Some of the best scenes in the entire Harry Potter movie franchise involve the Great Hall and all manner of celebrations during the Halloween and Christmas seasons. In the past, we’ve heard about how the Great Hall scenes brought a sense of wonder to James and Oliver Phelps, and other Potter cast members when they first entered the sets set up for feasts and more. Given how realistic and magical everything looked, I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise the kids had trouble differentiating between what was real and fake in the scenes, and that trickled down to the food.
In fact, a resurfaced video from the filming of Harry Potter sees the cast and extras being warned about the food in front of them. In particular, the sweets apparently looked palatable, but were, in fact, too good to eat.
If you haven’t seen the clip before, it shows director Chris Columbus advising the young cast on what is OK, and what is not remotely palatable. I still can’t believe they trusted a bunch of 11-year-olds with fake food, but it’s honestly also a good showcase of how directing something can sometimes kind of be a little like herding cats.
It Wasn’t Just The Fake Food That Was The Problem On The Harry Potter Set
Now we’ve learned how some of the food was fake on the tables in the Great Hall, it’s also probably worth pointing out that some of it wasn’t. Although food being real may not have made the eating experience all that much better. Daniel Radcliffe once noted that technically the Gillyweed he had to eat onscreen was "real," but it was one of the grossest experiences imaginable, and it wasn't the only nasty thing.
In fact, a lot of Great Hall scenes across the franchise took three to four days to film. On Day 1, the food would be OK, but by Day 2 and beyond even the stuff that was initially edible got a icky. It was in fact not delightful for the nostrils at a certain point as well, with Warwick Davis previously admitting when it came to the first film:
The next day, they go, 'Don't eat the food'… you just pretend now, it's been there all night. The fourth day, you could smell the Great Hall before you got in it.
Harry Potter's always a big holiday watch in my family, and you can catch it streaming on Peacock or Max with some excellent Black Friday streaming deals this year. This time around, though, I think I'll be watching some of the food scenes with new eyes.
Propmaster Pierre Bohanna said that was a mistake they made on the first Potter film before largely rectifying it by the time Chamber of Secrets came around, telling EW the fake food was a way to fix the smell issue.
We discovered, after a day or two, that the smell of real food was a really unpleasant experience. So, on Chamber of Secrets, we decided to replicate most of it.
Sounds painfully pungent. I’m not sure how future Harry Potter scenes will play out for Warner Bros.’ new TV series, but hopefully they’ll learned some lessons from the big budget flicks. And hopefully if the candy is fake, they remember to warn the young actors!
