HARRY POTTER SORCERER’S STONE BREAKDOWN (2001)! Easter Eggs You Missed! | Harry Potter Rewatch
Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Boss, and this is a breakdown of 2001's. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone, or. Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone. for our friends overseas, the first. entry in our weekly Harry Potter rewatch. series at New Rockstars. My family and I. rewatch these films every holiday. season, and growing up reading these. books was the first world I truly geeked. out in with theories and clue hunting. and just endless refreshing of the Leaky. Cauldron website. So, I am thrilled to. revisit all eight films of this series.
for Easter eggs, details you never. spotted, connections to the book, and. just interesting behind the scenes facts. that make this series so timeless. And. since HBO and Warner Brothers seem to be. rebooting Harry Potter as a series on. HBO, we're going to end each of these. videos with a breakdown of what to get. right, like what are they required to do. now that they have a full season to. adapt each of these books. We're calling. it our room of requirement. Okay, here. we go. Right off the bat, we see the. Warner Brothers logo, which is the usual. logo, but instead of the normal Warner. Brothers theme plane, which is as time.
goes by, featured in the movie. Casablanca, it plays the John Williams. Harry Potter theme. Ooh, so good. After this film, all of. the subsequent movies had a stylized. Harry Potter-ish design in the intro. But John Williams, after composing. several iconic scores for several iconic. franchises, had a high bar for Harry. Potter and somehow was able to tap in to. the song that was in our heads that we. didn't even realize. And now when you go. back and watch these, it couldn't have. been any other music for Harry Potter.
The film opens on the street sign for. Privet Drive with an owl perched on top. The first indication of some wizard. activity. Lots of words in Harry Potter. have obvious or not so obvious double. meanings as Dick Rowling was trying to. do some Denzian word play. Like Private. Drive is a play on Private Drive or. Diagon Alley is designed diagonally. Director Chris Columbus wanted Private. Drive to look like an endless urban. sprawl. When they walk down it in the. film, you don't see an end to the. street. It just slowly curves out of. view to accentuate its size. He did this. to highlight Harry's terrible situation.
in the cupboard and wanted it to look as. expansive and soul crushing as possible. The production went to great lengths to. make each house of private drive look. like a cookie cutter, like an infinity. mirror, right down to giving each family. identical 1998 Volkswetas. Actually, after this film, the real homeowners. requested more money to film there, so. production painstakingly recreated the. street at Levenston Film Studios. They. felt this would ultimately be cheaper in. the long run. As the owl flies off into. the night, Albus Dumbledore appears out. of nowhere, apparating, as we will later. learn he did here. He's played in this.
film by Richard Harris, who took the. role at his 11-year-old granddaughter's. urging. Upon his death, right before the. release of the Chamber of Secrets film, the role was recast for the third film. with Michael Gamin stepping in. Dumbledore uses a deluminator, also. known as a put outer, to extinguish the. street lamps. This object comes back. later in the series in an important way. Dumbledore spots Professor Manurva. McGonagal, played by Dame Maggie Smith. McGonagal is an animeus, which means she. can turn into an animal at will, in her. case, a tabby cat. This cat apparently. ran away during filming, only to.
reappear a few days later. In the books, any witch or wizard who can transform. into an animal has to register with the. Ministry of Magic so that they can keep. track of who can turn into what. This is. why later it's such a big deal that. James Potter, Harry's father, along with. Peter Pedigrew and Sirius Black taught. themselves to do it and are. unregistered. Unregistered anime guy can. go to Aszkaban, the wizard prison for. doing this. Dumbledore and McGonagal. hint around about what's just happened, but they leave a lot out. So, at this. point, Voldemort, he must not be named, has risen to power and has been wreaking. havoc in the magical and non-magical.
communities, imprisoning and torturing. people, murdering others, amassing. followers, and earlier tonight, he went. after James and Lily Potter and their. baby Harry. He managed to kill James and. Lily, but Harry survived and Voldemort. somehow disappeared. All of these blanks. will get filled in the why, the how, etc. throughout this film and in the. upcoming series. So, when Dumbledore. here says both the good and the bad. rumors are true, he means the bad that. James and Lily are dead and the good. that Voldemort seems to be gone, at. least for now. Much later in the book. series, it's established that James and.
Lily died on Halloween night. Now, in. this neighborhood, there are not any. Halloween decorations or late night. trick-or-treaters. But honestly, the. residents of Private Drive seem like the. type of people that would give out. toothbrushes or inferior candy to kids. so that no kids would want to come to. this neighborhood. So, you know, it. tracks like, you know, there's some. bratty HOA president who lives in this. neighborhood who's like scaring away. kids with a rake. Hagrid shows up with. Harry on a flying motorcycle that he. borrowed from Sirius Black. And. obviously, we'll meet Sirius Black later. in this franchise. Robin Williams. reportedly really wanted to play the. role of Hagrid, going so far as to say.
he'd do the role for no pay. He begged. Chris Columbus, who he' done a ton of. movies with, like Miss Doubtfire and. Bsentennial Man. But JK Rowling. specifically wanted the cast to all be. from the UK because she felt the film. would feel more authentic if everyone. could do their own natural accents. So. the role ultimately went to Robbie Col. Train who was the first actor cast. In. real life, Robbie Col Train is 6'1. In. the film, they made him around 8t tall. In the books, Hagrid is actually 11' 6. in and is half giant on his mother's. side. For the film, they made Col Train.
taller through a number of visual. effects, mostly practical. You can see. lots of examples of force perspective. And they had special boots that added. about an extra 7 in to him. They also. created two different sets in some. scenes. For instance, a smaller and a. larger version of his hut so that when. other characters stood in front of the. setpiece, it would look normal size, but. when Hagrid stood in front, it would. look much smaller. And as in Lord of the. Rings, they used force perspective and a. layered fat suit. In some cases, they. also used a 610 standin, Martin. Bayfield, a former England international. rugby player who also wore an. animatronic head that looked like Robbie.
Cold Train. You can actually see that. animatronic head a few times in the film. and it's kind of an unsettling uncanny. valley thing when you do notice it. But. it is cool how many practical effects. there are throughout the film. Despite. it being nominated for a BAFTA for best. visual effects, Columbus has said that. he was never happy with them and that. the VFX felt rushed. But it's so fun to. see them get so clever with how to. achieve certain things. And from. watching these films to watching the. Cursed Child play, the real magic comes. in the practical magic and the slight of. hand techniques that they use. Now,
Chris Columbus had a lot of experience. working with kids from directing films. like Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire. And. he reportedly really wanted this job. because he credited the Harry Potter. books with teaching his daughter to. learn to love reading. Before meeting. with the producers, he put in a lot of. work and asked to go last in the pitch. meeting process after they had. considered other directors like Steven. Spielberg and Terry Gilliam. Columbus. actually showed up to his meeting with. producers with a spec script that he had. written just to show them how serious he. was. his passion and all the free work. that he put into prep won everyone over.
and he got the gig which Terry Gilliam. as an Englishman was not happy about. Gilliam was actually JK Rowling's first. choice and he had also wanted the gig. very badly but they apparently felt he. didn't have enough experience working. with child actors. Later in an interview. a very salty Gilliam stated I was a. perfect guy to do Harry Potter. I. remember leaving that meeting getting in. my car and driving for about 2 hours. along Mahal and Drive just so angry. I. mean, Chris Columbus' versions are. terrible, just dull, pedestrian. And say. what you will about these first two. movies, they created a visual language. that other barely better movies in the.
franchise would build upon. So, baby. Harry Potter is left with the Dursley's. This baby was played by triplets. Despite the fact that they are really. just in it for this shot, it's always. just easier with babies when you've got. more than one of them to work. And if. you happen to live in the LA area and. you got twins and they're like vaguely. cute, those kids are going to college. Now, McGonagal says that the Derslley's. are the worst sort of muggles. imaginable. A muggle is a non-magical. person. In the books, Dumbledore had to. send Harry here because only staying. with a blood relative would be safe for. him because of his mother's sacrifice to.
save him. It's blood magic. As long as. he went home to the Dursleys every. summer, that was still considered his. home and the blood magic would protect. him. The envelope that Dumbledore leaves. with the letter in it, explain. everything, reads, Mr. and Mrs. V. Dorsley for private drive, little. winging Siri. The lightning bolt-shaped. scar on baby Harry's head turns into the. title card of the movie with thunder. heard over it and storm clouds behind. the title. Then we get the actual. lightning flash over all of it. About 10. years later, Harry is relegated to. living in the cupboard under the stairs. at Aunt Patunia and Uncle Vernon's.
house, played perfectly by the awesome. Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths. Set. decorator Steven McMillan said that he. purposely picked out the ugliest. furnishings he could find for the. Dursley's home to make it all as. uncomfortable seeming as possible. There. are photos of Harry's cousin Dudley and. his parents everywhere, but there is not. a single photo of Harry. This detail is. straight from the books, and I love to. see it in the living room here. And. Patunia is always embarrassed of, but. secretly jealous of her witch sister. And she and Vernon strive to be as. normal and as non-remarkable as. possible, which to them means neglecting.
and often ignoring Harry's existence. Now, these are actual baby photos of. Harry Meline, who plays Dudley, and in. years after this has gone on to be a. very successful and very talented actor. The designers actually asked the Meling. family to bring some in, and he later. walked on set just to see them. everywhere. I like the detail that the. toys that Harry plays with are all. broken with the head snapped off because. these would be hand-me-downs from. Dudley. On Dudley's birthday, they go to. the zoo. Now, in the books, there's some. other friends of Dudley's who go with. them. I will admit in the movie, it's. just kind of weird to see the family.
just go and Harry's there with them. But. on the way, Uncle Vernon warns Harry. about any funny business because in the. books, odd, meaning magical things, happen around him all the time. like. he'll be running away from bullies and. suddenly find himself on the roof or a. patunia cut all his hair off and it grew. back the next morning or just. interesting looking people in weird. robes will stop by and shake his hand. Harry does not know yet that he's. magical but his aunt and his uncle do. and they never speak of it or explain it. to him. On the way into the zoo reptile. house, they pass some local school kids. in green and yellow uniforms. probably. just a coincidence, but green is a.
Slytherin color and maybe the film is. just kind of coding reptiles for us. viewers so that we associate green. school uniforms with, you know, the. snake kids. Harry has this moment with. the snake and vanishes the glass and the. snake slithers out saying, "Thanks.". Now, in the book, the snake says a bit. more than this. He goes, "Brazil, here I. come. Thanks, amigo." Obviously, this is. an important scene. In Chamber of. Secrets, it's revealed that the reason. the snake understands Harry is because. Harry Potter is a partial mouth. Well,
partial mouth is the book's term for a. speaker of partial tongue. Of course, the language of snakes. In the films, I. believe they mostly just use the term. partial tongue for both the language and. the speaker. Of course, Harry got this. skill when Voldemort, who can also speak. to snakes, attacked him and transferred. some of his self and his powers to. Harry. Of course, in Deathly Hallows, we. will learn that's because Harry is. himself a Horcrux. Later on, when Harry. hands his uncle the mail, Vernon looks. at a postcard and says, "Uh, Marge is. ill. She ate a funny welk." He's. referring to his sister, who will show. up in the third film. We'll see how.
Harry accidentally magically inflates. her and she floats away. Now, in the. background of the scene, you can see. Aunt Patunia stirring a pot on the. stove. It is not mentioned here, but. Patunia is dying Dudley's old clothes to. make Harry's school uniform for the. school that they were planning to send. Harry to. In the extended edition, Harry. asks Patunia about these clothes before. he gets the Hogwarts letter. Owls keep. showing up trying to deliver to Harry. this Hogwarts entry letter. For the. scenes with the owls, they needed one to. look at Fiona Shaw. The owl kept looking. at the moving camera instead, so they. hung dead mice from her apron to make.
the owl stare at her. Vernon tries to. keep Harry from getting his official. letter from Hogwarts and eventually. drags the whole family to a building in. the middle of a small island. There's a. whole section of the book that shows him. driving all over town to try to get away. from them, but this movie just goes. straight to the island. Then Hagrid. shows up kicking down the door and again. we see some of this great practical. magic of differentiz sets depending on. which actor standing in that shot and he. delivers this bomb. You're a wizard. Harry. Now he does not say you're wizard Harry. in the books but this just one of many. examples of how they had to condense.
especially expositionheavy scenes for. the film. When you read the book this. scene just reads as exposition. exposition Hagrid just explaining things. and Harry going what's that? Why did he. do that? and it's very repetitive and. does not make a very good scene, especially if you're reading aloud to. your kid. And you can actually see JK. Rowling get better as a writer as these. books come out. Hagrid gives Harry his. first proper birthday present that he's. ever gotten, a birthday cake. And it is. a mess. In the books, Derslley's only. ever gave Harry things like a pair of. Uncle Vernon's old socks as gifts. The.
kindness from Hagrid is one of the many. reasons Harry remains so loyal to him. throughout the series. And while as. wonderful of a gift this cake is really. the sweetest gift I think anybody could. give Harry shows up in the books when. Hagrid gives Harry a freaking scrapbook. of images of his parents. God, that's. heartbreaking. Now Hagrid keeps his. broken wand hidden inside of an umbrella. and he's not supposed to use it. We find. out in Shape of Secrets that this is. because he was expelled from Hogwarts as. a student and is not supposed to be. using magic of any kind. The fact that. Harry's clothes pre Hogwarts are all so.
large for him is really on display in. this scene as he has a belt holding. these big old pants up. He doesn't have. any clothes of his own. Everything he. wears as a hand-me-down from Dudley when. they wear out or when just Dudley. doesn't want them anymore. Truly, the. Derslley's often go beyond negligent and. veer straight into abusive territory. And this really just comes from JK. Rowling writing especially these initial. stories in the vein of the themes of. Rald Doll in which Rald Doll makes it. clear that all British children are very. unhappy. So Harry gets the letter from. Hogwarts and you can actually see the. full visible text of the letter reading.
as dear Mr. Potter. We are pleased to. inform you that you have been accepted. into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and. Wizardry. Students shall be required to. report to the chamber of reception upon. arrival. The dates for which shall be. duly advised. Please ensure that the. utmost attention be made to the list of. requirements attached here within. Hagrid uses his umbrella wand to give. Dudley a piggy tail. In the book goes. into the detail of the Derslley's having. to have this surgically removed and. that's pretty messed up. I mean, the. kid's only 11 years old. He's a very bad. boy, but he's still a boy. So, at this.
point in the book, Harry actually has to. go back with the Derslley's, and it's a. very awkward section where the. Derslley's are just like like clearly. wanting to abuse him more. But at this. point in the movie, Harry's just like, "See you." And he leaves with Hagrid and. never looks back. Harry and Hagrid. approach the leaky cauldron. The sign. for it goes from empty to filled in as. they get close because it recognizes. them as magic users. Muggles just pass. on by, not even noticing. inside. A lot. of people already know who Harry is, including Tom the Barkeep and Detilus. Diggle, both bigger characters in the. book. And Harry meets defense against a.
dark arts teacher, Professor Quirrel. And I love how you can actually see. Quirrel in the very first wide shot of. the pub, his head bowed down in the. corner. Harry's scar only hurts him when. he's looking directly at the back of. Quirrel's head since that's where it. turns out Voldemort is. So, right now, Quirrel isn't setting off any alarm. bells. Quirrel also doesn't shake. Harry's hands, which the audience just. talks up to him being a weirdo. maybe a. germaphobe, but it's really because had. he shaken Harry's hand, he'd have found. that Harry's touch burns him because of. the magic given to Harry by his mother's. sacrifice. Quirrel is actually in Diagon.
Alley that day because he's going to try. and steal the sorcerer stone or. philosopher stone from Gringots later. Also, the mini board of the leaky. cauldron includes a reference to the. classic Montipython spam sketch just. with a repetitive word play there. Now, as they venture into Diagon Alley, a. very cool detail of these scenes is that. notice all the set designers designed a. Diagon Alley to have no straight lines. because it's diagonally and also just. wizard world has to look different from. our world. Harry and Hagrid go to. Gringots, the wizarding bank run by. goblins. Now, the main goblin bank.
teller is played by Warwick Davis, who. also plays Professor Flitwick and is the. voice of Grip Hook, the goblin that. takes them to the vault. Grip Hook was. actually played by Vern Troyer, but. because of JK Rowling's no Americans. rule, his lines were dubbed over by. Warwick Davis. Harry's vault number is. 687. The vault that Hagrid goes to for. Dumbledore is vault 713. Group opens the. vault by running his finger over the. front of the vault door in the book. Anyone else who tried that would be. sucked inside and trapped there. And the. goblins only check the vaults for. intruders once a decade. So, you know, a.
lot of these vaults are filled with the. corpses of dead thieves. Harry and. Hagrid walk by the office of the Daily. Profit. That's the Wizarding World's. main newspaper. Harry goes to get a wand. at Ollivanders. The sign reads, "Makers. of fine wands since 382 BC." Ollivanders. at Universal Studios has a sign exactly. like this. Actually, walking down Diagon. Alley there is really cool. You can get. a butterbeer or pick out a wand and they. have a lot of flourishes from the movie. itself. Just don't go in the middle of. summer where it's 112° out or this. number in Celsius because it kind of.
ruins the illusion of the snow topped. British stores. Ollivander is played. amazingly by John Hurt, another legend. in a number of films, including that. guy, an alien. He says he can remember. every wand he's ever sold. Each wand is. made of wood from a certain tree and a. core, which is either a phoenix feather, a dragon heartstring, or the hair of a. unicorn tail. The wand Harry gets has. the same core as Voldemort's wand, which. becomes a very important plot point. later on in the films. Thank you to. BetterHelp for sponsoring this video. The holidays are a time for family to. come together and depending on your.
family dynamic, that could dredge up. some stuff that you might need help. processing. Therapy can help with that. And if you need help getting started. with therapy, BetterHelp is here to. help. BetterHelp is on a mission to make. starting therapy easier. It's a platform. where therapists and their clients can. communicate effectively so you can get. the most out of therapy. They carefully. make sure their therapists on the. platform are wellqualified and their. customer support team is there to help. you if you have any questions. Just fill. out a questionnaire and you will match. with a therapist in as little as a. couple days. If the first therapist.
doesn't feel like the right fit, you can. easily switch to another one until you. find someone you really connect with. BetterHelp also provides a journal for. personal reflection, plus group sessions. on a variety of topics are available. every day. Users love BetterHel. They. have over 7,000 reviews and a 4.5 rating. on Trustpilot. If you are struggling and. you think you'd benefit from a therapy. session, click the link in the. description or go to. betterhelp.com/newrostars. and get 10% off your first month of. therapy. And Hagrid also gives Harry. Headwig, who is played by three. different owls throughout the film. When.
Hagrid tells Harry about the night his. parents died, the flashback sequence was. written by JK Rowling. Because at this. point, while the stories were. developing, she was the only one who. knew what actually happened that night. When this film was released, the first. four books in the eventual seven book. series had already been published. These. were Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone. or Philosopher Stone 1997, Harry Potter. and the Chamber of Secrets published in. 1998, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of. Aszkaban published in 1999 and Harry. Potter and the Goblet of Fire published. in 2000. But it is important for us to. consider the timeline between Rowling's. bookw writing and the development and.
production of the films. These first two. films were written, developed, and shot, and released during the three-year gap. in Rowling's writing after Goblet of. Fire was published as Rowling was. writing Order of the Phoenix and really. just figuring out the general endgame of. her book series. And the release and. reception of the first two movies almost. certainly affected Rowling's ideas for. Order of the Phoenix Onward, and how. expansive her worldbuing and lore became. in the latter three books. The first. four books read like self-contained. mysteries in a fantasy world. And the. last three books attempt to mature into.
YA high fantasy embracing some darker. themes with inner politics and history. and prophecy. When we watch these early. films, it was really Richard Harris's. performance as Dumbledore as an aloof. old man filled with secrets and regret. that I believe prodded Rowling in. developing his and Harry's relationship. in book five, as well as things like. Matthew Lewis's standout performance as. Neville and the movie ending with his. bonus 10 points that won the house cup. for Gryffindor and made this character. seem more important than structurally. similar characters like Sheamus or Dean. while Rowling was writing book five and.
suddenly gave Neville such great. importance in the Order of the Phoenix. book as well was things like the charm. and dynamic among the three core actors. that affected Rowling's writing of the. conflict in book seven and her infamous. decision to keep Ron alive in book seven. despite her original plan to kill the. character off. But I think in my absolute heart of. heart of hearts, although I did. seriously consider killing. Ron, but we must take a moment to address the. elephant in the room. Yes, JK Rowling. has said many horrible things online and.
sadly continues to target and harass. members of oppressed groups who are. especially vulnerable right now. That is. horrible and we condemn these. statements. Our decision to break down. these eight films is not meant to excuse. Rowling's behavior. Rowling is not going. to make any money from us making these. videos. The Harry Potter franchise. remains an enormously popular series of. books and films and games and theatrical. and parks experiences and online. communities that mean so much to. millions of people in spite of what. Rowling has done. And all these millions. of people are going to continue to love.
this franchise and re-watch these films. whether or not we make these videos. about them. It is our mission to analyze. the films that we love and to enrich. that love with a fuller context of how. things are made. And we cannot give that. context if we pretend these things don't. exist. It really goes beyond us. separating the art from the artist as we. all do all the time, consciously or. unconsciously. In these videos, we are. going to talk a lot about the artists, all of the artists, because these movies. do not just reflect the mind of one. author alone and her online behavior.
years after these stories came out. They. are really the collective achievements. that represent the artistry of thousands. of voices from the late '9s and early as. who all loved something and changed our. lives. Harry Potter remains a core. element in what it means for many of us. to be a nerdy fan of anything. I would. not have the career that I have without. reading these stories and watching these. films as a kid. We can and should. condemn Rowling's behavior. While we can. and should relive these beautiful, wonderful things made by filmmakers.
inspired by her books. And my hope by. making this statement in the middle of a. video clicked on by a lot of you who. probably unabashedly love Harry Potter. free from the drama is that you do take. a moment to contextualize what the. author is doing and to consider how best. to comfort the afflicted with your time. and your resources. And we included a. list of wonderful organizations to. donate to in the description below. And. if thinking about rolling does make you. feel weird, that's okay. Part of being a. grown-up means that you have to hold. multiple true things in your head at the. same time. Okay, back to the breakdown. Harry's train ticket reads London to.
Hogwarts for one-way travel platform 9. and three/arters ensured subject to the. rules and regulations of Hogwarts. Express railway authorities. We meet the. Weasley family who are also on the. platform to catch a train. Mrs. Weasley, Percy, the twins Fred and George, Ron. and Jenny who will not go to Hogwarts. until next year. Mrs. Weasley keeps. loudly shouting about muggles. packed with muggles of course. Come on, clap from 9 and 3/4 this way. and really. not trying to keep magic a secret or. hidden at all on this crowded platform, but it's really just meant to be a. commentary on how muggles are just not.
very observant. Fred and George. deliberately try to confuse their mom. It's not Fred, I am. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother. But you can see that their correct. initials are on their foot lockers. As. Harry enters the platform, one of the. first families he sees is Neville. Longbottom with Augusta Longbottom. As. we learn later in the series, of course, Neville shares Harry's birthday and was. thought by Voldemort and others to be a. possible candidate for the chosen one in. the prophecy. That's why it's his. grandmother escorting him and not his. parents, whom my wife and I are sure to.
specify every time we read a mention of. Neville in the early books were tortured. to the point of insanity. On the train, Ron and Harry eat all the candy from the. trolley and on Ron's lap is Scabbers, his pet rat. This is Scabbers, by the way. In. hindsight, this is super freaking weird. and creepy since it turns out Scabbergs. is actually Peter Pedigrew, a full-grown. ass man sitting in the crotch of a. child. When the film came out, the book. where this is revealed, the third book, Prisoner of Aszaman, had already been. released. So, it seems like someone. should have said, "Hey, that rat is. actually a man, so let's not have him.
nosing around an 11-year-old's crotch.". But yeah, right now, Ron and Harry just. think of Scabbers as an ordinary old. rat. The dumb fake spell that Ron's. brothers gave him to turn Scabbers's. tail yellow wouldn't have worked either. way. Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow. because you know Scabers isn't a rat. He's an animeus. Harry and Ron meet. Hermione Granger who's looking for. Neville's Toad. Interestingly, most of. the scenes with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. in them were filmed chronologically with. a couple exceptions. The final scene.
where they're headed home at the. Hogwarts train station was actually. filmed first. I kind of wonder if Chris. Columbus might have did this because he. was worried that the kids would look and. sound older over several months of. shooting. So, he wanted that to be less. conspicuous. There are some bits of. dialogue where they went back and. re-recorded it using ADR where. especially Daniel Radcliff's voice does. sound deeper in this movie. Most notably. when he's yelling to Uncle Vernon about. his letters as a first pouring into the. house. Let go of me. Filming the trio was actually pretty. difficult because the actors were so. young and inexperienced. Rupert Grant. and Emma Watson had never been on a film.
set before. Chris Columbus said that he. never knew when they were going to. deliver the performance I wanted. So, this first movie has a lot of cuts. during the trio scenes because their. performances were just a bit. inconsistent. Because of this, this. movie was also shot with just a lot of. cameras and Columbus compared it to when. shooting a documentary with how much. coverage he felt he needed. The kids. arrive on the train in Hogsme. Right then, first years this way, please. That's the Wizarding Village near. Hogwarts that's featured in a lot of the. later films. From there, the first year. students get to Hogwarts by magic boats.
that move by themselves. Each grade. arrives in a different way as they. progress, and we get our first shot of. the Hogwarts castle, and it just looks. glorious. The design of Hogwarts, both. the exterior and interior actually. changes throughout the films. Stuart. Craig was a production designer for all. the films. He says he feels he. ultimately failed with Hogwarts exterior. in this movie because it doesn't have. the iconic silhouette and looks too. busy. I completely disagree. I think it. looks awesome here, but you know, artists always hardest on themselves. He. would tinker with the design throughout. the movies, improving on the silhouette. and changing the campus more and more to.
his liking. McGonagal runs through each. of the houses a bit more on each one. Gryffindor is depicted by a lion. Its. colors are red and gold. The students in. this house are known for their bravery. Hufflepuff the badger. Yellow and black. colors known for loyalty. Also just. being rejects from the other houses. Ravenclaw is an eagle, blue and bronze, known for intelligence. And finally, Slytherin, a snake, green and silver. known for its ambition and evil. A lot. of evil wizards come out of the. Slytherin house. And I love that Maggie. Smith gives a pause before Slytherin and. puts some stink on the name.
Ravenclaw. and Slytherin. and then shoots a look at Malfoy Crab. and Goyle. She already knows what house. those little shits are going to be in. Snape later gives Malfoy a similarly. pointed look, but that time it's because. he's into it. Snape, of course, is the. head of Slytherin House. She also goes. over the point system. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any. rule breaking and you will lose points. In the book, McGonagal is head of. Gryffindor House, and she and Snape have. a huge rivalry every year over who is. going to beat who at Quidditch and who's.
going to win the cup at the end of the. year. I guess Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. are never really in the mix. At the. start of the year, Slytherin has beaten. Gryffindor and Quidditch six years in. the running. This, of course, at the top. of the stairs is a moment where Harry. meets Malfoy. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. And I just like to think that Harry. probably wouldn't have had a problem. with Malfoy had Malfoy not directly. insulted the one kid who sat with him. the whole train ride up here. red hair. and a handme-down robe, you must be a. weasly. Like Malfoy could have been a snob and. might have ended up being sort of. friends with Harry, but Harry's like, "No, I see how you treat others. Kissing.
my ass ain't going to help.". I think I can tell the wrong sort for. myself. Thanks. I also like in the background of this. handshake scene that's at the top of the. Oxford stairs there. There's totally. kids just looking directly in the. camera. Always freaks me out, but you. know, there's a lot of kids in this. movie, and anytime you have kids in the. movie, some of them are going to be. looking right at the camera. For this. first film, the floating candles in the. Great Hall were a practical effect. They. used candle-shaped holders with oil and. wicks and attached them to wires that. moved up and down to make it seem like. they were floating. But a few of the. wires got too hot and started snapping.
So, to prevent flaming candles falling. on kids heads, they started to use CGI. in subsequent films. Hogwarts has about. 900 kids enrolled there according to the. books. But when designing the Great. Hall, they found it was impractical to. make the room big enough to fit the. entire student body. The one in the. film, which is the Oxford campus dining. hall, can fit about 400 kids in it. It's. also just interesting to think about the. total number of the kids in the class. It's not a lot of kids per class. Four. houses. Harry's only one of five. firstear boys. The others being Ron, Neville, Dean, and Sheamus. And there's. only like five firstear girls, which.
makes 70 kids per house. So that's 10. years per grade, seven grades. So that's. 70 kids per house, four houses. That's. 280 kids. So I don't know how they got. 900 out of 280. But, you know, maybe. some class sizes were bigger, which. would also make it pretty unfair if. people are trying to recruit kids for. Quidditch Cup or just house cups. Some. houses having more kids than others. Hey, look, you know, they don't teach. math at Hogwarts. Wizards are just bad. with math. And Jie Rowling also said. that in the books, the kids don't wear. uniforms, though they do have robes. First year students will require three. sets of plain work robes.
They screen tested a lot of different. looks for the kids, but ultimately went. with the uniforms because it looked more. cohesive on screen. Dumbodore makes the. announcements and introductions. He says. that they're not to enter the dark. forest. The first years, please note that the. dark forest is strictly forbidden to all. students. In the book, it's actually called the. forbidden forest. Filch is played by. David Bradley, who most notably plays. the original version of the doctor in. Doctor Who, who is first played by. William Hartnell. And of course, David. Bradley will have a great role in Game.
of Thrones. That's what I say. And we meet you the sorting hat, and you will be sorted into your houses. The voice actor of the sorting hat is. Leslie Phillips, another British actor. who's been in a ton of things, mostly in. supporting roles, but you would. definitely recognize him. The hat sorts. Hermione into Gryffindor. Gryffindor. In the book, she later tells Ron and. Harry that the hat seriously considered. putting her in Ravenclaw. It's. interesting here in the movie, they kind. of just go randomly by last name, but in. the book, they go alphabetically by last. name. Hannah Abbott is the first one to. get sorted. Of course, the hat. immediately sorts Malfoy into Slytherin.
Slytherin. I love that that hat touches. like one of his hairs. It's like doc, get them away from me. A lot of the fans. over the years have wondered why. Hogwarts doesn't just kick all the. Slytherins out or just like flag them or. something, you know, keep an eye on. them. But friends, I guess that would be. called profiling. And profiling is. wrong. You can't just kick out every Slytherin. because some of them have been. or mass murderers over the years. Now, while they're sitting at the tables, Harry spots Civer Snape, the late great. Alan Rickman. Like a lot of the older. actors, Alan Rickman was talked into.
doing the role by younger members of his. family. In this case, his nieces, nephews, and godchildren, Harry's scar. starts hurting, which he thinks later. means Snape is evil. But directly to the. right of Snape, Quirrel has his back. turned to Harry. So Harry is actually. looking at the face of Voldemort. Just. another way the film misleads the. audience on the Voldemort Quirrel. reveal. Susan Bones is played by Chris. Columbus' daughter, Eleanor. He puts her. in all of his movies. She wasn't allowed. to speak, though, because of Roland's no. nonUK actors rule. She only agreed to. let Elanor be in it at all because.
Eleanor was kind of like Christopher. Columbus's director's signature. And you. know, John Williams really just scores. Susan with just some sweet music. Susan Bones. [Music]. When Harry puts a sorting hat on, it. speaks to him. Very difficult. Plenty of courage. I. see. In the book, it's made more clear that. the person wearing the hat hears its. voice in his head, not out loud. No one. else knows what the hat is saying to. them. Let the feast. begin. Now, a little detail here. Most of the.
food in the feast scenes is made from. resin, but some of it was real, so the. cast could kind of grab some of it and. really chow down. Every witch and wizard. at Hogwarts must have the highest. cholesterol ever, unless there's a spell. for that. John Cle shows up as the ghost. nearly headless Nick. Welcome to Gryffindor. Each house has. its own ghost, and he's the ghost of. Gryffindor. The other ghosts are the. Grey Lady. She's the ghost of Ravenclaw, the bloody baron of Slytherin, and the. fat fryer of Hufflepuff. And as we will. learn in Deathly Hallows, the Grey Lady. and the Bloody Baron have a whole.
history, though we don't see it here. Bloody Baron's just kind of going. through the Slytherin table and going. like a crazy one. Now, in the books, there are way more ghosts at Hogwarts, but these are just the ones that we meet. and focus on. There's also the havoc. wreaking poltergeist named Peeves. And. Peeves was actually cast for this film. and shot a number of scenes, but. ultimately the filmmakers felt his. scenes didn't work and he was cut, which. was a very controversial decision among. the fans since he was something of a. favorite from the books. Now, the moving.
staircases included one real staircase. and a tiny model of others. post-prouction. The actors stood on this. single moving one to film scenes and the. rest were sweeping views of the model. Now, while the staircases are not. described to move like this in the. books, per se, there is a passage that. suggests things like this did happen at. Hogwarts. Quote, "There were 142. staircases at Hogwarts. Wide sweeping. ones, narrow, rickety ones, and some. that led somewhere different on a. Friday. Some with a vanishing step. halfway up that you had to remember to. jump. Then there were doors that. wouldn't open unless you asked politely.
or tickled them in exactly the right. place, and doors that weren't really. doors at all, but solid walls just. pretending. It was also very hard to. remember where anything was because it. all seemed to move around a lot. And. these doors that weren't really doors at. all, probably an unknowing reference to. what would later be established as the. room of requirement. Now, a lot of the. paintings there at Hogwarts were done by. Stuart Craig, the production designer. There's a mix of real paintings and. green screens replaced by moving images. and post-production. A lot of the people. in these paintings are producers and. others who worked on the films like.
Stuart Craig based one of these. paintings on his own likeness. So, we. end up going through the routine of the. different classes. We actually see a. shot of Maggot leaping from cat form. into human form in camera. And the VFX. transition is pretty good. But I just. like that before Manurva reveals. herself, the students in the class who. were sitting there were like, "Oh, I. guess a cat is teaching this class." And. they were so afraid of Mrs. Norris. It's still cat. Wrong. I guess they wouldn't doubt it. Potions. class sets up Snape as the villain. again, so that the ending will come as a. surprise. Snape's wardrobe is the only.
one that doesn't change throughout all. of the films. The costume designer. thought she nailed it and didn't need. changing. And I agree. Rickman is. clearly having a lot of fun with this. character as he sneers at Harry every. chance he gets. He actually wore black. contact lenses for these films to cover. up his light brown eyes and be more book. accurate. Snape humiliates Harry by. quizzing him with potions knowledge that. would be impossible for a first year. raised in a muggle household to know. Tell me, what would I get if I added. powdered root of asphodel to an infusion. of wormwood? You don't know? Well, let's. try again. Where, Mr. Potter, would you.
look if I asked you to find me a bezor? And what is the difference between monks. hood and wolf bane? Hermione knows the answers to all three. questions, but that bear mentioned. should catch your ear. It is the item. that will save Ron's life when he gets. poisoned in half blood prince. Sheamus. Finnegan tries to turn water into rum. Why is an 11-year-old trying to make rum. on a school day morning? Seems like an. Irish stereotype to me. But the kid. clearly didn't get his wand from. Ollivander because it is defective, my. dude. It keeps blowing crap up.
Neville meanwhile receives a remember. all in the mail which turns red. The only problem is I can't remember. what I've forgotten. I always assumed he forgot where he. placed his house robes because most of. the others are wearing robes and he's. just kind of rocking the sweater. His. parents remember all would always turn. red most likely because their brains. were melted after they were tortured to. the point of insanity. The male arrives. via owl and Harry discovers that someone. broke into Gringots and try to rob the. vaults that Hagrid took the package out. of. Vault 713. Madam Hooch gives the. students their first flying lesson. Now,
there's been a long debate of mystery. over Hooch's yellow hawk-like eyes. Some. thinking she's an animeus, others a. metamorphus. Maybe she's just cursed. Really, I just like to think that they. made the hexenbesson coach birdlike. The. students summon their broomsticks. Harry's and Malfoys zip right up into. their hands upon saying up, while. Hermione and Ron's have more trouble. My. theory is that both Harry and Malfoys. brooms hate each other and are eager to. get into the hands of their writers so. that they can show off against each. other. Neville takes off by accident and. a very 2001 CGI version of this kid gets.
tossed around until he falls. But Chris. Columbus was clever about how he staged. it by using the crowd of kids to mask. where the actor would already be laying. on the ground. Malfoy snatches Neville's. remember all. And Harry stands up to. him, proving himself to be a natural. flyer. He catches it right in front of. Manurva. And as he floats back down, there's some clever camera work as we. crane down on him from behind, but don't. actually have to show the actor floating. with wires. In the background of the. shot, you can still see poor Neville's. robes hanging from the scaffolding. Now, McGonagal seems pretty salty about this,
and it looks like Harry's going to be. killed or worse, expelled. But instead, she takes him to meet. Oliver Wood, taking him out of oh, Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which gives us another glance of. Quirrel, who acts like he's having. trouble with that reptile. But, you. know, that creepy face on the back of. his head that's hidden has total control. of the situation. Harry is recruited to. be the seeker for the Gryffindor. Quidditch team, the youngest in a. century. The Gryffindor Quidditch plaque. has Harry's dad's name on it. Seeker. James Potter 1972 and M. McGonagle 1971.
And then on the left RJH King 1969. So. Manurva McGonagal was a teacher by the. 1970s. She was a student in the late 40s. and 50s. So it's believed this could be. one of her nieces or nephews who played. alongside James. Or maybe it's just a. movie gaff. According to Manurva's. Wizarding World profile, Manurva played. for a Gryffindor quiddage team in her. student years in which she proved to be. gifted. However, she suffered a nasty. fall in her final year, a foul during. the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, which would decide the Quidditch Cup. winner. This event left her with a.
concussion, several broken ribs, and a. lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed. on the Quidditch pitch. Now, the Crimes. of Grindleald film does some crazy stuff. with Manurva's timeline, establishing. that she was a teacher in the 1920s, despite Rowling herself writing that. screenplay for that film. It really. makes no sense, and we shall ignore it. I just like this detail for establishing. that the McGonogals were families of. Quidditch players along with the Potters. and that's why McGonogal was so thrilled. that Harry was a natural seeker. Now RJH. King is referenced to John Kang, the. supervising art director on the film. To.
the right of the Quidditch plaque is. another plaque reading for special. service to Hogwarts. There isn't a name. seen on the plaque, but it's confirmed. to be a deleted scene from the second. film in which this plaque says Tom. Riddle, Voldemort's real name. Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves on the. offlimits third floor and come face to. face with Fluffy, the three-headed dog. To make him look even more real, the. effects team made sure that each head. moved independently of the others and. had their own distinct personalities. Fluffy's appearance is based on the. Staffordshire bull terrier. Obviously, since he's guarding something and has.
three heads, this is a nod to Cberus, Hades threeheaded dog that guarded the. gates of the underworld in Greek. mythology. So, Oliverwood teaches Harry. the basics of Quidditch, but you know, they kind of brush past a lot of the. rules. So, if you just watched the movie. and then later go back to read the. books, you'd be like, "Wait, how does. Quidditch work exactly?" Here's a. breakdown. Each team has seven players. There are three goals at each end of the. pitch, and each goal scored is worth 10. points. The three chasers on each team. are the ones trying to score those goals. with the quaffle. That's the ball that. you score with. Each team has a keeper,
basically a goalie, trying to protect. the goals. Each team also has two. beaters who try to hit the two bludgers. in play at the other players to knock. them off their brooms. Then, finally, there is the seeker. That's Harry's. position. Their job is to locate and. catch the golden snitch, which is the. tiny golden flying ball. Once the snitch. is caught, the game is over. The snitch. is worth 150 points for whichever team. catches it. So, the seeker has to make. sure that 150 points is enough for them. to win the game. If, say, the other. team's chasers have scored 200 points. worth of goals and your team has won.
zero points, if the team with zero. points catches a snitch, they still lose. because the score would be 150 to 200. That rarely happens, but it has happened. a few times in wizard history. Meanwhile, the game does not end until. the snitch is found. And the lore. details historical games of Quidditch. that have gone on for a very long time. A fun little detail here. When the. snitch flies off of Harry's hand, while. Wood looks around confused, Harry's eyes. stay locked on, showing how he is a. natural seeker. In reality, I'm sure. Chris Gloves just told this actor Shawn. Bigger Staff to just kind of look around.
confused without any VFX reference point. to lock on to. In Charm's class, Professor Flitwick, Warwick Davis, teaches the students the Wingardium. Leviosa levitation spell. None of the. kids are getting it quite right until. Hermione performs it perfectly and. levitates her feather as Hermione. lectures the others. It's Leviosa, not. Leviosa. It's Leviosa. But Ron is a huge dick about this and. makes fun of Hermione for being a. know-it-all when she was just trying to. help him. She overhears him and runs to. the bathroom to cry, which is what ends.
up putting her in danger from the rogue. troll. Later, Ron, with some more. coaching from Hermione on the switch. inflict maneuver, will redeem himself by. using the spell to levitate the trolls. club and knock out the troll. The spell. comes back a whole bunch of times. throughout the books, which is fitting. since it's the first real practical. spell the students learn. Like in. Chamber of Secrets, Harry uses spell to. levitate the cupcakes filled with a. sleeping draft in front of Crab and. Goyle to basically ruy these two boys. and steal their identities. Harry uses. when guarding Leviosa again in order of. the Phoenix to protect himself from some. brains attacking in the Department of.
Mysteries. And Ron gets to be the hero. again in the final book when he uses it. to levitate a stick to deactivate the. wamping willow so that he, Ron, and. Hermione can get to the shrinking shack. fast during the battle of Hogwarts. It's. now Halloween time at Hogwarts and it is. awesome. Floating Jacko'Lanterns. everywhere, cakes and candies. Harry and. Ron go to find Hermione when Quirrel. runs in shouting that the troll in the. dungeon. Thought you would know. And like a big dumb oish perve, this. troll head straight for the girl's.
bathroom. The troll itself is one of. those CGI moments that some people might. think looks a little outdated now, but. the way they made this scene come to. life is actually pretty impressive. The. troll wasn't purely CGI. It was a mix of. digital and practical like a lot of. stuff in these early films. Full-sized. hands and legs were created and puppeted. by puppeteers so that the actors could. have something to work against. And a. small full model of the troll was. created for static close-ups. The troll. snot was also very real. Ah, troll. bogeies. Again, by today's standards, it's not. super smooth, but the scene is.
fast-paced and chaotic, so watching it. as a kid, you don't really notice. certain things, like Harry switches from. real to CGI depending on how he's. interacting with the troll, like when. he's on the troll shoulders. And you can. tell in close-up that the shoes and legs. are CGI to make it look more smooth with. the CGI troll. When he's hanging upside. down, it's pretty obvious that in wide. shots when both he and the troll. interacting and can both be seen, that's. CGI Harry. But when they switch to the. close-ups, it's real Daniel Radcliffe. being manipulated in the scene. practically, including being suspended. upside down. When the sink explodes. right next to Hermione, that is a real.
effect and lets the audience feel her. terror that she could be crushed at any. second. So, after they bring the troll. down, they swap in a real life troll. prop. So, that incapacitated thing looks. very real. Harry sees a cut on Snape's. leg and assumes he let the troll in as a. diversion and then try to get by Fluffy. in the ensuing chaos. Harry puts two and. two together and realizes Fluffy's. guarding whatever Hagrid took out of. Vault 713. Before the big Quidditch. match, Harry gets a brand new Nimbus. 2000 riding broomstick that the kids in. Diagon Alley were admiring earlier. The.
fact that the kids can't immediately. tell that this is the broomstick that. the owl delivered under the packaging is. kind of wild. Like look at the shape of. it. It's like when people bring wine to. White Elephant and wrap it. Like what. else would I think a wine- shaped bottle. is? Now interesting here when Sephora. Snape wishes Harry good luck on the. Quidditch match against Slytherin. In. the moment, it kind of seems like this. might be said sarcastically with a bit. of a sneer, something to ice this kid, psych him out, get in his head. And. while it can definitely be read that. way, I think it takes on a different. meaning when looked back upon at the end. of the series. Because Snape is one of.
the most complex characters in all of. this lore, he's loved Lily Potter for. all these years, even after her death. And Harry has her eyes, and Snape took. it upon himself to protect Lily's son. because of the role he played in her. death. But he also has always deeply. hated James, whom Harry bears a striking. resemblance to, especially from a. distance. And Snape does genuinely seem. to think Harry has a lot of his dad's. qualities. Snape saves Harry's life many. times over the course of the story. But. his feelings toward him are so muddy. that even he himself probably doesn't. understand them. So maybe this began as.
Snape genuinely trying to wish him good. luck on the match, seeing the brightness. of Lily's eyes. But then when refocusing. his eyes on the rest of Harry's face, he. was like, "Actually, you know what? I do. actually kind of hate you." Either way, it's definitely a bit of backhanded. talk since he has this Quidditch rivalry. with McGonagal. In the stands of the. match, Tom Felton's grandfather, geoysicist Nigel Anste, plays an. uncredited extra sitting next to the. announcer, Lee Jordan. He's in a few. other scenes throughout the movie. He's. sitting at the big table with the. teachers in the great hall. These. Quidditch matches were shot by a.
different unit than for the main film, and it dragged on several months after. Principal Photography had otherwise. wrapped. Columbus said that if he could. redo anything, he would want to give the. team more time to do this sequence, as. he's never been happy with the special. effects. The Quidditch scene was also. apparently the first time a scene had. been fully previsualized by 3D animation. first, and they shot everything to fit. that animation. This is a relatively. common practice. Now, just to break down. the lineup of the two teams, Gryffindor. has Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinet, and. Katie Bell. They're the three chasers. Brad and George Weasley are the two. beaters. Oliver Wood is a team captain.
and the keeper. Harry's the seeker. Slytherin is led by Marcus Flint, captain and chaser. In the book, Harry. describes him as looking as he had some. troll blood in him. Adrien Pusy is. another chaser. The third chaser is. unidentified. In the books, it's implied. that it's Graham Montigue who becomes. captain after Flint graduates, but in. the film, there's a girl. There are two. unidentified beaters, but again, in the. books, it's implied that these are. Peraggreen Derek and Lucian B who are. identified in later books as being on. the team, but there's another girl here, so maybe she's one of them. Yikes. In.
the book, Miles Bletchley is the keeper. And you do hear his name here from Lee. Jordan's commentary. Bletchley pass it to Captain Marcus. Flint. But the actor playing the keeper is a. girl, so I'm not sure who this is. And. then Terrence Higs is the seeker. I. think the filmmakers might have added a. couple girls to the Slytherin team just. because they didn't know who some of. them were. Gryffindor has a faster and. much more skilled team. Slytherin always. goes for brute strength over skill, so. they often just pick the biggest, most. aggressive guys. In the books, they're. the only house to typically go for an. allmale team. Again, favoring size and. strength over all else. They're also not.
afraid to cheat and often get called out. for fouls. Once Harry joins Gryffindor, Wood says that it's the best team. they've had in years. Now, at the start. of the match, Harry and Higs take a high. position to better look for the snitch. Some of these characters get recast when. they have more to do in later films, but. after the kickoff, Angelina Johnson. grabs a quaffle and immediately scores, winning Gryffindor 10 points. Slytherin. gets the ball and Bletchley passes to. Flint. The Gryffindor chasers try to. stop him and he kicks Angelina Johnson. out of the way, but Wood defends the. goal, serving a look to Flint that says. that's what you get for kicking my. chaser dick. Bell and Spinet have a.
series of fancy passes and one of the. scorers making the score 20 to nil. A. Slytherin chaser elbow checks a. Gryffindor chaser, but once again, Wood. stops him from scoring. Blind grabs one. of the beaters bats and smacks a bludger. straight at Wood, taking him out of the. game long enough for Slytherin to score. Then he and another teammate box. Angelina in and cause her to fly off. into the stands. Slytherin scores again. on the unguarded goal, tying up the. game. We get a real good look at the. different team styles throughout this. game. Slytherin only manages to score. after literally kicking the crap out of. people, whereas Gryffindor uses teamwork.
and like a Mighty Ducks flying V. configuration to get the job done. The. score is frenetic and fast-paced and. eventually triumphant. But Harry spots a. snitch and could end the game right. there if his broomstick didn't start. bucking him around. As Hermione focuses. on Snape and thinks he's the one. bewitching Harry's broomstick, right. before that moment, you can see Quirrel. also looking intently at Harry and. quietly muttering since he's the one. actually doing it. And then when. Hermione lights Snape's cloak on fire, the spell actually stops because Snape. accidentally knocks Quirrel backwards.
into the stands, breaking his eye. contact so that he cannot continue to. perform the spell. Harry gets back on. his unjinxed broom and battles it out. with Higs to get to the snitch first. They both go into the dive, but Higs. chickens out and pulls up first, while. Harry dives for the snitch, trips, and. catches it in his mouth. Now, snitches. have something called flesh memory, which means they remember the first. person to touch them. This is also to. prevent disputes in tournament games. If. two seekers touch the snitch, it can. identify which of them really touched it. first. But this fact and how Harry. catches a snitch here come back in a big.
way in the final book when Double Door. enchants the same snitch with a secret. message for Harry that can only be read. when he touches his mouth to it. Eye. open at the close. Hagrid, it turns out, should never be trusted with information. about anything. What that dog is guarding is strictly. between Professor Dumbledore and. Nicholas Fel. I should not have said. that. I bought him off an Irish fellow I. met down in the pub last year. Then I. lent him to Dumbledore to guard the. Yes. Shouldn't have said that. It's now Christmas time. Harry and Ron. stay at Hogwarts and play Wizards chess, setting up the life-size game in the.
third act. Actually, if you look. closely, Harry sacrifices his knight to. Ron's queen. This is what Ron does in. the big match later using Harry's move. from this Christmas match as he will. know that Harry will see where he's. going. And that's why Harry's a step. ahead of Hermione in that whole scene. where he's like, "When I make my move, the queen will take me and then you're. free to check the king." No, Ron. No. What is it? He's going to sacrifice. No, you can't. Do you want Snake to get the. stone or not? Look, Harry, it's you. who's got to make it through. I know it. Not me. Not Hermione. you.
[Music]. Ron mentions that his parents are going. to visit his brother Charlie. Charlie is. the only Weasley sibling that doesn't. show up in the films other than a cameo. and a photograph. On Christmas morning, Harry is surprised to discover that he. has actual presents. He's got presents. Yeah. Because, you know, his aunt and uncle. weren't going to send him anything. In. the book, Ron tells his mother that. Harry is worried he won't get presents. So, she sends him a hand knitted sweater. that she makes for all of her kids. Bronze is maroon, a color he absolutely. hates. Now, this movie only hints at the.
fact that Dumbledore was the one who. gave Harry the invisibility cloak, but. in the book, it's stated outright that. Harry's dad gave it to Dumbledore to. give to Harry. And Dumbledore passes it. along to Harry specifically so that he. can sneak around the castle and figure. stuff out and play detective and get. into some trouble. It's later revealed. that the invisibility cloak, which is. better and more effective than any of. the ones Ron has ever seen or heard of, is one of the Deathly Hallows rumored to. be cut from death's very own cloak, now. in the hands of a child. When he's under. this cloak, Harry overhears snake. And don't want me as your enemy,
Quirrel. Don't know what you mean. You know perfectly well what I mean. Again, Harry just takes the wrong. meaning from all of this. Although it's. hard to blame him with this put on. stutter. Quirrel seems petrified of the. perfectly calm and collected Snape. Now, Snape turns his head as if he knows. someone is there under the invisibility. cloak, even going so far as to reach. out. And Harry frantically backs away. Now, Snape may have heard Harry's. frantic breathing or his heartbeat or. his footsteps, but I like the idea that. this cloak could have a bit of sense. memory with Seis, like the specific.
sound of the cloth as it brushes against. itself, or a smell perhaps, or maybe. just a vibe. This would be some cloth. that Snape would be familiar with from. all the times that James and his buddies. would wear it around Hogwarts back in. the day to humiliate him. And if you. were bullied as much as Seis was using. this specific item, that is a type of. sense memory that would always stay with. him. Probably caused him to have a. little miniature panic attack. It's like. that teacher in the sixth sense when. Cole starts to call him stuttering. Stanley. That is just something that you. never grow out of as an adult teacher.
Harry discovers the mirror of Arised. Eised backwards, of course, is desire. How it would be read in a mirror's. reflection. Across the top of this. mirror is engraved arised strau. o ub kafru o oni or again reflected. backwards with different spacing. I show. you not your face but your heart's. desire. So this is the first time Harry. has gotten even a look at his parents. In the book he sees not only them in the. mirror but his whole family lineage like. people he assumes are his uncles and.
grandparents. But that's always a little. weird because, you know, not everyone in. his family died before their time as far. as we knew. So, I think it was a good. decision on the film's part to just have. this moment be between just Harry and an. image of his mom and dad. We can also. deduce from the fact that Harry sees his. whole lineage that that would date back. to the Peverell brothers since Harry is. implied to be descended from them. This. leads to Harry's first moment with Albus. Dumbledore and Dumbledore drops this. wonderful line. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live. The way.
Richard Harris delivers this, you can. sense a very real sense of regret in the. character that he too probably lost. years of his life standing in front of. this mirror. So, it informs his answer. to Harry's question about what he sees. as Dumbledore responds himself with a. pair of woolen socks. It's a pretty fun. joke, but it was long theorized that. those socks could have had something to. do with his dead sister, Ariana. Like. perhaps they were a gift that she. knitted for him by hand without magic. Actually, JK Rowling later said in a web. chat that Albus really saw his full. family reunited. Ariana Kendra.
Abberforth all together. So they're. sitting around eating some chocolate. frogs and they revisit the Albus. Dumbledore card which in the book is. fully read on the train but they didn't. want to give us the name of Nicholas Fll. that early in the movie. So the frog was. covering it before. Now they read it as. Albus Dumbledore currently headmaster of. Hogwarts considered by many the greatest. wizard of modern times. Professor. Dumbodore is particularly famous for his. defeat of the dark wizard Grindlewald in. 1943 for the discovery of the 12 uses of. dragons blood and his work on alchemy. with his partner Nicholas FLL. Professor. Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and.
tenpin bowling. Ah, Grindleald actually. shows up in part one of the Deathly. Hallows and his relationship with. Dumbledore is explored more in the. Fantastic Beasts films. This leads to. all of them researching in the library. Hermione finding this history book entry. on Nicholas LL. Now, fun detail here. The production actually created two. different book pages. One with. philosopher stone written there and one. with sorcerer stone written there for. the different versions of the movie. Now, the next section of the movie. varies a bit from the book. Indeed, in. the film's shooting script, you can see. a ton of omitted scenes on these pages.
In the book, Harry and Hermione help. smuggle Norbert the dragon out of the. castle so Hagrid doesn't get into. trouble, but Malfoy overhears them. plotting and goes to catch them in the. accident. That snitch, and Neville tries. to warn them. So, it's actually Malfoy, Neville, Harry, and Hermione who have to. go into the dark forest for their. detention. Ron is in the hospital. because Norbert bit him, and apparently. his bite is poison. Neville having to. serve detention sets up why he tries to. stop the others from leaving the. dormatory in the third act. But in the. movie, it's justified by Neville just. not wanting Gryffindor to lose more.
points. And it makes the house point. numbers a much bigger deal in the final. part of this movie. But it ends up. leading to a really heartfelt thing that. matters to kids watching this story that. I'll get to later. But we do get this. little meta moment when Hagrid is. playing the Harry Potter theme song on. his wooden flute. Hagrid. And Harry is so close to putting. everything together, but is still hung. up on Snape being the bad guy. That was no stranger from the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how. to get past Fluffy. When Snape stalks away from them, they.
purposely make his movement similar to. the creature that Harry saw feeding on. the unicorn in the forest. And that's just a red herring to make. the viewer think that Snape is. definitely the villain. So Harry, Ron, and Hermione go in search of the. sorcerer stone or philosopher stone in. the castle. And this is where Chris. Columbus really shines. The whole. sequence of them getting past the. magical traps and using their wits to. outsmart the bad guy is very home alone. Each one gets a chance to show off what. they've got. After they just barely make.
it past Fluffy, Hermione uses her book. smarts to get them past the devil's. snare plant. Harry uses his seeker. skills to find and catch the correct. enchanted key to unlock the door, knowing that it would be the one with. the broken wing because that would be. the one grabbed aggressively before. and. Ron uses his chess skills to win a. life-siz game of wizards chess. I love. the wizard chess scene. Ron hops on the. horseback to be the knight. Harry plays. the bishop and Hermione the queenside. rook. And I always read too much into. this. Like Harry the bishop who can only. move diagonally diagonal. Diagonal.
alley. A detail that we'll get into in. Chamber of Secrets that you know I. always just have a lot of fun with. because mispronouncing diagonal alley. shouldn't send you to nocturn alley. It. should make you move just like. diagonally forever and ever. That's the. way I see it. Meanwhile, Hermione. playing the rook, someone who can only. see forward or directly to her side, but. it's just such a square. She only moves. at 90° angles, right? And of course, Ron. plays the knight, which is like the. coolest piece, the most powerful and. most effective piece in any game of. chess and the one that hurts the most to. lose. So, in this match, white opens.
with a pawn to E4, which is a very. common opening, and Ron answers with. pawn to D5 to sacrifice it and test out. whether this is going to be played like. actual wizards chess with the pieces. destroying one another. Pretty stupid. move on Ron's part because it basically. means he's starting out down a pawn. Like he could have just waited until a. piece got taken normally to scope out. the deal. Toward the end of this violent. game, Ron sacrifices himself to win, proving that he does belong in. Gryffindor with the rest of the. courageous students. It's not just. because he has red hair like all of his. older brothers. He himself is courageous.
and crazy. Hermione stays behind to look. after Ron and Harry goes it alone. So. the chess sequence was both Chris. Columbus and Rupert Grant's favorite. scene to shoot. Columbus was in love. with the set and the look of the pieces. Grint was excited that he got to ride a. horse chest piece and sacrifice himself. in a big moment. In the book, several of. the main Hogwarts employees and. professors contribute to the things. protecting the sorcerer stone. So, Fluffy was placed there by Hagrid. The. devil snare was the work of Professor. Sprout, the orbology teacher. The flying. keys were from Professor Flitwick, the. charms teacher, and the chessboard was.
McGonogal's doing. Also, in the book, Hermione goes with Harry. And there are. two other challenges that they don't. show here in the movie. One is a troll, although it's already knocked out cold. when Harry and Hermione encounter it. That is what Professor Quirrel. contributed, and that sets up how he had. control over the troll. And the other. was thought up by Professor Snape, a. room with seven bottles containing. liquids. Two bottles contain wine, three. contain poison, and one that lets the. drinker back out of the room to safety. and another that lets the drinker. advance to the next room. Reading this. in the book, I love this challenge cuz.
it's kind of like, you know, a logic. puzzle they might take on like a high. school exam. Harry and Hermione solve. the logic riddle to figure out which is. which. Hermione goes back while Harry. goes forward. So Harry arrives at the. final chamber and we get the big reveal. that it has not been Snape that's been. after the sorcerer stone, philosopher. stone, but Quirrel, well Quirrel with. Voldemort growing out the back of his. head. Quirrel walks through every. instance when Harry got it wrong about. him. The Quidditch match, the troll in. the school, and he even reveals that. Snape was the one trying to stop Quirrel. this whole time. After Voldemort tried.
to kill Harry, he went into hiding in. Albania and was badly wounded. The only. reason he wasn't killed was because he. had split his soul and put pieces of it. in different objects, which becomes a. major plot point in later films with the. horcruxes. Quirrel was studying abroad. and Voldemort, sensing that he was. vulnerable, corrupted him and attached. himself to Quirrel. In the mirror of. Arised, Harry sees that the sorcerer. stone, philosopher stone, is now in his. own pocket. A cool little bit of magic. that Dumbledore explains later is. because only a person who wanted to find. the stone but not use it could get it. Voldemort wants a stone so that he can.
stop living off the unicorn blood and. attach to Quirrel like a parasite and. get his own body back. Voldemort's voice. here is performed by actor Richard. Bremer who is listed in the credits of. the film as he who must not be named. This is before they cast the actor Ray. Fines in the role. Voldemort tries every. trick in the villain's handbook to get. the stone, bribery, threats, promises of. power, telling Harry that he can be with. his parents again. And finally, when. nothing works, he orders Quirrel to kill. him. But the magic of Harry's mother's. sacrifice still lives in his skin. So. just touching his skin causes Quirrel.
and Voldemort to disintegrate. Then a. big Voldemort fart cloud attacks Harry. and flees and Harry wakes up in the. hospital wing. Dumbledore explains that. the stone has been destroyed. But there. are other ways that Voldemort might come. back. Then he eats a Birdies bots every. flavor bean that turns out to be Alas. earwax which is a real flavor of these. beans since they actually manufactured. these after the movie came out and it is. alas disgusting. So is the vomit. flavored one that he talks about. But. everyone should at least try it at least. once. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are. awarded points for their heroism, and so.
is Neville for standing up to them and. trying to prevent them from sneaking. out. It takes a great deal of bravery to. stand up to your enemies, but a great. deal more to stand up to your friends. And Gryffindor wins the house cup. Slytherin is pissed because they were in. the lead until those extra points were. handed out. Seemed a little unfair, I. would say. And I would imagine even the. kids in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were. like, "Uh, I get it if Slytherin wanted. to stop the count there." But this House. Cup drama is presented as a much bigger.
deal in the book because Harry screwing. around with Norbert puts Gryffindor way. behind in points and everyone at. Gryffindor is mad at Harry as the year. comes to an end. That's what the Neville. edition in the movie was really. embodying. Otherwise, the film doesn't. spend that much time on it. But it is a. big deal for Harry because think about. it, Hogwarts is the only place he has. felt at home. So when he becomes a. pariah around Gryffindor, it hurts him. more than it would hurt other kids like. Malfoy who could afford to make enemies. and then go home to the loving embrace. of his parents. So while it seems like. an oddly big deal for the film to have.
this additional climax, or you know, maybe something that would only matter. to kids watching, it's actually a. critical gift by Dumbledore to remind. everyone at the school why they should. be grateful for Harry and Ron and. Hermione and Neville. Because Neville, like Harry, doesn't have the best summer. ahead of him. I expect a few visits to. St. mongos with the parents who are. tortured to the point of insanity. So, this win is really a gift from the. headmaster that these sad children can. ride high on until September. But the. best gift of all, Hagrid gives Harry an. album of photos of Harry as a baby with.
his mother and father. In the book, it's. revealed that he called around to all of. James and Lily's friends to gather the. pictures. It is so sweet. Harry no. longer needs the mirror of Era said he. could just look at this photograph. Everyone heads home for summer break. This was actually the first scene that. they shot. And in it, Daniel Radcliffe. is wearing contacts to make his eyes. green. Lily's eyes. But he was allergic. to these contacts and he kept tearing. up. So they stopped using them after. that first day. But when he's tearing up. at the end, Columbus said that you could. tell his eyes are a little swollen from. the allergic reaction. Similarly, they.
initially had Emma Watson wear fake. teeth since in the book Hermione has. bucked teeth, but they didn't like it. after seeing the dailies and remove the. teeth. They cut around it in the final. cut of the film, but they can still be. made out if you look close enough at. Emma Watson here. As the train pulls. away from Hogsme, Hermione says that it. feels strange to be going home. For her, returning to the true muggle world with. dentist's parents would probably feel. strange after everything she's gone. through. But Harry responds, "I'm not going home.". Not really. It's a more thematic ending to how the. book ends. Book ends with Harry meeting. the Derslley's back at the King's Cross. Station and making a quip about how he.
plans to further torture Pigtail Dudley. all summer. But here, Harry is. acknowledging that Hogwarts is really. now his home. Private Drive is no longer. his home. He was the boy who lived. Now, he's a boy who knows how fulfilling that. gift of life can be. And this idea of. not being able to go home, not really, I. think applies to those of us who revisit. these films. It's often said that you. can't go home again because, you know, you just change too much for home to. ever really feel like home. That's how I. feel when I rewatch these films. They. don't hit exactly as they did when I was. a kid. I just know too much about the. world, too much about this fandom, too.
much about what JK Rowling has done with. the privilege that the sales and. royalties that these books have afforded. her. But I think that maturity, that. inability to go back to the home of our. youths is actually in its own way a. gift. Home should not be a fixed. constant in our lives and should evolve. to whatever we need in the present of. our lives. So as we go back to all eight. of these films, yeah, they should feel. differently. We should revisit them with. the context of what JK Rowling has done. And this isn't to take away any of the.
talent and the creation of JK Rowling's. writing. these books and these films and. these joys would not exist without her. But when we revisit these films, it. should not feel like an infantilizing. homecoming that makes us feel like. children again. We should acknowledge. how we've changed, how the world has. changed, and apply it in that context to. these films. Okay, so we know there is a. Harry Potter TV series coming to HBO and. Max in 2026. And I think that context is. going to be very, very important to. apply. Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max, Casey BL, promises that this series will.
dive deep into each of the iconic books. that fans have continued to enjoy for. all these years and that it will be a. faithful adaptation. So, at the end of. each of these breakdowns, we're going to. go into some of the iconic stuff that. they need to include, that they are. required to include in the TV show so. that they can really improve upon what. the film's built. And we're going to do. this in a segment we are calling Room of. Requirement. And in this week's rumor of. requirement, we're going to look. specifically at what will be the first. season of the show based on philosopher. stone, sorcerer stone. So, first.
requirement, if each season of the show. corresponds to one book, season 1 needs. to keep the original title of book one, Harry Potter in the Philosopher Stone. It was changed for American audiences. And there's a rumor that book publisher. Scholastic did this because they felt. that the term philosopher was considered. too archaic for American children, and. putting the word sorcerer in there would. make it sell more copies. But I think. we're past that now. Rowling never. wanted it changed, but she didn't think. she had enough sway as the author to. force them to keep it. So, you know, she. caved. And I think it's time that we. just trust American viewers and change.
it back to Philosopher Stone. Okay, next. thing. We need to bring back that. magical score. John Williams is at least. a third of the reason why these films. were as successful as they were. At this. point, the man is probably too busy or. too old to do an entire TV series. But. the film's score was never better than. when Williams was in charge. Use his. work in the movie as an inspiration for. the show. Look at what the Rings of. Power did. They let Howard Shaw do the. main theme that played over the credits. And then they took another very talented. composer, Bear McCreary, to compose the.
rest of the amazing music in Shor's. style. So, I think this Harry Potter. series could take a similar approach. Whatever composer you bring in, it. should evoke John Williams themes. Okay, third item. Let's spend some more time. early on with the Odius Derslley's. Harry's life changes in an instant when. he finds out he's a wizard. but his life. before that honestly sucked and the film. just couldn't spend as much time. exploring that relationship as they do. in the book. But this would also be a. good way to establish other interesting. tidbits about the neighborhood like the. neighbor Mrs. Fig before she would end. up playing a much bigger role in Order. of the Phoenix. We could also establish.
just more details about the wizard world. and kind of do what like Tolken's. prologue had in the Fellowship of the. Ring extended edition concerning. hobbits. There should be like a. concerning private drive sequence or. like concerning muggles. Okay, next. item. We need to keep Dumbledore. whimsical. In the books, he often just. says nonsense for no real reason. And I. will say the first film does hint at. this when Dumbledore just says a few. nonsense words in his opening remarks in. the great hall. But he's supposed to. really just be odd and silly and very. powerful. And that's what made readers. fall in love with him. Nothing against.
what Richard Harris did with the. character. I really love what he did. with the character. But there is like. another element to Dumbledore, especially in the earlier books, that I. think the early seasons of the series. can dig into more. Like Roly named him. Dumbledore because she imagined him kind. of zigzagging around the Hogwarts. quarters, humming to himself like a. bumblebee. Okay, next item. Bring back. Peeves the poltergeist. Justice for. Peeves. You cannot do this show and keep. omitting Peeves. Okay, next. We need to. put Snape's poison challenge back into. the climax of the film. I want to watch. these kids work out a logic puzzle and.
drink what might or might not kill them. That's a very cool scene in the book. that needs to be in the show. And. finally, it's season 1. We could. introduce and explore some more of the. mythology earlier on. I mean, book one. doesn't really have any of it because. Rowling hadn't thought of it yet. But. now that we know it's going to be a part. of this world, you can do all kinds of. teasing. You could tease the horcruxes. You can tease Deathly Hallows. Like. maybe have one of the kids at the school. just kind of joking around the story of. the three brothers. You can hint at some. of the prophecy, especially with. Neville. You can make him a much bigger. character earlier on. Talk about some of. the international schools like Boatton's.
or Drumstrong. Some of the American. schools. You could have details of. Dumbledore maybe looking at a picture of. his sister Ariana. However, I am begging. please, we don't need any tie-ins to the. Fantastic Beast movies or to the play. Cursed Child. And let's not overuse time. turners. Let's be very careful how we. use time turners on this show. Okay, next up in our rewatch series is Harry. Potter in a Chamber of Secrets, another. Christopher Columbus installment that. started filming just days after Sorcerer. Stone: Vosser Stone came out. We want to. shout out Morgan Ross at Movie Flame who.
gave us a shout out when he did his. Harry Potter breakdown series. Thanks, Morgan, and good job on your work. A. huge thanks to Gina Epilo for doing all. the research and the writing for this. breakdown. Comment down below with your. thoughts. Follow me at EA Boss and. subscribe to all three channels of the. New Yorkers Network for breakdowns and. news coverage of everything you love. Thanks for watching Mischief Managed. [Music].
