The Harry Potter films had some pretty strange things happen during shoots, from vandalism
to actor accidents to hilarious hijinks that Fred and George Weasley would definitely approve
of. Hearing about all these antics might just make you wish you'd gotten that Hogwarts acceptance
letter after all, so load up on chocolate frogs and head to Platform 9 ¾ so we can
revisit some of the strangest things to happen on the set of Harry Potter.
Trashing the train
The Hogwarts Express was the site of not one but two cases of property destruction during
the shoots. In 2003, a group of youths made good on that Marauder's Map pledge to be up
to no good and spray-painted one of the train cars with silver and green symbols while it
was stationed at a depot in Scarborough. As if that wasn't bad enough, in 2007, another
set of vandals smashed several windows with the train's emergency hammers, and the boys
responsible, who were between 12 and 14 at the time, were arrested for causing such expensive
damage to the vehicle.
Hamster funeral
On the set of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, personal tragedy struck young star
Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film. Her pet hamster, Millie, died of
a heart attack during filming — and since Watson was only 11 years old at the time,
it was a devastating day for her indeed. The film's set department conjured up an idea
for how to make her feel better about it, though, and made Watson's lost little pal
her own tiny mahogany casket with velvet lining and a silver plaque bearing her name.
"Rest in peace, Millie. This one's for you."
Close call
Water scenes in movies are notoriously difficult to pull off, so it's probably no surprise
that the scene where the young competitors in the Tri-wizard Tournament were made to
fish out their friends from the depths of the sea became problematic. Daniel Radcliffe,
who played Harry, got his signals crossed when he was filming the diving scene in a
water tank and, instead of using the gesture that meant "a-OK," he accidentally alerted
his scuba trainers that he was running out of air and needed to be brought to the surface.
It was a relatively harmless snafu in the end, of course, but it's a good thing he didn't
make the wrong sign at a time of need.
Tragedy strikes
While Radcliffe's close call was a false alarm, there was a gruesome accident on the set of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2009 that left Radcliffe's stunt double David Holmes
permanently paralyzed. The 25-year-old former gymnast was filming a flying scene that required
him to be yanked backward during a controlled explosion. Something went wrong and he was
thrown to the ground. As a result, Holmes, who had been Radcliffe's stunt double since
the first movie, suffered a broken neck and is still in a wheelchair.
Despite this tragedy, Holmes has maintained his relationship with some of the Potter cast
members, especially Radcliffe and Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy. He's also an official
Ambassador for the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital Appeal, where he did his strenuous
recovery after the accident.
Hogwarts alight
Holmes' devastating injury wasn't the only set accident to occur on Deathly Hallows.
Due to a pyrotechnic special effect failure, a fire broke out during the Hogwarts battle
scene, catching the actual set on fire. None of the main cast was present, but 100 crew
members were there and it took 40 minutes to put the fire out. Luckily, the castle that
burned was a mocked-up version — in fact, no major damage was caused to the main set,
and the fire was out by the time the fire department got there.
Though tabloids exaggerated the incident, Warner Bros. representatives said the set
was going to be rebuilt anyway for Deathly Hallows Part 2. Even so, sources joked that
the crew was forced to write "I must not burn down Hogwarts" using the Blood Quill.
"Mischief managed."
Class clown
During the filming of Sorcerer's Stone, one actor's performance was so hilarious that
the kids on the set couldn't stop giggling, which was a problem in keeping to the production
schedule. Peeves, the poltergeist of Hogwarts, was a staple throughout the books, and Rik
Mayall was cast for the part. Problem was, he had the kids in stitches so much that he
was even asked to do his lines with his back to the kids, and even then they still couldn't
stop laughing at him. It wasn't the incessant chuckling that got the character axed from
the theatrical cut, though. Director Chris Columbus just didn't like the way it looked
on-screen and left his scenes on the editing room floor, much to the chagrin of Mayall.
Mayall later said that he didn't have the heart to tell his own children he'd been cut,
so when they went to see the film, they came home and said "bloody good makeup, Dad," thinking
that it was him who'd played Hagrid in the movie.
Homework sessions
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron forced the main actors to write
essays about the characters they'd been playing for years. As the story goes, Radcliffe wrote
one page, Watson wrote 16, and Rupert Grint pulled a classic Ronald Weasley move and just
didn't turn his in.
Cuarón claimed this exercise was a way to immerse the actors in their own emotions and
experiences, while digging deeper into the characters they play, and he said that their
essays were "really beautiful, very honest, very bare and very courageous."
Sucker punch
In the scene from Prisoner of Azkaban where Hermione calls Draco Malfoy a "foul, loathsome,
evil little cockroach," she was supposed to just slap him, according to Tom Felton. But
apparently, Watson got carried away and punched her co-star instead. Felton says she has a
"mean hook," and that he walked away from the incident with his tail tucked between
his legs, and his hearing sort of impaired.
"I feel terrible. I feel really bad. I'm not really sure what I was thinking."
Let's relive that moment once again, shall we?
Chances are, he won't be calling anyone a mudblood in real life anytime soon with the
memory of that hit in mind.
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