Potter Voices

If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter book and film series like I am, you might remember the incredibly talented film cast who brought to life each of J.K. Rowling’s iconic human characters. From Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter himself, to Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, to Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall, to Richard Harris and Michael Gambon who shared the role of Albus Dumbledore, they were all great. But…have you ever been curious about the actors who lent their voices to the non-human characters in the series? I thought we could explore that in today’s blog.

• Warwick Davis performed three different roles in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). He acted the roles of the Goblin Bank Teller and Professor Flitwick and provided the voice of Griphook, the goblin who took Harry Potter to his vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He continued to portray the roles of Flitwick and Griphook all throughout the rest of the series from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) all the way to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). In addition to his roles in the “Potter-verse,” Davis is also recognizable in the “Star Wars-verse” having portrayed one of the main Ewoks, known as Wicket W. Warrick, in The Return of the Jedi (1983), and various other characters in The Phantom Menace (1999), the series Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018), The Force Awakens (2015), Rogue One (2016), The Last Jedi (2017), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Most recently for Disney, he returned to his role as Wicket W. Warrick in Rise of Skywalker (2019), and he played Lickspittle in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).
• Toby Jones lent his voice to Dobby the House Elf in “Chamber of Secrets,” and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010). In between playing voicing Dobby, Jones played Mr. Smee in Mirimax’s Finding Neverland (2004) and he portrayed Dr. Arnim Zola in Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and the series Agent Carter (2015-2016), and a Prado Museum Card in Muppets Most Wanted (2014). Most recently, he voiced Owl in the live-action/CGI Disney film Christopher Robin (2018). Besides “Disney,” and “Potter,” Jones also played the role of Claudius Templesmith in The Hunger Games series (2012-2015), one of the Royal Paiges in Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998) starring Drew Barrymore. In the year 2012, Jones, along with Anthony Hopkins made movies in which they portrayed Alfred Hitchcock: Jones in HBO’s The Girl and Hopkins in Fox Searchlight’s Hitchcock. Jones even appeared in the film Amazing Grace (2006) alongside Michael Gambon who succeeded Richard Harris in the role of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter.
• Julian Glover voiced the eerie Aragog the Spider in “Chamber of Secrets.” Although Glover has no strong connections to Disney, he portrayed the role of General Maximillian Veers in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and the ruthless Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). His real life spouse, actress Isla Blair, portrayed Mrs. Donovan in “Last Crusade.” Glover is known for portraying the role of Kristatos in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981), though ironically, he was considered for the role of Bond himself in Live and Let Die (1973) before Roger Moore took over. In recent years, Glover’s son, Jamie has voiced the character of General Veers in the Star Wars video games. Glover co-starred twice with Michael Sheard, who played Admiral Ozzel in “Empire Strikes Back,” and Adolf Hitler in “Last Crusade.”
• In addition to these three, Ray Fearon provided the voice of Firenze the Centaur in “Sorcerer’s Stone.” Although that was Fearon’s only appearance in the “Potter-verse,” Fearon later portrayed Pere Robert the bookseller in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017) which starred Emma Watson as Belle.
• The role of Kreacher the House Elf was originated by Timothy Bateson in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), though Bateson tragically died two years later in 2009 at the age of 83, and he was succeeded in the role by Simon McBurney who voiced the character in “Deathly Hallows: Part 1.” The same year that “Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” came out, McBurney appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), along with Gary Oldman who played the role of Sirius Black in “Harry Potter.”
• Leslie Philips provided the voice of the “Sorting Hat,” in “Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Chamber of Secrets,” and “Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” And like Julian Glover, Philips was also directed by Steven Spielberg, in Empire of the Sun in 1987, in which he played the role of Maxton.

Each of these actors voices were wonderful assets to the Harry Potter film series. And there is no doubt that they have proven they have versatility in other films as well. Please feel free to comment on who your favorite is.

Remember the Titans XX part 1! 

In honor of the fact that it’s Super Bowl LIV (54) and it’s the year 2020, I thought that today we could explore a football movie produced 20 years ago. The movie tells the story of two Football Coaches, one African-American and the other Caucasian, and how they join forces when their high school racially integrates the students. Their collaborative coaching skills guide the team to win the Virginia State Championship title. The movie is of course, none other, than Disney’s Remember the Titans (2000). Please feel free to comment on your favorite fact.

 

• The original script for the film was full of profanity, but Disney asked producer Jerry Bruckheimer to remove all profanity so that the film could be considered a decent family film. This was the first film that Bruckheimer produced under the Disney label, though Bruckheimer previously produced The Ref for Touchstone Pictures and Dangerous Minds (1995), Crimson Tide (1995), and The Rock (1996). “Crimson Tide,” also starred “Remember the Titans,” lead star, Denzel Washington.
• Before portraying the role of Sheryl Yoast in this film, Hayden Panettiere had previously made her Disney debut voicing the role of Dot in Disney/Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998). She also lent her voice to Disney’s Dinosaur, which like “Remember the Titans,” was also released in 2000.
• Several of the actors who appeared in this movie have since reunited with one another: Wood Harris and Donald Faison who play Julius Campbell and Petey Jones in the film, later reunited for Next Day Air (2009). Denzel Washington and Ethan Suplee, who portray Coach Herman Boone and Louie Lastik, starred together in the films John Q (2002) and Unstoppable (2010). And Burgess Jenkins, who played Ray Budds, appeared in three episodes of Nashville (2012-2018) in which Hayden Panettiere also appeared as a regular.
• When Boaz Yakin was hired to direct “Titans,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer found out that Yakin knew absolutely nothing about American Football. Bruckheimer arranged for him to attend a Football camp, and in just two weeks he learned everything he need to learn. Yakin later reunited with Bruckheimer on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) which Yakin co-wrote and Bruckheimer co-produced, and this film was also released by Disney.
• Although the film takes place in Alexandria, VA, it was actually shot in various locations all throughout the state of Georgia. The school used for T.C. Williams High School is actually Druid Hills High School, in DelKab County, Georgia. However, the school has no stadium. That being the case, the football games were filmed at Berry College, and other high schools in the Atlanta area including Paulding County High School and Sprayberry High School in Marietta, GA.
• Ray Budds (Burgess Jenkins), Alan Bosley (Ryan Gosling), Fred Bosley (Tim Ware), and Coach Tyrell (Brett Rice) were all characters who were made up exclusively for the film. Brett Rice also played a fictional High School Football Coach in the movie Forrest Gump (1994) starring Tom Hanks.
• The real Virginia State Championship Football Game in 1971 was played at 12 o’clock noon, not at night as depicted in the movie. The real Gary Bertier also played in the game, and his unfortunate car accident occurred afterward.
• There is a scene in this film when Denzel Washington’s character, Coach Herman Boone, talks about the Civil War. Washington won his first Oscar in the category of Best Supporting Actor for playing the Civil War Soldier Private Silas Trip in Glory (1989) which was a film about the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-black regiment in the U.S. Army.
• Dermot Mulroney, who starred in My Best Friends Wedding (1997) with Julia Roberts, was born in Alexandria, VA, and attended T.C. Williams High School.
• Although Coach Bill Yoast is portrayed as the father of only one daughter (Sheryl) in the film, in reality Coach Bill Yoast has four daughters: Bonnie Jean, Angela “Angie” Mildred, Sheryl Elizabeth, and Dierdre “Dee Dee” Louise. Both Bonnie and Sheryl lived tragically short lives. Bonnie was born on January 17th, 1951 and died on November 10th, 2003, and Sheryl was born on February 5th, 1962 and died because of a heart malfunction on May 4th, 1996. Both Angela and Dierdre live in Springfield, VA with their husbands and children.

This is a great film and a favorite of “sports movie” fans everywhere. The inspirational nature of the story also resonates with non-sports fans, since it portrays many of the key issues that continue to plague today’s America. More to come in Part II of this blog.