The Making of Harry Potter
“No story lives unless someone wants to listen.”
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! On Tuesday, the 24th of January, in the year of our Lord twenty thousand-twenty three, William Everett Neumann finally made it to Warner Bros Studio Tour, The Making of Harry Potter, in London! It was a red-letter day! In the week leading up to the visit, we re-watched all eight movies in preparation!
The wand gauntlet.
Lord Voldemort
Harry Potter
Albus Dumbledore & Gellert Grindelwald (the Elder Wand, a Deathly Hallow).
The Hungarian Horntail Harry Potter faced during the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire.
The cupboard under the staircase.
About to enter the Hogwarts Great Hall, the same way every first-year student does, before being sorted into their houses.
The massive fireplace in the Hogwarts Great Hall.
The Great Hall was set up like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix during their OWLs.
Dumbledore’s lectern.
The bedroom shared by Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, & Seamus.
Harry’s trunk under his bed.
The many wands of Harry Potter.
Slytherin Common Room
“Gryffindor Common Room—A crackling fire was warming the circular common room, which was full of squashy armchairs and tables.”
The fireplace where Sirius Black appears.
The Mirror of Erised—The mirror shows the most desperate desire of a person's heart. The name "Erised" is "desire" spelled backwards, as if reflected in a mirror.
The magical entrance to Dumbledore’s tower office. “Sherbet Lemon.”
Dumbledore in the Headmaster’s Office
The Sword of Gryffindor in the Headmaster’s Office
The Sorting Hat
Dumbledore’s Memory Cabinet
The Pensieve of Hogwarts used to view memories. Oh JK, how did you think up all these creative things?!
“One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.”
The Potions Classroom. Something interesting we learned was the ceiling you see above was also used to film the scene with Fluffy the three-headed dog.
Harry…Water!
Will on his Firebolt
Hagrid’s Hut
Hagrid's beloved boarhound Fang. There was also a picture board showing all nine dogs that played the roll of Fang over the years.
The door to the Chamber of Secrets. I was surprised to learn that the snakes on the door actually move mechanically rather than by computer-generated imagery (CGI).
The Perspective Room shows how perspective was used to make Hagrid, half-giant and half-human, appear larger than those near him. Here Will looks regular.
Here he looks smaller…
And even smaller still. Isn’t that crazy?!
The Burrow was the home of the Weasley family, located on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole in Devon. Check out this short clip of The Burrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVNQiXTho7E
The gates to Hogwarts and also the entrance to the new Forbidden Forest exhibition.
The hippogriff is a legendary creature with the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. Rowling’s integration of a huge array of mythological creatures into her story is deeply impressive. To the standard mythology she adds: the “first thing you wanna know about hippogriffs, is that they're very proud creatures, very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do.” You bow to them, and if they dip their head in return, you may approach. So very clever!
While seated inside a railway cafe, Harry spots Dumbledore across the lines, standing on Platform 3, the huge advertising billboard “Divine Magic” behind him. The billboard is no coincidence, of course, but was built for the movie. The Hogwarts headmaster spirits Harry away from the mundane world of muggles to the slightly wonkier village of Budleigh Babberton.
Butter beer!
“All Destinations (Nothing Underwater)”…again…so clever!
The first movie used a real house, but a set was later built.
Inside 4 Privet Drive
Herbology greenhouse with mandrakes. A real perennial herb, the mandrake has a thick, often forked, roots which may resemble the legs of the human body. It has been known since ancient times (1500 BC) and—according to ancient legend—when the plant was uprooted it would scream, killing anyone who heard it. Once again, JK’s weaving of ancient mythology into her stories was exceptional.
Check out our video of the mandrakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4c3k1mD89s
The Wooden Bridge (also known as the Covered Bridge)
The part of Voldemort’s soul he split and unintentionally attached itself to Harry. It was an animatronic that moved in the display—creepy!
Inside Gringotts Wizarding Bank. This entire set is new for the tour since we visited back in 2015. For the set, they painstakingly recreated the interior of Australia House from London.
Amanda—forever drawn to beautiful bling, like these chandeliers.
Goblins, not the friendliest of creatures.
“Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.”- Gringotts
The Lestrange Vault was a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London, England that belonged to the Lestranges, a very old and wealthy pure-blood family. In addition to containing large amounts of gold, Galleons, and treasure, it was the hiding place of Helga Hufflepuff's cup, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Inside the vault, the treasure had been protected with the curse of Gemini (doubling charm), thus, every time someone touched a treasure it would multiply, raising the danger that they would be crushed to death by the metal. Amanda uses the Sword of Gryffindor to reach for Helga Hufflepuff's cup.
Helga Hufflepuff's cup, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Gringotts Wizarding Bank owned a Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon that guarded some of the oldest and deepest vaults, including the Lestrange Vault. The cool video below shows the dragon emerging from the vault cavern after Harry, Ron, & Hermione recover Helga Hufflepuff’s cup and Hermione frees the dragon to escape. Check out the amazing new dragon animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDqAiznWVqM
The Diagon Alley set.
Ollivanders, Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
The tour’s grand finale is at this gigantic model of the Hogwarts castle. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away; it’s simply stunning. The craftsmanship and detail is astounding.
This set was used to film the exterior shots of the castle, so it had to look authentic. I’ll include a few pictures so you can appreciate the detail.
The Astronomy Tower was the tallest tower at Hogwarts and included a telescope. Look at the stone blocks, roof tiles, pointed arch windows, crenelations, corbels, etc.
The two towers on the left were fashioned after Durham Cathedral, which we hope to visit in the autumn. The smaller towers at the gatehouse copy Alnwick Castle, where many scenes from the first two movies were filmed. The detail is fascinating.
The owlery
The standing stones just beyond the Wooden Bridge and above Hagrid’s Hut.
The amazing detail of the Wooden Bridge/Covered Bridge.
The Headmaster’s Office
While viewing the castle, the time of day changes: from warm morning light, to midday, to afternoon glow, to nighttime. At nighttime interior lights begin to illuminate in various windows. Above is the Great Hall and the cloisters, with Dumbledore’s Office high above.
Fred and George Weasley’s “W” logo from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
After many hours of movie magic, we finally reached the end. The three of us had a truly magically time and we will always remember our time together exploring the making of our all-time favorite movies.
