23 Harry Potter Facts Even The Biggest Potterheads Don’t Know – Part 3

1Restricted Section

Restricted Section

The Restricted Section scene in Philosopher’s Stone was filmed in the Duke Humfrey's building at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The library has very strict rules about not bringing flames into the library. The makers of Harry Potter were the first ever to be allowed to break this rule in hundreds of years.


2Mirror of Erised

Mirror of Erised

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."


3Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral

The filmmakers originally wanted to use Canterbury Cathedral as a filming location for some of the Hogwarts scenes, but the Dean of Canterbury refused to allow it, saying that it was unfitting for a Christian church to be used to promote pagan imagery. Gloucester Cathedral agreed to take its place; the Dean of Gloucester, the Very Reverend Nicholas Bury, admitted to being a fan of the books. Nonetheless there was a huge media outcry in Gloucester when it was decided to use the local Cathedral as a filming location. 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.


4Harry's Scar

Harry's Scar

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.


5Lily Potter's Role

Lily Potter's Role

Author J.K. Rowling revealed on her website that for the first Harry Potter movie, she was offered by Director Chris Columbus the role of Lily Potter during the Mirror of Erised scene, but she turned down the role, which instead went to Geraldine Somerville.


6Floating Candles

Floating Candles

The floating candles in the Great Hall for the first movie were created using candle-shaped holders containing oil and burning wicks and suspended from wires that moved up and down on a special effects rig to create the impression that they were floating. Eventually one of the wires snapped due to the heat of the flame causing the candle to fall to the floor. Fortunately no one was injured, but the decision was made to re-create the candles using CGI for the following films as using real candles was determined to be a safety hazard.


7Hermione's Role

Hermione's Role

When holding auditions for the role of Hermione, the casting team traveled around to local British elementary schools to hold auditions in hope to find their actress. When they arrived at Emma Watson's school, she had no desire to audition despite nearly every single girl in her school wanting to. It was encouragement from her teacher to at least attempt the audition that made her be the last girl to audition of her whole school.


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8York Stone Floor

York Stone Floor

The floor in the great hall is made of actual York stone. Production designer Stuart Craig had the foresight to invest a significant amount of his design budget on the stone. While this decision was questioned at the time, it proved to be a wise one, as the stone was durable enough to withstand the footsteps of hundreds of actors and several camera crews over the near decade it took to film the entire series.


9Hagrid's Height

Hagrid's Height

Hagrid is 8 feet 6 inches tall.


10Potter's Glasses

Potter's Glasses

Throughout the whole of the Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe went through 160 pairs of glasses.

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