The real government offices of Whitehall serve as exteriors for the Ministry of Magic (alas, the magical phone box shown on Scotland Place was brought in just for filming). In the first Deathly Hallows (2010), Harry, Ron, and Hermione nearly get hit by a bus while rushing through bustling Piccadilly Circus. The Half-Blood Prince (2009) kicks off with Muggles inside City Hall noticing a darkening sky, shortly before an attack by Death Eaters causes the Millennium Bridge to collapse into the Thames. Weasley is befuddled by the Oyster card readers at Westminster Underground Station when he and Harry exit the Tube in The Order of the Phoenix (2007). En route there, the Knight Bus squeezes between Muggle buses on Lambeth Bridge (between Parliament and the Tate Britain). In The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), The Leaky Cauldron's exterior was shot on rough-looking Stoney Street, at the southeast edge of Borough Market, near The Market Porter pub. (Good luck reaching the platform itself without wizarding powers.) Expect a 30-minute wait for a photo with the cart. Harry finds his way to the magical platform 9¾ with some help, but these days it's well-signed, with a luggage cart that looks like it's disappearing into the wall, and a cleverly located gift shop. Pancras International Station.) Inside the glass-roofed train station, on a pedestrian sky bridge over the tracks, Hagrid gives Harry a train ticket. (The fanciful exterior shown in 2002's Chamber of Secrets was actually shot at nearby St. Harry catches the Hogwarts Express train at King's Cross Station. When Hagrid takes Harry shopping for school supplies, they enter the glass-roofed Leadenhall Market and approach the storefront at 42 Bull's Head Passage - the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron pub (which, in the books, is placed among the bookshops of Charing Cross Road). Harry first realizes his wizard powers in The Sorcerer's Stone (2001) when talking with a snake at the London Zoo's Reptile House.
(Diehards can check British Tourist Board's more extensive list of filming locations.) But plenty of locations are worth visiting for their own sake these are my top picks.
Many of the real-life filming sites are closed to visitors, far out of the way for most travelers, or an unmagical disappointment in person for all but the most committed fan. Other settings, like Diagon Alley, exist only at Leavesden Film Studios (20 miles north of London).
HARRY POTTER FILM MAKING SERIES
So, I just remember her being really kind and making a lot of effort to make me feel at home.Harry Potter's story is set in a magical, largely fictional Britain, but the film series used many real locations as evocative backdrops. And obviously, the conversations never worked out like that. And because I was such a big Harry Potter fan, I was very nervous around those three and intimidated by them,” Lynch exclusively recalled to Us Weekly in June 2021. “And I used to be in the car on the way to set, kind of rehearsing conversations I’d have with them. “Emma was always so nice to me and made an effort to get to know me and make me feel at home, which was a huge deal coming from her.
HARRY POTTER FILM MAKING SKIN
“It’s only recently that I’ve felt much better in my own skin and known my own worth a lot more than I used to.”Įvanna Lynch was a Potterhead long before landing the coveted role of Luna Lovegood in the franchise, which made her first set experience daunting. “I was working on Harry Potter while I was growing up, and the attention it brought me made me feel quite isolated,” she recalled to The Telegraph in September 2012. Rowling’s beloved book series.Įmma Watson (Hermione Granger), who was 11 when the first Harry Potter flick premiered, said growing up in the spotlight was tough.
The Snatch alum also added that he “missed out on normal things” while he was filming the big-screen adaptation of J.K. “But the more recent ones I definitely couldn’t do … I could probably go up to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” “I did see Harry Potter and the Stone not long ago, for the first time since the premiere, and I actually enjoyed looking back,” he told Radio Times in December 2018. On the other hand, Rupert Grint, who started playing Ron Weasley at just 13 years old, can only watch the first few Harry Potter flicks. But hopefully they’ll enjoy them and that’ll distract me from my own performance.” He admitted: “One day I probably will watch them back if I have kids, so I’ll do that then. In November 2016, Radcliffe told Digital Spy that he has never sat down and watched the award-winning flicks because they’re too cringeworthy. When the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, premiered in November 2001, lead actor Daniel Radcliffe was just 12 years old, meaning that he went through his awkward phase with millions of people watching. The stars of the Harry Potter films grew up in front of the camera.