Leavesden Studios, where most of all eight of the Harry Potter films were made, is located a good distance Northwest of London.  The day I visited the set (it was day 224 of nearly 300 days of shooting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), the weather was cool but sunny; always a good sign.  The bus must go through security and all of us in our group were given special badges.  The area itself is large and sprawling.  We’re taken to an extremely large warehouse-like building.  When we enter, there are what appear to be smaller buildings inside of the large warehouse.  We’re taken to one of these buildings.  The room is large, without windows, but outside the walls can be heard large machinery moving, drills, and other loud mechanical sounds.

We’re given an opportunity to look about the room.  The walls are plastered with many, many photos and art renditions from the film.  There are also props displayed in a wooden and glass case.  I’ll report to you everything I saw, however I can only tell you about items from Part 1 of the film.  Part 2, of course, will come at a later time.  Caution for **spoilers** from here on out.  Read at your own risk.

I saw intimate photos of Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).  There are also some photos of Hermione, beat up and crying, and then Hermione again with the Death Eaters and facing Bellatrix.  There’s a shot of Bellatrix holding Gryffindor Sword with her wand.  I keep going and see a great close up of Bill Weasley (Domhnall Gleeson) and Ollivander (John Hurt) holding a wand.  Next is Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) next to Harry Potter (Dan Radcliffe).  Following this is Harry holding a dead Dobby and then Harry on the beach looking very sad.  There’s a great photo of Harry and Hermione in the Lovegood house with furniture upside down and all over the place.  Another photo shows us Dumbledore’s (Michael Gambon) ghost in Grimmauld Place.  There’s also George Weasley (Oliver Phelps) with his injured ear covered.

There are also quite a few photos and art renditions of Bill and Fleur Delacour’s (Clémence Poésy) wedding.  The art renditions show us that the color scheme is purple and black/silver/white.  There’s a photo of Luna and her father, Xeno (Rhys Ifans), dancing in their bright yellow outfits.  Other photos of the wedding scene include Mr. Weasley (Mark Williams) standing with George, while another photo shows the appearance of flames on the table when the attack is to begin.  We then see Harry, Hermione, and Ron getting ready to apparate from the wedding.  There are also photos of Bill and Fleur dancing, and Harry and Professor Lupin (David Thewlis).

However the most impressive photo from the wedding is that of Fleur in her wedding dress.  The dress is made of beautiful, fluffy white feather-like material.  There is exquisite black lace that has two phoenixes coming together at the front in the shape of a heart.  The train extends for some ways behind her.  It is absolutely magnifique!

We get to see other art renditions, including the Typing Pool from the Ministry of Magic with its purple ceiling and carpet.  Umbridge’s office is, of course, pink, with her frilly cats.  There’s also a rendition of Harry going after the doe Patronus.

The prop cabinet is a treasure trove for the Potter enthusiast.  I was so tempted to touch, but I kept my hands to myself.  One of the props included the letter from Lily to Sirius.  Of what I could see of it, it read:

Dear Sirius,

You’d think he’d been born on a broom. James says he’s got the look of a Seeker, but then James would.

It isn’t ripped. I wonder to myself where the rest of it is.

The cabinet also included Hermione’s little expandable bag.  You can see her holding the bag in this photo.

There was also a manikin that held Xenos’ costume.  The top part of the costume was in three layers.  There were striped pants, then a long robe, and then a long shirt on top of this.  The top most layer included a fabric that looked to be made of yarn.

We then got to speak with some of the cast and crew.

Oscar winner Production Designer Stuart Craig told us about the sets and how they’ve changed through the films.  He says that since the films have become darker, the sets as well have literally become darker.  The honey colors from the first two films are now gone.  When they first started there were only two books released at the time, so they had to change as the books were released.  They changed certain sets to fit certain areas as they’ve changed with the books.  In particular, he spoke of the viaduct that connects the courtyard that goes into the entrance at Hogwarts.

He and his crew refer to the books all the time to get ideas and references for the sets.  Specifically, for Deathly Hallows, they had to go back and get a closer look at Godric’s Hollow in order to determine the state of the Potter house.  They built it for the first film, and then again for the seventh, and had to rebuild a bit again as they had to do some filming with Alan Rickman. They try to keep the continuity.  “It’s pretty typical,” he says, “we always refer back to the book and what J.K. Rowling has written.”

He said he’s excited for people to see Part 1 of Deathly Hallows mainly because it’s so different.  “In Part 1, the kids are on the run, they’re in very different locations, mainly urban, they’re in tents, they’re threatened, and they invade the Ministry of Magic in disguise,” he explains.

It’s unusual for a set designer to always be on the set of the film, especially for a series like this, however Stuart has been on the set since day one.  “I have very carefully and deliberately said to every single one of them, ‘You don’t have to have me here.’ However I can see that there may be an exception that you do have to have me here, because I know what’s needed for continuity, how to build it, and so forth.  But it isn’t as necessary as it appears.”

The change in directors, he feels, has been exciting and stimulating.  He also thinks the different cameramen have made it exciting with the different looks and styles.  He stated that a change in designers would also have produced a similar result.

“There’s been instances where we’ve gone to Jo saying, ‘Please, please, please, give us…’ additional things…”

While working on the sets, he’s had to go to J.K. Rowling to ask her for more details on some of the buildings.  For instance, he needed the names of some of the shops.  “There’s been instances where we’ve gone to Jo saying, ‘Please, please, please, give us…’ additional things, like the names of shop fronts, because she has that knack of coming up with something that is so imaginative and has all the right associations.  We’ve also asked her about gravestones, or if there was a graveyard on the grounds of Hogwarts, which she said no [in the past].  Which she may have been protecting the idea of Dumbledore’s tomb.”

Leavesden Studios is now owned by Warner Bros and, once the films are finished, will have tours for the general public to see the Harry Potter film sets.  Stuart confirmed that they’re rebuilding a great number of sets for the tours.  “They’re bringing back Dumbledore’s office, the Great Hall, and the Dark Arts classroom.”  At the time of this interview, of course, everything was still in the planning stage, so nothing was completely confirmed as to which exact sets would be available.

We then had the opportunity to speak with Costume Designer Jany Temime.  We start straight off with the wedding and Fleur’s gorgeous wedding dress.  She says that since Fleur is French, she thought to make the wedding and the wedding dress with a little French tone and the wedding colors are purple and black.  “Not a Weasley wedding, which would have been tragically bad taste,” she says, “but to have a French wedding with style.”

“On the dress, I have two phoenixes which are in the shape of a heart, and the dress has black, so it’s not really a white dress, which would not have been good for a witch wedding…”

She wanted Fleur’s dress to be like a witch princess.  She also thought of the phoenix, which is a bird that represents rebirth.  “On the dress, I have two phoenixes which are in the shape of a heart, and the dress has black, so it’s not really a white dress, which would not have been good for a witch wedding,” she explains.  “We created a handmade lace that cost a fortune,” she says, and goes on to say that the first lace they received was too fragile to use, so they had to order a stronger type.  She wanted to make sure that the dress didn’t seem brand new and had been part of the family.  “I wanted the dress to appear as if it belonged in the family for 20 generations, so the lace is all broken.  I wanted the fabric to be very dream-like.  It’s really amazing.”

Clémence Poésy, who portrays Fleur in the Potter films, had just finished filming a French film called The Wedding Cake, so she was had some concerns about being in another wedding dress.  Jany said that when they spoke, Clémence said, “I hope it’s not going to be the same, because I just got through spending six weeks in a wedding dress.  If I have to spend two or three weeks in another wedding dress, I want something different.”  Jany told her that this dress will definitely be different.  They made two dresses.  The first took months to make.  “It was a nightmare.  After one was finished, and the seamstresses were ready to collapse, we then had to make a second one.”

Clémence loved the dress and had gone on about how wonderful it would be to be married in such a dress.  I wondered to myself that, after this film, how many women will try to recreate the dress for their own wedding.

For the wedding, the Weasley family wears their typical hodge podge dress style, except for Bill who looks slightly better.  “One can assume that his wife tipped him off,” explains Jany.  “Perhaps he was told if he dressed like a Weasley, she wouldn’t marry him.”

As the costume designer, she found that the most difficult part with these films was that all the books weren’t complete yet, so she would design a costume for a character, and then a book would come out, and the look would change.  She used Nymphadora Tonks as an example.  “In the beginning, she was very wild, and I had her hair changing all the time.  Then the year after, she’s getting married.  I went to the director and asked him how we were going to change her to the married and expecting Tonks.”

She confirmed that Dolores Umbridge continues to wear pink in this film.  Umbrige’s secretaries all have something pink as well, including the men.

Director David Yates then enters our domain for his turn at the round table.  He is a tall man, slightly balding, and very quiet spoken.  I wonder to myself how he is a director, as I could never imagine him yelling and red in the face.  But, then, from what members of the cast have said in the past, this man has no need for yelling.  They respect him and listen to every word he has to say.

The first time I met this man, just before Order of the Phoenix was released, I asked if he was going to continue with Half-Blood Prince, and he said he would.  This day he said he kept going with the Potter films because it was just too fun to stop.  “This world is so rich and playful.  For example, at the beginning of Part 1, there’s this wizard car chase.  I mean, Jo [J.K. Rowling] gives us this opportunity to do this in this film, where we didn’t have it in the other films.  She’s so imaginative, so I never feel like I’m doing the same movie.”

He says that now that Dan, Emma, and Rupert are getting older, that life in general has helped them with doing some of the emotional scenes in the film.  “They’re older and life experience helps them draw on it.  So, I encourage them to bring some of that into their performances.  So, these life experiences help them with nuances in their performances that they may not have had in films 5 or 6.”

He says that he doesn’t necessarily stop filming when doing a scene, but rather continues filming and has the actors do the scene over and over again, allowing the actors to tune into where they need to go.  “I told Dan that he has to tune into this experience, rather like a dial on a radio…here there’s a bit of static…here the sound isn’t quite right…and here you’re in that experience, tune into it and find out what it’s like.  It just happens to you; it just is.”

“There were some bits that were very powerful where Emma just let go for a while and forgot that she was acting…she lost herself in this process and her screams were quite horrible, and you could feel it on the set.”

He then speaks of the torture scene with Bellatrix and Hermione.  “Emma was really keen to do this scene.  She completely gave herself over to the scene.  We set up a few cameras, and Helena got on top of her.  Helena was writing ‘mudblood’ on Emma’s arm, so she was scoring her skin, so we just let the whole thing role for like three or four minutes, and in that time we got some good bits and not so good bits,” he said.  “There were some bits that were very powerful where Emma just let go for a while and forgot that she was acting…she lost herself in this process and her screams were quite horrible, and you could feel it on the set.  Everyone felt uncomfortable; everyone just sort of stepped back a bit.  It was a very odd energy in the room.  She was kind of exploring and exercising demons and serving the scene in doing that.  It was very interesting.”

There are some extra scenes for the film they’ve added that aren’t in the book. He explains why they decided to add some of these extra scenes, “It’s crazy that we’re adding things, when we’re always criticized for leaving things out.  The adapting is really very hard, and sometimes you have to add two or three things to help with structure.”

There’s a Snatcher chase scene they’ve added where they chase Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  He said they’ve also added a very tender scene where Harry and Hermione dance.

Before we continue with the interviews, we take a tour of the sets.  The area is unbelievable.  While walking, one moment we’re in front of the Great Hall, and ten steps later, we’re in the Ministry of Magic.  It’s quite incomprehensible.  Some of the sets were changed into other sets.  For instance Slughorn’s classroom was also the trophy room.

During our walk we see the hallway where Lavender jumps on Ron’s back in Half-Blood Prince.  There was a Hogwarts Express rail car.

We see the Ministry of Magic that now has a slightly different look and feel to it since the leadership has changed.

For instance, there’s a statue of muggles holding up a witch and wizard where the Fountain of Magical Brethren once stood.

We enter a part of the Ministry of Magic through a different route than we initially saw, and I realize that this isn’t the atrium level.  We’re in Level 10 of the Ministry, where the courtroom is located and where Harry’s infamous trial was held during Order of the Phoenix.    We walk through a long hallway that’s covered with paper to help protect the set.  There are high arches that repeat over and over again, and yet some are different from others.  The walls are shiny black and are complete with a ceiling (this is a rarity – not many of the sets have actual ceilings).

We then enter the courtroom where Umbridge holds her hearings as part of her Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission.  The tiles are green here.  The room has a green screen for different backgrounds.  There are newspapers scattered about that are held together with purple ribbons – a definite sign that this is Umbridge’s domain.  We are then taken into another hallway that has stairs going up to a second story… to nowhere.

We continue to other parts of the set.  They have hordes and hordes of stored props.  Everywhere I look I see something from the previous films, including the phone booth that took Mr. Weasley and Harry into the Ministry of Magic during Order of the Phoenix. We see the boat used in Half-Blood Prince by Harry and Dumbledore in the cave scene.  There are Christmas trees, fans, Slughorn’s party items, lampshades, and so much more!  As much as the eye can see!  I feel as if I’m in the Room of Requirement storage area!

We then get to see a set where they’re doing the 2^nd unit filming.  The set is the Gentlemen’s bathroom (it’s actually located inside a small trailer) which is the area the trio use to get into the Ministry of Magic in this film.  The walls are black and white tile.  There are many extras (adult men) sitting outside the trailer waiting for filming to begin.

We’re then taken to the Creature Area where we meet Nick Dudman the Creature Designer.  His smiling visage greets us.  I can tell straight away that he loves what he’s doing.  Upon entering, we see different props that were developed in this area stored on shelves – or wherever they can fit them.  There’s Crookshanks, a werewolf, John Cleese as Sir Headless Nick, petrified dummies (Hermione and Colin Creevey).

We’re then taken to the Fabrication Department where they make body suits and things that need to be added to people.  For instance, Luna’s Gryffindor hat was made in this area.  More and more surprises greet us here.  There’s Dumbledore’s dead body from Half-Blood Prince.

Mr. Dudman shows us some of Robbie Coltrane’s (Hagrid) props.  He explains that there are different size wands for Robbie.  Anything Robbie uses must be scaled, whereas when his double (the larger giant-sized double) must have one that fits his size as well.

He then shows us the body of Charity Burbage, the Hogwarts professor who is brought to Malfoy Manor and who is later killed by Voldemort at the beginning of Deathly Hallows.  In order to operate the dummy, a battery is placed inside the dummy.  Dudman explains, “She’s suspended in mid-air above the table at Malfoy Manor when Voldemort kills her.  Rather than have the actress suspended on wires with her back bent backward for hours, since it’s a major dialogue scene, we had this, which can be used for all the scenes, apart from her actual scenes where she has close ups and dialogue.”

We are then allowed to touch the dummy.  The body feels real, although, of course, not warm to the touch.  A bit frightening, actually.  The details are amazing, right down to the freckles on her arms.  Her arms are behind her body, as if they’re tied there, but actually they aren’t tied at all.

All the creatures made in this department are, of course, handmade.  For instance, the Hippogriff had each feather individually put into the body.  Everything was meticulously painted by hand.

Any object that has hair will have each piece of hair put into the area it’s needed one-by-one.  This includes eyebrows, spider hairs, basically anything that requires hair.  It’s an extremely time consuming process and takes an extreme amount of patience.

Mr. Dudman explains that this process takes months.  “The thing is, when you make a dummy, once it’s finished, it’s a finished object, it goes on the set, and you can use it as much as you want to use it,” he explains.  “When you use prosthetic make- up – and, again, I’ve insisted that all the facial prosthetic things we do, all the eyebrows, the hairlines – are done one hair at a time.  That’s for every single day when getting a new piece.

He then talks about some of the work he and his crew have done with prosthetics that are added to some of the actors.  “With Dan, he gets hexed, where his face is distorted for part of it, so for his make-up, again, each hair is put in once piece at a time.  Paula, who runs the Art Finishing Department, she’s actually gone in and copied Dan’s eyebrows hair-for-hair for every day of shooting.”

We see the cursed body of Katie Bell from Half-Blood Prince looking nearly unrecognizable at first.  Dudman tells us, “We had to make a light weight dummy because we had to string it up on wires.”

We also get to see Hedwig looking extremely real as if she’d take off at any moment.  Also on display was Neville’s Mimbulus mimbletonia plant and the Monster Book of Monsters.  There was also the Hermione dummy from Goblet of Fire used for the scene where she’s under water.  “We made moving dummies, so they could all be suspended in the tank, as opposed having the actual actors with divers, and being tied to the bottom of the tank.  We really didn’t like that idea.”  Yeah, no kidding.

“So, these were made so they could just move gently and could let bubbles come out of the mouth,” he continues. “We made them filled with water to help move their bodies about.  We’d fill them with water and take it out from the top of the tank to help the bodies move about.  There was nothing electrical or anything under the water.  It was literally water being pumped through machinery in water.  It’s one of those things you spend a lot of time on and no one really notices.”

We see the dummy for dead Dobby looking small and sad. We also see the object they used for the concept of Griphook.

He then tells us how they keep the masks consistent.  “When we come up with a character,” he says, “very often we’ll make a complete finished, haired, object.  And that becomes the thing we work from.  This makes it so we don’t copy the one we did last; we must always copy the first one.  Otherwise, by the time we finish the movie, we’d be all over the place.”

He explains that the silicone they use actually has a layer of gel in the middle, so when it’s touched it feels like, and acts like, real flesh.  Of course, this can cause problems when making larger pieces.  “Putting it on is quite difficult,” he says, “because it does actually flub.  Positioning it correctly on the face is quite tricky.”

The hair they use is real.  “The hair comes from several different sources.  Italy provides a huge amount of hair,” he says.  “Traditionally, I’ve been told, girls grow their hair long until a certain age and they don’t cut it until they get to 15 or something like that.  When it’s cut and there’s a significant length.  It’s very expensive hair, because the longer the hair is, the more expensive it is.  So, there’s a big market, culturally, for that hair.”

He goes on telling us that the same story is true for Asia.  “There’s a lot of Asian hair as well.  There are certain countries where they do the same thing.  And in some areas people grow their hair just to sell it.  So, it comes from all over.  And, the longer it is, the more expensive it is.”

However, the length isn’t the only thing they look at.  He goes on to say that the hair is also graded and that they don’t just use human hair.  They also get what they need from animals.  “Yak hair is also used for creature things. Yak does great.”

We continue our tour of the creature department in which we get to see the basilisk from Chamber of Secrets.  We also get to see the Hungarian Horntailed dragon used for the cage in Goblet of Fire.  The dragon, he says, was an easy puppet to make, but it did include a real flame thrower.

We’re then taken into the room where the new statue for the Ministry of Magic was made.  He explains that the statue was made with a Stalin-esque approach.  A number of muggles (nearly 60 of them) are on the bottom holding up two figures.  The two figures won’t actually be made because they’re so large.  Rather, they’ll be digitally put into the film.

We then head to the sculpting studio.  This is where a lot of concept art is done.  Dudman explains that he doesn’t like to just have one go at something; rather he likes to use a few tries with different sculptures to see their different styles and approaches.

“…one of the key things you learn doing this kind of work is that nobody can visualize what the hell you’re talking about.”

“My approach is very much that you take two or three goes at something, and very often you’ll chose two or three different sculptures with different styles to try something.  Then what we do is we get a sculpture to a certain point and we photograph it.  We put it in the computer and Photoshop the color scheme so we can look at any stage.  Then we can go, ‘Okay, this is a great sculpt, but this is what it will look like if it’s done as a make-up.  Because one of the key things you learn doing this kind of work is that nobody can visualize what the hell you’re talking about.  Especially if they’re a producer or a director,” he jokes.  “The easiest thing we found is that you present them with concept art where you can go, ‘That can be built.’”

He then shows us a used piece of silicon.  He explains that once a piece is used that it can’t be used again.  So, for instance, an eyebrow will take two days to make, but once it’s used, even for a little while, and even if it’s not filmed, it can’t be used again.  The edges are ruined when mineral oil is used to remove it.

Of course, the actors who use this are human, so things are bound to happen, like itches.  He says when this happens, they’re not allowed to scratch; they must instead press on the site where the itch is.  “We have what’s called the Explaining Stick.  They get told, ‘Don’t touch it.’  If you’ve got an itch, you press; you don’t scrape. If you’ve got a serious itch, we’ll deal with it.  The trouble is, once you cover someone’s face and they’re told they can’t touch it, they start to itch.”

Once the actors put the silicone on, they’re in it for the entire day, including lunch breaks.  So, what happens when they have to eat?  “We make sure they don’t eat with too wide a mouth,” he says lightheartedly.

He said none of the actors had any huge allergic reactions to the make-up, like what happened with John Rhys-Davies during Lord of the Rings.  Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) was the only actor with any type of sensitivity.  “Ralph Fiennes is very sensitive.  With him, we can only use one type of adhesive and a particular remover.  We also made a point of making him up only three or four days in a row because his skin really is sensitive.”

We return back to our cozy publicity room to continue with our interviews.  Matt Lewis enters in his street clothes, but has already had make-up, which includes scratches and other clues as to what scene he was filming.

“The only clue I had was when I saw J.K. Rowling at the premiere for the fifth film, and she said to me, ‘I’ve written some really great stuff for you in number 7.’  I said, ‘Don’t tell me anything, I don’t want to know.’”

He said he wasn’t aware that Neville would become such a hero until he read the fifth book.  “I had no idea what was going to happen in book 7.  The only clue I had was when I saw J.K. Rowling at the premiere for the fifth film, and she said to me, ‘I’ve written some really great stuff for you in number 7.’  I said, ‘Don’t tell me anything, I don’t want to know.’  She said, ‘Okay, but you’ll enjoy it.’  When I read book 7, I kept thinking, ‘where is it?’ and then I found it at the end. It was pretty cool.”

He hopes that what has been filmed has transferred well from the pages of the book. “Each time we’ve had a director who’s tried to focus on that [good] part of Neville.  You know, he’s so much more than just the geeky one that fell over.  Slowly, as the years came on, we’ve learned a bit more of his background, and I think that this year we’ve seen Neville come full circle.”

Matt says he’s received fan mail from kids who have been bullied and they tell him how Neville has inspired them to stand up to bullies.  “As an actor, that’s just the most amazing thing you could ever imagine.  To think that what you’ve done has resulted in someone’s inspiration…that’s pretty special.”

He says that director David Yates is probably one of the nicest guys he’s ever met.  “He’s just so sweet. I’ve just spent an hour of rehearsal with him. He tells me what’s on his mind and I tell him what I’ve gathered from the script and so we come together and put it all together to try it.”

He continues, “David is very keen to get it perfectly.  If he thinks he has a good idea and you have a good idea, he’ll shoot them both.  He’s not adverse to take out a little bit of time to get the perfect shot.  It’s really a team effort.”

Warwick Davis then enters the room in complete make-up for Professor Flitwick.  His wig is quite amazing.  I sat next to him and tried my hardest to see where his make-up and silicone began.  I seriously couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  Such quality; I was quite amazed.

The makeup for Griphook takes longer to apply, he said, and it’s much heavier.  “There’s the nose, the ears…I feel much more contained.  Griphook’s neck comes all the way down, and I can’t hear very well, and then there’s the contact lenses as well.  So it’s as far from me as you can possibly get.”

“I don’t know if I’m Flithook or Gripwick.”

He says playing the two characters can sometimes get confusing.  “You know, one day I’ll come in as Flitwick and the next I’ll be Griphook, so it can become pretty confusing.  I don’t know if I’m Flithook or Gripwick,” he jokes.

He also had another role with this film.  Warwick has his own agency for small people called Willow Personal Management Ltd., and his agency was used to fill the role of many short actors as goblins in Deathly Hallows.  “Indeed, I do have a third hat.  That was a really great honor to be asked to provide 60 short actors to play goblins.  It was also a great challenge.  To try to find that many people who were at the height they were looking for and had the abilities, it was – dare I say it? – a tall order,” he jests.

He talks about why the Flitwick character changed from the first two films to the third.  “The third script didn’t have anything with Professor Flitwick in it.  Then David Heyman phoned me up saying, ‘I’m really sorry you’re not in the script, but would you consider doing another character?’  I said, ‘Look David, I’ll have to think about it.’  No, not really. I said, ‘Yes, please, yes!’”

He continues with the story, “So, I came in for a meeting with Alfonso Cuaron (Prisoner of Azkaban director) and Nick Dudman (Make-up Designer) and we decided we would design the character who would essentially be a choir director.  I like to think of him as the professor of magical music, you see, but he’s the choir director.”

When the fourth film came along, the director Mike Newell decided he liked the look of this character, “So, I asked him, ‘Is this Professor Flitwick?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ And that’s how it happened.”

When Dan Radcliffe enters the room, looking very smart in a blazer, buttoned shirt, and jeans, he looks around and admits he’s trying to get a look at what’s in there as he doesn’t get into this room too much.  Some of the items in the room make him talk about scenes from the film.  He says he feels the wedding scene is a key scene for him.  He feels this scene is important, not so much for the action, but for the emotional side.

He feels that parts 1 and 2 of Deathly Hallows are very different.  “They’re very different films.  The first part is a very strange road type of movie.  People will see the kids out of Hogwarts.”  He continues, “We started filming the seventh film by the time of the premiere for [film] 6, and, while watching, I was kind of thinking, ‘My God, how different the 7^th film is going to be’, because to see these characters outside of what’s become such a familiar environment is hopefully going to let people see [these films] in a very different way.”

He explains himself further.  “Also the first film is about the gathering of information and getting all the information and things we need in place to go towards the final battle.  The second film is essentially the battle.”

He goes on to say he feels the two films will have a good balance.  “If it’s right it should have a very good balance.  The action sequences are pretty much non-stop.  But that shouldn’t, and I don’t think will, over power the characters of the story.”

He discusses how he and director David Yates work together.  “I think to a large extent I’ve got quite a solid idea of what the scene is and where Harry is and how it should be played.  Sometimes during rehearsal David might take me to the side and say, ‘Well, I think that perhaps…’ but it’s conversation, really, it’s not a process so much.  If a big scene is coming up we’ll have a meeting the week before to go over it.  Mainly on the day we just kind of knock about ideas.”

“I believe that David wants Harry to be sort of internalized and not to project all that emotion outward. I think this is quite understandable for someone who has gone through what Harry has.”

He then explains what he believes David wants of Harry’s character.  “I believe that David wants Harry to be sort of internalized and not to project all that emotion outward. I think this is quite understandable for someone who has gone through what Harry has.”

He says the fifth film (Order of the Phoenix) is his favorite so far.  “Hopefully it will be taken over by the seventh, parts I and II.  I was a bit relieved that the fifth remained my favorite, because I was so tired of every year when I was asked what was my favorite and it would be coincidentally the last one that just came out.  So, when the sixth one came out, I could actually be genuine when I talk about the fifth and it’s my favorite.”  He says he doesn’t go back and revisit the films. He generally sees them three to four times for the premieres, and then once more, usually with his parents, so they can have a look and, “Approve of me as their son.”

He says there are a few kissing scenes for Harry and Ginny.

“It’s not reaaalllly a nude scene.  I’ve done a nude scene, and this really isn’t a nude scene.”

There had been reports that he would have a nude scene in this film, which caused quite a stir with the fans, as there is no nudity in the books.  When asked to give a bit of clarification on the reports, he complied.  “It’s not reaaalllly a nude scene.  I’ve done a nude scene, and this really isn’t a nude scene.”  He goes on, “There’s a fair amount of stripping down, but it’s only down to pants, really.”

He said that for this particular scene he had to strip down and jump into an ice covered pool.  We can assume this is during the scene in which he has to get the Gryffindor Sword from the pond.  He had to go down to his pants for this scene.  He said it didn’t bother him, and he was lucky, because this scene had heated water, where that isn’t always the case.

The Seven Potters scene was one of the more daunting scenes for him because of the technical effects.  There was one scene that took 95 shots because of the many different Harrys.  This was the longest he has ever spent on a single scene.  In this scene, the camera panned around to show each of the different characters turn into Harry after taking the poly juice potion.  So Dan had to stand in one spot for one of the Harrys, in another for the next, and another for the next, and so on. So it took quite some time to film.  Afterward, they showed him the shot of what it will look like in the end.  “After 95 shots, you’re sort of crawling up the walls, so seeing what it’s going to look like is very gratifying.  It really does look great!  Everyone’s overlapping, and it looks really great!”

He also explained that for each of the seven Potters he had to act like the person who had taken the potion.  “It was fun to be able to do the impersonations.  There was no middle ground.  Some of them were so subtle that you may not be able to tell what character they were supposed to be and some of them were so exaggerated that you’ll have no doubt who it’s supposed to be.  It will be very obvious which one is Mundungus.”

When asked about portions of the book that may be lost, Dan confirmed there were a few, but that the whole point of having the two parts was to have as much as possible from the book.  He said that in the previous films, there were subplots in the books that could be cut, but in the last book, there are sub plots that can’t be cut, which was the reason they knew they’d have to do two parts.

We also got to see some filming, but it took place during Part 2, so you’ll have to check out our Part 2 report sometime late Spring or early Summer.  Believe me, you won’t want to miss it!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will be released on November 19, 2010 and Part 2 will be released on July 15, 2011.

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