12 Most Fascinating Harry Potter Movie Facts That Every Fan Needs To Know

“You’re a wizard Harry,” Hagrid says to Harry proudly, standing in the doorway he has just battered down.
“I’m a what?” stutters a nervous-looking, eleven-year-old boy.They were the words that change the whole life of Harry Potter. And we, the reader/movie watcher, start enjoying an enchanting world of awe and mystery.
Just like Harry didn’t know he was a wizard, there are a lot of things most viewers/readers still don’t know about the Harry Potter franchise. Below are the 12 most fascinating facts you might not have known about JK Rowling’s immensely popular series. Let’s scroll down and enjoy!

#1 Emma Watson Didn’t Want To Audition

Source: lifeandstyle

If it was up to actress Emma Watson, she would have never been Hermione Granger at first. The casting team held auditions at schools across the country, and when they got to Emma’s, she had no wish to audition.
It was Emma’s teacher who persuaded her to go for it, and she was the last girl seen that day. Something about her must have grabbed the attention of casting directors because she was directly called back for more screen testing.
Watson must go through a whopping eight(!) auditions before she found out she had bagged the role of Hermione Granger. The actress shared, “I did eight auditions, and I would sit by the telephone in my house and wait for each call.” After the last audition, a photo of Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint surfaced on the internet and the media went crazy. They were the first Harry Potter actors made public.
“They took a photograph of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and me, and it was broadcast on the Internet that we had been cast in Harry Potter.“By the time I got back to my house, there was press waiting outside. We moved straight into a hotel.”

#2 Privet Drive Was Originally Shot On An Actual Street

Source: dailymail

The scenes at Privet Drive were originally filmed on an actual street, named Picket Post Close.
Still, things didn’t go to plan when the cast and crew needed to do reshoots.
The studio ended up having to build similar model houses for future movies because they couldn’t get admission to the house for reshoots.Imagine living on the street where they first shot Harry Potter?!
The real street is located in the quiet village of Bracknell, Oxfordshire and Warner Brothers had to pay residents a large fee in order to get permission to film there.
It was actually cheaper to move production to Leavesden Studios as the people who lived there kept demanding fees for each shoot.In the end, Picket Post Close only appears in the first and fifth movies.Have you ever made a pilgrimage to the birthplace of Harry Potter? Plenty of fans enjoy traveling to the house to try and get a selfie outside Privet Drive!
We’re sure the neighbors love it…

#3 J.K Rowling Was Offered The Role Of Lily Potter

Source: insider

J.K. Rowling could have had a minor part in her own film franchise.The best-selling author herself was offered the part of Lily Potter in the scene where Harry sees his parents in the Mirror of Erised.
Rowling later stated that this was one of her favorite chapters in the books, so producers were convinced that she would accept the role.However, the author turned it down and the part went instead to Geraldine Somerville.
Rowling said that she turned down the role of Lily because she wasn’t cut out to be an actress and was persuaded that she’d mess up the scene somehow. Instead, Somerville did an excellent job in the role so we think everything worked out for the best!
J K Rowling would likely agree too. Instead, she’s kept writing and has gone on to produce several books outside the Harry Potter universe. That's good for her!

#4 Hugh Grant Was Originally Cast As Gilderoy Lockhart

Source: insider

Hugh Grant was originally cast as the dashing wizard, Gilderoy Lockhart. He eventually pulled out, however, because of scheduling conflicts. Jude Law was also invited but it was thought that he was too young at the time to portray the dashing wizard.

#5 Rupert Grint Had A Real Fear Of Spiders

Source: looper

Unfortunately, poor old Rupert Grin is completely scared of spiders, so he found the scenes involving Aragog in the Forbidden Forest seriously traumatizing.
When you see him looking fearful when they go into the forest to meet the giant spider, Grint didn’t act at all. Grint is so frightened of the eight-legged creatures that even thinking about them makes him feel awkward.
In fact, his arachnophobia is so intense that he’s never been able to rewatch the scene where Harry and Ron go and talk to the flesh-eating spider (no one can’t blame him!).

#6 Jason Isaacs Requested That Lucius Malfoy Have Long Hair

Source: bestmovie

Today, we couldn’t imagine Lucius Malfoy without his iconic silver hair. But initially, the character wasn’t considered to have long hair at all.
Once Jason Isaacs was cast in the role, he asked for long hair so that he could be properly distinguished from his silver-haired son, Draco.
Producers accepted the idea and the prop team quickly made a glossy wig.

#7 Ian McKellen Was Offered The Role of Dumbledore

Source: buzzfeed

Veteran actor Richard Harris sadly passed away in 2002.
After the heartbreaking death of Richard Harris, who portrayed Dumbledore in the previous two movies, the role was offered to Ian McKellen.
However, he refused to be the part because Harris had earlier been critical of him as an actor, and he couldn’t take over a part from an actor who didn’t approve of him.
Also, it would have been very confusing to see him as both Dumbledore and Gandalf.
Apparently, Harris had once called veteran actors McKellen, Derek Jacobi, and Kenneth Branagh “technically brilliant but passionless”. Harris was absolutely a hard man to please!
Instead, Michael Gambon took over the role from Harris starting with the Prisoner of Azkaban.
McKellen merely stated, “I couldn’t take over the part from an actor who I know disapproved of me.”

#8 The director asked each of the three lead actors to write a personal essay about themselves

Source: wonderwall

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón had some very interesting ideas about how to coach his actors. When the director first came on set, he wanted to learn about Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson better so he asked them each to write a personal essay about themselves in their respective characters.
Watson started her full-on Hermione mode and wrote a whopping 16-page essay. Meanwhile, Radcliffe tried to copy what Harry would do by writing a straightforward one-page summary of himself. Grint obviously had no problems getting into character because he pulled an iconic Ron move and didn’t bother turning the assignment into Cuarón at all.
It must have helped their relationship because Cuarón’s version of the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of the most famous films in the franchise!

#9 The Actor Who Played Young Voldemort Is Related to Old Voldemort

Source: Pinterest

Remember the scenes with young Voldemort? Hero Fiennes-Tiffin plays a young Voldemort in the movie when Dumbledore comes to visit his orphanage.
This is a fitting casting choice because he is really the nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who portrays Voldemort. Looks like they were keeping things in the family with this one.
Hero’s mom is Martha Fiennes, who is an award-winning director. Seems as though the Fiennes actually love the world of cinema!
Hero is now 25 years old and seems to be pursuing a career in modeling.

#10 Daniel Radcliffe Didn’t Rehearse For The Yule Ball

Source: koimoi

Daniel Radcliffe was undoubtedly one of the busiest actors on set.The notorious Yule Ball scene shows Harry dancing with his date in front of the entire Hogwarts school (plus some other wizarding schools as well).
Most of the actors were given three to 4 weeks of intensive dance training to rehearse for the Ball scene.
Still, Radcliffe had a quite wild schedule during that particular filming period and as a result, the lead actor only managed to squeeze in a measly four days of dance lessons.
That’s also probably why he looks so nervous during the actual scene.Radcliffe really didn’t have to do much acting that day.

#11 Arthur Weasley Was Supposed To Die

Source: wizardingworld

Arthur Weasley almost met a very grisly fate. Rowling initially planned to kill Arthur Weasley after he is attacked by Nagini in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She opted to save him because there were not many good fathers in the book.
She also actually considered killing Ron, but then thought better of it. Instead, Lupin and Tonks kicked the bucket in the last book in an echo of Harry losing his parents in the first wizarding war (Tonks had not long given birth to their son Teddy Lupin).
Teddy was raised by his Grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, with the help of the Potter and Weasley families. However, the loss of the tragic lovers was a hard one for Harry Potter fans to watch. They certainly delivered a great side plot to the main Potter story.

#12 Alan Rickman banned Matthew Lewis and Rupert Grint from going near his BMW

Source: antena3

Rupert Grint and Matthew Lewis got up to several antics on set. But sometimes that ended up annoying their fellow cast members!
In fact, during the filming of the Goblet of Fire, they managed to extremely wind up Alan Rickman.
After Grint and Lewis got into Rickman’s BMW and spilled milkshakes all over the inside of the car, the actor was not amused at all.
In fact, Rickman was so annoyed about his beloved BMW that he banned Lewis and Grint from coming within five meters of the vehicle! Grint also once drew a caricature of Rickman as Snape when they were preparing to shoot a Potions class scene. Grint didn’t realize that Rickman was standing right behind him…
However, Rickman believed it was hilarious and asked Grint to sign the picture so he could keep it. Perfect!