Dawn French feared a horny hippo was going to try to mate with her when she filmed Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban.
The actress, 66, played The Fat Lady in the 2004 film and had to get on all fours and hide behind the male hippo in one safari scene. She said she was warned it may “want to sniff your privates” and that if its skin started to “foam” with excitement she must not run.
The handler told her “this hippo may want to mate with you”, she added. The Vicar Of Dibley star told the Off Menu podcast she was “genuinely terrified” after hearing the animal in its trailer. But she was reassured after it was brought on to set and it was actually a pygmy hippo and similar in size to a Labrador dog.
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After deciding that the animal was actually quite cute, the star said she allowed it to sniff her privates. But she was left disappointed because it didn’t start foaming around her. She added: “I failed to ignite the ardour of a pygmy hippo, that’s a fact. I really care about that, still to this day. I failed.”
(Image: Getty Images)
When host James Acaster said that he’d assumed the scene was CGI, French explained: “Oh no, it was a real hippo. I was asked if I was happy to work with animals, and then I was told by the director that there was a hippo. I just said yes because I wanted to be in the film. Didn’t think about it until the day… when I was left in a pen with sawdust.”
The character of the Fat Lady is depicted dressed in finery against a luscious scene in a painting that hangs in Hogwarts and guards the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, the painting is attacked by Sirius Black and pulled off the wall. French then explained that the animal wrangler, who was an “unpleasant man”, had “shouted” at her, telling her that she “must not run” around the animal.
“He said that they were going to be bringing in a live creature. ‘Pay it some respect, stand still, do not run, did I understand?’ He then explained that the script called for a female hippo, but this was a male hippo,” she recalled. The comedian explained that she was “genuinely terrified” until she saw the animal. “It was the size of a labrador,” she explained. “The word they had all neglected to use concerning the hippo was pygmy. It was a pygmy hippo.”
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
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In addition to starring in the real Harry Potter films, Dawn also spoofed the fantasy franchise the following year in a 2005 Comic Relief special. She starred alongside comedy partner Jennifer Saunders in the sketch special, titled Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
