(London) “My only regret in life is not being born in the 1990s.”
Coming from an 11-year-old child, the reflection brings a smile.
“Why?” we ask him, suspecting the answer as we prepare to step through the giant magic wand alley leading to the “Warner Bros. Studio Tour London” – the studios where almost all of the Harry Potter films were shot.
“I would have liked to be born before the publication of the first book!” he said with the obvious tone. Our son would have liked to be among the first Potterheads – the nickname of the young wizard’s fans – to experience the anticipation accompanying the publication of each new novel in the saga and the release of each of the films.
ARCHIVES PHOTOS REUTERS
At that time, young – and not so young – lined up outside bookstores at midnight, at the lifting of the embargo, to discover the next installment of the wizard’s adventures.
At that time, young – and not so young – lined up outside bookstores at midnight, at the lifting of the embargo, to discover the next installment of the wizard’s adventures, we explained to him, avoiding the “in my time…” to not appear (too) old.
Our son devoured the seven volumes in just a few months. He was 8 years old at the time. This was a condition to later be able to watch the eight films… which he has watched countless times.
Since then, he has dreamed of following in the footsteps of his round-glassed hero in London. The ultimate goal: to visit the filming studios transformed into an interactive museum where visitors immerse themselves in the sets, some real, others reconstructed, in addition to discovering the costumes and accessories from the film saga.
On each birthday, our son set aside all the coins he had collected, in addition to very often volunteering for household chores (for a fee, of course). He also convinced the whole family and several neighbors to give him their empty cans and thus raise the money necessary to contribute to the expenses of the trip.
D-Day
PHOTO CAROLINE TOUZIN, LA PRESSE
It’s the big day!
And here comes the big day! It’s a Wednesday in October at the Leavesden studios, located about thirty kilometers northwest of London. In front of us stand the huge hangars that house the Warner Bros. studios.
The doors open at 10 am. Already, many children dressed in capes with the emblem of Gryffindor – a few Ravenclaw and Slytherin too – are shuffling in the queue. No Hufflepuff in sight.
Why does no one like the Hufflepuff house?, we naively ask our young expert. “It’s not that we don’t like them. No hero of the series is associated with this house,” our son explained to his mother with an obvious tone.
In the queue, you can hear French, German, Polish, as well as English, of course. Not that we doubted the worldwide – and enduring – success of the little wizard, but we have one more proof.
We bought the tickets for the visit three months in advance. It is essential to act early to get a morning visiting time slot, even outside the tourist season.
Because although the visit theoretically takes three hours, we plan to spend the whole day there.
That morning, we took the first free shuttle (upon presentation of the tickets) to take us from Watford Junction train station to the famous studios. The journey from London to Watford Junction by train is simple and much more affordable than the chartered bus option (which also leaves from the English capital). Decorated with the colors and graphics of the series, the shuttle is impossible to miss.
Upon our arrival, we pick up an audioguide that will satisfy our young expert throughout his visit. It contains an impressive level of detail on the making of the series, even for someone who “knows almost everything” about the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “To make the wand shop, it took 17,000 hand-labeled boxes!” he exclaimed, wearing the headphones.
“Did you know that thousands of feathers had to be inserted and cut by hand to make the hippogriff Buck?”
PHOTO MURRAY CLOSE 20D, PROVIDED BY WARNER BROS.
Daniel Radcliffe in a scene from the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixreleased in 2007. Alone, the interpreter of Harry Potter broke 80 wands during the filming of the series’ films.
Or again: “The actors needed 3000 wands. Alone, Daniel Radcliffe [the interpreter of Harry] broke 80!”
Before pushing the heavy door that leads to the Hogwarts hall, we are treated to a short film in which the three great stars of the saga – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint – talk about the “giant family,” made up of the film crews, and the sets that were “their home for 10 years.”
“Ten years,” our son repeats to himself, projecting himself into a future that seems like an eternity to him. “The actors even went to school here,” he adds dreamily. We certainly won’t break the magic by pointing out to him that a math class in a film studio is still a math class.
Then, we enter the backstage.
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#Immersion #dans #monde #dHarryPotter
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