It’s arguable that the Harry Potter films are done so brilliantly that surely nothing went wrong while filming, but the film was actually plagued by a number of disasters.
While filming the eight films with hundreds of cast members coming and going, it’s fair to say countless things went wrong.
From fires, vandalism, drowning, death, scenes going wrong, pranks and a stunt double being left paralysed for life.
Some of the cast have never been the same since and are still in a wheelchair to this day after a tricky scene turned into a real-life horror film.
Here are a few things that went wrong while filming the Harry Potter films.
Stuntman left paralysed
David Holmes was left paralysed after a stunt went wrong (Image: PA)
Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double David Holmes was horrifically left permanently paralysed after a stunt went wrong.
On January 28, 2009, the 25-year-old former gymnast stepped in for Daniel for a tricky flying scene in Deathly Hallows.
The scene required him to be yanked backwards during a controlled explosion but it went horribly wrong and he was thrown to the ground.
David, who was Harry’s stunt double from the very first film, suffered a broken neck and is still in a wheelchair to this day.
Daniel Radcliffe almost drowned before being rescued
Things nearly went so wrong while filming this scene
While filming the underwater scenes in Goblet of Fire which sees Harry take on the deadly Hogwarts waters during the Triwizard Tournament things almost got out of hand.
Daniel ended up having to be rescued by the scuba divers training him after he apparently got the common signals for scuba diving confused.
The young star reportedly was meant to signal that he was ok but accident signalled “I’m running out of air, get me to the surface NOW”.
It was only discovered that it was a false alarm when Daniel was pulled out of the water.
Vandalism of the Hogwarts Express
The Hogwarts Express was vandalised twice
Tragically the iconic Hogwarts Express train which waits for its students on a secret magical platform in London’s King Cross station was vandalised twice during filming.
In September 2003 thugs spray-painted the train with silver and green symbols all over one of the train cars.
The train at the time was stationed at a depot in Scarborough, since they were using it as a tourist train between Scarborough and York when not used by Warner Brothers for Harry Potter filming.
Then again in 2007, it was vandalised once more but sadly the incident was much more violent.
The Leaky Cauldron, a news website for Harry Potter fans, reported that youngsters smashed several windows with the train’s emergency hammers.
Ten teens between the ages of 12 and 14 were arrested for the damage which reportedly cost between £50k and £70k to repair.
11-year-old Emma Watson’s devastating hamster funeral
11-year-old Emma’s hamster Millie died on set
While filming the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Emma Watson was only 11-years-old at the time.
So, of course, when her hamster Millie died during filming she was left devastated on set.
Years later in 2014, Emma spoke about how Millie had a heart attack mid filming but the set team went to the moon and back to give Millie a proper funeral.
During her acceptance speech after winning a Bafta Award for British Artist of the Year, she told the audience how the movie’s department even made a tiny mahogany casket with velvet lining for her fur baby.
Emma told how it even had a silver plaque with “Millie” engraved on it.
The star ended her speech with: “Rest in peace, Millie. This one’s for you.”
Hogwarts caught on fire
The set of Hogwarts caught in fire in Deathly Hallows (Image: Getty Images)
As if filming the final battle scene in Deathly Hallows wasn’t enough, a fire broke out in the Hogwarts set.
A pyrotechnic special effect went awry, catching the actual set on fire.
Thankfully, none of the main cast was present, but 100 crew members were there and it took 40 minutes to put the fire out.
Luckily, the castle that burned was a mocked-up version — in fact, no major damage was caused to the main set, and the fire was out by the time the fire department got there.
A slap Emma, not a full-on decking
Emma was meant to slap her co-star Tom but punched him in the moment instead
One of the most iconic scenes ever filmed for the Harry Potter films is arguably the scene where Hermione Granger punches Draco Malfoy in the face in Prisoner of Azkaban.
During the scene, Hermione yells at him, calling him a “foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach” before she was directed to slap him.
But Emma got a little carried away and ended up punching her co-star in the face – which was captured brilliantly (Sorry, Tom).
Following the scene, Tom Felton said Emma had a “mean hook” and that he walked away with his hearing sort of impaired and his “tail between my legs”.
Who dealt it?
Michael and Alan had a little too much fun filming this scene
It’s almost impossible to picture Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) and Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) pulling a prank but it happened.
While filming the scene in Prisoner of Azkaban which sees the students sleeping on the floor of the Great Hall, Alan and Michael decided to prank the young actors.
According to Cosmopolitan, the pair decided to prank Daniel Radcliffe as Dumbledore walked through the hall with Snap as the students slept.
The scene showed Dumbledore and Snape talking very seriously about the fear of what was coming but while he was walking, Michael had a remote for a fart machine which he let off.
The farting noise reportedly echoed around the hall and due to the nature of the serious scene, no one could stop laughing for quite a while.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
