Harry Potter reunion: Biggest surprises from the 20th anniversary special – CNET

Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Potter films, couldn’t find anyone to play Harry Potter until he watched a BBC miniseries of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. The young actor playing David was 10-year-old Daniel Radcliffe in his acting debut. 

“I was a really happy kid who had a really haunted quality,” Radcliffe says with a laugh.

1. Hermione had a crush on Draco

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“So the prop people kept moving it and responding,” director Chris Columbus recalls with a laugh, as clips are shown of Harris marveling over the responsive creature. He doesn’t say if Harris ever figured out that Fawkes was not an actual living, breathing bird, but just an elaborate puppet.

2. When Harry met David

“The hardest scene to shoot was Quidditch,” director Chris Columbus admits. This last tidbit sounds like an urban legend, but the actors and crew claim it’s true. In 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which featured Richard Harris playing Dumbledore, we meet Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes. An elaborate prop bird was created for Fawkes, but Harris reportedly thought it was a real bird.
“It’s all right, it’s good for the scene,” said a teary-eyed Felton, showing that true actor’s grit.

3. Fire alarm at Hogwarts

The special shows how, in the Quidditch scenes, the actors perched on brooms that sadly, weren’t really airborne.

4. Quidditch unmasked

Your favorite Harry Potter stars reminisce about working on the films in a 20th anniversary reunion special.
Jason Isaacs didn’t want to play Draco Malfoy’s dad, Lucius — instead he auditioned for the role of Gilderoy Lockhart. Asked to read Lucius Malfoy’s lines instead, he was irritated, so read them “through gritted teeth and deeply bitter,” Isaacs says with a laugh in the special. Perhaps that helped him get the role.

5. Draco and his dad

Felton learned of her crush, but he was three years older than Watson, and nothing romantic ever developed. Tune in to Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts on HBO Max.
Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger, developed a crush on Tom Felton, who played the evil Draco Malfoy.

6. Order of the not-so-fake phoenix

Those adorable kids who grew up making the Harry Potter movies are adults now, and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) is even a dad. A new reunion special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, is airing on HBO Max. And after watching it, I can assure you it’s a family-friendly trip down memory lane. You don’t even have to be a huge Potterhead to enjoy the nearly two-hour special. And even the biggest fans likely will learn some new facts about the blockbuster saga. The special reunites most of the major cast members to reminisce and hug and laugh about the decade they spent working on the films. Author J.K. Rowling is shown only briefly and in archival footage.
Credit to the various Potter directors — the scenes of Harry and pals zooming around on brooms playing Quidditch are pretty amazing, and fun to watch. Viewers of the special get a treat — you’ll see behind-the-scenes footage of Radcliffe sitting on his broom, which is just part of a complex prop, with a green screen behind it.