HEYMAN: When I read the first book, it hadn't yet been published...
...and I had no idea that it would become this.
GRINT: The books were huge and it was quite a daunting thing...
...because obviously you wanna get it right for everyone.
COLUMBUS: I was willing to do anything. If they wanted me to sing and dance...
...I would have tried that if it meant that I had the opportunity to direct the movie.
In those days, I was just a kid who had no idea what she was doing.
I was proud I got a part, it wasn't, "I got the part of Harry Potter."
It was like, you know, "I've got a part."
I had no idea what I was getting into.
MAN 1: Roll, please.
MAN 2: Rolling. MAN 3: And speed.
"Creating the World of Harry Potter." Take one.
COLUMBUS: Set and action.
When you begin the process of making any film...
...there are innumerable decisions that one has to make.
Decisions about the script...
...who your director is gonna be, who are gonna play the parts.
Who your cameraman and production designer is gonna be...
...who your costume designer and visual-effects supervisor is gonna be.
All those decisions are absolutely pivotal...
...to making the film that you, as a producer...
...and the directors/director want to make.
And I feel we've been very lucky that at the very beginning...
...that we made some pretty good decisions...
...that have held us in good stead as the series has developed.
COLUMBUS: The first day of filming was at the train station...
...and I just remember being incredibly nervous.
I didn't sleep the night before.
That night, I felt all of the intense pressure of what I was about to do.
And I thought, "If I fail, everyone in the world will hate me forever."
So it's not that much pressure.
COLUMBUS: Do the sunglasses help with contacts?
RADCLIFFE: Yeah, I'm gonna take them off.
Excellent, that's good. That's a good idea. Keep it on at all times.
RADCLIFFE: I will. MAN: How are you doing, Dan?
HEYMAN: We filmed the last scene of the first film...
...the kids saying goodbye to Hagrid.
It was incredibly exciting.
I was like, "Oh, my goodness, here we are."
MAN 1: One sixty-five, take one. A and B cameras common mark.
COLUMBUS: Set. MAN 2: Okay, and background action.
COLUMBUS: Action!
COLUMBUS: A lot of what happened on that first day is a blur.
But I remember getting to the set very, very early.
Probably an hour and a half before I had to be there...
...just so I could be more awake and more alert.
I felt the earlier I got there the better chance I had...
...of creating some magic in the scene.
And when I saw Dan that first day, he was very nervous as well.
It was slightly nerve-wracking.
I was terrified...
...mainly because that day, there were loads and loads of extras...
...and it was the prospect of them all knowing who I was.
Which was quite frightening. I'm trying to blend in. "Where is he?"
MAN: Door. The door.
It was so long since you last reminded me, you see.
MAN: All right, once again, right away.
I'd done a little bit of acting before, and Emma and Rupert had done nothing.
-Now just-- -So I listen to him?
-Yeah. -Walk in?
WATSON: Never stepped on a film set in my life. Never acted professionally before.
You walk on to this set with hundreds of crew.
It's not easy. I thought it would be so much easier.
I thought it would be, you know, sort of couple of takes.
COLUMBUS: That's good, Rupert. Okay.
MAN: And background. COLUMBUS: Action.
GRINT: I remember being quite nervous for my first scene.
None of us were experienced when we started.
And it was quite a scary world to come into.
My first day, I was in Goathland, on location. At the train station.
And I was really nervous...
-...but it turned out it was quite cool. -Come on, Dan.
We all go to the other end of the platform.
-Dan, Rupert, please. WOMAN: Dan.
HEYMAN: That first day, we were trying to get Dan's eyes to be green.
That's what they are in the book. Dan was wearing contact lenses.
WOMAN: You look there.
But he was allergic to them and ultimately we made the decision to remove them.
But for the first day, we tried to work through it.
So for the last scene, when he's saying goodbye to Hagrid...
...you can see that almost his eyes tearing...
...and his eyes are a little bit swollen.
Thanks, Hagrid.
HEYMAN: And it feels like he's about to cry.
He probably was but he never complained and we removed the contacts...
...and he's never had green eyes since.
COLUMBUS: In the book, Hermione has buck teeth.
And we were obsessed with making Emma more Hermione-like.
So in the very first scene that we shot in the film, Emma is wearing fake teeth.
Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?
But we realized after the first day of dailies that we could not do that...
...for the entire course of the picture.
And we were able to cut it in a way that you really can't tell but they're there.
If you look closely enough, she's wearing false teeth in that scene...
...to make her more Hermione-like.
Come on, Harry.
COLUMBUS: It's almost like you wanna be down here, over Hagrid.
We're making more of a definite move...
...as Harry comes to board, we can stop over.
RADCLIFFE: On the first day of filming...
...it actually sunk in that I'm playing Harry Potter...
...and I realized, "Okay. Okay, this isn't a dream anymore.
This is real life."
Early on in the process, I felt that the picture needed to be purely British.
And so the entire casting process began...
...with thousands of casting tapes we received.
And then we met every potential child actor...
...any kid who had done a school play and wanted to be in Harry Potter...
...we met in England.
WATSON: I was about 9 when I started auditioning.
I was already a very big fan of the books...
...when this rumor started going around in my school...
...that there were these auditions for Harry Potter.
They were coming to school.
My schoolteacher, called Mr. Hancock, who's now left...
...got, I think a note, a letter, saying, "If there's any kids in the school...
...that you think could act in the Harry Potter film...
...would you mind them auditioning?"
And then I had to go through a lot of auditions.
When I was reading the books, I always felt quite a connection to Ron.
I was watching Newsround...
...and they told us how you could audition for the Harry Potter film.
And they said that you could send in a form and a photograph of yourself.
So I did that and sent it in there...
...and a month went by and still nothing happened...
...so I was on the Internet...
...and found out this one boy sent in a video of himself...
...reading out of a little script, from the book.
So I put together this little video thing...
...and sent that off and then I got an audition.
It was quite strange because-- Especially in, like, the canteen, there was like...
...about 20 other ginger people that sort of looked quite similar to me.
So it was quite scary as well because I've never auditioned before.
It was quite a new thing as well.
We narrowed down each role to about...
...four or five kids that we screen-tested.
So in terms of Emma Watson, she was phenomenal.
The camera loved her.
She had Hermione's sense of humor.
She was sharp as a whip for an 11-year-old girl.
We had a couple of screen tests where I had to learn lines.
No, I don't say they were hard.
No, they were quite enjoyable actually.
Seeing Emma Watson's screen test...
...we were all in agreement that Emma was Hermione.
For Rupert, for Ron Weasley, same sort of situation happened.
He immediately popped off the screen.
Rupert is a very shy kid...
...but he had this devilish, mischievous quality...
...and he had a face that I have never seen before.
I mean, he was just unique...
...and his face was a wealth of all these emotions.
He had a wonderful sense of humor.
But also, a real sense of soul.
He really felt like he was one of the Weasley children.
And we all fell in love with him for Ron Weasley.
So we'd sort of found our Ron and Hermione...
...but we were becoming increasingly nervous...
...because we had a film called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...
...and we didn't have Harry Potter.
We began looking in November of 1999 before we had a director...
...and it was quite scary.
Because here we were in July...
...and we were shooting in September and we didn't have Harry.
There was a sense of pressure because everybody was talking about it.
The press was writing about who's gonna play Harry Potter.
The studio was on the phone, "Have you found him yet?"
Our casting director was going crazy trying to find him.
It was interminable...
...you know, looking and looking and looking and not finding.
After we had looked at countless tapes and seen countless kids...
...I remember popping in a tape of David Copperfield.
And I saw Dan's scene and I thought:
"This kid really has the potential to be Harry Potter."
But there was really a general reluctance from the parents.
My mom and dad said, "No.
You know, that's far too much of an upheaval of his life.
So he-- You know, Dan-- Not--
We can't let that happen."
And one night, I went to the theater with Steve Kloves.
David Heyman sat in the row in front of us...
...at a production of a play called Stones in His Pockets.
And I looked up and there was Alan Radcliffe...
...who was an agent at ICM, who I knew.
And I said, "How are you?" "Great."
And then next to him was Marcia, his wife.
And the boy at the end was his son, Daniel.
So I went and sat down in the row in front...
...and I paid very little attention to the play.
I was always looking at my-- Over my shoulder at the boy behind.
And he just had this quality which was an old soul in a young body.
I noticed David Heyman turning around to me every so often...
...and I was like, "Who's that man?"
And then in the interval, he came up, him and Steve Kloves came up...
...and they introduced themselves.
My dad just went, "Okay, maybe--"
He saw it as a sign, like, I don't believe in that kind of stuff particularly...
...but he-- They took it as a sign that it was somehow meant to be.
And so they let me audition.
COLUMBUS: Two, three and action.
That's a dragon egg.
-What is it? -That's what that it.
-What is that? -Dragon egg.
I remember I auditioned, it was a whole scene about a dragon egg in the first film.
I think Chris Columbus broke a real egg...
COLUMBUS: Oh. Uh-oh. -...and made me laugh.
COLUMBUS: Dan's screen test was amazingly charming and soulful...
...and he was inexperienced as an actor.
One thing Dan had that you couldn't teach anyone...
...which was this sort of haunted quality.
If you heard your Mom screaming like that just about to be killed...
...you wouldn't forget in a hurry.
COLUMBUS: I just saw it in his eyes in more serious moments.
And that was the moment I think that we all felt...
...when we saw that screen test to hire Dan as Harry Potter.
COLUMBUS: Excellent.
Dad comes in and says:
"I've just spoken to David Heyman and you've got the part."
And I cried and I was in the bath.
MAN: Why did you cry?
I-- No, I cried with happiness.
So we ended up with our three, and I don't think we could have done better.
Three of them together, just perfect.
They really felt like the characters had jumped from the book.
I checked this out first term for a bit of light reading.
-This is light? -Shut up.
RADCLIFFE: First time I actually met Rupert and Emma...
...I think we'd done our screen test together.
But I still didn't know who'd got the part, and then--
And then when it was announced we got the part...
...was the first time we met properly.
This is Dan and Rupert on the day that they got the job.
We brought all three of them here and they came into my office.
The last time we came in I thought was another audition.
But they took us to the producer's-- David Heyman's office.
David Heyman tried to make it-- Tried to go into a great big paragraph...
...and then Chris Columbus just came out with it and said:
"We want you to-- We want to cast you as Ron and Hermione in the film."
And I just stood there looking blank at them for about five minutes...
...until it really sunk in. I was like, "Oh, my God."
I just stood there. I thought, "No. This is all a dream. Pinch me."
It was a complete shock. It was so unexpected.
But it was just-- It was just such a cool day.
Here's them being photographed on that first day.
RADCLIFFE: I remember very little about it.
I remember Terry O'Neill, I believe, was the photographer...
...who took the first photos of us. He continually referred to us...
...as the ginger boy, the one with glasses and the girl.
Because, of course, nobody knew our names then.
WATSON: I look back on those photographs now...
...and I feel like that's a different person.
I feel like I don't know that girl.
It's really strange. So much-- So much has happened since that day.
[KIDS CHATTERING]
Josh.
HEYMAN: Working with children, you have them...
...for nine and a half hours a day.
There's three hours for education, an hour for lunch...
...15-minute breaks every hour.
So ultimately, you end up shooting scenes with children...
...for around four hours a day. That's not very much.
And it necessarily means that our schedule is longer.
You know, the longest shoot I had done was 11 weeks.
And suddenly we were on for 11 months.
Set and action.
JAMES: I'll never forget that set...
...kind of in the middle of nowhere in northern England...
...just thinking I've never been so nervous all my life.
Because you got the big steam train, all the lights.
-Hundreds of extras. -Hundreds of extras, hundreds of crew.
We kind of thought, "Is this what every film is like?" where you've got...
...thousands of crew, or thou-- You know.
Like, most films last about six weeks, not nine months.
-This way, first years. Come on now. HARRY: Hi, Hagrid.
RON: Whoa.
I thought the kids had experience...
...because they seemed completely unfazed by--
I mean, walking on to a big film set is a scary thing...
...if you're expected to do something when they shout, "Go now."
As an adult, it doesn't get any less scary, really, the first day.
They just seemed completely cool to it all.
Can you say, "Hey, Hagrid," a little earlier?
-As soon as he says, "Hey, Hagrid--" -But I thought--
COLUMBUS: A little higher on the lamp, Robbie.
And action.
All right now. First years, this way.
HEYMAN: Robbie Coltrane was Jo's idea.
Because we wanted somebody to play Hagrid...
...who we knew could be tough and dangerous...
...but at the same time was warm and vulnerable and very funny.
And Robbie is all those things.
Right then, follow me.
COLTRANE: There was just no question of not doing it. You knew it was--
So long as they were true to the book, it was going to be wonderful.
MAN 1: Live shooting.
-Okay, roll sound. MAN 2: Clip.
COLUMBUS: Okay, class, listen to me. Welcome to your fist flying lesson.
I want you to raise your hand over the broom.
COLUMBUS: For the flying lesson, I remember saying action...
...and half of the kids started performing...
...the other half of the kids are staring into space.
We had to stop and I said, "You know, 'action' means we start shooting."
And I thought to myself, "Oh, my. This is the beginning of a very long shoot."
-Peter, everybody's moving on "action." -I'll be right back.
MAN: Rupert, go to your left.
Other left.
COLUMBUS: I don't think any of the kids will disagree with me...
...when I say that they were extremely inexperienced...
...in terms of being on a film set and doing film acting.
LINDSAY -STEWART: They had to cast a lot of children for Harry Potter 1...
...and Chris and David were just as meticulous casting for students...
...as the other roles.
One of the great things was when auditioning the children...
...you didn't have to explain the characters...
...because they knew them better than I did.
LEWIS: I was just such a fan of the story.
I wanted to dress up like a wizard...
...I wanted to go to Hogwarts and I knew the best way would be...
...to get a part in the film.
And it was nothing to do with my career at the time.
It was just a little boy wanting to be in Harry Potter.
When I first started, we shot a scene where Neville's broomstick takes off--
I had read it in the script but-- I don't know.
I had no idea what to expect, you know? I'd never done anything like that.
COLUMBUS: Hold on. Start at the beginning.
Still rolling, switch your hands.
Matt, right. Remember, look to your right.
Look down. Be really scared and hover.
LEWIS: To come have Stunt Department...
...put you in a harness, strap you to a broomstick...
...flying around on this roller-coaster-type thing.
COLUMBUS: Cut.
And they call it work. It was-- It was brilliant.
All right. Shooting the plate. Please, stay back.
ENOCH: I remember the first time when we went on location.
I think it was to Alnwick. And we were awful.
That's what I've gotta think. We were messing around all the time.
Aah. Help me.
ENOCH: Just imagine having a massive group of 11-year-old kids...
...running about, trying to keep them controlled.
And I feel bad for all the people. They're trying to make a film.
We thought we're on a holiday camp. We were having a great time.
MAN 1: Okay. MAN 2: All right, checking eight.
ENOCH: My great lament is that we don't really do many locations anymore.
CRAIG: There's a great deal more location in Harry Potter 1 and Harry Potter 2...
...than there isin 4, 5, 6, and 7.
That's because, in the beginning, the time we were given...
...we couldn't possibly build all this.
The first person hired was Stuart Craig.
Because this world had to be created.
CRAIG: Honestly, your first reaction is fear.
I thought, "Oh, my God. How can I possibly do this, really?"
COLUMBUS: Starting with Stuart Craig...
...was one of the best decisions that we made on those pictures.
And Stuart's just a genius.
He really has brought Hogwarts and Jo's universe to life.
It is his creation.
When we first began this whole series of films, Harry Potter 1...
...we met Jo Rowling...
...and had loads of questions, masses of questions to ask.
And this was in fact her layout, drawn at a hotel dining table, of Hogwarts.
All the major ingredients, the Dark Forest you see there...
...the castle, the Quidditch pitch, the Black Lake, Hogsmeade.
Everything is on there, the complete world.
Without that little hand-drawn map...
...I would never have got to grips with it in the way that we did.
It was-- It was the most terrific gift.
Boom! Goes up, up, and then back down, Back over here--
You're going too far up that way. Okay, cut.
COLUMBUS: Everyone working on the film was committed...
...to finding a way to make the material...
...not only cinematic but also a magical, faithful retelling of the first book.
Hand out, Dan. Freeze in that position. Sean, same with you, don't move.
And action.
COLUMBUS: David Heyman was a wonderful collaborator...
...and very passionate about the film.
I think that's why David and I got along so well.
There was nothing else in our minds except making a great film.
HEYMAN: Chris was incredibly good to me.
I think he respected my passion for the material.
He respected that I was there before anybody...
...he respected that Jo and I had a very good relationship.
But there are many people in his position who would've cast me aside.
At that time I was a young producer and what the director said went.
Chris wasn't having any of that.
Not only did he keep me around but he was very supportive...
...and I learned an awful lot from him.
COLUMBUS: Cut.
David and I had the same vision for the films.
And that vision being that the first film...
...was more of this wonderful sort of rich version of Hogwarts...
...this storybook world that we were creating.
Then as we got into Chamber of Secrets...
...the facade starts to chip away a little bit...
...and we got darker with each film.
CRAIG: That question of what is this world, what does it look like...
...you always start with the novel...
...because J.K. Rowling talks about the great antiquity of the world.
I immediately thought, "Where would you go on location?
What exists from that era?"
Well, there are bits of Oxford and bits of Cambridge, some of those colleges.
And also a bit of great Gothic European cathedrals.
COLUMBUS: We were able to go to various churches...
...and universities throughout England and create the whole world.
CRAIG: The creating of the castle carried with it this inherent problem...
...of mixing real locations with bits that we had designed.
Given that real locations are often disappointing.
They're full of bits that don't quite fit the story that you're trying to tell.
So it's the blending of these two worlds. And I found that very difficult.
And I think, in some respects, I have to say, we failed.
And I'm thinking specifically of the exterior of Hogwarts.
When it was all put together...
...it didn't amount to a really successful iconic silhouette...
...which is you want it to work on this kind of simple level.
What has happened since then on all the subsequent movies...
...we have slowly improved the silhouette of those things.
We've taken away some of the real locations.
Alnwick was a featured part in 7. There's less--
So it was Stuart who's reshaped and rebuilt Hogwarts...
...as the films have developed to become more to his liking, I think.
COLUMBUS: Rupert, hold your head up. Dan, eyes a little wider.
-"He's gone?" Look to them. RADCLIFFE: Yeah.
"This is about the Sorcerer's Stone." Just a little faster. Head up. Eyes wider.
She just told you he's gone. Action.
RADCLIFFE: He's gone? This-- But this is important.
Once more. You gotta look to them. "He's gone?" Head up. Head up.
COLUMBUS: In the early days I had to find a way...
...wrangling these kids to deliver some sort of performance...
...because they couldn't have been any greener.
Chris, I need to go to the bathroom.
WATSON: It's a lot harder than everyone thinks.
And there are 50 billion, trillion, million things going on at the same time...
...that you have to think about.
Like hitting your marks, getting your line right at the right time...
...making sure you step into the light so that the face doesn't shadow you...
...all that kind of stuff.
He's gone? Now? But this is important!
This is about the Philosopher's Stone.
COLUMBUS: Okay. Still rolling. Hold your head up.
When you find out that he's gone, this is the worst thing that could happen.
That means you're dead.
MARK: In the first movie, I always, you know, laughed and said:
"We should put a camera on Chris."
Because what the kids' performance was...
...was a reflection of what he was doing and bringing out.
Stronger. "He's gone. But this is important." Set and:
RADCLIFFE: Should we go from, "He's gone"?
Yeah. And action.
HARRY: He's gone? But this is important!
This is about the Sorcerer's Stone.
Don't take a pause between "this is about" and "the Sorcerer's Stone."
-Eyes wide. Stronger. Action. HARRY: He's gone?
HEYMAN: Chris was so wonderful with them.
He often had to, "Chin up, Dan."
Head up, Dan. Head up, even higher.
-"Rupert, stop smiling." -No, do not smile.
"Emma, look this way."
You guys should look at each other after, "He's gone?" Okay?
Somebody said that the difference between children and children on a set...
...is that children on a set actually do do what you tell them to do.
HARRY: That was no stranger Hagrid met. It was Snape.
Which means he knows how to get past Fluffy.
-And with Dumbledore gone-- -Good afternoon.
Alan Rickman was so fantastic, I was freaked.
You ought to be careful.
People will think you're...
...up to something.
I was constantly having to remind myself that it was:
"It's only a film, it's only a film, it's only a film. Nothing's real."
But it was terrifying.
[COLUMBUS LAUGHING]
It is great.
COLUMBUS: Alan Rickman to me was always Snape...
...because Jo Rowling showed me some early drawings.
She'd done the sketch of Snape and looked just like Alan Rickman.
He was a little reluctant because he's done...
...this particular type of villain in the past...
...so he didn't wanna be typecast as this villain.
So David and I took Alan to dinner to convince him he had to play the role.
And I remember the car ride through London with David driving...
...with Alan sitting in the front seat and me sitting in the back...
...and David almost got in a car accident.
And I remember saying, "David, don't kill us before Alan says, 'No.""
You know, because we just expected him to say no.
But for some reason, two days later he came back and said yes.
I don't think I had much choice in the matter.
Lots of godchildren, nephews and nieces were not only excited, I think insistent.
HARRY: He knows how to get past Fluffy.
-And with Dumbledore gone-- -Good afternoon.
RICKMAN: When you see this movie...
...you're not going to see all of these huge mechanics...
...and the months of editing...
...you're just going to watch a close-up on two little boys and a little girl's face...
...at the center of the story and unless that reads the film won't work.
COLUMBUS: Dan, remember doing that scene, keep your head up.
Rupert, don't smile.
And, Emma, don't put your head up forward. Action.
COLUMBUS: A problem in the early days and the problem all the kids had...
...was this sense of total delight at being there...
...so they could never stop smiling even if it was a serious scene.
COLUMBUS: And action.
GRINT: Me and Dan both have this giggling problem.
And I remember Alan Rickman, in the first one, told me to relax my face...
...and just not think of anything.
[LAUGHING]
GRINT: Sorry. Sorry. COLUMBUS: Cut.
It didn't really work, to be honest. But yeah, he tried.
MAN 1: Take 10. A camera. MAN 2: B camera.
MAN 3: C camera.
-All right. Set. COLUMBUS: Set and action.
MARK: In the early days you might do 10 takes.
You might be lucky to get the one you really wanted once.
COLUMBUS: Cut. Emma. WATSON: What? What did I do?
Then they might go off to school and you might not get it.
So definitely we would run three and four cameras.
-A camera. COLUMBUS: Okay, guys.
I don't want you to seem as if you know she's coming, okay?
-Keep reading. Dan, are you reading? RADCLIFFE: Yeah.
It was important for me to always have a camera on one of them...
...in case one of them was coming down off of a chocolate rush...
...or they lost their energy or were getting tired...
...or were looking into the camera. There were a million things going on.
COLUMBUS: And, guys, you're interested.
Rupert, you shouldn't be laughing...
...when you find out that Dan's gonna potentially be killed by Snape.
And the key was, for cinematographer, John Seale...
...was shooting multiple cameras...
...because I never knew when the kids were going to deliver...
...the performance that I needed.
-The Sorcerer's Stone. COLUMBUS: Guys, you're laughing.
So if you look at the first film you'd see it's very cutty.
In other words we cut to a close-up of a kid and then I cut away to someone else.
We were incapable of getting an entire scene in context.
So John's philosophy of shooting three cameras basically helped me...
...to obtain a performance here and a performance here...
...unlike any other way I'd shoot a movie, it's almost documentary-style.
And John really knew how to do that.
And I had always admired his work...
...and this was a really golden opportunity for me to work with him.
COLUMBUS: And action.
The overall look that Chris and I talked about...
...was retaining a magic of Hogwarts.
And then, of course, the adventures within it.
We wanted the drama that is written into the books.
We didn't want to lose that.
We didn't want to make it too sort of glossy and open.
So it was a very delicate balance...
...between making it a reality film and a magical film.
And I hope we've done it.
RON: Made it!
COLUMBUS: All right, guys, I want everyone...
...to focus on Professor McGonagall.
Listen to everything she says.
COLUMBUS: What we needed from McGonagall...
...was someone that you were intimidated by...
...but someone who had a real sense of warmth and heart.
And that's exactly who Maggie is.
I thought, "This is perfect for McGonagall."
And move, Maggie.
You meet her in the beginning...
...where they're walking up the stairs, she was intimidating.
I mean, she was intimidating to the crew...
...because she's so smart, she's so brilliant.
And the kids could sense that. But that was good.
At that point she was the disciplinarian.
Everybody should be looking at her, in awe of her.
MAKOVSKY: I have to say, a lot of good ideas...
...came from Dame Maggie from our first fitting.
She wanted to be Scottish. Her name is Scottish.
So the whole idea of making her witch's hat more like a Scottish tam...
...that was actually her idea. She had some great ideas.
COLUMBUS: Set. Action.
MAKOVSKY: I tried to keep all the kids really classically British boarding school.
Funnily enough, J.K. Rowling said that the kids did not wear uniforms.
So we ended up testing Daniel in regular clothes...
...with a wizard gown and uniforms...
...and everybody went for the uniforms because graphically it was much prettier.
Devon, take a little tiny step to your right.
Good. Excellent. Good.
-Dan, can you see me? -Um, no.
-I'm here. I swear. -Okay. There you go.
COLUMBUS: I was really going for less of a contemporary look...
...because I always wanted the film to have some sort of timeless quality.
The ward-- I remember the wardrobe test dressing...
...there was these adorable little English schoolchildren and they just--
They looked amazing.
COLUMBUS: Chin and head up, Dan.
-Everybody set? Rupert? Focus. GRINT: Yes.
COLUMBUS: And action.
It's true then, what they're saying on the train.
Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts.
Tom was, out of everyone, in those early days the most experienced actor.
DRACO: This is Crabbe and Goyle.
And I'm Malfoy.
I'd done a few films and TV and I was there...
...because my agent said, "You should go."
MAN: Did you read the books to start with?
I had no idea what it was. No. No idea.
I just went for an audition for it. And everyone was talking about it.
I remember that one of the things they asked was:
"What is your favorite scene in the book?"
There was a row of us about seven of us and, of course...
...I haven't read it, so I just--
The guy next to me said, "Oh, Gringotts, I love the trolls."
So I just said, "Yeah, same as this guy, I love the trolls. They're brilliant."
And then straightaway Chris saw straight through that.
And I'm pretty sure that gave him a little internal laugh so that could've helped.
COLUMBUS: At one point when we were trying to find:
"Who's gonna play Harry Potter?" I thought, "Tom was so good.
Let me put some makeup on him and put a scar on him and a black wig...
...see if he could do Harry Potter."
So we tested Tom as Harry Potter in that succession of screen tests...
...but we realized after the screen test we felt he was better for Draco Malfoy.
Out of the whole book I'd rather be Malfoy that anyone else...
...because I get to be a baddie.
MAN: All right. Rehearsal.
[MAN SHUSHING]
Back again, Harry?
My first scene with Richard Harris, he came on and he introduced himself.
[HARRIS CHUCKLES]
RADCLIFFE: That was quite scary at first...
...because there were quite a lot of people who've worked with him before.
And you've heard things and you're like, "Okay, okay."
But when he gets on the set, you're like, "Okay. Um....
Okay, you're quite frightening, yeah.
I'm gonna go over here."
I do not need a cloak to become invisible, Harry.
HEYMAN: When it came time to cast Dumbledore, we needed a father figure...
...who had a sense of mischief...
...and had a twinkle in his eye.
So we thought Richard would be a perfect Dumbledore.
Let me give you a clue.
And Richard, by the way, is my godfather.
My father used to be his agent. He was his best friend.
So Richard was a very significant part of my life growing up.
And he was a true eccentric, a real character...
...a larger-than-life character...
...and that was what you wanted Dumbledore to be.
HARRIS: Most what? WOMAN: Desperate.
HARRIS: Most desperate desires of the heart.
Heh-heh. Well done, Richard.
I remember Dave and I going to dinner with Richard...
...and he was reluctant to play the role.
I must admit...
...it took me months to say yes to it.
I wasn't necessarily very keen on doing it.
What really sold it was not me.
I wish I could claim such power but, no, it wasn't me.
It was the fact that his granddaughter, Ella, read the books.
My granddaughter called me and said, "Papa," she said:
"If you don't play Dumbledore, I will never speak to you again."
And I said, "Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it."
She's wrapped up in it.
You know, and I love the book, I love the script.
It's beautifully written and beautiful dialogue in it.
I see that you, like many before you...
...have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.
HEYMAN: In hiring a writer...
...we wanted somebody who could capture the spirit of Jo's writing.
And so I sent the book out to a few writers.
But I had around-- I can't remember, seven first editions...
...of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...
...which I sent out to many writers who passed on it.
Each one of those books is worth like $25,000 now...
...so the screenwriters who didn't do the book ended up getting paid anyway.
We hired Steve Kloves...
...who at the time I suppose was an unusual choice...
...in as much as he had never written any family adventures as it were.
But he was a writer who I loved...
...and who was brilliant at adaptation.
KLOVES: Writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone...
...is probably the most challenging thing I've ever done because you--
People are so familiar with the book...
...and feel so connected to it that you want to--
You don't want them to feel cheated in any way.
Jo Rowling, Steve Kloves, David Heyman and myself...
...worked on that script together a lot.
HEYMAN: We sat and went through the script page by page by page.
And slowly the film that Chris ultimately made began to take shape.
Jo Rowling has probably been my greatest asset...
...because from the beginning...
...she was extremely supportive and understanding...
...of what I was dealing with.
And, you know, over the course of about a year and a half...
...we've e-mailed each other back and forth.
She's made herself available...
...and extremely generous with her time in answering my questions.
You know, she's driven me crazy at times...
...because since this is a series of books...
...you know, a familiar refrain became:
"l can't tell you that because that's gonna happen in book seven."
But she would tell me when I was on the right path.
I think when we were making the first film...
...she showed us in manuscript form the fourth book.
And she just-- You know, she gave it--
I know she gave it to Steve, and Steve then took it on the plane and he realized:
"Oh, my goodness. Here I am carrying this-- Wha--?"
I think he was really nervous.
Here's Steve on the first-- The Mandarin Hotel.
Looking much younger than he does now.
And that's Chris on the phone back there and that was the first--
Yeah, that was the first--
God, Steve does look younger. I'm gonna show him this later on today.
We're still working on the script for Harry 7: Part Il.
COLUMBUS: I'm delivering the line...
...and it'll be at those guys in the top row, okay?
WOMAN: Okay.
And Mr. Harry Potter has his key?
DAVIS: In the first film, I particularly remember...
...the scene where Dan has to come up...
...wanting access to his vault and Chris wanted Dan to kind of look shocked.
Dan, when you first walk in, you kind of--
That thing really scares you when you first enter frame.
Set and action!
DAVIS: But Dan really was not fazed by anything.
So Chris said to me, "On the next take, when you lean over, make him jump."
GOBLIN: Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you!
-Does Mr. Harry Potter have his key? COLUMBUS: Okay, cut.
DAVIS: It did not have the desired effect at all.
He just burst out laughing.
[ALL LAUGHING]
COLUMBUS: I told you, one or the other would happen.
MAN: Off you go. COLUMBUS: Day 27, it all fell apart.
All right. Well, we tried.
I was made to look very different as the bank teller.
Big ears, the nose, the spectacles, the teeth, contact lenses.
So as that character, there was nothing of Warwick left.
And Nick Dudman and the Makeup Effects Department took care of that.
The challenge on the Patter films...
...was very definitely the goblins.
The trouble with something like goblins...
...most of the designs you look at have been done.
If you say "No, it's got to look new"...
...you find the avenues you're going down...
...get narrower and narrower and narrower.
So in the end, we decided the most important thing was character.
Make each of these an interesting character...
...and goblinize that character.
So that there isn't a set look for goblins...
...any more than there's a set look for human beings.
We then decided we would do all the pieces in silicone...
...but it was a bit of a gamble.
Silicone at that point was still pretty iffy, there were a lot of questions about it...
...chemically, that I wasn't totally convinced by at that point.
Now it's very much a production line, very straightforward and lovely.
But this was one of the first occasions where we're using it.
There were moments we're going:
"Why isn't this setting? Why isn't this working?"
But we cracked it and we learned a lot.
I was very pleased with the way the goblins worked out...
...because the way they were shot, the way the sequence was done...
...was very complementary to the work.
Hagrid...
...what exactly are these things?
COLUMBUS: Okay, so he says his line, you throw him in the cupboard...
...lock the door, and then you go down to that bar-- The bars.
GRIFFITHS: There is no such thing as magic.
-"There is no such thing as magic."
CRAIG: Chris Columbus was very interested...
...in the idea of the misery of Harry's situation.
HARRY: It was like magic.
There's no such thing as magic.
CRAIG: The cupboard under the stairs seemed all the more desperate...
...if he was in a huge urban sprawl...
...and the best and most graphic way to illustrate that huge urban sprawl...
...was identical, modern houses.
MAN: Bird, bird!
COLUMBUS: Privet Drive had to feel like this mean, awful place.
And so we intentionally looked for the place...
...that felt like it would kill any creativity or originality...
...that anyone would ever have there.
CRAIG: We shot for a while on that real location...
...and that really was difficult shooting with owls flying around...
...and it would rapidly prove to be a fairly disastrous way to achieve that scene.
We didn't finish on the location, we came to the studio.
We rebuilt those houses here.
Exactly reproduced them.
I think now there are five houses on either side of the street.
But it's extended in a matte painting, limitlessly, you know, to the horizon.
And that really was Chris' request...
...that it be that big and that sprawling.
And that set that we built then has been standing for all seven movies.
McMILLAN: Privet Drive was fun to do.
I remember we did spend some time looking for the ugliest sofas...
...the worst tiles for the kitchen and lots of nasty pictures on the walls...
...and lots of certificates of Dudley's achievements...
...like swimming a quarter of a width in the swimming pool and things.
They asked when I got the part...
...if I could put-- You know, give my baby photos in.
And I came in, I would see my whole history in front me, like my first bike.
And there was all these baby pictures everywhere of me...
...in this tacky house.
You will drag him in by the ear, and as you're being dragged in...
...you're saying your line. You know your line?
You're not even listening. You're thinking about whoopee cushions again.
SHAW: The hardest thing early on was trying to perform with the owls...
...because the owls are not actors.
There were some shots where I had to look at an owl...
...and an owl had to look at me.
And the owls kept looking at the cameras.
The camera was coming around.
So the owl thought the camera was very interesting.
It's more interested in the camera than looking at me.
So in the end we hung dead mice from my apron...
...so the owls absolutely looked at me.
And as for you, you should never be on any of these cameras.
It was a very, very interesting start actually.
You realized how surreal the very action of playing it was.
I have been censored.
[BANGING ON DOOR]
HARRY: Don't! Don't burn my letter!
GRIFFITHS: That was the first time I'd worked with Fiona.
Although now we're like an old married couple now, you know.
We're very familiar with each other, it's funny.
COLUMBUS: Dan, eyes wide, head up.
Really loud this time on "lI want my letter."
And also pound the glass with the palm of your hand.
Set and action!
Dan!
HARRY: Don't burn my letter!
COLUMBUS: Say, "Don't burn my letter!"
Oh, his eyes are wide.
[CREW LAUGHING]
Cut. Hey, Chris.
Just tell them to remind the kids I need a huge reaction from the ceiling.
I need to see it on their faces.
You're absolutely amazed as you go in.
COLUMBUS: And action.
-On the right, top right. MAN: Doors.
SMITH: I remember walking into this hall the first time...
...and just not believing it. It was just so amazing.
-It's a magic place to be. COLUMBUS: And cut. Hold it.
Early on in the process...
...there was talk about us actually shooting the Great Hall in a location.
CRAIG: Christchurch College in Oxford...
...have a great hall.
It was the inspiration for this one but it wouldn't have made a good set.
So we decided to build the Great Hall.
ENOCH: I found out we were doing it in the studio.
How are they gonna create something so vast?
You know, will it be as big as it should be?
There was a lot of talk about the size of the Great Hall.
I seem to remember that Jo Rowling wrote about 900 kids...
...gathering there for lunch and dinner...
...and we realized that that was impossible to do.
So we whittled it down to a place...
...that would probably hold about 400 to 500 kids.
And that felt large enough.
I'll say "one, two, three and action." The food appears.
Set, one, two, three. Action!
[KIDS GASPING]
CRAIG: I think what's good about it...
...is that even though it's a source of so much magic...
...it"'s firmly, firmly rooted in reality.
And I think that makes the magic all the stronger...
...when it unexpectedly grows out of something that is seemingly so real.
I mean, most sets are kind of literally all polystyrene...
...and fake wood and everything...
...but a lot of the stuff that sits in the Great Hall...
...is real stone, real wood.
COLUMBUS: We built a lot of fire into the Great Hall...
...s0 it just had this sense of warmth and magic.
-E and F cameras. MAN: Camera roll.
COLUMBUS: However, the floating candlesticks were a bit of a problem...
...because we decided to do them practically...
...as opposed to creating them in a CGI environment.
So we placed hundreds of floating candles above tables with tiny strings.
And all of those candles had to be lit before each take.
And all of them were on a sort of a pulley system...
...where they moved so they felt like they were floating.
It's not real, the ceiling.
It's just bewitched to look like the night sky.
I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.
COLUMBUS: When we did the shot where we craned down...
...through these floating candles, you couldn't see the strings.
Everyone in the screening room applauded that day.
It was just stunning. Stunning work from John Seale.
WATSON: It was incredible. It was amazing.
Like, no acting required.
So come on, guys. This one will be the last take.
No matter what happens, focus.
-Why? Is it lunchtime? -Big, big reaction. It's almost lunch time.
MAN: Quiet, please. Be ready. Thank you.
COLUMBUS: I want to see that great smile, okay?
WATSON: The problem when you've got loads of people...
...is you find that the breaks aren't as much...
...because they've gotta move so many people out...
...and so many people back in again.
-Fourteen there. WOMAN 1: Eleven.
WOMAN 2: Hello. -Fourteen?
HART: I'm tremendously kind of amazed...
...by the level of commitment and control the kids have.
I would never have imagined...
...that he'd get together that many kids without chaos breaking out.
And yet they all seem very dedicated.
Very focused, very clear, and they take direction amazingly well.
And there's 300 kids in the room.
COLUMBUS: Now, hold on, everybody pause.
Dan, take a little step back.
Rupert, take a little-- You guys okay focus-wise?
RADCLIFFE: Chris was in the Great Hall with about 350 children...
...and if one came up and talked to him...
...he would automatically just sit down as though he'd known them all his life.
MAN: All right, roll sound. -Understand?
Here it is. Okay, relax. Relax, okay?
I don't know how he does it.
If I was him and I had a hundred kids running around, I'd just flip.
But he's kept his cool all the way and he's been really nice with everyone.
COLUMBUS: Scared. You're really terrified.
GRINT: He has helped us through the whole entire film.
I've learned so mu--
I feel like I've learned so much through the acting experience.
Got it?
RADCLIFFE: Chris had this tremendous enthusiasm...
...which is what was very much needed on those first two films.
If we'd come on to the first two films and the director had been horrible...
...I don't think any of us ever would have acted again.
COLUMBUS: And cut.
HEYMAN: When we began the process of finding our director...
...we spoke to several really fine directors.
Even Steven Spielberg expressed interest and that was for me quite remarkable.
But ultimately, he had other projects that he'd been working on for a while...
...and he decided to work on them.
COLUMBUS: When I read the book...
...it was just at the beginning of the phenomena.
And I called my agent and I said:
"You know, I think I would really like to make a movie of this material."
I really, really responded to it.
I saw the movie in my head when I read the first book...
...and I saw the world.
And my agent said, "Well, you're gonna have to get in line.
There are about 50 other directors who also wanna make this into a movie."
And I was-- I was completely sort of stunned...
...because I hadn't been following it that closely.
And then I-- She sent me a list of the people...
...who were, you know, in contention.
And I thought, "There is no way, shape or form I'm gonna get this job."
Rob Reiner was on the list. Steven Spielberg was on the list.
Everyone was on the list.
And she said, "Warner Bros. is willing to have an interview with you."
HEYMAN: Chris arrived at the meeting with a script.
He himself had taken two weeks on his own writing on spec...
...a draft of the script.
And he'd really thought through how he wanted to approach it.
I think at that moment, they probably realized...
...that I was very, very serious about making a great film out of this material.
We met a lot of people and then--
And ultimately, it came down to studio comfort.
And also it's the person who had the most passion for the material.
And it was Chris Columbus...
...who emerged as the favorite and got the job.
I got a call from one of the executives who said:
"You're our guy. We're gonna go with you."
So it was an amazing mo-- It was an amazing moment.
Because I remember walking into the kitchen of my house, telling my wife:
"I got the job. I got the Patter gig. We're moving to London."
This is Chris with Dan and his head covered and with Chris' young daughter.
The amazing thing about Chris--
One of the amazing things about Chris. Chris during the preproduction period.
His family lives in San Francisco.
And he would fly...
...every Friday to San Francisco and come back for Monday morning...
...because he felt it was important for him to spend the weekend with his kids.
Pretty impressive as far as I'm concerned.
And this is what it made him look like.
HARRY: There's the door.
COLUMBUS: Go, guys, all together. All together.
RADCLIFFE: My favorite set is the chess set...
...which is amazing.
RADCLIFFE: This is cool to walk on, huh? GRINT: Yeah.
RADCLIFFE: It's so great when it's lit up. COLUMBUS: Set and, "There's the door."
Probably my favorite example of Stuart Craig's production design...
...was the gigantic chess set.
I just love the attention to detail...
...and the look of those pieces.
I mean, they looked as if they were made out of real stone.
I wanted to take all of them back home to--
For my office in San Francisco because they're just stunning.
Now, don't be offended or anything...
...but neither of you are particularly good at chess.
COLUMBUS: Okay, good.
RADCLIFFE: Yeah, you loser.
COLUMBUS: All right, try it one more time.
COLUMBUS: It was also one of my favorite scenes in the book...
...and the film because Ron actually sacrifices himself.
HARRY: Just tell us what to do.
RON: All right, then.
Harry, you take the empty bishop's square.
And Hermione, you'll be the queen-side horse.
And as for me, I'll be a knight.
That's Ron's kind of moment and he-- It's the first time he really takes charge.
And he gets to ride this great big horse.
That was really exciting because I got to sit on the horse.
So I remember really enjoying that.
Actually the coolest thing about it was when the pieces got smashed.
They actually exploded.
I think I actually still got a broken piece of the--
I think it was the horse. That was cool.
-Very well, once this-- COLUMBUS: Can I walk--?
Let me walk it with them once.
That was certainly one of my favorite scenes to shoot in the picture...
...because it was just beautifully designed by Stuart Craig...
...and beautifully lit by John Seale.
Once I make my move, the queen will take me.
Then you're free to check the king.
Rupert was so strong in that-- In that moment.
RON: Harry, you take the empty bishop's square.
COLUMBUS: We shot that as we were getting closer to the end of the picture.
And at that time...
...the kids were really starting to come into their own as actors...
...and the kids delivered just wonderful performances there.
Just tell us what to do then.
COLUMBUS: Rehearsing and action. MAN: Action!
HARRY: I still need a wand. HAGRID: A wand?
You want Ollivanders. There ain't no place better.
We all felt that Diagon Alley should look like a Dickensian world.
So that was a bit of a challenge because you'll think:
"Is there anywhere in London where we can shoot Diagon Alley?"
Well, the reality is that world that we think still exists somewhere...
...there's very few places look like that and if they do look like that...
...there's always a phone shop...
...or something modern or a grocery store that really--
That you can fix but you can't really re-create it completely.
So we'd realize we'd have to build it and Stuart built it in a way...
...that had a sense of forced perspective about it.
So it appears to go on forever.
As you can see the street ends in a green screen.
So in the book, your impression is of a much longer...
...much more complicated street.
For the scenes that we have to shoot, this is sufficient.
It's a great challenge in the detail and as you can see...
...there aren't any vertical lines in it whatsoever.
MAKOVSKY: Getting it just right...
...so it looked like a Dickensian street, I think that was the hardest challenge.
McMILLAN: I had an absolutely obsessive assistant on the first film...
...one who was deeply into Harry Potter.
And she masterminded Diagon Alley with everything cataloged.
And we took all the names from the book and just sort of expanded them.
Oh, Jenny, do you wanna do the upstairs bit as well?
MAKOVSKY: One of the things you don't see in the movie...
...each shop had a shopkeeper that looked like they match their shops.
So there was a wizard apothecary, there was a wizard candy maker.
And when you saw these characters all dressed up...
...in the first day of Diagon Alley...
...with Stuart's set and all the props and the set dressing...
...everybody had big smiles on their faces that day.
-John, good view here? SEALE: Yep. Right there is excellent.
Come up here, you turn, then you look up.
It was a very, very magical place to shoot.
You're scared of taking that wand. I wanna see some real fear.
Set and action.
CRAIG: I think Ollivanders wand shop has a nice feeling about it...
...has a nice character.
I think it is dense and detailed...
...and I think John Hurt's appearance on that moving ladder...
...was a good, simple idea.
Hello?
He comes and arrives on the trolley up with the bookshelves...
...into center-- Top of the screen.
And it was a sensational shot, you could--
No actor could ask for a much better entrance.
I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter.
RADCLIFFE: J.K. Rowling came down to Diagon Alley...
...when we were filming that to have a look at all the sets...
...and she's really nice.
McMILLAN: When she came to visit Diagon Alley...
...I was told that she literally had a sort of tear in her eye...
...because she couldn't believe how it was what she had in her imagination.
He's so clever.
COLUMBUS: If I use the beginning of one shot and the end of another--
MAN: Set, Chris. -Set and action.
RADCLIFFE: If you took a million people and J.K. Rowling was one of them...
...then she'd probably be the only one of those people to think up Quidditch.
But-- And when I read it...
...I'm like, "Oh, that is so cool, I wish I'd thought of that."
So it doesn't really matter.
If I use the beginning of take one and the end of take four, it's okay.
COLUMBUS: Quidditch was a challenge...
...because I was being introduced to a new sport.
So I really wanted to fundamentally understand...
...how Quidditch works.
It's a lot of hours spent with Jo Rowling...
...understanding the rules, writing down the rules.
I have notebooks filled with Quidditch rules.
And the other challenge was making those rules...
...accessible and understandable for an audience as well.
And then the visual demands of making Quidditch real...
...were very difficult because of the time constraint we were under...
...and because the sets where some of the visual effects needed to take place...
...couldn't be built in time.
Some of those sequences were pushed toward the end of our schedule...
...and as we were doing them, we realized...
...that we would have far less time in postproduction...
...to create visual effects that we would all be happy with.
This was a very unusual film.
I think we shot for about nine months.
So even though they'd finished the main unit's shooting...
...the Quidditch match was a completely separate unit...
...that was filming pretty much right up until the end.
LEGATO: We were behind the eight ball...
...because we didn't start shooting until June and it had to be finished in October.
So, what we did was to make a cartoon animation...
...of the entire Quidditch match prior to actually photographing.
And then we'd in go and say, "Okay, we're photographing this shot...
...that fits into this hole exactly." So the hard part or the daunting part...
...is actually creating a scene and have it cut...
...before you actually start shooting it. And we've never done it before.
Now it's fairly easy to even preview it and previs it...
...and do all the stuff we did, but back then it wasn't.
COLUMBUS: I have to say that this...
...is one of the scenes in the film I love seeing...
...but one of the scenes that I know if I could go back and do it again...
...I would love to go back and do it again. Because I would do it--
I would spend so much more time--
I would give myself more time...
...to do the visual effects the way they should be done.
Gryffindor wins!
It's rare to shoot a film in sequence, and that can cause problems, you know?
Especially with young kids who grow up rather quickly.
And if you are really alert...
...you can see the difference in Daniel Radcliffe.
And he looks older in this scene to that scene.
And of course, what was making it worse...
...is Daniel's voice was getting deeper each day.
We're not allowed to do magic away from Hogwarts.
I'm Harry. Harry Potter.
COLUMBUS: The pressure really was a combination...
...of postproduction and preproduction on Chamber of Secrets...
...overlapping those two things...
...because Harry Potter's all about beating the clock to a certain level.
Because you didn't wanna wait another year to start Chamber of Secrets...
...because the kids age so quickly that they'd be too old for their roles...
...in that particular book.
So the challenge was really devoting enough of my time to preproduction...
...and still being able to edit a version of the first film...
...that we were all happy with, that was under three and a half hours.
WILLIAMS: Orchestra, look at seven, please.
I need you to stop it sooner with the winds.
FRANCIS-BRUCE: The hardest part about a postproduction...
...of a movie of this scale...
...is that there's constantly changes happening while in postproduction...
...while the sound crew are already working on the sound.
Change it to one bar in this violin score.
Tell me how long. Certainly for 41 and 2.
It's a constantly changing relationship...
...between sound, music and visuals.
And very often, the best results we only can anticipate...
...when we get all three elements together, and we can see and hear it.
A-10-4, take 371.
FRANCIS-BRUCE: John will always take an early and longer version of the cut...
...to work on.
And he'll just record to the longer version.
I remember on one occasion, we saw the cue played back...
...of this long version of the arrival at Hogwarts...
...and Chris just turned to me and said:
"You gotta go and put that back to that longer version."
Because we'd shortened it because we thought it was too slow.
But once we saw it with the music, it was brilliant.
What's beautiful about what John does is he creates these moments...
...it might be six or seven notes that you'll remember forever.
And those first moments of the Harry Potter score...
...which are still being played in the trailer to this day...
...it just-- You know exactly where you are...
...you know exactly what you're listening to.
So I feel very privileged to have had that John Williams experience.
It's been a special joy for me, particularly in the musical sense...
...that I can go perform with symphony orchestras...
...seems anywhere in the world we play material from Harry Potter...
...and people relate to it.
Good luck, Harry Potter.
COLUMBUS: I was of the mindset that under the time constraints...
...I had delivered the best picture I could at the time.
And I was anxiously awaiting--
I wasn't worried about the box office as much...
...because, it being Harry Potter, people were gonna show up...
...the question was, were people gonna like it?
And that pressure was significant, because I knew if I failed...
...if my vision for the film failed, if the look of the picture failed...
...if the casting failed, all of those things that I was responsible for...
...if I was wrong about any of them, the franchise was dead.
MAN: So, what are you most looking forward to about the film coming out?
Um....
The premiere. The glamorous part.
[CROWD CHATTERING]
WATSON: The first premiere was pretty crazy.
It was the first time I ever had to really dress up or be kind of glamorous...
...so I wore this kind of really crazy...
...feather boa. It was really strange but I loved it.
It was fun and it was the beginning of everything.
GRINT: The premiere was just incredible.
It was just this really exciting, exciting time.
MAN: Can you sign an autograph for me? Just in the front there.
COLUMBUS: The premiere was a huge, huge moment for them.
I remember sitting in the balcony and the place just erupted into applause--
A standing ovation which was fantas-- I can't lie, it's fantastic.
So it was just a very emotional moment.
And we released Potter that Friday...
...and Monday we were shooting Chamber of Secrets.
So there was really no time for celebration or even enjoyment.
We saw that the film was gonna be a big hit.
And on Monday we went back to work on the second.
RADCLIFFE: I don't think we really did have time to take it in.
We knew it had been successful because often somebody would come in and say:
"This is a record we've broken." But we were kids...
...so we just go, "Oh, cool, brilliant, that's really cool."
You know, great, we didn't know really what it meant.
WOMAN: Of course. -Yeah, it's bizarre, but, yes.
But looking back, it's seriously cool.
As it's been in my career, I had critics who loved the film...
...critics who were mediocre about the film...
...and it's an interesting element because it goes hand in hand with me...
...and I now accept it for what it is.
But I saw this incredible four-star review from Roger Ebert...
...and it just changed my life because he's always been reluctant...
...to really go there with some of my films. And he absolutely loved this film.
And I felt, "Well, that's good." That really made me feel good.
LEWIS: I knew it was gonna be a good film...
...but on the scale it's been, the success, I just never anticipated that.
HEYMAN: It's easier to write history looking backwards, isn't it?
I mean, I could sit here now and say, "Yeah, I knew."
I didn't have a clue. I loved it.
Ultimately, that's all you can really do is pursue those things that you love.
Nobody else, I maintain, could've started this series off...
...in the way that Chris did.
Because, you know...
...before you let people like Alfonso come in and shake things up...
...you have to have somebody who gives you a solid basis...
...in the foundations of these characters and the locations and the sets.
And that's what Chris did brilliantly.
COLUMBUS: I feel like a proud father...
...when I see how wonderful these kids are...
...in terms of being people and how great they are as actors.
There are times when I wish I was there.
It would just be wonderful to be able to have another Potter moment.
Because that was an intensely magical experience.
On every film, there's always gonna be aspects where I go, "Il wish."
That being said, there are an awful lot of things...
...in that first film where I go, "Wow."
Chris and Stuart created this whole world...
...and Chris cast these kids and these adults...
...and he helped set us off on our way.
And we wouldn't be sitting here, I don't think, if it wasn't for Chris.