Get ready to Return to Hogwarts – as the Harry Potter 20th anniversary special airs today (January 1)
It sees Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson travel back to Hogwarts to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise’s first installment, The Philosopher’s Stone.
They will be joined by other cast members from the eight films, including Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, and Gary Oldman.
So take a trip down memory lane as Nadine Linge casts a spell with 15 things you never knew about the films…
*Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is available to watch on Sky and Now TV from today.
15 Harry Potter facts you didn’t know
(Image: Warner Bros.)
- Potter author JK Rowling sold the rights to Warner Bros for $1million, with the stipulation they could only make films based on her existing stories and only British and Irish actors would be cast.
- Steven Spielberg passed on directing the films, while Chris Columbus got the job due to his success working with child actors on Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire.
- Daniel Radcliffe played Harry and throughout the series he broke 80 prop wands, got through 160 pairs of specs and had to have the make-up for his forehead scar applied 5,800 times.
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- The first film sees him receive a flood of letters inviting him to Hogwarts via owl – and the production team hand-wrote every one. It took six months to train the owls.
- Rupert Grint tried out for Ron Weasley after seeing the auditions advertised on CBBC’s Newsround, while Emma Watson was referred for Hermione by a teacher.
- The second film, The Chamber Of Secrets, sees Dobby the House Elf make his first appearance. Russian lawyers threatened a lawsuit against Warner Bros, claiming they based the character on Vladimir Putin.
(Image: Press Association)
- Hugh Grant was initially set to play Gilderoy Lockhart but had to pull out, while Robson Green was the original choice for Sirius Black, eventually played by Gary Oldman.
- The young extras who played Hogwarts students were reportedly encouraged to do their real homework while filming, to provide realism.
- Rowling was offered the part of Lily Potter, but she turned down any cameos as she felt she was not cut out to be an actor.
(Image: Reuters)
- Rik Mayall and Paul Whitehouse both filmed scenes as Hogwarts ghosts but were left on the cutting room floor – although their scenes are available on DVD extras.
- Shirley Henderson was aged 36 when she first played Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a 16-year-old girl.
- In The Prisoner Of Azkaban movie, Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown makes a cameo appearance as a wizard in the Leaky Cauldron.
(Image: Getty Images)
- The Harry Potter books are set in the 1990s but the sixth film, The Half Blood Prince, begins with Death Eaters destroying the Millennium Bridge, which opened in 2000.
- The Butterbeer that Harry, Ron and Hermione drink in The Three Broomsticks pub is orange J2O, topped up with fake foam.
- When the film series started, the books hadn’t been finished. The only person Rowling told what was going to happen to their character was the late Alan Rickman, left, who played Severus Snape.
*Watch Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts on Sky and Now TV from January 1.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
