Released in 2010 AND 2011 respectively, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts One and Two, capped off an enormously successful film franchise, based on the books of the same name.
Here are a few things you might not know about the final films of the Harry Potter story.
1. Prison Break
Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy, almost didn’t sign on for the film because his character was apprehended and imprisoned at the end of The Order of the Phoenix and he feared Malfoy wouldn’t get much screen time. He begged J.K. Rowling to write him back in, and she told him he’d be out of prison before the end of the first chapter. He signed on immediately.
2. Down Under
Two minutes into the first film, we can hear Hermione’s parents talking about Australia. This is a reference to the book where Hermione claims to have wiped herself from her parents’ memories and gave them new identities involving a move to Australia, something they’ve always wanted to do.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
3. They Had to Split
The work print of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows clocked in at five hours and the shooting script was over 500 pages long, justifying the decision to chop the movie into two parts. We’re sure it was a purely artistic decision and had nothing to do with double dipping at the box office.
4. Hurt’s So Good
John Hurt’s return as Ollivander the wand maker after a nine year absence represents the longest gap between appearances in the franchise.
5. Nerd!
Upon first seeing the set for Hermione’s bedroom, Emma Watson insisted to the set decorators that there should be more books.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
6. Pure Lunacy
As in previous films, Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, chose a lot of what she wore and how the house would be decorated. She even invented the dance moves for the wedding scene, which she based on the concept of “wafting wrackspurts away,” as described in the novel. We have to say. She nailed it.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
7. Horsing Around
One of the posters in the café where Harry, Ron and Hermione appear after apparating to London is for Daniel Radcliffe’s play Equus in which audience members were all treated to a view of his... wand.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
8. Another Feather in the Cap
This is the first of the films to have JK Rowling as a producer. Something else to put on her already extensive resume.
9. Oh Baby
There was a scene in which Tonks told Mrs. Weasley she was pregnant, but it was cut from the film. However, if you look closely, you’ll notice Tonks was wearing a maternity gown at Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
10. Mc-Gone-A-Gall
The first Deathly Hallows is the only film in the series to not feature Dame Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. Pictures
11. Pain in the Rear
Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double suffered a seriously injured while filming Deathly Hallows Part 1. He was slammed into a wall after being pulled backwards by a high-strength wire to simulate the effect of an explosion. He was left paralyzed from the neck down.
12. Like Snowflakes
Every wand seen in the franchise was created on-site. Basing the designs on the descriptions from the book, each wand was 13-15 inches long and created specifically for each character. No two wands were alike.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
13. Give ‘em Props
The props department created over five hundred wands for the film, which were checked in and checked out for each day of filming. Many of them came back broken suggesting they needed either sturdier wands or a more responsible cast.
14. The Little Drummer Boy Who Lived
Daniel Radcliffe himself was reported to have broken nearly eighty wands because he insisted on using them as drumsticks. Perhaps he’s the one who deserved a drumming.
15. Not Just a Pretty Voice
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Griphook was played by Verne Troyer of Mini-Me fame but voiced by Warwick Davis of Ewok fame. In the Deathly Hallows, Griphook was both played and voiced by Davis.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
16. Don’t Forget About the Little People
In addition to the two characters Warwick Davis played in the film, he also runs a company that found the stand-ins for Dobby and Kreacher and the actors to play the goblins at Gringotts.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
17. Dancing With the Stars
The scene from the first film where Hermione and Harry dance was written exclusively for the film and does not feature in the novel. It is one of director David Heyman’s favorite moments of the franchise.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
18. Do I Look Fat?
Harry Melling, who played Dudley Dursley, lost so much weight during his one-year hiatus from the films that he had to wear special prosthetics to make him look plump again. Serves him right for trying to get healthy.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher
19. Another Dimension
The first film was supposed to be released in 3D, but it was decided that it would be too complicated to do and left it in the traditional 2D.
20. Not Ifan
Rhys Ifans admitted to never having read the books but took the role of Mr. Lovegood so that he could work with an all-star cast.
21. A Harry Situation
Filming the scene with the seven Harrys was so complex that Radcliffe had to do 90 takes for a single shot.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
22. Right-Hand Woman
In every shot where Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange appear together, she always moves so that she stands on his right, traditionally the spot reserved for the most loyal and trusted follower.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
23. What a Twist!
Night Shyamalan was reportedly interested in directing the first Deathly Hallows but did not get the job, presumably because the producers feared a last minute twist revealing that Harry was dead the whole time. Spoiler alert: It was the opposite.
24. A Professorial Battle
The fight between McGonagall and Snape at the end was almost rewritten so that Harry fought Snape. Rowling insisted that the fight remain as it was in the book as she felt it was a key moment for McGonagall’s character.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
25. The Hug That Must Not be Named
According to Tom Felton, Voldemort awkwardly hugging Draco was improvised by Ralph Fiennes and Felton’s confused reaction is genuine.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
26. Auction Room
The stuff that fills the Room of Requirement was made almost entirely out of props from the films, seventy-two containers in all. These included the knight that Ron rode in The Sorcerer’s Stone and the Cornish Pixies set loose by Gilderoy Lockhart in The Chamber of Secrets.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
27. We Must Go Deeper
When Hermione takes the Polyjuice Potion to disguise herself as Bellatrix, Emma Watson first acted out the scene for Helena Bonham Carter so she would know how Hermione would act in that situation. So the scene is basically Carter acting like Watson acting like Hermione acting as Bellatrix. Whoa.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
28. It Was Our Favorite Line Too
Molly Weasley’s line, “Not my daughter, you b*tch!” right before she kills Bellatrix, is Julie Walter’s favorite line throughout her entire tenure as Mrs. Weasley.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
29. What’s In a Name?
In the story, Voldemort creates Horcruxes in an attempt to cheat death. In French, Voldemort’s name means “Flight of Death” or it can also mean “Steal/Cheat of death".
30. Scars for Life
By the end of the franchise, the lightning scar had been applied approximately fifty-eight hundred times to Radcliffe, stunt doubles, and stand-ins.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
31. Harry Potter Meets 24
Most of the events of the second Deathly Hallows film, from the raid on Gringotts to the Battle of Hogwarts, take place over the course of a single day.
32. Masters of Coin
To film the scene in Gringott’s, the prop department created over two hundred and ten thousand coins.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
33. They Were in Barney
Creating the scenes of destruction throughout the second film required a hundred and forty-five tons of polystyrene rubble.
34. Needs Better Frames
By the end of the franchise, Radcliffe had gone through a hundred and sixty pairs of prop glasses. Perhaps he should have considered contact lenses.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
35. Flying by the Seat of Their Pants
To make the brooms more comfortable to ride, casts were taken of Rupert Grint and Emma Watson’s buttocks to make custom seats. We’d love to get our hands on those casts. Y’know. For science.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
36. Swan Song
In the final scene, as the train with the next generation of children leaves King’s Cross Station, the song playing is the same as in the last scene of The Sorcerer’s Stone. The song is titled “Leaving Hogwarts,” and it officially ended the series.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
37. Movie Logic
At the end of the film, Harry breaks the Elder wand and tosses it off a bridge. In the book, however, Harry uses the Elder Wand to fix his own and then returns the wand to Dumbledore’s grave, hoping to die of natural causes, so that the wand will be without a legitimate master and lose all its power. Breaking seemed way more convenient.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ,Warner Bros. Pictures
38. They Were Avenged
The second Deathly Hallows held the record for highest-grossing opening weekend ever, at $169.2 million dollars. It beat out The Dark Knight but lost the record ten months later to The Avengers. Hey, ten months is better than no months at all.
39. Harry Potter and the Box Office Successes
The second Deathly Hallows is the eighth highest grossing film of all time.
40. Losers
The final film was nominated for three Oscars and when it failed to win, it cemented the Harry Potter franchise’s record of never winning a single Academy Award. They’ll just have to console themselves with billions of dollars.
41. Not a Sheep
Kate Winslet was reportedly offered the role of Helena Ravenclaw but her agent rejected it before she even saw it, believing that Winslet would not want to “follow suit with every actor in Britain by being a part of Harry Potter". She’s a Divergent girl.
42. A Brassy Move
On the final day of filming, Rupert Grint gave his co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson each a trumpet. There was no reason. Rupert Grint is just a random human being.
