Ch-45
Roger Carpenter was ex-military, honorably discharged, and sent by a security agency that provided services for celebrities and other VIPs. He also had experience in navigating crowds and similar situations. He had signed an NDA and was contracted for three years to be my bodyguard/driver.
The car I was given for my commute to and from the sets of [Harry Potter] was a BMW 540i. Initially, I thought it was very expensive (especially when I didn't even have my first big paycheck from [Harry Potter]), but when I aired my concerns to my parents, Dad flat-out laughed in my face.
"Do you know how much I'll make from the first movie alone?" he had asked.
"Millions," was the reply when I shrugged. "Most of that would be after its release, true, but I'm guaranteed a generous minimum payout. I could probably buy you a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or even a Rolls Royce, but that'd be plain stupid when you can't even drive yet."
I stopped any protest after that when I realized that the car cost Dad less than 1% of his paycheck.
So it was in this new car with my new driver Roger that I came to the shooting location of the very first scene of [Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone].
Because it had to be shot at different locations all across the UK, they had initially decided to be done with the scenes not involving Hogwarts first because those scenes involved the preparation of a lot of props and small magical trinkets, for which the set designing team was working tirelessly.
That was at least until I pointed out a major flaw in their preparation.
"Shouldn't we do the heavy CGI scenes like the Quidditch match first?" I had asked Dad once when he explained the shooting logic to me.
"And why is that?" Dad had asked back.
"I don't know for sure, but won't adding the CGI to perfection take a lot of time? If it is shot first, then the VFX team would have more time to add the effects to those scenes, and as far as I understand, Quidditch requires the most CGI in the whole movie." I had given my reasoning.
In reality, it was no original reasoning of mine. I remember watching an interview with Chris Columbus, who complained about this issue, which they corrected from the second movie onwards, resulting in a major improvement in Quidditch scenes from part 1 to part 2.
Dad had looked at me skeptically before asking, "How in heaven's name did you deduce that, and none of the production team pointed it out? Including our VFX specialist?"
I had just shrugged in reply.
So back to the present, here I was at the Leavesden studios to shoot our Quidditch scenes. From what I knew, it would take upwards of two weeks to complete the whole Quidditch sequence. Visual effects technology is so amazing that other than me and the older kid who plays the Slytherin Seeker, no other actor had to be physically present on the set on the same day. Because I was the main character, I had more scenes, so my scenes were to be shot first.
I saw the Nimbus 2000 that I had to ride. It was fitted with a bicycle seat, footrests, and wires to ensure I didn't fall off.
This was my first time doing any sort of stunt or action scene, so I was a little nervous but excited at the same time.
"Troy," Chris said as he approached me, "for this scene, we are trying to replicate the same effect as Quidditch. The brooms will move only in their place, and we will add wind using these giant fans. If you have any problem or discomfort, just wave your hand or shout. Is that alright?"
I nodded in understanding.
"Good. Now see this scene. We are recreating this."
Chris played an animated Quidditch scene on the monitor behind him, and I really understood what we were trying to achieve here.
"So the camera will zoom in the opposite direction of where I'm supposed to go to make it look like I'm going forward?" I asked, finally realizing how such scenes are shot in action movies and the like.
"Yes! Exactly! Come, now sit on that broom thingy and we'll begin." Chris pointed towards the 'broom' that was attached to a giant machine in front of a blue screen.
I was assisted by a few people to climb up on the contraption, and the shooting began.
The 'broom' shook wildly in every direction as I held onto it for dear life. It was pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. Thank God my balls hadn't dropped yet, or I'd be a little less likely to become a father in the future. They blew wind in my face from different directions, and I had to make lunges, dives, and whatnot. I even had to fight it out with the other kid for the imaginary Snitch where our 'brooms' were placed next to each other.
That's the problem with the green screen/blue screen. There's nothing there to act against. Everything is so technical, and the human element is removed from the equation entirely. To remedy this, Chris had to tell us multiple times what was exactly happening around us and what we should be imagining.
As planned, we shot these scenes for a total of sixteen days. No amount of good acting can reduce your number of retakes when you're about to puke your guts out because of the excess motion of those horrid contraptions. In fact, I didn't even consider this as acting. Thankfully, they mixed my scenes with those of other actors to give me some respite.
I would shoot for an hour, then take a study session. Meanwhile, others in the Gryffindor or Slytherin teams would take their shots. It was a hectic schedule, but we all persevered.
(Break)
After the Quidditch scenes and all the flying scenes around Hogwarts were shot, I took a few days off to promote [The Sixth Sense] in the UK. As I mentioned earlier, in the UK, Disney marketed the film as having two leads, Bruce and I, with both of us featured on the posters.
Because the UK was geographically much smaller, the promotion tour was much shorter than in the States. It didn't mean I liked it any more than in the States because, at the end of the day, it was mostly the same stuff we talked about in the interviews, with one major difference.
Now I was also Harry Potter, so I had to talk about that as well.
"So how is it shooting for [Harry Potter]?" an interviewer named George asked me.
"It's wonderful," I replied cheerfully. "I love the book series so much that seeing those scenes come to life is nothing less than magical. I hope it will get a similar response to [The Sixth Sense]." I tried to steer the conversation back to the current film in question.
"Very subtle," George grinned at me. "Okay, so tell me more about working with Bruce Willis."
"Bruce is like that loving mischievous uncle I never had. I never felt for a moment that I was working. The best part is that no one on set treated me like a kid, and I just loved being on set because of that."
(Break)
[The Sixth Sense] had a massive opening in the UK. The audience was similarly enthralled by the plot twists and the story structure.
The opening weekend collection alone was a staggering £15.2 million. A similar trend was observed in most of Europe, where the film received a great opening and exceedingly positive word of mouth.
By the time the year ended, the film had already grossed $715 million worldwide and wasn't showing signs of stopping any time soon.
The success of the film could be attributed to the genius of M. Night Shyamalan. Not to mention the fact that Disney had started campaigning for the Oscars, resulting in larger media attention to an already hit film. Every news channel, media house, and other reporters had started doing opinion pieces on the story structure, the plot twist, and the acting of the actors, including yours truly.
I was very baffled seeing people analyzing every bit of the plot (minus the plot twist about Bruce Willis) and the performances. From what little I saw on TV, Bruce appeared on every talk show and news channel regularly to talk about the film and the filming experience with Night and me.
His move was quite an obvious one. He was getting a huge bonus for the film that would net him upwards of $100 million. And his performance was good enough that he could get an Oscar nomination if he played his cards right. Well, the last one depended more on others' performances, and in a year with weaker performances, he may have even gotten one. But not in 1999. Not only was that one of the greatest year in film history with amazing performances across the board, there were other factors working against Bruce.
The reason was simple: Bruce didn't have a good image amongst his fellow actors for his acting. From what I heard on set, his behavior was quite mellow in [The Sixth Sense] because of his recent failure at the Box Office. Usually, he was a little difficult to work with. Their words, not mine.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Because of Bruce's stake in the box office, he was doing everything in his power to promote the film, and the results showed.
$715 million and counting. That is already more than the worldwide total of [The Sixth Sense] in my previous life. I never imagined that my presence would impact the box office collections of the film. Then again, my Emmy win had enhanced the US collections in the immediately following days. Or maybe it was just the modified script of the movie with the added song? I don't think I'd ever get the answer to that question, so I'll just chalk it up to the butterfly effect.
On the [Harry Potter] front, things were going as well as they could be. Since I was done with the most taxing scenes of broom flying and Quidditch, the rest of the scenes were relatively much simpler for me.
At the moment, I was at King's Cross station, shooting the scenes of Platform 9¾.
I was pushing forward a trolley with a bunch of stuff on it, including a trunk, some parcels wrapped in brown paper, and a beautiful white owl in a birdcage. I was wearing old, baggy clothes, that included a flannel shirt, a loose grey t-shirt under it, and a pair of equally bigger trousers held together barely across my torso by a frayed belt. The sleeves of the shirt and legs of the trousers had to be folded multiple times to make it wearable on my tiny frame. I was wearing Harry's iconic glasses and a fake scar had been placed on my forehead. I was told not to comb my hair, an instruction that I complied with. Beside me was a giant of a man called Robbie Coltrane, portraying Rubeus Hagrid. To appear bigger than he was, he was wearing a special suit designed for him under his own shabby clothes.
"What're yeh lookin' at?" He growled at a couple walking beside us at the train station. The extras walked quickly, leaving Hagrid and me behind.
Robbie then took out a watch from his pocket before exclaiming, "Blimey! Is that the time?" Then he turned to me and looked down, "Sory Harry, I'm gonna have to leave yeh. Dumbledore will be wanting this..." He started patting his pocket as a look of realization spread across his face. "...Well he'll be wanting to see me. Now, your train leaves in ten minutes. Here's your ticket." He handed me said ticket. "Stick to it, Harry. It's very important. Stick to your ticket." He insisted while nodding comically.
I barely concealed my laughter as I looked down at the ticket in my hands. This was already the seventh take because Robbie is so damn hilarious that I find it difficult to not laugh at his micro-expressions.
"But Hagrid! There must be a mistake. This says Platform 9¾. There's no such thing, is there?" I looked around in bafflement as the giant was nowhere to be seen.
"Cut!" Chris's voice rang out on the station. "Very good, Troy! Let's move on to the next one after a fifteen-minute break where you meet the Weasleys."
I heaved a sigh of relief. Not just this scene, but I was having a little problem shooting some of the scenes portraying Harry in general. The director felt that my expressions weren't coming out as innocent as they could be for an 11-year-old who knew nothing about this new magical world. I guess I got a little used to playing sad, lonely, or depressed kids from my first three films.
While Harry was also a sad and abused kid, this wasn't a literary masterpiece created for its outstanding acting where I had to accurately gauge Harry's emotions. It's a commercial movie through and through, targeted toward kids, thus the tone is meant to be light-hearted.
Keeping that in mind, I had lightened up my emotions a little until Chris was satisfied with what he wanted from me. Longing for something that is right there but I don't know how to get it. That's what I was going for. I had to keep this mental state maintained all the time when I was shooting Harry Potter. At least for these initial scenes.
"You did good, kid," Robbie Coltrane noted idly.
"Thanks, Robbie," I nodded in thanks. "So, will you be staying on set to watch the next scene?"
"Hell no!" He shook his head vehemently. "Can't wait to get out of this monstrosity. All the best for your shoot." And with that, he left for his trailer. I didn't blame him for being so curt and wanting to get out of his tall and fat suit. I would do the same if I was in his position.
Putting that thought away, I focused on the rest of the scene. The upcoming scene was one which I was very excited about. It was right then that I ran into Julie Walters, my co-star from [Billy Elliot], who is also playing Mrs. Weasley here.
"Troy!" She rushed over and hugged me tightly in her large bosom.
"Julie," I croaked out somehow, "if you don't release me now, I'll suffocate."
"Don't be like that," she hit me lightly over the head. "If you could say that much, then you couldn't have suffocated."
I just settled for rolling my eyes discreetly. Some people you just can't argue with.
"It was so good to meet you again for another movie. Have you memorized your lines? Do you need to practice with me?" she fired off in quick succession.
I groaned audibly. As far as I knew, she was deliberately doing this to get on my nerves. She can be petty like this sometimes.
"Yes, Mum, I remember my lines. Honestly, woman, aren't you embracing your character too literally?"
"Oh hush you!" Julie tried to hit me again, but I ducked successfully and decided to just keep quiet for the sake of my physical well-being.
Julie and I had grown pretty close while filming [Billy Elliot] together. Apart from Jamie, she was the one I was closest to on set. Funnily enough, Jamie was playing the role of her son now.
I looked around the station and just knew that many people, including paparazzi, were trying to sneak a peek from behind the barriers that had been erected for a single glimpse of the set. However, it was unlikely the production crew would let them get away with taking any pictures.
Special permission had been taken from the authorities, and a portion of King's Cross station had been blocked off from public view to shoot the iconic scenes of Platform 9¾. And the readers of the books could easily guess which scene was being filmed there.
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