Revisiting the Harry Potter series of films is always a holiday: we our childhood, experience nostalgic feelings, feel the magic, as if we ourselves find ourselves in the decorated Great Hall of Hogwarts at a table bursting with food, or we fight shoulder to shoulder with our favorite heroes against the forces of evil. Now fans are in for another surprise: reunion of all the stars of the film franchise in the special episode "Return to Hogwarts", dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the first film "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".
It's hard to imagine that 20 years have ed. However, the cast and crew continue to be a real family, who, even after a long break, are happy to get together. This meeting is pleasant memories of filming, curious details, interesting facts, not previously voiced anywhere, and a new journey through everyone's favorite story. In the meantime, we have collected for you some equally interesting facts that, if not surprising, will at least help you what you forgot before returning to Hogwarts.
Special episode trailer:
Long road to success
But the initially beloved series of children's books may not have existed: JK Rowling sent the first manuscript, completed in 1995, 12 different publishers - and they all rejected it. Only a year later, the book was accepted by the small London publishing house Bloomsbury - and even then, to a greater extent, because the 8-year-old daughter of the publishing house liked the first chapter, and the girl demanded a sequel.
At the same time, editor Barry Cunningham still advised Rowling to find a day job, as he did not believe that she could earn much writing children's books. But in the end she became first dollar billionairewho earned such money by writing.
Love for Hermione
Prior to filming, Rowling was somewhat hostile towards future Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Clovis, believing that he would "destroy her writing". But that attitude changed instantly when the question "Who is your favorite character in this story?" he replied, "Hermione." This recognition bribed the writer, who invested too many personal traits in the image of Hermione.
Rowling did not hide the fact that the girl with the character of a know-it-all was written off from herself. “She is a caricature of me at the age of 11,” she itted in an interview. Wherein Pansy Parkinson, according to her confession, is the anti-Hermione, the personification of all the girls who teased Joan at school. Therefore, the author hates her and did not want Pansy to end up marrying Draco.
The Diaries of Severus Snape
Throughout his career, Alan Rickman kept diaries, where he concisely and humorously reflected on acting and the roles played, and left notes on scripts. From these papers you can find out that he was dissatisfied with his role as Severus Snape, which he wrote about in the article "In Snape's Head" during the filming of the film "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince".
However, the actor criticized his work in vain. Interestingly, he was the only person in the world who knew the ending of the seventh book long before its release. Rowling considered it necessary to familiarize Rickman with the whole story, so that even before filming began, he fully understood the nature and motivation of his character - perhaps that is why Snape's fate evoked such a response in the hearts of the audience.
Who is the chosen one?
Hereby the chosen one could be Neville Longbottom, which Rowling often hinted at. Both boys were born at the end of July, both parents fought the Dark Lord, and all this fits the prophecy. Harry, of course, had a special gift, being able to talk with snakes, but it is possible that we are talking about Neville's amazing abilities in herbology. In addition, it was Longbottom who eventually killed Nagini, who was the last Horcrux.
Perhaps this was the reason why Professor Snape hated Neville so much. After all, if Voldemort chose Longbottoms instead of Potters as his target, Severus's beloved Lily would still be alive.
Platform 9 3⁄4
In the trailer for the Hogwarts Return special, you can see all the attributes of the Harry Potter universe - the Christmas atmosphere, the interiors of Hogwarts and, of course, platform 9 3⁄4, where all the adventures of young wizards begin. Rowling chose Kings Cross important location in their books is not accidental: in 1964, on a train bound for Scotland from this station, her parents met.
For Harry, the place between life and death turned out to be King's Cross Station, because for him it associated with moving between two worlds - the ordinary world and the world of wizards. But for each person this place will look different.
Free education at Hogwarts
Since half of the events important for the plot take place at night, JK Rowling had to make Hogwarts not an ordinary school, but a closed educational institution. And on her Twitter, answering questions from fans, she mentioned that studying at Hogwarts does not cost a bag of galleons and not thousands of dollars: it completely free and fully covered by the Ministry of Magic. Although school clothes, a wand, textbooks and potion ingredients will still have to be bought on their own.
It is known that the Muggles would see on the site of the Hogwarts castle only ruins and "Do not enter, danger zone" sign. Perhaps, on the site of some ruins of old castles, there is a school of magic and wizardry, we just don’t know about it?
Rapper Ron
In character, Rupert Greene in childhood was in many ways similar to his hero. So, he approached the casting for the main roles of the Golden Trio in a non-standard way: he sent a video to the film crew, where raps about wanting to be in a movie and claims to be perfect for the role of Ron Weasley "because he has red hair".
In an interview, Rupert itted that he once drew ugly caricature of Alan Rickman. Unfortunately, he stood behind him and saw the drawing, but did not get angry, but kept it as a keepsake.
Before the filming of The Prisoner of Azkaban began, the trio of young actors were asked to write an essay about their characters in order to better understand their characters. Emma Watson, like a true Gryffindor know-it-all, exceeded the required volume, Radcliffe sent 2 pages, and Grint did nothing at all, stating that this is exactly what his hero would have done - and this approach pleased the director.
Unusual names
Dumbledore is an old English word that means bumblebee. Rowling felt that the name suited him very well, as you can often see the head of Hogwarts walking and humming and buzzing under his breath.
The original name Voldemort comes from a French phrase, the approximate meaning of which is - "escape from death", and the main goal of the character is precisely to achieve immortality with the help of Horcruxes. It turns out that the correct pronunciation of the name is no "T" at the end. Voldemort's name is also anagram to his real name "Tom Marvolo Riddle".
Draco could have had the surname "Spinks" or "Spungen", but the author later changed them to "Malfoy". This surname probably comes from the French phrase "mal foi"Meaning "bad faith", or from the prefix "mal" - "bad, evil".
Dobby is free
The tragic death of the house elf Dobby and his farewell to Harry Potter became one of the most touching moments in the entire film series. As we , he died helping Harry and his friends escape from Malfoy Manor, but was mortally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry dug a grave for him without the help of magic, and on the tombstone he wrote: "Here Lies Dobby the Free Elf".
В Wales on the coastline of the beach Freshwater West fans figured out the exact location where the scenes of Dobby's death and funeral were filmed, and there revealed to him a small memorial with a legendary inscription. Now this place can be visited by all willing fans of the Potter series: they bring socks there and leave spiritual messages.
The Future of Heroes
In the Christmas special, we'll see how the franchise's actors have changed over the years, but what happened in the future to the characters themselves? Harry Potter is known to be Aurorby ing the Ministry of Magic. His wife Ginny, after a career with the Quidditch team, began working as a sportswriter for The Daily Prophet.
Ron Weasley also went into the Aurors with Potter, but after a few years he nevertheless left the service and, along with his older brother George became the owner of the family business, turning the store "All kinds of magical wreckers" into a large enterprise. Hermione, who became his wife, was the only one of the trio who completed her education and had a brilliant career in the Ministry of Magic. She also found her parents in Australia and removed the memory-erasing spell she had placed on her.
Malfoy's wife Astoria Greengrass, who gave him a son, Scorpius, died in 2019 from a birth curse. Draco does not live in poverty, living on the means of his family and collecting magical artifacts.
