June 5, 2017 | Miles Brucker

30 Facts about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire That Shall Be Named


The fourth in the Harry Potter film franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire found Harry involuntarily selected to compete in a dangerous tournament between three schools of magic. The film was one of the best reviewed installments of the series, praised for its higher level of maturity, sophistication, writing, and performances from its lead actors.

Here are a few things you might not know about the movie that heralded the return of Voldemort.


30. Say Yes to the Dress

Costume designer Jany Temime believed that Hermione’s dress in the Yule Ball scene was her “Cinderella moment” and the design of the dress was changed several times before they were finally satisfied.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

29. She Be Trippin’

In one of the first takes of Hermione’s “Cinderella Moment,” Emma Watson actually tripped on the dress and fell down the stairs. Who does she think she is? Jennifer Lawrence?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

28. Snape Eyes

Unaware that Alan Rickman wore black contact lenses for his role as Snape, director Mike Newell complimented Rickman on the amazing shade of his eyes. Rickman popped out one of his lenses and, in our imagination, called Newell a blithering idiot.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

27. A Water Potter

The underwater scenes were shot in a huge tank with a blue-screen background. Divers were on hand with air tanks to allow the actors to stay submerged for long periods of time. Daniel Radcliffe alone logged nearly 42 minutes underwater.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

26. Tank Wars

At 500,000L, the tank was one of the largest underwater sets ever constructed. The largest underwater set ever was over 26 million liters and was constructed for The Abyss because James Cameron always needs to be the biggest.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

Set of 'The Abyss', water drained

25. False Alarm

At one point, Radcliffe accidentally signaled he was drowning and sent the entire crew into a massive panic to save him.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

24. Un-deer-water

During underwater filming, the cast and crew posed for a photo that was later sent out as a Christmas Card after Photoshopping Rudolph’s nose and antlers onto everyone’s faces.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

23. A Pain in the Ear

Because of all the filming underwater, Radcliffe suffered from two ear infections.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

22. So You Think He Can Dance

The kids had three weeks to practice their dancing for the Yule-ball Waltz. Unfortunately, Daniel Radcliffe being in nearly every scene only left him four days to prepare. It is for this reason they only shot him from the waist up, to hide his fumbling feet. Luckily, Harry Potter was never meant to be a good dancer. Or Prancer. Or Vixen.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

21. Basilisk + Red Bull = Dragon

Using the basilisk puppet from The Chamber of Secrets, the crew was able to construct a full sized dragon that could even blow real fire. This dragon was used for the shots when the dragons were in their cages.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

20. Sister Act

In the books, the Patil sisters were sorted into different houses (Gryffindor and Ravenclaw). In the film, they both end up in Gryffindor and are played by unrelated actresses.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

19. Shelve the Elves

Dobby and Winky were cut out of the film due to time constraints, but if you don’t blink during the campsite scene, you’ll see them riding past on llamas.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

18. Fake News!

Icelandic viewers of the film giggled during the introduction of Rita Skeeter because her surname sounds close to “skita,” a rather crude Icelandic slang word for defecation. Given Rita’s role in the film, it wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

17. Riddle Me This

This was the first film in the franchise to not open with a scene involving Harry. True to the book, the film opens with The Riddle House, focusing instead on He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

16. United We Stand

The studio originally wanted The Goblet of Fire to be made into two separate films, released several months apart. Alfonso Cuaron, the director of The Prisoner of Azkaban, convinced Mike Newell not to do it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

15. A Chang is Gonna Come

Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang, wasn’t originally going to audition. Her father had simply mentioned where the auditions were held and she decided at the last minute to attend, forgoing a shopping trip.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

14. Well, He DID Discover America

Mike Newell received a million dollars for directing the film. By comparison, Chris Columbus, director of the first Harry Potter film, made ten million dollars and a percentage of the gross. Newell needs a better agent.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

13. Spell-a-Phone

The books in Dumbledore’s library are actually phone books in disguise.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

12. Me, Myself, and I

For those who read the books, they would know that Ron’s brother Percy played an important role and early drafts of the film included him. However, the actor who played Percy was under contract for four films and had already acted in the first three. He had a bigger role in the fifth movie, so he opted to do that instead.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

11. Puberty will Getcha

Radcliffe underwent a lot of physical changes while filming Goblet of Fire. According to director Newell, he was editing a scene in which Radcliffe looked like the kid from the first movie, and then eleven months later, he didn’t look like that at all.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

10. Gender Inequality

The films give the impression that Beauxbatons is an all-girls school while Durmstrang is an all-boys school. This is not the case in the books.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

9. Fight Club

Newell staged a brawl with one of the Weasley twins to both demonstrate what he wanted in a scene and to undermine his own authority (he was tired of them calling him “sir”). The brawl got so intense that he fractured a rib in the process.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

8. Behind the Curtain

Michael Gambon wore street clothes under his Dumbledore costume and kept cigarettes tucked into his sock.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

7. Diggory Diggory Dock

Goblet of Fire was Robert Pattinson’s (of future Twilight fame) first movie. He played Cedric Diggory. Unfortunately, this is the only movie in which he dies.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

6. Audience is Aging

This is the first Harry Potter film to receive a "PG-13" rating or its international equivalent (for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images). The preceding films having been rated "PG."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

5. Alternate Fact

The newspaper headline “Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament” was one of the potential titles for the fourth book.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

4. Effervescent

Director Newell wanted the Dark Mark to “bubble up” out of the skin of Voldermort’s followers. The makeup department achieved this by using iterative variations of a silicone skull and snake, making each subsequent version angrier and angrier. The snake was made to move via CGI.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

3. Out Out Damn Spot!

A digital spot removing technique pioneered on Desperate Housewives was used to hide teenage acne problems as makeup didn’t test well in close ups. Take that Proactiv!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

2. The Doh!-sleys

This is the first movie to not feature the Dursleys. This is because the family that played the Dursleys demanded more money forgetting that they’re the Dursleys and not the cast of Friends.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

1. Jingle Bell Rock

The rock band at the Yule Ball is comprised mostly of members of Pulp and Radiohead. In the run-up to the movie, a Canadian folk group called the Wyrd Sisters filed a forty million dollar lawsuit against Warner Brothers, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp, and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway, of Radiohead for the use of their group's name. In the book, the band is called the "Weird Sisters", after the witches in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", but was reportedly renamed the "Wyrd Sisters" for this film. Before the movie was released, however, Warner Brothers removed all references to either name for the band.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Facts

For factaholics who want more Harry Potter facts, check out Harry Potter in Numbers:

 

Sources: 1 2 3 4

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