10 Harry Potter Facts Every Fan Should Know

Think you’re a die-hard Potterhead? Have a look at how many of the below facts you didn’t know…

1. There were alternative plans for the film series. Originally, Steven Spielburg was involved in the process and, due to his connections with DreamWorks, there were talks of the franchise becoming an animated series. He also had plans of combining multiple books into one film which, in retrospect, is mad considering The Deathly Hallows had to be split into two!

Source: ToonBarn

2. In 2006, when only four films had been released and JK Rowling was still writin the final book, M. Night Shyamalan expressed how much he wanted to direct The Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, JK and co. decided to stay with David Yates, who’d also directed The Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince. Shyamalan was also in the running for directing The Philosopher’s Stone 10 years prior, but couldn’t commit due to his schedule revolving around his superhero thriller Unbreakable. Although, maybe it’s for the best that Harry wasn’t dead the whole time or an Animagi that turned into a beast underneath a zoo…

Source: CNBC

3. When it came to casting Hagrid, Rowling only had eyes for Robbie Coltrane and he became he first character to be cast. She was adamant about having the James Bond and Cracker star, and even Robin Williams was turned away. However, this was because she’d set a strict ban on American actors as she wanted the whole cast to be authentically British. In spite of this, he was still invited to The Philosopher’s Stone‘s premiere in New York.

Source: Looper

4. Peeves the Poltergeist was actually meant to feature in The Philosopher’s Stone with his part fully cast and filmed. The late comedian Rik Mayall filmed for three weeks, but a month later he was told the part had been cut. Director Chris Columbus says the mischievous character was remitted because he wasn’t happy with the overall look of him. However, Mayall and Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan) said it was because he made the character so hilarious, no other actors could do a scene with him without bursting out laughing.

Source: Change.org

5. Like many others, Rupert Grint auditioned through BBC Newsround, however his submission had a rather strange twist. While everyone else just sent a head shot and some information, he chose to do something a bit different. He sent in a video of himself doing a rap about how much he wanted the part while dressed like his female drama teacher, then performed a short Harry Potter script which he had written himself. Funnily enough, it worked.

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6. Although most of us know about Daniel Radcliffe‘s special effects incident, not many know that Emma Watson was also supposed to wear prosthetics throughout the films. In the book, Rowling had described Hermione as having “large front teeth”, but when Watson was given a fake pair that met the description, it stopped her from delivering lines at all. Rowling had insisted on it until this point, as she said Watson was too pretty to play the geeky role – something that nearly cost her the job during early auditions. The scene they were used in was the closing clip of The Philosopher’s Stone when the trio get on the Hogwarts Express home as this was the first scene to be filmed. If you look closely you can tell.

Source: Seventeen

7. The Philosopher’s Stone changed UK child labour laws as producers contested its lack of flexibility. Before filming, children over 9 could only work for four hours a day, but they petitioned and got the laws changed to five plus a break in the middle. To make up for the lack of time, all facial shots were filmed, and when they went off to do school work, small adult actors wearing wigs would be used.

Source: Girlfriend

8. Grint kept a piece of the broken chess horse from The Philosopher’s Stone. This isn’t surprising as at both 12 and 21 years old, the Ron actor has reiterated how special that part of the the film was for his character. This scene was the first example where we saw Ron take the lead as a strong protagonist. Although, you’d like to think a first year student sacrificing himself for his two friends and the rest of the Wizarding world as we knew it deserves more than just 50 House points…

Source: Hello Giggles

9. Rowling gave Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) secret details about his characters backstory before she’d even written all the books. This helped shape his chilling performances as he knew there was more to him than pure hatred for a boy he’d never met before. In an interview, he said “[It] helped me think that he was more complicated and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought. If you remember when I did the first film she’d only written three or four books, so nobody knew where it was really going except her. And it was important for her that I know something, but she only gave me a tiny piece of information which helped me think it was a more ambiguous route.”

Source: Cosmopolitan

10. Nicholas Flamel was a real-life philosopher and there was a search for a stone…or substance at least. Up until the 1600s, the philosopher’s stone referred to a highly sought-after fictional formula that could supposedly turn cheap, common metals such as iron and tin into silver and gold. It was also rumoured to cure people of illness and make them immortal. In 1382, Flamel believed he’d found the recipe and had changed lead into gold. Although there is no evidence to say what this recipe was, or whether it was true, he did become very wealthy around this time…