Posted: 05 December 2004 at 1:13pm
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I know I had promised Quotes, But I guess as a celebration for the new
Forum why not get some trivia about the first movie. I am sure you must
not be knowing much about what went/happen during the making of the
first movie.
Enjoy reading them.
Qoutes Coming soon.
Jammy.
Trivia for movies Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Robbie Coltrane was the very first person to be cast.
Richard Harris only agreed to taking the part of Albus Dumbledore after
his eleven year old granddaughter threatened never to speak to him
again.
Author J.K. Rowling insisted that the principal cast be British and she
got her wish, with two exceptions - Richard Harris was, of course,
Irish, and Zo Wanamaker, though she has made her name as a "British"
actress, is actually a US citizen. Other non-Brits in the cast include
Verne Troyer, born in Michigan, USA, who plays Griphook (the second
Goblin in Gringots' Bank) and Christopher Columbus's daughter, Eleanor,
who played Susan Bones.
Steven Spielberg was offered the position as director, but was later
refused when he couldn't agree with JK Rowling's insistence on an
all-British cast. He wanted to use Haley Joel Osment for the part of
Harry.
In addition to Steven Spielberg, other candidates for the director's
job were Jonathan Demme, Brad Silberling and Terry Gilliam. Gilliam was
Rowling's initial favorite but the studio finally picked Chris Columbus
to direct because he had experience directing child actors. Columbus
was also asked many times by his daughter to direct and he agreed after
he read her book.
The trouble-making poltergeist Peeves (played by Rik Mayall) does not, in the end, appear in the movie.
Although Daniel Radcliffe's voice broke during production, he did speak
all the lines in the movie. The scenes were filmed in order and his
voice changes slowly throughout the movie. It was eroneously reported
by a London tabloid that a young actor who spoke lines for the action
figure dubbed his lines in the movie.
There was a huge media outcry in Gloucester, England when it was
decided to use the local Cathedral for some of the Hogwarts scenes.
Protesters wrote letters by the sack-load to local newspapers, claiming
it was blasphemy and promising to block the film-crew's access. In the
end, only one protester turned up.
The movie is known as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
everywhere except the USA and so every scene in which the Philosopher's
Stone was mentioned was filmed twice, once with the actors saying
"Philosopher's" and once with the actors saying "Sorcerer's".
The hut used during the filming as Hagrid's hut has since been demolished in case fans of the film swamped it.
The tabby cat used ran away during filming and came back two days later.
Platform 9 3/4 was filmed at Kings Cross, but on platforms 4 and 5.
J.K. Rowling has admitted that she mixed up the layout of London's
King's Cross railway station when she assigned the Hogwarts Express to
platform 9 3/4, reached by using magic between platforms 9 and 10. She
meant the location to be in the Inter-City part of the station, but 9
and 10 are actually among the rather less grand suburban platforms. The
movie conformed to Rowling's original intent: the platforms seen as 9
and 10 are in real life inter-city platforms 4 and 5.
While the movie used Platforms 4 and 5 at Kings Cross to represent
platforms 9 and 10, there is, in fact a "Platform 9 3/4" at Kings
Cross. It's located in the walkway area between the intercity section
and the section where the real platforms 9 and 10 are, and was
obviously put there for fans of Harry Potter.
During filming, actor Daniel Radcliffe changed the screen on Robbie
Coltrane's cellphone to Turkish. Coltrane had to phone hair designer
Eithne Fennel's Turkish father in order to find out the Turkish for
"Change Language".
At one point, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are approaching Hagrid, he
can be seen playing a wind instrument. He is playing the Hedwig's Theme.
Among the portraits on the shifting staircase, you can clearly see a
painting of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife and the mother
of Queen Elizabeth I. Anne Boleyn was popularly believed to be a witch.
This movie has the distinction of opening on more screens in the USA than any other (3762).
By February 2002 this was the second highest grossing film worldwide after Titanic (1997).
Harry Potter's birthday is reported in the books as being "somewhere in
July". Author J.K. Rowling, and actors Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)
and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon) were all reported to have their
birthdays on 31 July. It was later revealed that Radcliffe's birthday
is, in fact, 23rd July and that the claim that his birthday was the
same as Harry Potter's was merely a publicity stunt.
On the Quidditch trophy that has Harry's father's name on it, there are
additional inscriptions for M. McGonagall and R.J.H. King.
The name of Harry's owl ("Hedwig") is not mentioned anywhere in the movie.
JK Rowling confirms that Filch's cat Mrs Norris, although not named in
the movie, was named for the wicked Aunt Norris in Jane Austen's book
_Mansfield Park_.
The inscription around the Mirror of Erised says: Erised stra ehru oyt
ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Reading the inscription backwards it says, "I
show not your face but your heart's desire."
The word 'bloody' appears in the film six times, along with one 'arse',
one 'bugger', and two 'blasted's. This, and some very scary scenes in
the haunted forest, led to its PG certificate.
The film reveals that the 12th use for dragon's blood is an oven cleaner.
Nicholas Flamel, mentioned as the creator of the
Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, was actually a real alchemist who was
believed by some people to have produced the Philosopher's Stone and
who has mysterious circumstances surrounding his "death". It is rumored
that he might still be alive and, if so, he would be about the age
given in the book and movie.
The Hogwarts motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" means "never tickle a sleeping dragon".
Three owls play Hedwig, Ook, Gizmo and Sprout, but mainly Gizmo.
In the final credits, Will Theakston is mistakenly credited as playing
Marcus Flint and Scott Fern is also erroneously credited with playing
Terence Higgs. Warner Brothers, apparently, mixed up their names and
characters when they released a memo to the press (they subsequently
corrected their mistake with the press), however, they failed to
correct the credits thus the mistake remains (for the record, Will
Theakston played Terence Higgs and Scott Fern played Marcus Flint).
Warwick Davis, who played Professor Flitwick and the first Gringotts
Goblin, also provided the voice for Griphook who was physically played
by Verne Troyer.
In the original draft, Drew Barrymore, a self-exclaimed Harry Potter fan, had a cameo.
John Williams composed a piece of music specifically for the movie's
trailer, and it is found on the soundtrack as "The Prologue". As of
March 2002, he has done this only once before, for Steven Spielberg's
Hook (1991).
Rosie O'Donnell and Robin Williams were two of the celebrities who had
asked for a role in the movie without pay. However they did not film
any scenes for the movie.
Tim Roth was a leading contender for the role of Professor Severus
Snape. Roth dropped out of contention, however, to pursue his role as
General Thade in Tim Burton's adaptation of Planet of the Apes (2001)
In the script, the flashbacks to Voldemort killing Harry's parents were
written by J.K. Rowling herself. The producers knew she was the only
one who knew exactly what happened.
The "Hogwart's Express" locomotive portrayed in this film, a 1937 4-6-0
"Hall" class steam engine number 5972, originally belonged to the Great
Western Railway and went under the name of "Olton Hall".
Alan Rickman was hand-picked to play Snape by J.K. Rowling.
In the troll scene in the girl's bathroom, Daniel Radcliffe isn't
actually on the troll's neck, because the motions would have snapped
his neck; therefore, his image was digitally added
In the trophy cupboard, to the right of the Quidditch trophy, you can
see the "Service to the School" trophy with part of "Tom M Riddle"
engraved on it.
The Wizard's chess-set Harry and Ron were playing, the red queen is
from the Lewis Chessmen, the most important of all chess pieces dating
from the 12th Century. They were found in 1831 on a beach in Uig,
Lewis. 78 pieces were recovered in all, and are now in the care of the
National Museum of Scotland and in the British Museum in London.
For the Gringotts interior scenes, the Australian Embassy in London was
used. The exteriors are the Silver Vaults located not far from the
Australian Embassy
To the left of James Potter's seeker badge in the display case there is
a badge with the name "R.J.H. King". This is a reference to John King,
the supervising art director on the film.
Gabriel Thomson was considered for the role of Harry.
Robbie Coltaine's 6'10" body double for Hagrid is former England rugby international, Martin Bayfield.
All the cars in Privet Drive are Vauxhalls, no matter the time period.
The Dursleys own a silver 2000 Vauxhall Vectra estate. All other cars
parked in the drives are Vectra estates in the present day, with Astra
Belmont and Cavalier saloons from the late 1980s in the pre-titles
prologue.
The street that Harry and Hagrid walk down to get to the Leaky Cauldron
is the same street Sean Connery is parked in waiting for Catherine
Zeta-Jones to leave the antiques shop in Entrapment (1999).
Robbie Coltrane was also handpicked by JK Rowling to play Hagrid
David Thewlis, who later played Professor Lupin in Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), was considered for the role of Professor
Quirrell.
In the film, the scar on Harry's forehead is off-center. This was done
at J.K. Rowling's request. Due to the artwork on the covers of her
books, many people have assumed that his scar is supposed to be in the
center of his forehead. The books, however, never specify exactly where
on his forehead the scar is located.
At one time, Alan Parker was considered for the director's job.
