Tales from the Glen

by Kristy for DanRadcliffe.com, 2nd June 2003.

Kristy and her mom recently traveled all the way from Ottawa, Canada, to spend a week's vacation in Scotland.  With impeccable timing, they managed to coincide their trip with the first week of filming on location in Glencoe for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so, as big HP fans, they of course had to go and take a look at the sets!  Here's Kristy's observations and impressions of filming in the glen and meeting some of the cast members.

Tuesday morning I got up, and a shock rushed through me. The minute I opened my eyes, my surroundings flooded into me, and memories filled my brain. I remembered - I was in Scotland! My mom was still tired but I woke her up and urged her to get ready so we could to some Harry Potter trekking. This is my report on filming in Glencoe, Scotland.

Truth be told, part of my “excitement” was due to what had happened the day before. My mom and I had gone to a pub for lunch and afterwards went for a walk around the nearby loch.  The scenery captivated me, so I took my camera in hand and wandered down to the pier near one of the local hotels to snap a few pictures of the loch, as well as the Pap of Glencoe and Bidean nam Bian (meaning "beautiful mountain") and sat by the water alone, basking in the peaceful beauty. I’m like that, give me a place to enjoy nature and I will… Anyway, my mom had gone into the hotel looking for me, thinking I was lost.  When I came back, she told me she had seen some of the actors.  She took me inside and there we saw... Rupert and Emma!  My mom asked if they were HP actors...LOL! They said yeah, so we asked if we could take a picture.  They said sure, but then the hotel owner came in and said no because they want their privacy.  I felt bad about that and so we started to leave.  

We were walking away from the hotel when suddenly I heard a familiar voice coming from below me and we saw two boys coming back from fishing on the pier.  It was Tom Felton and Jamie Waylett (the boy who plays Crabbe)!  Even though Daniel is my favourite actor, I was so happy they were there! Tom plays Draco so well, and Jamie is superb as Crabbe, so who wouldn’t have taken the chance like we did??  We asked if we could take their picture, and they said sure! My mom was overflowing with excitement, and even though she sounded corny as she yelled “Tom! We’re from Canada and we think you rock!”, he was pretty cool with it.   He put his arm around Jamie, and as they both gave a sincere smile, we clicked the button on the camera.  Even when we sat down in the pub for supper I was wriggling with happiness. I had just met Tom!  That marked the beginning of our great trip.

On Tuesday we went to Fort William to do some souvenir shopping and I wanted to get something to give to Dan... But I wasn't sure exactly where he was staying. We knew where Emma was now though, so mom suggested giving her a gift and letter as well, then asking her to give Dan's gift to him.  So I did! I got her a cool gemstone package and took it to her hotel the next day and the receptionist said she'd give it to her!  

When we returned, we decided to visit the "Hagrid’s Hut" set for the first time. We took the 45 minute walk down the country road, then finally, we saw it. The building. The tarps. Hagrid’s Hut.  I snapped quite a few photos but, because of the weather, no one but crew were there, setting up the dirt and grass that was filled in the white and black bags dotting the road.

We went into the inn nearby to have lunch and got talking to a nice couple who had also come to see the set. While we were talking, a guy came up to me and asked if I was a Harry Potter fan. I said yes. He asked if I was from the area, and I replied no. My mom and I explained how we had come from Canada to see it, and his face lit up with something. Joy, I think. He asked us to wait for one minute. He came back shortly with his photographer, and he set to work quizzing us about our trip, what we planned to do here, etc.  (In the end he misquoted me many times,  making me look like a complete idiot, but that’s journalists for you.)  His photographer took at least 30 minutes worth of pictures, giving my mom something to joke about as we were driven home by the nice photographer.

Every time we went Hagrid’s hut, while it seemed like the crack of dawn for us, we missed on the earlier parts of filming.  The actors were on set at quarter to 9, so by the time we got down there after our 45 minute walk, they were finishing up the morning's shoot and preparing to leave for lunch within the hour. We were told by the security crew that the filming looked like very tedious work but was actually very interesting. Before the actors would come, they would film the shots with the stand-ins, organize the proper angles and get the shoot ready before the actors were even there. (Now I understand how everyone said it could get tiring!)

Most of the filming took place later in the week, as the weather greatly influenced how much they could do. They were wrapping up filming at the market in Fort William, but went there on Tuesday/Wednesday for awhile, safe under the protected indoor location. The market there was basically their base unit.

Thursday was the hot spot day for filming in the Clachaig Gully. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, the day was mild. Many tourists appeared, though their glances were brief and three quarters of them only quickly surveyed the site. We, however, showed superior patience.  (*wink*)  As we were trying to get to Hagrid’s Hut, there was a police car stopped in the road, preventing cars from passing. Mom and I lied (We had to! We had to see what was going on!), saying we had to go to the Clachaig Inn since we were staying there but the officer wasn’t too worried and she let us pass. After ten minutes we got there, and I nicely asked the security guard if he wanted us to stay where we were. He said it was fine, but that they were filming a scene, so cars couldn’t go by. I tried looking, but couldn’t see a thing, since the clear location department made the Sundial Garden in such a way that it was on a hill far behind Hagrid's Hut. As I waited patiently, extras started walking down the path. I didn't see the trio in the bustle of all the other teenage bodies, but a photographer the next day told us that his daughter, an extra, had told him all of the girls were giggling, mentioning how “gorgeous” Tom Felton was!

Filming had started early again that morning but on this day, we did see the actors - well, at least my mom did.  That afternoon, I was in the mountains writing when the trio got into an orange truck-like vehicle which would take them up to the Hogwarts Entrance set.)  My mom asked Emma if she got the package, and she said she loved it! Now to guess if she gave Dan his gift… I sure can tell you though, I was kicking myself after my mom told me what I had missed while daydreaming up in the mountains….*sigh*  But at least she got some pictures of the actors walking about on the set.

The actors took about two hours total filming the scenes at the Hogwarts Entrance and Sundial Garden sets. They must have known their lines well, or the scenes must have been short, because two hours isn’t very long at all, or so it seemed.

When the trio finally started coming down, a jeep starting backing up on the path up to Hagrid’s Hut. We couldn’t see very well but we knew the three had gotten in. We had decided to go home then and by the time we got to their campsite, we saw a black car with tinted windows pull out beside us and leave for Glencoe. No doubt the actors going back to their hotels…

It was amusing to watch some of the things that had to be done for filming. The one day they needed rain for a scene, it wasn’t raining. It wouldn’t really have mattered though because apparently, real rain looks like fake rain.  How funny is that?  So they had to lug all the rainmaking equipment up to the top of the hill.

That day we also saw the animal trainers exercising and training the animals beside the WB parking lot. My mom managed to get a picture of Hedwig and I, and I got a decent picture of Fang being walked by his trainer. One of the trainers talked to my mom for quite a while and, among other things, he told us all about some of the HP movie effects. He talked about Buckbeak, and how each feather had to be inserted one by one. The designers would spend eight hours doing one little patch. The cost to make it was very pricey. He also said he couldn’t believe how well Fawkes was done, since it was in part a robot too. We saw him training crows and, when we were amazed, he merely said they also had an armadillo for the movie, a generic animal of Hagrid's. Since when did Hagrid have an armadillo??

Hmm, what else…  On Friday, nothing much happened, since it was VERY windy and rainy - they only did one or two small scenes inside Hagrid's Hut. The major scene was where Ron and Hermione hug. I wish I could have seen it! That was also the day we met Alison and her mom, Jane, two very nice women from Australia. They had been here a while (they did the set report for The Leaky Cauldron a few months ago), and after talking for a while, we decided to go to the pub.  While we were waiting in the hotel lobby, I saw Emma, Rupert, Tom and even Daniel a couple of times, but only briefly.  He looked very serious!  If I took a picture or went up to him, they would kicked us out...  Might have been worth it though!  

We had managed to end up at the pub where the trio’s doubles were (silly us, we thought they were the real people!  Just goes to show they know how to pick doubles!).  The place was so busy that we had to go into the bar section but even though cigarette smoke filled the air, it was worth it.  Sitting in the corner were Tom Felton and Jamie Waylett.  We had seen them again!  I kept peeking out of the corner of my eye when we sat down, just hoping he might look our way. What an idiot I must have looked like! My mom told me to rub that cheeky grin off my face…;)

Throughout the hour or so we were there, all I could really do was drink soda  and look at Tom. I was growing kind of anxious when finally in strode a girl about ten-eleven years old with her father, and he was politely asking for an autograph on her behalf. It was quickly done, but my mom urged me to go up, so I did. Here’s my version of what happened:

Me: “HiTomI’mSorryToIntrudeButCouldIHaveYourAutograph?”
Tom: No problem, no problem. So what’s your name?”
Me (*not believing he asked for my name*): Kristy. I’m from Canada.”
Tom: Oh really? Cool!”
Tom’s Dad: (smiling) We LIKE Canadians.”
Tom: Are you the one from the street?” (referring to street near hotel)
Me: Yeah, I am! Funny we met again.” (trying hard not to blush)
Tom: So, what part of Canada are you from?”

That was basically how the conversation started. He was so calm and cool (darn him! Heehee..) while I, actually, I wasn’t that bad.  I was fine after the first phrase. We kept talking for a little while about Canada, filming, and fishing. I got three pictures with him. One with his arm around the shoulder, one with his arm around my hip (sorry, I had to put it! I’m 13! What do you expect?) and one with my mom. His dad took that picture for us.

I also went outside and met Jamie again.  Pretty much the same thing happened.  It was great.  We sat on the couch and he told us a bit about getting along with the other teens.  He said it was great overall and everyone was really nice. After I had my picture taken with him, I felt like I was on cloud nine. Good thing Dan wasn’t there, I might’ve melted… So that was Friday night for you.

Though I didn’t see much of the initial filming itself, I still learned a lot about the filming business, some more secretive details on Harry Potter filming, and even got to deliver messages and meet HP actors themselves. I’m so happy that I managed to be in this beautiful countryside, if even only for one week, doused in the magic of Harry Potter. If anyone would like to ask me any questions about this or contact me for any particular reason, PM me at danfan89 on the RadNet message boards.

P.S.  Even though this didn’t happen during my trip, I would also like to mention this since it is Daniel related…My mom and I met a couple at the set who were leaving that night. We got an email from them later, talking about them spending a day in Mallaig and then going to a restaurant/pub somewhere. They went to write in the guest book, and three entries above them, Daniel Radcliffe had written in talking about how much he enjoyed the chicken! What a small world…