Those of us who grew up on the Harry Potter movies will always have a special place in our hearts for the franchise. However, did you know that the films that inspired a whole generation of magic lovers could have been radically different? A number of creative ideas didn’t actually make it into the cinematic wizarding world we know and love. Some of them probably would have been pretty cool!
It’s time you learned exactly what we missed out on in the final cuts of the Harry Potter films. From abandoned storylines to alternate character designs, here are some of the ways that these beloved movies could have been very different!
1. Originally, Daniel Radcliffe was going to wear colored contacts.
In the books, Harry is described as having green eyes. In fact, it’s one of his more prominent features. The filmmakers wanted to include this detail, but Daniel Radcliffe was allergic to the contacts! Instead, they just went with the young actor’s nature-given blues.
2. Tom Riddle could have been played by Eddie Redmayne in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”
Although the role went to Christian Coulson, actor Eddie Redmayne was also in the running to play Tom Riddle (aka, young Lord Voldemort), Shondaland says. Redmayne didn’t get the part, but he did end up playing Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts spinoff series.
3. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song that never got used in the films.
If Bruce Springsteen seems like an odd choice for the very British backdrop of the Harry Potter franchise, that’s what the filmmakers decided, too. His original song, “I’ll Stand By You,” did not make it into “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” according to PopBuzz.
4. Cutting Peeves from the cast of characters was a last-minute decision.
Fans of Hogwarts’s loveable poltergeist, Peeves, weren’t happy when they found out that he hadn’t been included in the movies. However, the troublemaking ghost was supposed to be played by comedian Rik Mayall. His scenes in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” were filmed, but they didn’t make the final cut, Screen Rant tells us.
5. One of Draco Malfoy’s funniest lines wasn’t scripted.
In “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” actor Tom Felton forgot one of his lines during filming. Instead, he said to his sidekick, Goyle (who was actually Harry in disguise), “I didn’t know you could read.” According to Shondaland, the director preferred the improvised version of the scene!
It’s fun to think about what could have been, but at the end of the day, the Harry Potter films we ended up with are still pretty great! A special thank you to Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon, who recently passed away. May he rest in peace.
You can find the source of this story’s featured images here and here.
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