A 30-minute special from HBO about the making of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” shared a behind-the-scenes look at the first season, which is currently filming at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, UK.
The documentary “Finding Harry: The Mastery Behind the Magic” delved into the details of the production, including the casting process, animal animatronics, and the choice of costumes and sets in 1991, as reported by Variety.
Casting directors Emily Brockmann and Lucy Bevan said the department reviewed more than 40,000 auditions for the show, eventually losing count.
Bevan said children from across the UK had the opportunity to submit their audition applications online before the team travelled to Manchester, Scotland, Ireland and Cardiff for in-person auditions, looking for actors for the “golden trio” of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Casting
“The Golden Trio” from HBO's new Harry Potter series. Facebook/HBO
Alastair Stout (Ron Weasley) auditioned in Manchester: the directors found him “charming and funny from the start.”
Arabella Stanton (Hermione Granger) came to them in London, where she read the poem Invictus, and later played a more humorous scene for the casting directors to show the crew that she could be casual.
Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter) auditioned in Glasgow after reading a self-written poem about one of the holidays in his life, and quickly won over the directors with his “calm confidence”.
“He's skeptical of the adult world. There's a vulnerability, a melancholy, and a tendency toward loneliness in him,” Bevan said, reading the casting notes they used to find an actor to play Harry.
Describing the character, Brockmann added: “He means so much to people in different ways. You're looking for a child who may seem completely ordinary at first glance, but is actually extraordinary.”