It has been 20 years since JK Rowling’s movie debut, and Warner Bros. is celebrating its anniversary. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Progenitor directed by Chris Columbus. An epic and fascinating adventure that has not lost its charm as a cinematic introduction to the magical world created by Rowling two decades later. For obvious reasons, an introduction to the subject of a problematic but interesting production process, we would like to evoke here with some Curiosity In processing.

1. Missing character

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, on the whole, is the most trusted film in the franchise of the original novel, with very few wounds. One of them was the character of Peeves, a porter who harassed students and staff at Hogwarts. It was only at the film premiere that he found English comedian Rick Myle selected for the episode, which was completely omitted from the final cut. In a subsequent interview, Mayal said he did not particularly like the feature.With all due respect … Actually, without respect, that movie is bad.“In addition to the injury, there was also humiliation: the actor’s children, returning home from the movie, praised him for not really recognizing his character’s role, and they thought it was Hagrid.

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2. No Americans, please

At JK Rowling’s insistence, all actors must be British or, as in the case of Richard Harris, Irish (or, in later films, nationalities as described in the books for characters from other countries). However, there are some exceptions to the rule in the first film: Zoe Vanmaker, who plays an American flight teacher, but has lived in England since childhood (gained a lot of citizenship in the same year it was shot in 2000. The first episode of the saga), while Chris Columba, the Hogwarts student director who appears briefly without speaking. Eleanor is Columbus (the main reason he wanted to make the film). Finally, the Unci-Unci elf is physically played by Vern Troyer, while the voice is by the Englishman Warwick Davis, who appears as Professor Flitwick. In the last two chapters of the Unci-Unci return saga, the role is completely given back to Davis.

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3. Important Notes

After reading a copy of the novel in his daughter’s possession, Chris Columbus asked his agent to make him the last director to speak to Warner Bros. for work. To prepare, he created a commentary version of the script along with all of his ideas for the film, and spent 45 minutes in a meeting with Warner executives explaining his views on the franchise. Recalling what happened in a recent interview, Columbus thinks he was influenced by the studio’s choice to rewrite the entire script without being paid to show how careful he was in directing the film.

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4. Symbolic positions

The interiors of Hogwarts were mainly based on a few buildings in Oxford, and allowed the construction of the famous university to depict certain scenes on the site. In particular, the Forbidden Section of the Library is located inside the original Bodleian Library, where Columbus and his associates were the first in history to obtain the use of the generally prohibited candles and / or lamps. The condition of churches and cathedrals was different, and some were denied entry because of the content of the novel. After the success of the film, it was very easy to get permission for the subsequent episodes.

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5. An important dinner

J.K. Although he was Rowling’s first choice, in Columbus’ opinion, Alan Rickman was reluctant to accept the role of Severus Snape because he was tired of portraying negative characters. To convince him, the author invited him to dinner and told him the whole story of Snape, in which everyone else (including the producers and screenwriter) remained in the dark until 2007, when the seventh and final book came out. Rickman used to reply on set. “trust me“When asked by the director why he decided to act, another of Sneap’s candidates was Tim Roth, who signed the third in the Planet of the Apes, and did not seem to be going back and forth to California or London.

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6. The right screenwriter

Under the agreement, JK Rowling had the right to veto the scripts (as not all books were printed at the time, so any changes would require author approval) and who would write them. Steve Kloves, who got the job, was able to convince her that her favorite character was Hermione. Another candidate was Michael Goldenberg, whose version made the producers very happy and called him for a fifth film as Kloves was not available due to other commitments. Also, Rowling herself made a contribution in the first episode: the flashback she shows writing about killing Harry’s parents is because the novels published until that moment did not describe in detail what happened.

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7. Another Dumbledore?

Before giving the Albus Dumbledore part (he died before the release of the second film) to Richard Harris, who was reluctant to do so because of health problems, the production contacted Patrick McGuhan, who turned down an interest but was not well. He also basically said goodbye to live-action roles (he starred in a few episodes of Colombo that aired in 2000, and then retired completely after making a noise on Treasure Planet, which was released in 2002). If he admits, since McGuhan died in 2009, a second actor would have been needed for the last two episodes. After Harris’ disappearance, Richard Attenborough officially retired but was ready to return to the front of the camera and actively suggested. In the role of Dumbledore.

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8. Radcliffe at all prices

Today it’s hard to imagine anyone else replacing Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, but it seemed impossible to get him at first because his parents opposed the idea. However, Columbus wanted this young actor, to bitterly argue with casting agent Susie Figgis, as she had other candidates, and the director’s stubbornness endangered the production. She left the project and hired different people for subsequent films depending on the individual title. Radcliffe openly admitted that he initially thought he would not continue in the role of Harry until the end, and so did Emma Watson. Of the three heroes, only Rupert Grint has not thought about leaving the franchise.

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9. Everything is in order

Every effort was made to meet the three main actors who never really used the working methods of a major production, and to film their scenes over time, which is very rare on a blockbuster set, as the calendar usually depends on availability. Individual locations. And / or actors. There are two notable exceptions: the final sequence was filmed first because of the physical presence of the train, and the Quidditch match was postponed to the end of filming because it took months to figure out exactly how to bring the magicians’ favorite sport to life. Screen ..

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10. Date change

Warner’s intention was to release the film in US theaters on July 4, 2001, as filming took place between September 2000 and March 2001. To give up, the main film postponed its release to November, which turned out to be a franchise-friendly period (four of the eight films were released that month and the other four were released in June-July). However, the scheduled date for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets remained unchanged, and filming began the next day for the progenitor premiere. From the third episode onwards, it was decided to spend more than a year between one film and another, to meet the needs of the cast and crew.