11Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen turned down the role of Dumbledore. Having appeared as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, he said, “I had enough trouble living up to one legend. Two would be too much to hope for.” He also stated it would have been inappropriate to take Richard Harris' role, as the late actor had called McKellen a “dreadful” actor.
12Knight Bus
In the Prisoner of Azkaban, to make the Knight Bus appear as if it was zipping through traffic at an extremely high speed, the scenes were filmed with the bus driving at normal speed and the rest of the traffic driving at snail’s pace. The film was advanced though the camera at a slower rate than it would eventually advance on screen. When the scene was played back at normal speed, the bus appears to be driving super-fast.
13Dudley Dursley
Harry Melling had lost so much weight that the role of Dudley Dursley was almost recast for the third installment of Harry Potter movies. Eventually it was decided that Melling would continue to play Dudley and would wear a fat suit to make him look heavier.
14Movie Gag
During the filming of the sleeping bag scene in Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuarón, Michael Gambon, and Alan Rickman played a practical joke on Daniel Radcliffe (who had requested to have his sleeping bag next to a girl whom he liked at the time) by hiding a remote-control-operated Whoopee Cushion in his sleeping bag. According to Cuarón, Daniel tried really hard to stay in character while everyone else was laughing.
15Marauder's Map
When designing the Marauder's Map, graphic designers decided to stray from the traditional rolled-up treasure map with burned edges, and designed it instead as a folding map with many layers, each representing a different level of Hogwarts Castle. The shapes of the various areas and objects depicted on the map are defined with written words as opposed to draftsman’s lines. The map was printed on white paper and subsequently “aged” using a rich blend of coffee in order to give the appearance of old parchment.
16Newt Scamander
When we see the Marauder’s Map for the first time, the name ‘Newt Scamander’ can be seen. In the Harry Potter universe, he wrote the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them”, but isn’t a teacher at Hogwarts.
17Peter Pettigrew
Early in the third Harry Potter movie (Prisoner of Azkaban), Harry sees a newspaper article with a photograph of the Weasley family in Egypt. Though it is never again mentioned, this is a very important plot point in the book. While on an inspection of Azkaban the Minister of Magic had a copy of that paper, and gave it to Sirius Black who recognized Peter Pettigrew disguised as Scabbers. This is what made him decide to break out of Azkaban, track down Scabbers at Hogwarts, and take his revenge by killing him.
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18Marauder's Map
Although the Marauders' Map, created by Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail plays a large part in the third Harry Potter film, the identities of the first three are not made clear. This is surprising as this was important to understanding this plot in the book. Moony was Lupin, who was supported by his three friends. These learned “Animagus” shape shifting techniques to sympathize with him. James Potter was Prongs the Stag (a trait passed on to the Patronus of his son Harry), Sirius Black was Padfoot the Dog, and Peter Pettigrew was, more obviously, Wormtail the Rat.
