15 things you didn’t know about Harry Potter

1. Steven Spielberg was originally approached to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and allegedly wanted to make it an animated movie with Haley Joel Osment voicing the title character.
2. The lead singer of The Stone Roses, Ian Brown, made a cameo in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — he was seen hanging out in the Leaky Cauldron pub.
3. Harry’s eyes in the films weren’t the bright green described repeatedly in the books because Daniel Radcliffe’s eyes reacted badly to the contact lenses.
4. Ian McKellen was offered the role of Dumbledore, but he turned it down.
5. During the filming of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuarón told Daniel Radcliffe to pretend he was looking at Cameron Diaz in a thong when he had to act awkwardly.
6. Helen McCrory was originally cast as Bellatrix Lestrange, but gave up the role after becoming pregnant. Helena Bonham Carter nabbed the part, and McCrory went on to play Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix’s sister.
7. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, one of the posters in the London café Harry, Ron and Hermione apparate to, is for Daniel Radcliffe’s play Equus.
8. Due to the many young cast members, Harry Potter producers had a dentist on standby to fit fake teeth for children who lost milk teeth during filming, to avoid continuity issues.
9. The 40 moving kittens on the plates in Dolores Umbridge’s office were real kittens who all went on to become domestic pets – although many of the new owners were not told about the cat’s acting pasts.
10. More than three thousand girls turned up to audition for the role of Cho Chang in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Katie Leung nabbed the part.
11. Rupert Grint had to be removed from the set during Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson’s kissing scene, because he couldn’t stop laughing.
12. While filming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Tom Felton’s (Draco Malfoy’s) Hogwarts robes had their pockets sewn shut because he kept trying to sneak food onto the set.
13. Director Alfonso Cuaron asked the film’s three main stars to write an essay about their characters to help them understand them before filming. True to their characters, Emma Watson wrote a 16-page essay, Daniel Radcliffe wrote a simple one-page paper, and Rupert Grint never even turned his in.
14. It took six months to teach the many owls used during filming how to carry letters.
15. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson didn’t see the Great Hall until they filmed the Sorting Hat scene — so the shock and awe you see on their faces were real.

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