Harry’s eye-colour is different to the books
One of Harry’s most distinguishing features are the green eyes he inherited from his mother, Lily. However, Daniel Radcliffe’s eyes are bright blue. Easily fixed with a pair of green colour contact lenses, right? Unfortunately not. On his very first day of filming, when they were shooting Harry leaving Hogwarts and saying goodbye to Hagrid, Daniel wore the contact lenses and ended up with streaming bloodshot eyes. While Harry having watery eyes was great for this moving moment, it wasn’t so brilliant for Daniel. It turns out he was having a severe reaction to the lenses. The team tried to digitally alter his eye colour instead – but it just looked fake. From that moment on, the film version of Harry had blue eyes.
Harry’s glasses and the mysterious spots
The green contact lenses weren’t the only eyewear that caused Daniel Radcliffe problems on set. According to Daniel, during the first couple of weeks of filming he started getting ‘terrible spots’. It was his Dad, Alan Radcliffe, who noticed what might be causing them when he saw that they seemed to follow a particular pattern. The spots had formed neat circles around Daniel’s eyes – exactly where his glasses would be. It transpired that Daniel had a nickel allergy, and it was Harry’s iconic glasses that were causing this particular skin issue.
There were some unfortunate practical effects for Fluffy
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Fluffy the three-headed dog was completely created using CGI. While they were for the most part, there were also some fun practical effects that went into Fluffy’s creation. One of these practical features were the giant paws that were built for the actors to use in close-up shots. However, not all the practical effects were so pleasant. Fluffy’s drool was not CGI. It was very real and very gross – and we’d have the same reaction as Ron if we ended up with it dribbling down our shoulder.
Warwick Davis played multiple characters
Warwick Davis did not just play the role of Professor Flitwick in Philosopher’s Stone. If you’re eagle-eyed and sharp-eared you can see him pop up in multiple places. In the first film, he was the bank teller at Gringotts who asked Harry and Hagrid for the key to the Potters' vault. He was also the voice (but not body) of the goblin Griphook. However, as a lot of you have probably spotted, he did go on to embody the whole role of Griphook in the final two films.
Did you spot Hermione’s dentures?
One memorable character trait of Hermione Granger (along with her bushy hair) was her buck teeth. As the production team on the first film were trying to stick as closely as they could to the books, this included Hermione’s teeth. To emulate this a pair of prosthetic teeth were made for Emma Watson. But according to the film’s director Chris Columbus ‘They looked a little silly and they affected her speech’. That didn’t stop them the team from giving them a whirl on the first day of shooting. If you look closely at the final scene of Philosopher’s Stone, you will see Emma Watson in a pair of oversized dentures. It’s safe to say they were quickly abandoned!
Harry’s first Weasley jumper looked a little different
Harry doesn't expect to get any presents on his first Christmas morning at Hogwarts... but he does! One of his gifts is a famous Weasley jumper! However, did you notice that the film version was different to the book description? In the book, his glorious knitwear is described as emerald green and has no letter on the front. In the film, his first Weasley jumper is blue with a large letter ‘H’. Either way, both are brilliant – we certainly wish we had our very own woollen Mrs Weasley creation.
James and Oliver Phelps aren’t natural redheads
Did you know that not all the actors who played members of this flame-haired family were natural redheads? This was the case for James and Oliver Phelps, who had to dye their brown hair ginger to become Fred and George. Though their newly dyed hair did help them to convince their mates that they had been cast as the popular Weasley twins. Oliver has even said that nobody at their school believed them when they initially revealed they were going to appear in Philosopher’s Stone. It was only after they turned up one day with bright red barnets that their peers started to think they were being serious.
Emma Watson didn’t just learn Hermione’s lines
It turns out that Emma Watson shared quite a few similarities with her character Hermione – including going above and beyond when it came to homework. During the first film, not only did she learn her lines, but she also learnt those of the other cast members. Chris Columbus would often have to call cut because Emma would be mouthing the lines of Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint without realising!
Devil’s Snare and the puppeteers
When discussing how to portray the deadly Devil’s Snare on the big screen, filmmakers soon realised that creating it using CGI would be too expensive. Instead, they had to think of a practical way to bring it to life using a combination of puppeteers and camera trickery. Giant tentacles were wrapped around the actors and the hidden puppeteers would make them move and slither off the trio. Then, to make the tentacles appear as though they were enveloping rather than releasing the characters, the film was played backwards.
Richard Harris’s granddaughter convinced him to be Albus Dumbledore
Did you know that Richard Harris almost said no to taking on the role of Albus Dumbledore? It was his granddaughter, Ellie, that stopped him. In an interview, he said that Ellie had called him and said ‘Papa, if you don’t play Dumbledore, I will never speak to you again!’. With such strong views he felt he had no choice and came on board. We know we’re very grateful that she gave him the push he needed!
