18:30):
just one on one, but I'mnot. So yeah, that's kind
of and then through if you cautso you'd have two floors of dressing rooms.
The top floor you'd carry on throughthere there was like a production office
where like the first ad on likeour side, like the Bay side,
would be with the runners, andthey would basically be the people who'd come
(18:52):
and get us from schooling and takeus into hair and makeup and down to
wardrobe and get us from lunch andtake us to lunch and tell us when
to break. They sort of likethat office sort of managed that whole area.
You obviously have the same positions againon set, but they just like
manage the set. Then through fromthat was hair and makeup, which again
was like a room with lots oflike different rooms off it, so there
(19:15):
would be sort of two or threehair and makeup people in each section,
and then there was like sofas anda TV in the middle, which is
where you'd like chill like s untilthey call you in. So I might
sit there and then i'd just waitfor whoever was doing my hair, which
was on the first Onie with someonecalled Jane. Then it was Lisa who's
been on the podcast, who likeI absolutely love just wait for them to
(19:37):
call you because they might be finishingsomebody else's hair or doing something wait for
them to call you in, andthen you would go in with them and
get your hair and makeup done.So obviously that's kind of all together on
one side, like our living areaof like where you would have to get
your hair and makeup done, whereyou'd have your get your costumes. Even
though costumes would be we wouldn't goto costumes to get dressed each day.
(19:59):
Our costume would be in our dressingrooms unless it was something complicated that needed
to be doing or worn in acertain way for continuity. But apart from
that, if it was just theuniform, it would be there and we
would just put like various levels ofbeautiful. Normally I would just wear the
shirt and skirt the uniform. Iwouldn't necessarily put the tie and the jumper
and the cloak on until going toset, because I mean, like if
(20:22):
Hogwarts was real, that is souncomfortable to sit in those layers whilst doing
school, So we'd just all besort of in some form of school uniform,
but we wouldn't all be sitting aroundin full cloaks all day. So
yeah, then obviously over to thesets is just huge, Like I don't
even know what to call them,Like obviously they're called soundstages, but just
(20:45):
huge rooms which the sets are on, which would constantly be changing, constantly,
sets to be going up, gettingtaken down, going up, getting
taken down. Obviously, things likethe Great Hall and the dormitories and the
common rooms and things that were throughoutthe whole they knew they were likely to
be throughout the whole film would stayup, but other ones and diagon alley
and stuff like that, other oneswould come up and go and come down
(21:07):
like super quick. There's obviously hugelike blue screen stages as well that was
sort of all out over the otherside of the studio, but all under
one roof. Yeah, And thenright at the end they knew there's like
a whole outdoor area which actually theyended up building Privet Drive. On privt
(21:29):
Drive they actually filmed on location onthe first film, and then they actually
built it at the studios, anda few other things went up outside I
can't fully remember what they were.But then you'd go down this huge long
runway and at the end of thatwas another sound stage, and that would
normally be things that they knew wouldkind of only be in one film.
So for the first film it wasthe chess board because it was highly unlikely
(21:53):
that the chessboard was going to reappearthe second time. Second film, it
was like Chamber of Secrets was upthere. I cannot remember what it was
on the third film though, butyeah, that was all up on this
other sound stage, which is alsokind of fun. Filming at the runway.
We would then all have to doour school when we were up there.
(22:15):
Even though it was just up thisrunway, we would actually still like
live up there, so we'd belike in porter cabins doing our tutoring.
Our dressing rooms would then be likeI don't know what to call them,
like like trailers, Like yeah,trailers, trailer that is what you'd call
it. That would be our likedressing rooms. Yeah, and we would
(22:36):
stay up that's where we would beworking from. We wouldn't be like down
at the base and then traveling upto the flight shed to film these scenes.
We would all then be up there, which kind of was fun.
It was kind of like being onlocation, but not being on location because
we were in Watford. So yeah, and then like on the runway on
the third film, they had thenight bus parked up there, which was
(22:57):
always really cool to see, justlike in the background of like the studios,
you could just see the night busparked up. Yeah, so I'm
hoping that's kind of given you arough idea of what the studio layout was,
Like I've probably missed out loads ofstuff I'm obviously trying to remember from
about twenty years ago, but yeah, I hope that gives an idea of
(23:17):
like how we like lived and workedin what one are lived in sort of
one area and worked in another area. And also in the living area,
there was like a games room whichactually was like a marquee out the back
of the canteen, which I knowyou've probably heard about because I think a
lot of people have spoken about it. But it had like table tennis,
(23:38):
table football. It had a fridgewith like drinks and stuff in that we
could go to once we finished schoolbecause school would finish at five basically regardless
of like once you've done your threehours, as long as you've done your
three hours, school would finish atfive, so it wouldn't be like you'd
be in school till seven to makeup your three you'd have to get them
(24:00):
done between sort of nine and five. So there was time after schooling that
we had to kill which so we'dbe like in the games room, or
we all had like TVs which wecould watch films. We kind of loved
watching Bridget Jones, so I rememberwatching that quite a few times. Or
there was loads of like game likegames. Yeah. Also they'd bring out
(24:21):
like in the morning at like eleven, and then the afternoon three they'd bring
out like trays of like cakes andstuff like that. I don't know what
I've just thought of that, butI remember I was obsessed with the iced
buns. If you had to likeget there quick to get the good cakes,
so it would be like cakes arecoming soon and you don't really one
hundred percent no know where they're goingto be put down, But if you
weren't quick, then the good stuffwould go. But oh my gosh,
(24:42):
an iced bun during me. Thatwas so good. What was the next
question? So what point did yourealize the franchise was going to be big?
So this question from Ronnie. Yeah, so obviously from the start,
there's there was so much hype aroundHarry Potter right from the start. That's
(25:03):
no surprise the books had done phenomenallywell, and it was you know,
there was excitement around the films,and we kind of, as a child
even knew that because when we werein at Leavesdon filming we were very much
in a bubble. But when wewent out onto location, that's when you
really kind of were aware about howexcited people were about Harry Potter the film
(25:26):
coming out. You know, wewould have to wear long coats basically to
the floor up to our chin,zipped up so like no one could see
anything about our school uniform, ourlike costumes, anything like that. And
I remember like being walking from Ithink it was in Oxford, and I
(25:48):
was with my dad and we werejust I think we're filming the Body and
library and our space was like acrossthe road from where the library was.
Anyway, me and my dad werewalking over to go to set, and
obviously my dad has just like notreally thought about it and started walking in
the wrong direction. So we've startedwalking and then I think after a few
minutes, my dad's obviously realized like, oh, we're not with anybody else.
(26:11):
Now, We've definitely gone the wrongway. I don't know where we're
going. And whilst we were walkingsomebody, a news reporter, a newspaper
reporter, came up with like alittle you know, oh, what's it
called I can't remember, but like, you know, like a tape little
tape recorder thing. What's that calleda dictaphone? So it's called maybe not
And was like trying to ask mequestions like what does it feel like to
(26:32):
go to school with dragons and allthis? Like obviously I didn't say anything.
I was completely startled. I waslike, who on earth is this?
But just looking back, like thingslike that obviously showed and that was
there were obviously loads of like newscrews around and trying to film stuff,
trying to get pictures. And itwas also really funny because they'd get pictures
so many times of us doubles andput them in the newspaper not realizing it
(26:56):
was doubles, and that was alwaysfunny. We'd always have a little laugh
at when they'd get it a bitwrong or say one character was another character
or something like that. But therewas definitely we were aware of like a
presence of people wanting to know likeso much stuff about what we were filming
and what we were doing. Soyeah, and then I guess the things
(27:18):
that changed from the first film.I guess, like, obviously I was
only on the first three, butlike what I know when speaking to other
people is the first film came outand was obviously greatly received. Oh my
goodness, sorry, but I almosthad a heart attack because this just stopped
recording and I thought I'd lost thelast half an hour of me talking.
(27:40):
So I've just been downstairs, hada little fit to my husband, went
to go and rerecord again, thinkingthis is not going to be as good
because I'm just thinking about it toomuch. And then whilst trying to sort
out the storage on my phone becauseapparently that was the reason it wasn't recording,
it actually popped up and I dohave storage on my phone. So
sorry for this little in the middle. But back to what I was saying,
(28:02):
which I believe was something along thelines of So by the time the
third film started filming, there wasthat now the pressure for the films to
keep being as good, and Ithink like that continued the whole way through,
and you know, as you knowwith Harry Potter, there was you
(28:25):
know, a change of directors severaltimes throughout that they all had different approaches,
you know, we always say ChrisColumbus' film is a lot different to
Talfonso's film, which is different toMike Newell's film. Like, you know,
there was this style change, andactually I think looking back for the
better, it kept evolving, movingwith the audience. But every time that
(28:45):
definitely did feel like a gamble oryou know, some sort of gamble.
But I think, like David Haymanis just a true film genius producer and
you know, never made a wrongde decision. So that's kind of how
that changed in terms of how wethought the franchise was being perceived and how
(29:10):
we knew did we know whether itwas going to be big or not.
Again, I'm sorry if this answeris really disjointed and doesn't make sense.
It's because I had a minor breakdownright in the middle emotional scene. Now,
this is really hard because I can't, off the top of my head
think of a scene that was likeemotional for me. But I think one
(29:34):
that I filmed which was an emotionalscene for Dan is when he finds out
that Sirius was like friends with hisparents and he's like in the invisibility cloak
and then like come matin he takesthe invisibility cloak down. It was like
he was his friend. I'm activelybeautifully there, so I'm hoping you know
what I'm talking about. And yeah, that scene I think was like,
(30:02):
you know, it's just sad seeinglike Dan be sad, or like any
actor that you sort of like knowand are friends with, like even though
they're acting being sad. But Ithink why this film like stands out so
much in my mind is because becauseit was an emotional scene, but we
kept like smiling and laughing, andI think it's just because like Hermione's little
(30:26):
hand just like comes up to takethe invisibility click down. I don't know
why that was like cracking us up. And I just remember we had to
like try and keep a straight faceduring filming, but this happened like so
much with any sort of emotional scenewould be exactly when you'd want to be
like laughing and smiling the most.And it's almost like as a child when
you're told not to laugh or toldnot to smile. Not we were like
(30:48):
told not to do that, butobviously in an emotional scene you're not meant
to do that, it makes youwant to do it more so, like
I also remember like hysterically laughing inHagrid's Heart every time around, like the
scenes with Buckbea because about to beexecuted, Like I remember just always wanting
to laugh and us having to startagain a lot because of laughing. You
just see like shoulders like shaking.You know, when you're trying to hold
(31:11):
in a laugh, you can't verballymake any noise. Your whole body is
like vibrating because you're laughing, butyou can't laugh, which then makes you
laugh more. So I feel likeany emotional scenes we had to film were
often the time that we were mostgiggly and probably being the most silly.
And I think there's also like adegree of having to do the emotional scenes
(31:36):
can sometimes be the exposing scenes toyour acting, and like they're being sort
of like nervous laughter around that.Probably less so in the later films,
but definitely at the beginning sort ofdoing emotional acting probably felt like a little
bit exposing. Sometimes the more embarrassingthings to do than if it's just like
(31:56):
the action or the chats or thedrama like that sort of Stuff's a lot
like he doesn't feel as exposing asan actor, but yeah, they pulling
the invisibility cloak off. You canjust see. I'm like, it's like
literally the side of Mini's head andlike her hand just goes up and takes
it. It's like, oh,Harry, uh yeah, that's like sad,
(32:19):
but also like couldn't stop laughing,and also like but Beet, Yeah,
and buck Beep was sad because buckBeak actually was like animatronic and would
like bow its head and would lookand stuff. So you ended up kind
of feeling like this is a realanimal and they're gonna execute it. Like
that sounds so silly, but itdid move and act like a real animal,
and obviously, like we knew thestory, so you're kind of in
(32:42):
love with buck Beak. He's sucha cute character anyway, weird looking but
very cute. So that was kindof emotional, and mouth was like so
horrible, like trying to watch theexecution. Ough. But yeah, those
scenes so those are kind of onesthat stick out in my mind. But
also just to add that that wasprobably when we would laugh the most,
(33:04):
which is very annoying for the crew. And then the last question, which
is hilarious, which is from Lara, who actually is one of my friends.
So it's so funny that she wrotethis in saying did you flirt with
each other? Which, like Isaid, I feel like this is a
question I get asked about a lot, you know, the gossip from the
(33:29):
studios and from when we were filming, And like I said, I kind
of try and swerve it a littlebit because I don't want to say the
wrong thing, and I don't wantto like not out anybody, but like
you just don't want to say thewrong thing. But I mean, we
were children, well, the timethat I was there was very childlike,
very innocent. But yeah, Ithink so. I'm not sure for other
(33:55):
audiences, but if you were atsecondary school in the early two thousands in
the UK, you will probably Imean just it was basically no different from
being at school. So whatever youwere doing at school in terms of like
fancying boys and girls crushes, thatis what it was like working on Harry
(34:16):
Potter. Definitely. Like again,so this is the thing I was going
to say, Definitely, whilst Iwas at school, probably like you're seven
eighty nine, that's sort of solike again, sort of age like eleven,
twelve, thirteen, fourteen, thatsort of age there would be like
this thing called like your top five. I don't know if anyone remembers this,
and I don't know if this isin any other countries other than like
(34:38):
or this is just like a Britishthing where you'd like have like your top
five girls, your top five boys, and you'd often write it on you'd
write a note being like who's yourtop five and you'd write back like that
was very much I think at school. It was kind of like that at
the studios as well, but itwasn't so much like note writing, but
you'd be in hair and makeup andyou'd be telling whoever's doing your hair about
your top three boy and then theywould say, oh, you know,
(35:01):
they would just like love it,like the the people and hair and makeup,
and they'd say, oh, Ithink you might be in their top
three and blah blah blah, andyou know you'd hear that, and I
think you also just go through aphase where you just fancy everybody at one
point. You know, that's changes. Everyone's so fickle, change all the
(35:24):
time. And like I say,we were kids, so there was no
progression other than it being like sillyflirting or telling somebody you like somebody or
somebody telling you that somebody likes youand that sort of thing. So one
story that really sticks in my mindis that one year somebody made a Valentine's
(35:47):
Stay card and sent it to TomElton and I don't know why, and
I don't know how, but itended up that everybody he thought it was
from me and it actually wasn't.So yeah, I feel like for that
film. I think it might havebeen the second film. I feel like
(36:10):
everyone just thought I had this hugecrush on him and I'd made this homemade
valentine Stake card and sent it tohim anonymously. And it's so funny because
actually bumped into Tom this summer whenwe were at a convention together, and
I feel like that was my opportunityto tell him, but he would probably
(36:30):
not remember. But for me,I can't explain it. Like when you're
thirteen, I think like you're mortifiedat the thought of somebody thinking you have
a like crush on them, oryou know, somebody knowing that you fancy
them, Like now, like whocares, like tell people you fancy them?
I'm all about that, you know, asked my husband. I was
very much like I fancy you andchased him down when we first met.
(36:54):
I'm so for that, but atthe time, when you're a child,
that is like the most embarrassing thingthat could ever ever happened to you.
But yeah, like I say,like, but then, like everyone was
hot, Like everyone was cute.You know, Dan, Rupert Tom,
you know, they were all likegood looking boys. So yeah, everyone
(37:15):
did fancy everyone. I would saythe ratios were slightly out of like boy
boys to girls, though there wasn'tas many girl characters, so probably like
as girls, you're a hotter commodityjust through the bat there were no other
girls. But yeah, definitely,like everybody fancied everybody. And then I
(37:37):
feel like the real came because eventhough I didn't do I wasn't hermionees double
on the fourth film. I stillcame back on the fourth film just because
they said I could come back,and I was like part of the Yule
Ball. But when I was there, obviously I got to like go and
see everybody, like who was infilming that scene, and I'd like be
(37:57):
in the canteen with them. Andthat is when Robert Pattinson joined the cast,
and oh my god, he's justlike a dream boat. Like he's
a couple of years older than me, and I just remember having lunch with
him and he told me I looklike somebody and I cannot remember who it
is. I can't remember who itis. Next episode, I'm gonna i'll
(38:20):
remember. I need to google itbecause I cannot remember the exact name,
but I know who he was talkingabout. And he told me I looked
like somebody, and I was like, oh my god, I'm in love
with him. We're going to getmarried. And I feel like every single
girl felt like that about him,and he just like blew us all away.
(38:40):
And yeah, so that's kind ofI mean, that's probably more gossip,
and I feel like maybe you haveto ask me more like specific questions
to jog my memory. But yeah, exactly how it was at school when
you're a teenager fancying people, notfancying people. But also, can I
(39:00):
add that we didn't have phones,Like that's also a bit different, like
when we had the when we startedworking on the first film, Like I
know, sort of ten eleven yearolds have phones now, but like phones
weren't really a huge thing and anythingyou did have was very basic, like
phoning it wasn't like all this textingand stuff like that that did come in
(39:22):
like later, definitely, I rememberclearly on the third film. By that
time, sort of everybody had aphone was texting, and that would kind
of elevated it a bit more.Yeah, so that's kind of a bit
about that that. Yeah, peoplesort of maybe started texting, which added
(39:43):
another, like I said, elementto it. So that's kind of everything
for this bonus episode. I reallywould love feedback on whether you enjoyed this
start episode. Obviously, the regularepisodes will be going out. If there's
not one next week, that's becausenobody listened to this one. But yeah,
(40:07):
kind of hopefully next week will bea bit more polished, as this
is just me rambling as always,but yeah, please keep getting your questions
in. I'm also writing down allthe questions I've been sent, so if
you've sent one and it wasn't answeredthis week, I might answer it next
week. But obviously I just hadto choose. I had to choose five,
(40:28):
So yes, what was the otherthings I was going to say?
Oh, yeah, I want todo this disclaimer that I know this is
crazy, but I've been podcasting forabout three years, but I don't have
a microphone, which is insane.So I am going to get a microphone
(40:49):
this week so the audio quality canbe a bit better for you guys.
I think it's because I do allmy interviews through Zoom, and I just
find that I'm speaking to people whoare very short on time and trying to
organize them. Having a microphone andsorting out the audio, especially when some
of my guests are not like themost up to date with technology, it
(41:15):
just hasn't really worked, so Ijust use the Zoom audio. So I've
never really used a microphone, butI'm going to get a microphone so we've
got good quality audio for you whenit at least comes to the bonus episodes.
So yeah, get your questions in. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I hope you're enjoying the regular series, and I will see you all next week
Hello, and welcome to the veryfirst bonus episode of Behind the Wand this
bonus episode, I'm kind of makingthings up as we go along, but
it kind of stems from the factthat after an episode's gone out, or
actually just in general on social media, I get asked like loads of questions
(00:21):
about what it was like working onHarry Potter, and so many of them
I think are really really interesting questions. So I just thought that it would
be cool to make a little bonusepisode every week where I answer some of
the questions I get mainly yeah,mainly via sort of Instagram. The idea
is that I'm going to answer aroundabout five questions each week, might be
(00:43):
less, might be more, dependingon how long I go on for which
I'm guessing if you're listening to this, you listen to the podcast, so
you know I can ramble on andon, but I will try not to
do that. But before we getinto the questions, just a few things.
I wanted to say a huge thankyou to everyone who's listened to the
first episode of series three. Obviously, we've not published anything for well over
(01:08):
a year, well well over ayear and a bit, and I was
really really nervous about putting that episodeout, like more so than even probably
when I put the very first episodeout, because I was so scared that
people just would have lost interest andwouldn't download it or listen to it.
And yeah, I was just reallyreally nervous about that. But it's gone
(01:30):
out and it's done. You know, loads of you have tuned back in,
and I just am so so gratefulto you guys for listening and just
being so loyal to the podcast.Really from doing this podcast, like so
many amazing new opportunities have come myway, you know, from doing conventions,
I've been doing some other work whichactually I can't really talk about yet,
(01:53):
but I definitely will when I cantalk about that. It's so annoying
when people do that. But yeah, some really exciting stuff. And that's
all because you guys really like supportthe podcast and download it and listen and
ask me questions and just keep likeHarry Potter going in my life, which
I'm really really grateful for. Sothank you so so much for downloading and
(02:15):
listening. Second thing, am Isitting on my son's bedroom floor recording this
podcast fueled by a diet coke becauseI had a baby three weeks ago,
Yes I am. So if youhear crying children in the background, yes,
that probably is my daughter, butdon't worry. She is with her
dad, and my two year oldson is also downstairs. And I also
(02:38):
have my dog Meadow, who regularlymakes appearances in the podcast, and also
my mum's dog, Miley. Soif you hear some background noise, yes,
that is everybody going mad downstairs.And I have disappeared to the furthest
point of the house, which ismy son's bedroom, and I am literally
sitting on the floor recording this.So yeah, I think that's all I
wanted to say before I got started. Again, I'm just sort of free
(03:01):
wheeling here, so yeah, Ihope this is good. So let's start
with the first question, which isI think from Steve. Sorry, I
should have written down who asked thesequestions and I haven't. Steve, I
think these are from you, andthey are great questions. So he asked
(03:22):
what my fav scene to shoot wasand fath character, so I thought I'd
just merged this into one. Sotalking about favorite scenes I think is kind
of tricky because my favorite scenes tofilm generally were the ones in The Great
Hall, and I think I've spokenabout this a bit before, is because
everybody was in shooting those days,so it would be the forecast and just
(03:46):
the studios would be really buzzy,like up in hair and makeup would be
really busy, and you'd be seeingpeople who haven't seen in a while and
everyone will be catching up and itwould always just be like really really fun.
It would be absolute chaos. ButI kind of like after that chaos,
and yeah, so I feel likethat was often my favorite scenes when
(04:08):
I saw those were coming up onthe coll sheet, because a lot of
the time it is just Harry Ronand Hermione or you know, in the
third film, it's actually just alot of like Harry and Hermione when they
go back in time. And Ican definitely remember days where I didn't really
see anybody apart from I'd just bewith my mum. And I'm not complaining,
but that's quite can be quite lonelywhen it's a week of just you
(04:30):
being on your own in the studiosworking. I remember definitely being at Sheperton
Studios and just being on my ownwith my mum and like really sadly what
we do on the break is justwalk to like the little shop and I'd
get a pack of polos, which, don't get me wrong, like I'm
saying, I'm not complaining. ObviouslyI was still working and filming, which
(04:51):
was amazing. But you know,as a child, you just want to
be around other children playing, sowhen everybody was in that was always so
much fun. But I think asidefrom that, a time I remember being
really really fun was in the firstfilm where they we filmed in the Forbidden
(05:14):
Forest, and that was a nightshoot, and night shoots for the crew,
they absolutely hate them. For elevenyear old children, we loved it
because you started work at night,so we'd get there and obviously on a
normal day we'd get into the studioshave our breakfast. But instead we got
to the studios and we had dinner, and we like shot throughout the night.
(05:35):
So and in I think it wasBlack Park, I need to double
check that, and we were allin just like little cabins with like little
space heaters and little you know,like the handwarmers that you like rub together
to activate, and just trying toscare each other so much like everyone was
trying to jump out at each other. And this is the scene where they
(05:57):
find the unicorn. I think theyare in trouble and they're tension. They're
out with Filch and the Forbidden Forestand they find the unicorn. Mouth Woy
was there as well. It's likeHarry Ron Hermione. That was so so
so much fun. I remember thatso clearly, and I think it's just
mainly doing anything out of the ordinary, like our normal day, our normal
(06:18):
nine till seven ish was brilliant,but if we went somewhere different or there
was lots of people in that wouldalways bring like extra energy to the day.
So those are sort of my favorite, my favorite scenes to shoot.
Favorite character. Now, I don'tknow if this was meant in who is
(06:40):
my favorite character in Harry Potter orwho was my favorite person character on the
film. So I'm going to kindof answer the second one because I don't
really know who my favorite character isin Harry Potter. I feel like it's
a bit of like a cop outto say Hermione, even though I love
Hermione and I think she's a greatcharacter, I feel like I don't want
(07:02):
to say him mindly, So I'mactually going to answer, like, who
was my favorite person who worked onthe film. And again this is sort
of like from a far away view, not in terms of like who was
my closest friends, because obviously thatwas like the Other Doubles and Emma and
people like that were obviously my closestfriends working, but in terms of like
(07:25):
who did I just love was DavidBradley, who played Filch. He couldn't
be more different from Filch if hetried. He was honestly one of the
loveliest people I've ever met. Hewas so kind to all of us.
He was great with children. Andalso what I loved about him is before
even working on the films, heloved Harry Potter. I think he has
(07:46):
two young daughters who had sort ofencouraged him to take on the role of
Filch. But he really like knewthe stories and loved, you know,
Harry Potter, and like so muchof Filch's character, he sort of suggested
being in the film like he Forexample, there's a line where he says,
(08:07):
well, well, well we arein trouble, and I think he
was meant. I think he doessay that in the book, but when
they film the scene, they cutthat line, so he then brought it
back at another point because he feltlike his children had said that was a
really iconic filter line. So that'skind of like how much he really loved
the character of Filch and knew abouthim that he knew the lines that the
(08:28):
kids loved that sort of brought hischaracter to life off the page, and
then he tried to incorporate them intothe films. I think that's like great,
And like even at the very endafter the Battle of Hogwarts where you
just see him in the background witha broom like sweeping a little bit of
rubble, you know, that's likereally hilarious And that was all him.
So I really have such like asoft spot in my heart for him and
(08:52):
just have only really good memories ofhim. And I mean, like the
run he does in the Great Hallwith like the knee coming up, that
was all his, his like creationof filter And I think, yeah,
to turn like a character that's prettyhated in the books into sort of a
character that we love to hate waslike really really clever. So yeah,
(09:13):
definitely think that. So I hopethat's answered your question, Steve. Next
one was asked by Jemma, andthat was about the layout of the studios,
because if you've been to the studiotour. It's obviously completely different.
It was nothing like that when wefilmed there. If you've listened to the
podcast, you will have heard everysingle interview people say how Rundown Leavestone was,
(09:37):
how drafty it was. It wasliterally, like, I don't know,
not a glamorous movie studio as youwould think, but it was our
home and we loved it. Andit was a huge, like plot of
it. It's an old airfield,so it's like absolutely huge, and I
can't really go into too much detailabout like what was around in the back
(09:58):
because there was well, okay,I'm going to try. When you'd come
through the gates, the very firstthing you would see was the animals area
where they would keep all the owls, the dogs, like anything they had
sort of like routinely there was inthe animal huts. One of my favorite
places to walk to on my lunchbreak, just to go and see all
the animals and how amazingly well trainedthey are, which now as a dog
(10:22):
owner, makes you realize how likenot well trained my dog is compared to
what these animals could do. Absolutelyamazing. And then you could sort of
like fork right and then round theback would be sort of workshops, which
the only one I really have anyexperience of was creature effects, and that
was Nick Dugman's department, and you'dgo in there and that's where you'd find
(10:45):
like the unicorn, aragog forks,the phoenix, like they would create all
that they're on site, which isreally really cool. Also around the back
was loads of old movie props,and I wish I could remember from what
films, but like from all differentfilms that had been filmed in the UK.
There was loads of like old justabandoned props, which again, like
(11:09):
on our lunch break would often dowalk, so we'd walk around, but
sort of being ten years old,thirteen years old, whatever that time period,
you're not really clued up about thefilm trivia and props from different films,
so I probably totally do you knowwhat it did have? It had
the wagon from Will Smith film TheWild West, and I'll remember that film
(11:31):
Wild Wild West. I think Ihad a song that went with it that
was there, so like really reallyrandom, and then you'd carry on through
and then where we lived is aplace called Door five, which is because
you go through Door five, downthe bottom there would be transport. That's
(11:52):
the first place you'd come to.They would sort out all the sort of
transport of like us getting picked updropped off. That's where you'd go at
the end of the day to pickup a like meet your driver. That
sounds really like Nobby, but mydriver was Tony and he'd like drop me
home, so I'd meet him there. That was like the first thing you'd
(12:13):
come to. But they'd also doloads of like other logistical transport things.
Then there was an office straight awaywhich did have producers in it, but
I cannot remember which producers, butthat was definitely sort of like a first
production office stand alone to the productioncorry door. Then next to that was
(12:35):
wardrobe, which was amazing because thatwas just like a huge room full of
everyone's costumes, every single character,just Rose and Rose of school, uniform,
cloaks, everything. It was absolutelyamazing, just textiles, fabrics,
just really really cool. Absolutely wouldlove going in there and seeing what they're
working on. Obviously they're like athe're like making the costumes there, which
(12:58):
is like really really cool. Andalso you'd go down there just like fittings
as well. If Hermione was likegetting a new jumper or something. We'd
go there for fittings, and alsosometimes they would just want to do show
and tell, which I think I'vespoken about a little bit before, where
they might just want to see afew different costumes for Hermione, and if
Emma was busy, I could godown there and I'll try them on that
(13:20):
we could show them to like ChrisColumbus or whoever, just to see what
they look like, maybe see themon camera, because those decisions would constantly
be being made whilst we were filming. Then if we stay on the ground
floor, you'd carry on through.And then there was the canteen, which
(13:43):
was just as you'd expect a canteen, and we had the same coach as
the whole way through. They wereabsolutely amazing. Obviously they'd get to know
what you like, what you don'tlike. They'd always give us treats as
kids. There was like a roomthat I remember which just had like loads
of chocolate bars and stuff. Justgo in there and get them, which
obviously not necessarily great when you're achild, like for my mum trying to
(14:07):
be like not too much sugar,but for me like absolute dream and every
morning I'd have a bacon sandwich,which is just like so luxurious to do.
You know, I would never nowhave a bacon sandwich every morning,
but yeah, that was the breakfastof choice. And then at lunch,
(14:30):
I would ninety nine point nine percentof the time have a baked potato,
which again I think is I don'tknow if this is just a really British
thing, but it's just like astaple for a lunch, like baked potato,
beans and cheese or tuna cheese orsomething like that. Yeah, and
everyone would eat in the canteen.It was really really social place, like
(14:52):
you go pretty much any time toget sort of food and drinks. But
yeah, like everyone would have theirlunch together. It was rare that Obviously
you could eat in your dressing roomsif you wanted to, and sometimes if
you're having a really busy day,you might choose to do that and you
could sort of like order your lunchand they would bring it to you.
But really, like not many peopledid that because I think everyone just loved
the social side of it. It'sjust a really nice social thing to do
(15:15):
that breaks up the day and it'sjust time away from sort of the pressures
of filming just to really socialize,So I mean like even sort of you'd
see like Alan Rickman and Dave,Maggie Sneath and people, they'd all be
in the canteen. It was reallyjust everyone sit together and be together,
and that was like really really nice. Then if you go through outside the
(15:35):
canteen, there was a lot ofsort of marquees which would sort of change
for as different needs that people wouldneed. But that's where also you'd find
the golf buggies. And the golfbuggies are what the runners would drive to
take us to and from set,which sometimes was mad because it would literally
be about two minute walk. Butwe'd still get the golf buggies because like
(15:56):
that's fun. But sometimes the setscan be like right over the other side
of the sh studios, so itmade sense to just jump on the golf
buggy. Obviously, everyone always wantedto sit on the back you know when
you're facing backwards. Yeah, thatwas quite funny, always trying to like
fight with the other kids to geton to get the back seat. But
I won't go over to the setpart yet because actually, then from the
(16:18):
golf buggies, if you went upstairs, that's where our dressing rooms were there
was sort of two floors of dressingrooms, and then at the end of
the corridor of dressing rooms was ourrooms that we would do schooling in,
which were really quite small. You'dprobably only be able to fit like i'd
say, five kids in a room, and that's normally how many children would
(16:41):
be in tutoring at the time.Obviously there was times where I was just
on my own. I think Danhad a tutor, just had a different
tutor to himself, and then Ithink Gruper and Emma I can't actually remember
they did some lessons with us.I think they also had more one on
(17:03):
one tutoring with the tutors that wehad. So Lena was just Dan's tutor
who just did schooling with him.Then there was like Jane, Ken,
Peter and Janet who was in charge. So like Jane would sort of do
arts Ken and like we're do likeEnglish art, that sort of thing in
history. Ken I can only rememberdoing mass and Ken was actually like the
strict tutor that we were all scaredof, which is so funny to think
(17:26):
of now. Compared to the othertutors, he was like really scary,
and we used to do this numbergame with him though that we did love
where you'd like turn over a cardand it would be a number, and
then you turn over another card andit would be like ad divide subtract,
and then the next person would turnover the number they'd have to do the
equation. I remember playing that.That was really really fun. And then
(17:47):
Peter was like the science see tutor, and I actually had like a timetable
of where I would be at eachtime, which obviously you wouldn't always fulfill
that because you could get called toset any time, and obviously there was
only a legal requirement to do threehours tutoring, so you have a timetable
as if you would be in schoolthe whole day, but obviously you wouldn't
(18:07):
be in school the whole day.So yeah. Also, I was just
to go back to the about everybodybeing in school was obviously way more fun
when the classes were busy, wheneveryone was in, all the children were
in, rather than just being likeone on one with a tutor is quite
intense. But you know, Ishould be really clever from all that tutoring,
(18:30):
just one on one, but I'mnot. So yeah, that's kind
of and then through if you cautso you'd have two floors of dressing rooms.
The top floor you'd carry on throughthere there was like a production office
where like the first ad on likeour side, like the Bay side,
would be with the runners, andthey would basically be the people who'd come
(18:52):
and get us from schooling and takeus into hair and makeup and down to
wardrobe and get us from lunch andtake us to lunch and tell us when
to break. They sort of likethat office sort of managed that whole area.
You obviously have the same positions againon set, but they just like
manage the set. Then through fromthat was hair and makeup, which again
was like a room with lots oflike different rooms off it, so there
(19:15):
would be sort of two or threehair and makeup people in each section,
and then there was like sofas anda TV in the middle, which is
where you'd like chill like s untilthey call you in. So I might
sit there and then i'd just waitfor whoever was doing my hair, which
was on the first Onie with someonecalled Jane. Then it was Lisa who's
been on the podcast, who likeI absolutely love just wait for them to
(19:37):
call you because they might be finishingsomebody else's hair or doing something wait for
them to call you in, andthen you would go in with them and
get your hair and makeup done.So obviously that's kind of all together on
one side, like our living areaof like where you would have to get
your hair and makeup done, whereyou'd have your get your costumes. Even
though costumes would be we wouldn't goto costumes to get dressed each day.
(19:59):
Our costume would be in our dressingrooms unless it was something complicated that needed
to be doing or worn in acertain way for continuity. But apart from
that, if it was just theuniform, it would be there and we
would just put like various levels ofbeautiful. Normally I would just wear the
shirt and skirt the uniform. Iwouldn't necessarily put the tie and the jumper
and the cloak on until going toset, because I mean, like if
(20:22):
Hogwarts was real, that is souncomfortable to sit in those layers whilst doing
school, So we'd just all besort of in some form of school uniform,
but we wouldn't all be sitting aroundin full cloaks all day. So
yeah, then obviously over to thesets is just huge, Like I don't
even know what to call them,Like obviously they're called soundstages, but just
(20:45):
huge rooms which the sets are on, which would constantly be changing, constantly,
sets to be going up, gettingtaken down, going up, getting
taken down. Obviously, things likethe Great Hall and the dormitories and the
common rooms and things that were throughoutthe whole they knew they were likely to
be throughout the whole film would stayup, but other ones and diagon alley
and stuff like that, other oneswould come up and go and come down
(21:07):
like super quick. There's obviously hugelike blue screen stages as well that was
sort of all out over the otherside of the studio, but all under
one roof. Yeah, And thenright at the end they knew there's like
a whole outdoor area which actually theyended up building Privet Drive. On privt
(21:29):
Drive they actually filmed on location onthe first film, and then they actually
built it at the studios, anda few other things went up outside I
can't fully remember what they were.But then you'd go down this huge long
runway and at the end of thatwas another sound stage, and that would
normally be things that they knew wouldkind of only be in one film.
So for the first film it wasthe chess board because it was highly unlikely
(21:53):
that the chessboard was going to reappearthe second time. Second film, it
was like Chamber of Secrets was upthere. I cannot remember what it was
on the third film though, butyeah, that was all up on this
other sound stage, which is alsokind of fun. Filming at the runway.
We would then all have to doour school when we were up there.
(22:15):
Even though it was just up thisrunway, we would actually still like
live up there, so we'd belike in porter cabins doing our tutoring.
Our dressing rooms would then be likeI don't know what to call them,
like like trailers, Like yeah,trailers, trailer that is what you'd call
it. That would be our likedressing rooms. Yeah, and we would
(22:36):
stay up that's where we would beworking from. We wouldn't be like down
at the base and then traveling upto the flight shed to film these scenes.
We would all then be up there, which kind of was fun.
It was kind of like being onlocation, but not being on location because
we were in Watford. So yeah, and then like on the runway on
the third film, they had thenight bus parked up there, which was
(22:57):
always really cool to see, justlike in the background of like the studios,
you could just see the night busparked up. Yeah, so I'm
hoping that's kind of given you arough idea of what the studio layout was,
Like I've probably missed out loads ofstuff I'm obviously trying to remember from
about twenty years ago, but yeah, I hope that gives an idea of
(23:17):
like how we like lived and workedin what one are lived in sort of
one area and worked in another area. And also in the living area,
there was like a games room whichactually was like a marquee out the back
of the canteen, which I knowyou've probably heard about because I think a
lot of people have spoken about it. But it had like table tennis,
(23:38):
table football. It had a fridgewith like drinks and stuff in that we
could go to once we finished schoolbecause school would finish at five basically regardless
of like once you've done your threehours, as long as you've done your
three hours, school would finish atfive, so it wouldn't be like you'd
be in school till seven to makeup your three you'd have to get them
(24:00):
done between sort of nine and five. So there was time after schooling that
we had to kill which so we'dbe like in the games room, or
we all had like TVs which wecould watch films. We kind of loved
watching Bridget Jones, so I rememberwatching that quite a few times. Or
there was loads of like game likegames. Yeah. Also they'd bring out
(24:21):
like in the morning at like eleven, and then the afternoon three they'd bring
out like trays of like cakes andstuff like that. I don't know what
I've just thought of that, butI remember I was obsessed with the iced
buns. If you had to likeget there quick to get the good cakes,
so it would be like cakes arecoming soon and you don't really one
hundred percent no know where they're goingto be put down, But if you
weren't quick, then the good stuffwould go. But oh my gosh,
(24:42):
an iced bun during me. Thatwas so good. What was the next
question? So what point did yourealize the franchise was going to be big?
So this question from Ronnie. Yeah, so obviously from the start,
there's there was so much hype aroundHarry Potter right from the start. That's
(25:03):
no surprise the books had done phenomenallywell, and it was you know,
there was excitement around the films,and we kind of, as a child
even knew that because when we werein at Leavesdon filming we were very much
in a bubble. But when wewent out onto location, that's when you
really kind of were aware about howexcited people were about Harry Potter the film
(25:26):
coming out. You know, wewould have to wear long coats basically to
the floor up to our chin,zipped up so like no one could see
anything about our school uniform, ourlike costumes, anything like that. And
I remember like being walking from Ithink it was in Oxford, and I
(25:48):
was with my dad and we werejust I think we're filming the Body and
library and our space was like acrossthe road from where the library was.
Anyway, me and my dad werewalking over to go to set, and
obviously my dad has just like notreally thought about it and started walking in
the wrong direction. So we've startedwalking and then I think after a few
minutes, my dad's obviously realized like, oh, we're not with anybody else.
(26:11):
Now, We've definitely gone the wrongway. I don't know where we're
going. And whilst we were walkingsomebody, a news reporter, a newspaper
reporter, came up with like alittle you know, oh, what's it
called I can't remember, but like, you know, like a tape little
tape recorder thing. What's that calleda dictaphone? So it's called maybe not
And was like trying to ask mequestions like what does it feel like to
(26:32):
go to school with dragons and allthis? Like obviously I didn't say anything.
I was completely startled. I waslike, who on earth is this?
But just looking back, like thingslike that obviously showed and that was
there were obviously loads of like newscrews around and trying to film stuff,
trying to get pictures. And itwas also really funny because they'd get pictures
so many times of us doubles andput them in the newspaper not realizing it
(26:56):
was doubles, and that was alwaysfunny. We'd always have a little laugh
at when they'd get it a bitwrong or say one character was another character
or something like that. But therewas definitely we were aware of like a
presence of people wanting to know likeso much stuff about what we were filming
and what we were doing. Soyeah, and then I guess the things
(27:18):
that changed from the first film.I guess, like, obviously I was
only on the first three, butlike what I know when speaking to other
people is the first film came outand was obviously greatly received. Oh my
goodness, sorry, but I almosthad a heart attack because this just stopped
recording and I thought I'd lost thelast half an hour of me talking.
(27:40):
So I've just been downstairs, hada little fit to my husband, went
to go and rerecord again, thinkingthis is not going to be as good
because I'm just thinking about it toomuch. And then whilst trying to sort
out the storage on my phone becauseapparently that was the reason it wasn't recording,
it actually popped up and I dohave storage on my phone. So
sorry for this little in the middle. But back to what I was saying,
(28:02):
which I believe was something along thelines of So by the time the
third film started filming, there wasthat now the pressure for the films to
keep being as good, and Ithink like that continued the whole way through,
and you know, as you knowwith Harry Potter, there was you
(28:25):
know, a change of directors severaltimes throughout that they all had different approaches,
you know, we always say ChrisColumbus' film is a lot different to
Talfonso's film, which is different toMike Newell's film. Like, you know,
there was this style change, andactually I think looking back for the
better, it kept evolving, movingwith the audience. But every time that
(28:45):
definitely did feel like a gamble oryou know, some sort of gamble.
But I think, like David Haymanis just a true film genius producer and
you know, never made a wrongde decision. So that's kind of how
that changed in terms of how wethought the franchise was being perceived and how
(29:10):
we knew did we know whether itwas going to be big or not.
Again, I'm sorry if this answeris really disjointed and doesn't make sense.
It's because I had a minor breakdownright in the middle emotional scene. Now,
this is really hard because I can't, off the top of my head
think of a scene that was likeemotional for me. But I think one
(29:34):
that I filmed which was an emotionalscene for Dan is when he finds out
that Sirius was like friends with hisparents and he's like in the invisibility cloak
and then like come matin he takesthe invisibility cloak down. It was like
he was his friend. I'm activelybeautifully there, so I'm hoping you know
what I'm talking about. And yeah, that scene I think was like,
(30:02):
you know, it's just sad seeinglike Dan be sad, or like any
actor that you sort of like knowand are friends with, like even though
they're acting being sad. But Ithink why this film like stands out so
much in my mind is because becauseit was an emotional scene, but we
kept like smiling and laughing, andI think it's just because like Hermione's little
(30:26):
hand just like comes up to takethe invisibility click down. I don't know
why that was like cracking us up. And I just remember we had to
like try and keep a straight faceduring filming, but this happened like so
much with any sort of emotional scenewould be exactly when you'd want to be
like laughing and smiling the most.And it's almost like as a child when
you're told not to laugh or toldnot to smile. Not we were like
(30:48):
told not to do that, butobviously in an emotional scene you're not meant
to do that, it makes youwant to do it more so, like
I also remember like hysterically laughing inHagrid's Heart every time around, like the
scenes with Buckbea because about to beexecuted, Like I remember just always wanting
to laugh and us having to startagain a lot because of laughing. You
just see like shoulders like shaking.You know, when you're trying to hold
(31:11):
in a laugh, you can't verballymake any noise. Your whole body is
like vibrating because you're laughing, butyou can't laugh, which then makes you
laugh more. So I feel likeany emotional scenes we had to film were
often the time that we were mostgiggly and probably being the most silly.
And I think there's also like adegree of having to do the emotional scenes
(31:36):
can sometimes be the exposing scenes toyour acting, and like they're being sort
of like nervous laughter around that.Probably less so in the later films,
but definitely at the beginning sort ofdoing emotional acting probably felt like a little
bit exposing. Sometimes the more embarrassingthings to do than if it's just like
(31:56):
the action or the chats or thedrama like that sort of Stuff's a lot
like he doesn't feel as exposing asan actor, but yeah, they pulling
the invisibility cloak off. You canjust see. I'm like, it's like
literally the side of Mini's head andlike her hand just goes up and takes
it. It's like, oh,Harry, uh yeah, that's like sad,
(32:19):
but also like couldn't stop laughing,and also like but Beet, Yeah,
and buck Beep was sad because buckBeak actually was like animatronic and would
like bow its head and would lookand stuff. So you ended up kind
of feeling like this is a realanimal and they're gonna execute it. Like
that sounds so silly, but itdid move and act like a real animal,
and obviously, like we knew thestory, so you're kind of in
(32:42):
love with buck Beak. He's sucha cute character anyway, weird looking but
very cute. So that was kindof emotional, and mouth was like so
horrible, like trying to watch theexecution. Ough. But yeah, those
scenes so those are kind of onesthat stick out in my mind. But
also just to add that that wasprobably when we would laugh the most,
(33:04):
which is very annoying for the crew. And then the last question, which
is hilarious, which is from Lara, who actually is one of my friends.
So it's so funny that she wrotethis in saying did you flirt with
each other? Which, like Isaid, I feel like this is a
question I get asked about a lot, you know, the gossip from the
(33:29):
studios and from when we were filming, And like I said, I kind
of try and swerve it a littlebit because I don't want to say the
wrong thing, and I don't wantto like not out anybody, but like
you just don't want to say thewrong thing. But I mean, we
were children, well, the timethat I was there was very childlike,
very innocent. But yeah, Ithink so. I'm not sure for other
(33:55):
audiences, but if you were atsecondary school in the early two thousands in
the UK, you will probably Imean just it was basically no different from
being at school. So whatever youwere doing at school in terms of like
fancying boys and girls crushes, thatis what it was like working on Harry
(34:16):
Potter. Definitely. Like again,so this is the thing I was going
to say, Definitely, whilst Iwas at school, probably like you're seven
eighty nine, that's sort of solike again, sort of age like eleven,
twelve, thirteen, fourteen, thatsort of age there would be like
this thing called like your top five. I don't know if anyone remembers this,
and I don't know if this isin any other countries other than like
(34:38):
or this is just like a Britishthing where you'd like have like your top
five girls, your top five boys, and you'd often write it on you'd
write a note being like who's yourtop five and you'd write back like that
was very much I think at school. It was kind of like that at
the studios as well, but itwasn't so much like note writing, but
you'd be in hair and makeup andyou'd be telling whoever's doing your hair about
your top three boy and then theywould say, oh, you know,
(35:01):
they would just like love it,like the the people and hair and makeup,
and they'd say, oh, Ithink you might be in their top
three and blah blah blah, andyou know you'd hear that, and I
think you also just go through aphase where you just fancy everybody at one
point. You know, that's changes. Everyone's so fickle, change all the
(35:24):
time. And like I say,we were kids, so there was no
progression other than it being like sillyflirting or telling somebody you like somebody or
somebody telling you that somebody likes youand that sort of thing. So one
story that really sticks in my mindis that one year somebody made a Valentine's
(35:47):
Stay card and sent it to TomElton and I don't know why, and
I don't know how, but itended up that everybody he thought it was
from me and it actually wasn't.So yeah, I feel like for that
film. I think it might havebeen the second film. I feel like
(36:10):
everyone just thought I had this hugecrush on him and I'd made this homemade
valentine Stake card and sent it tohim anonymously. And it's so funny because
actually bumped into Tom this summer whenwe were at a convention together, and
I feel like that was my opportunityto tell him, but he would probably
(36:30):
not remember. But for me,I can't explain it. Like when you're
thirteen, I think like you're mortifiedat the thought of somebody thinking you have
a like crush on them, oryou know, somebody knowing that you fancy
them, Like now, like whocares, like tell people you fancy them?
I'm all about that, you know, asked my husband. I was
very much like I fancy you andchased him down when we first met.
(36:54):
I'm so for that, but atthe time, when you're a child,
that is like the most embarrassing thingthat could ever ever happened to you.
But yeah, like I say,like, but then, like everyone was
hot, Like everyone was cute.You know, Dan, Rupert Tom,
you know, they were all likegood looking boys. So yeah, everyone
(37:15):
did fancy everyone. I would saythe ratios were slightly out of like boy
boys to girls, though there wasn'tas many girl characters, so probably like
as girls, you're a hotter commodityjust through the bat there were no other
girls. But yeah, definitely,like everybody fancied everybody. And then I
(37:37):
feel like the real came because eventhough I didn't do I wasn't hermionees double
on the fourth film. I stillcame back on the fourth film just because
they said I could come back,and I was like part of the Yule
Ball. But when I was there, obviously I got to like go and
see everybody, like who was infilming that scene, and I'd like be
(37:57):
in the canteen with them. Andthat is when Robert Pattinson joined the cast,
and oh my god, he's justlike a dream boat. Like he's
a couple of years older than me, and I just remember having lunch with
him and he told me I looklike somebody and I cannot remember who it
is. I can't remember who itis. Next episode, I'm gonna i'll
(38:20):
remember. I need to google itbecause I cannot remember the exact name,
but I know who he was talkingabout. And he told me I looked
like somebody, and I was like, oh my god, I'm in love
with him. We're going to getmarried. And I feel like every single
girl felt like that about him,and he just like blew us all away.
(38:40):
And yeah, so that's kind ofI mean, that's probably more gossip,
and I feel like maybe you haveto ask me more like specific questions
to jog my memory. But yeah, exactly how it was at school when
you're a teenager fancying people, notfancying people. But also, can I
(39:00):
add that we didn't have phones,Like that's also a bit different, like
when we had the when we startedworking on the first film, Like I
know, sort of ten eleven yearolds have phones now, but like phones
weren't really a huge thing and anythingyou did have was very basic, like
phoning it wasn't like all this textingand stuff like that that did come in
(39:22):
like later, definitely, I rememberclearly on the third film. By that
time, sort of everybody had aphone was texting, and that would kind
of elevated it a bit more.Yeah, so that's kind of a bit
about that that. Yeah, peoplesort of maybe started texting, which added
(39:43):
another, like I said, elementto it. So that's kind of everything
for this bonus episode. I reallywould love feedback on whether you enjoyed this
start episode. Obviously, the regularepisodes will be going out. If there's
not one next week, that's becausenobody listened to this one. But yeah,
(40:07):
kind of hopefully next week will bea bit more polished, as this
is just me rambling as always,but yeah, please keep getting your questions
in. I'm also writing down allthe questions I've been sent, so if
you've sent one and it wasn't answeredthis week, I might answer it next
week. But obviously I just hadto choose. I had to choose five,
(40:28):
So yes, what was the otherthings I was going to say?
Oh, yeah, I want todo this disclaimer that I know this is
crazy, but I've been podcasting forabout three years, but I don't have
a microphone, which is insane.So I am going to get a microphone
(40:49):
this week so the audio quality canbe a bit better for you guys.
I think it's because I do allmy interviews through Zoom, and I just
find that I'm speaking to people whoare very short on time and trying to
organize them. Having a microphone andsorting out the audio, especially when some
of my guests are not like themost up to date with technology, it
(41:15):
just hasn't really worked, so Ijust use the Zoom audio. So I've
never really used a microphone, butI'm going to get a microphone so we've
got good quality audio for you whenit at least comes to the bonus episodes.
So yeah, get your questions in. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I hope you're enjoying the regular series, and I will see you all next week
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