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Set report: MuggleNet
I woke up early that morning. My room was a little cold and the sound of roudy, yelling children at the
school next door woke me - just like they had the first two days I'd been in London.
We were there, myself and my mother, to visit my aunt, see the sights of London, take a short trip to
Paris, and oh yeah - go to the set of the Prisoner of Azkaban.
For some time I'd been pushing my aunt, a film producer, to talk to her friend David Heyman, the producer
of the three Potter films, to get me onto the set. She shrugged it off for some time, but when she
realized I was coming to visit her in London, she surprised me by explaining that we'd be going there.
As you can imagine, I was thrilled.
It was early and I got dressed quickly, anticipating the day ahead. That day, we were to get off a train
outside of London and wait for a driver to take us to the set. For the morning, though, we went to visit
the Tower of London. Sure, it was fun, but the visit to the set, just hours away, occupied most of my
thinking at the Tower.
We got back to my aunt's apartment and went to a cafe for lunch; then we quickly got to the train station.
Once on the train, the ride was 17 minutes outside of the city. We arrived at our destination, and
glancing at the platform signs I quoted jokingly the Station Guard at King's Cross when he says to Harry,
"Platform Nine and Three Quarters? Think you're being funny, do ya?" in my awful stab at a British accent.
We waited at the station until Heyman's assistant called and told us a driver should be there. We'd seen a
man driving around and around, and she told us he was bald and wearing a yellow shirt. After the call, I
looked across the street - the man was standing at a tree, staring at us. We knew it must be him. He was
standing by the car we'd seen going around that had HT on the license plate, which I joked (before I knew
he was the driver) must stand for "Harry Totter".
As we walked up towards the car (a brand new silver Mercedes), I thought something was oddly familiar
about the man's appearance. Anyway, we'd neglected to see the white paper sign taped to the windshield
that read "HP3, Warner Bros." but nevertheless, we'd found the driver.
Once we'd hopped in and the car had started, our driver introduced himself as Harry Taylor. I laughed and
told him about the Harry Totter bit and when he responded I knew his voice sounded very familiar. While we
were talking to Harry as he drove he said, "Ya know, I had a part in the movie. Can you guess who I was?"
"Oh my gosh!" I yelled, "You were the station guard! The one who says 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters?
Think you're being funny, do ya?' I was doing that line on the platform before we saw you!"
"Yep, that's me!" he said, going on to explain that he was Chris Columbus's driver for the first two films
and had gotten the small role. We talked to Harry for a while and he was extremely friendly and a
genuinely good guy.
We drove up to Leavesden Studios, an old air base turned into a giant studio. Pulling in, Harry pointed to
the area where they keep the animals, and right along side the road was a woman walking Hagrid's dog, Fang.
Across the way, a giant white crane was set up with people around it. When I asked what it was, he said
he thought they were filming some shots of Hedwig flying.
We pulled up to the parking area (spotting the cast and crews' parking spots) and Harry bade us goodbye as
we walked in and up to some offices. There, David Heyman's assistant, Michelle, greeted us and ushered us
into a little room, the walls plastered with Potter posters. She told us to wait, and that David would
arrive shortly. When he did arrive, I shook his hand and he talked to my aunt for a while. Then, when I
asked about what was being shot today and where the cast was, he told me they were doing the Hospital Wing
scene with the time turner, but that all three kids were being tutored at the moment.
Once he left the room, Michelle said it would be just a moment, and I sat down on the couch. My eye caught
a book laying on the table and I opened it up. To my surprise, it was a thick, three-ring binded book
filled with concept art for the movie, and some pictures of the final products. I breezed through the
pages, and kept seeing pictures of creatures with weird additions on them. Finally, I realized they were
concepts for the boggart scene. Then, as I glanced at the tabs on the side, I spotted something that
caught my attention, it read "Dementors". I glanced around hesitantly, my mom in the corner talking to my
aunt, and hurriedly flipped up the tab. I, like everyone else, was anxious to see what they'd look like -
there's been so much discussion, and there I saw the concept art and photos of what they look like AND
what is "under their cloaks". I won't reveal exactly what they look like, but trust me, you won't be
disappointed. Furthermore, I saw a picture of Harry on his broom, the dementors sweeping towards him.
The next moment, Michelle walked back into the room. I closed the book and said, "I didn't expect to see
the dementors."
Leading me to believe that the book probably shouldn't have been there, she took it away into another room
and then came back out to take us onto the sets. We walked down the stairs into what was once a giant
airplane hangar. We walked by piles of wood and scaffolding, but nothing of interest yet.
Once we turned the corner, I saw the front of Gringotts bank - missing the top two stories - but still
recognizable nonetheless. Michelle (who was fairly attractive, I might add) took us towards it, and as I
turned again, I was looking straight down Diagon Alley. It looked like winter and icicles hung from the
storefronts and snow covered the ground. Michelle informed us that some of Diagon Alley was being made
into Hogsmeade.
Amazed, I ran onto the set into the snow and looked at the stores. "Want to go into Honeydukes?" she asked.
"Of course!" I exclaimed. She had a few guys turn on the lights in the set for us, and I walked into the
store. Candy was EVERYWHERE. It was once Ollivander's wand store, but they had transformed it into a
massive candy shop. Chocolate frogs lined the counter, and Bertie Botts beans filled a few of the dozens
of jars. There were two glass display boxes in the middle of the store filled with licorice and other
items.
We went back out into the Alley, now close to becoming Hogsmeade, and walked into Quality Quidditch
Supplies and a few other stores not yet fully turned into places from the wizard village.
Next, she took us into another giant room that looked as if it could have housed a 747. It was the set
where Harry, Ron, and Hermione go up the "changing staircases" where the wizard portraits line the walls.
I walked up and down the staircases, looking at all the portraits, some of which are of members of the
crew. Then, Michelle pointed to a portrait down below - the portrait of the Fat Lady, with tears and
scratches across it. She noted that they'd just done the scene where Sirius slashes the portrait.
Thrilled with what I'd seen, and not knowing there was more to come, we walked a little more until we were
in front of a giant blue screen. At the far end, two kids sat in brooms suspended on what looked like some
device that must make them move. They were filming a Quidditch scene, but the two on the brooms were just
random players. One man in front of a few TV screens invited me over to take a look at some of the things
they'd done. He showed me the scene, most of which was in computer graphics form (like a video game, it
was a shot-by-shot map of what the scene would look like...a pretty detailed storyboard I thought - and
Michelle said that's how Alfonso Cuaron likes to work). The scene looks great, it's very stormy outside.
I saw what looked like a broom get struck my lightning, the tail of it singed, and the Quidditch player
spin towards the ground. Don't recall that from the third book, but it looked pretty cool anyway.
Behind me, while I was watching the screens, I heard a bicycle approach. When I turned to look, it was
Alfonso Cuaron riding towards us. Stunned, I said a quick "Hello" before he took off riding again.
Soon though, it was time to move on, and we walked away, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, in
full costume, chatting with Michelle as we went. Our next stop was Dumbledore's office. Well...what WAS
his office. It had been partially transformed into some sort of astronomy room where Lupin takes Harry
aside to teach him the Patronus. After a quick walk around it, we strolled past the Shrieking Shack,
which is attached to what I was told are hydraulics that make it move and creak.
Then, we took a peak into Lockhart's old classroom, which is also being turned into the Divination room,
which looked just like I'd imagined it. Then, we stepped out and went over into the Gryffindor Common
Room. That's right - through the portrait hole into the Common Room, where it was obvious they'd filmed
a scene of celebration as candy, pumpkin juice, and Bertie Bott's Beans were everywhere.
I darted over to the comfy armchairs that Rowling can't stop describing, and plopped down into one in
front of the fireplace. They were comfy! Like sinking into a warm bath. After a good look at the pumpkin
juice bottles (which look very good...the screw on top is a miniature pumpkin and the drink inside looks
tempting...should have taken a sip), we took the stairs up to the boy's dormitory. More party things were
strewn about up there, too, and I decided to take another break and layed down briefly on Harry's bed.
Over on Ron's bed was an issue of "Martin Miggs and the Mad Muggle" which was mildly entertaining, but a
whole lot cooler to just know that they'd made one. (Know what I mean?) I checked out a few wizard's cards
on the table beside his bed and noticed that, while most of them have Dumbledore's description on the
back, some have pictures of what look like members of the crew.
Walking out of the portrait hole, Michelle ushered us towards another set that where they'd flipped on the
lights for us...The Great Hall. Naturally, I was in awe as I walked in - it's a huge set. She told us not
to touch anything because it was a "hot set" and everything needed to be in its same place when they
started filming there again. There were bookbags, quills, notebooks, and course books everywhere. I
spotted the real Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book, and a grade three spellbook. At the front
was the head table, and I ran up and sat in Dumbledore's chair, out of excitement reciting the Forbidden
Forest line as Richard Harris did in Sorcerer's Stone. ("To those who do not wish to die a most painful
death...") Before we left, I ran to the entrance doors, walked out, and had them open as I walked in...felt
like I was really at Hogwarts. Magical.
Why, I wondered, was Michelle hurrying us? She'd just gotten a call on her cell and was taking us
somewhere. After we sped across the hangar, we heard a loud ring - they were filming. We walked over to
watch them film the time turner scene in the hospital wing. Michelle tossed me a receiver and a pair of
headphones so I could hear exactly what went into the mic for the scene. It started with Daniel Radcliffe
and Emma Watson talking at Harry's bedside and then the amazing Michael Gambon swooping in to talk with
them. Out of the shot was Rupert Grint in another bed, who said something from behind the camera for the
take. Once we'd watched them mess up their lines a few times and get the scene right, we moved on again to
the last part of the tour.
Michelle took us to the special effects/creature workshop of the studio. The first thing I saw as we
walked in was a giant spider from Chamber of Secrets and mandrakes lining the walls. After meeting a few
of the people working in the department, I took a look around. There were a few goblins, a suit of armor,
and loads of other things. I prodded a petrified Mrs. Norris and held in my arms a life size replica of an
unconscious Tom Felton...the prop man pointed out a smaller verson that he said Hagrid would carry...and I
wondered, where does Hagrid carry an unconscious Malfoy? I also asked how they make Robbie look as big as
Hagrid should be. The secret, I was told, is that besides a few special shots, they have a really big
rugby player come in and wear a really good Robbie Coltrane mask.
I strolled on and saw Fawkes the Phoenix and spent a while entranced, stroking his feathers until my aunt
urged me forward. Michelle showed us Aunt Marge's fat suit for the movie and while we were looking at it,
I saw Sirius laying on a table. Not Gary Oldman of course, but the black shaggy dog Sirius can become. All
I can say is he looks really good and that he is similar to how Mary GrandPre illustrates him.
We waved goodbye to the guys in the creature department and walked back to the front to go home. I was
content that I'd seen quite a bit...but there was one last thing around the corner - The Knight Bus. I ran
towards the purple triple-decker. Michelle warned that it was really unstable and they'd had problems with
it, but that I could go in. I stepped inside, saw the bed frames and went up to the second deck - which
didn't have beds or a staircase to the third deck! But, it was still really cool.
We went back to the offices and Michelle grabbed me a Potter movie poster to take home. After a
thanks-filled goodbye, we went downstairs to a new driver to go back to the train station.
So ended my day at Leavesden Studios. I saw more than I ever expected, and hopefully it gave you some
insight into the production of the film. Who knows - maybe I'll be reporting again for Goblet of Fire.
Hey, I can hope. ;)
Set report courtesy of MuggleNet
-October 5, 2003
Back to Prisoner of Azkaban
set reports
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