Yesterday, Warwick Davis made an appearance at the opening of the new Harry Potter store in London’s Oxford Street, and in an interview with the Press Association he admitted he was “terrified” on the first day on set for the new Harry Potter TV series.
The 56-year-old played Hogwarts charms professor Filius Flitwick in all eight of the Harry Potter movies. He is so far the only cast member from the original films to reprise their role for the upcoming HBO series, which will premiere on Christmas Day.
Speaking to the Press Association at the event, Davis explained his initial nerves at returning to the franchise.
He said: “It was slightly daunting to come back and play, even though I was playing the same character once again in the HBO series.
“I wanted to make sure that this version of Flitwick was slightly different. My first day on set was terrifying because I was like, ‘Am I going to do this? Can I still do this in the way that I could?’” he said.
However, he added: “I felt really honoured to have been asked to kind of step back into those famous wizard’s shoes once again. It was just a lovely experience to be back and to kind of see the world slightly reimagined.”
When asked if he felt any responsibility to the new cast members, Davis said: “They all looked to me because I’ve been there before and done most of the stuff before.”
But he said the only advice he gave them was to “fully immerse themselves in this world”.
“They have to believe that they’re a Hogwarts, because if they believe it, the audience will believe we’re there as well. You know, that’s the same when you do anything with special effects, anything like Star Wars. You have to believe that what you’re seeing is there, and you are there, and you are a wizard,” he said.
Read the article in full at the link below, and stream the first season of the new Harry Potter HBO show from December 25th, based on J.K. Rowling’s first novel, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.
