19 years later, Daniel Radcliffe, Tom Felton and more remember Harry Potter

The cast of the Harry Potter movies gets together to reveal tidbits from behind the set, share what the series means to them, and tease more to come.

The other day, Harry Potter veteran Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) hosted a live-stream on the 19th anniversary of the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, telling tales from behind the scenes and reuniting many of the cast and crew members who made those movies as beloved as they are.

The stream was long and involved, but let’s hit some of the highlights, starting with the testimonials from the cast members, including Oliver Phelps, who played George Weasley:

Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) called Harry Potter the “framework” of her life, and said that even though she made the movies years ago, the fans help keep the Wizarding World alive. “It’s very much alive in us”.

To round out our time with the Weasleys, Rupert Grint (Ron) also weighed in:

“It’s not twenty years, that’s the big one, but still, that’s a long time!” Grint said. Clearly, he takes after his character, constantly cracking jokes. Apparently it was hard for him to keep it together on set sometimes, too:

"I remember on Potter it would always be the most inappropriate scenes, like Dumbledore’s funeral was a particularly bad one. For some reason, I found that absolutely hilarious. And yeah, once you start laughing, it’s very hard to stop. I had a particularly bad reputation, they used to call me ‘Go Again Grint’ because I could never do anything without doing it like 20 times. Even making this video I’m on like, take 20."

Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, talked about how she came into the movies as a fan, to the point where she had a shirt with Daniel Radcliffe’s face on it!

Now, 19 years later, to her the series “represents how life can change, that miracles can happen, and how important it is to invest in your dreams”:

Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) had some touching words for his “son” Tom Felton:

"Watching you turn into a teenager and still be delightful and then a young man, a free-spirited vagabond finding his place in the world, and a man has been a pleasure […] I love you, son."

And of course, Daniel Radcliffe gave his take, saying that his is “but a mere preview of the nostalgia we will all be immersed in for the 20th anniversary next year.”

As host, Tom Felton gave us tons of insight. His favorite scene was the “wand fight” he got to have with Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was when Draco stepped up and became more of a major character. And that fight involved actual things exploding, not just special effects, so it was extra fun!

And obviously, working with the other actors was great. “Getting the chance to work with Alan Rickman, who is one of my heroes.”

Felton knew Rickman from 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, oddly enough, although he wasn’t overly familiar with many of his other castmates, famous as they were. “I didn’t know who the hell anyone was. I thought Gary Oldman was a cleaner at first, he was all very casual,” Felton remembered. “I was twelve! How was I supposed to know what Richard Harris had done? Now I look back I’m like ‘Oh my god, you were with Helena Bonham Carter!’”

Taking it right back to the beginning, Felton remembered his audition. “They finally dyed my hair blonde, and I was put into a line of blonde-haired young actors. One by one we were all asked ‘What are you most excited about from the book to be transferred to the film?’ It only dawned on me when the kid next to me was saying about Gringotts that I didn’t have an answer, so when [director] Chris Columbus got to me I was just like ‘Yeah same as this kid, Gringotts, flying around, I love Gringotts.’ I believe that’s what got me the part!”

"I was too young to know what I was doing really, I was so naive that it just comes across as normal. When we made the first film we were all in it together, and all on the same page – we were all in our own little bubble and then all of a sudden we were in Trafalgar Square. […] In New York we went and handed out pizza because people had slept out for 3 days!"

On the first film, Columbus used that naïveté to his advantage, not allowing the kids into the Great Hall set until they were supposed to shoot their first scene there, so they would be properly awed:

As for the final film in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Felton had some misgivings about his makeup. “I’m heavily overaged, they made me look like I was a 65 year old!” he said.

That said, he clearly appreciates what the series did for his life. “The reality is that everything has changed. Everyone I was with – my brother, my nieces and nephews, my mum – it’s hard to imagine what I’d be doing if I hadn’t gone to that audition…What [19 years later] really means to me is that I’m one of the luckiest sods, or slimy gits, out there.”

All of this was to support The Liv Project, which is dedicated to spreading awareness of mental health issues.

Thanks to Felton for putting this together. And now we’re wondering what the Harry Potter team has in store for the 20th anniversary…

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h/t The Leaky Cauldron