To those grandkids / godchildren who pushed these great actors to accept their role... if you're watching this, I just wanna say..... thank you 🙏😌

Somehow they are even cuter in the audition tape than they are in the movie.

I was a teacher's assistant helping 3rd graders who were struggling to read and struggling to even try. OMG! When the Harry Potter books came out, every non-reading student suddenly became a voracious reader! A generation owes its thanks to Harry Potter for opening up their minds to the rewards of reading and to experience overcoming its challenges.

My daughter told me about the book when one morning a very disheveled dad dropped his son off late to the school where she worked. Noticing his unusual appearance, she asked if he was Ok. He explained that he had started reading HP to his young son the night before at bedtime, couldn’t put it down, and had been up all night reading. 😂

Yes, JK Rowling did create a whole generation of readers, well done.

My aunt told me to read them when her son was young and I put a pin in it because why would I read children's books about wizards? Years later I read them to my own kids and became obsessed.

When he was eight my son seemed to be having difficulty reading after being very good at it for years. I took him in to get his eyes checked and the woman testing him said "thanks, I'm just going to talk to your mom outside for a minute."  She asked me if we were reading the HP series and I said we were. She told me my son had just failed perfectly. Apparently kids had decided that they wanted to wear glasses like Harry and were coming in and failing on purpose 😂

"I knew if I screwed it up , I would be in the witness protection program".....a quote from the director.....now that is FUNNY!

I love that they focused on the raw, emotional value of the actors, rather than prestige or prior experience. They took a bunch of kids who had a natural affinity, and turned them into the golden children of our era.

Snape being in love with Lily I did not understand until book 7 so the real afficianados mentioning the foreshadowing in books 3 & 5 and even in a potions scene in book 1 (ref below) really hit me ----  Alan Rickman carried the grievous memory of Lily throughout the character arc is amazing acting and a jewel he was given by Rowling ----  I am amazed that the director also noted [https://youtu.be/P0xZi2q1fVQ?t=608] that the choices he made as an actor were not understood but in the flow of the movies were exactly right!!  thanks for the insight.
REF:
Book 1 -- Potions class, Snape subtly asks Harry: "What would I get if I pour powdered root of asphodel and an infusion of wormwood?" In Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning "my regrets follow you to the grave," and wormwood represents absence and bitter sorrow.

The fact that most of the cast was browbeat into being in the movie by their grandchildren is hilarious.

Leviosa!   I am 74 years old, and went to see the movies with my daughter!  I've seen all of them a half dozen times, many of them even more than that.  My favorite of the  movies is the first one (Sorcerer's Stone).  The best part of these movies is that they're the SAME people playing the same characters in every film.  We got to watch them grow up in real life , real time!  Some of the best,  most enjoyable movies of my lifetime.  Thank you to all involved, especially J K Rowling, for creating such wonderful magic.

My sister picked up the very first book at an airport, waiting for a long flight. She lent it to me. I read it and gave it to my kids to read. And the die was cast! I bought all the books, the books on tape, the movies. I listened to the stories while I was working, while I was doing my household chores. I loved, like millions of people, most everything about Harry Potter...Leviosa!

I couldn’t  imagine any other actors in these roles than the ones who were. Brilliant casting!!!

I'm glad she didn't listen to the person who told her to give up on her plans to write a childrens book and to get a regular job instead.

These books transformed the lives of the largely traumatized and learning challenged population at our school. They went from disengaged to enchanted, sullen to imaginative, and many became driven voracious largely self-taught readers because I just wasn't reading to them fast/long enough during our sessions😊

It was the first year our grade fours and onward scored beyond expectations in government reading tests, an outcome no one could have predicted. Just one of the reasons JK's books are so dearly appreciated and an unforgettable phenomenon to me🙏🏼

Note to the editor sometimes the music is too loud. That it overshadows the dialogue. Make sure you account for that during sound editing.

For me Alan Rickman as Snape was perfect no one could come closer to it

the director saying that rowling's sketches looked exactly like alan rickman KILLED ME

I waited in lines for the midnight release of each book.  I can't say enough good things about the books and the movies. Leviosa!

9:30 I cant believe Alan knew all along 🤯