Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis (47 page)

Beyond the Epilogue

A New Beginning

The Egway, the vehicle of choice for the discerning small man about town. It does 0 to 12 in three seconds flat—just ask a certain cameraman from
Harry Potter
.

 

Harrison takes his suits very seriously. Honestly, it’s the longest he’s stood still in his entire life.

 

Annabelle models a “wand wound,” courtesy of the Harry Potter make-up department. Harrison wasn’t impressed.

 

Bellatrix Lestrange during a rare moment of sanity.

 

Rupert Grint’s Mr. Whippy ice-cream van, which he brought to Leavesden Studios on the last day of filming. It turned out to be more of an explosive Mr. Drippy than Mr. Whippy, as Emma Watson found out.

 

H
ello again! Surprised to see me here? Just when you thought it was safe to close the book, wondering what on earth my moral of the story meant, up I pop with a bonus chapter for this new special edition you’re holding in your hands right now.

Since I finished writing the first version of
Size Matters Not
, a landmark cinematic event has taken place. No, not the long-awaited and much-anticipated
Leprechaun 7: A-Pirating We Will Go;
this was a landmark that I was both delighted and saddened to be a part of – the completion of the Harry Potter series of films.

Below is my unique version of events surrounding the end of the franchise. And then I promise the book really will be over.
¹

Annabelle’s thirteenth birthday fell on a Sunday. I’d never worked on Harry Potter on a Sunday before but of course, wouldn’t you know it, that day, for the first time in ten years, I had no choice but to come in to film a hugely important scene that takes place in Hogwarts’ Great Hall.

Now, for any other twelve-year-old a trip to the film studios with Mum and Dad would have been an amazing birthday treat—but not Annabelle. She’d already been to the set many times before and although they are full of magic, and as I’ve already mentioned, the studios are not nearly as glamorous as you might think – they’re vast, damp, chilly, and drafty—much like the open sea in a Force 10 gale.

Besides, I spend hours in makeup and then when the magic finally happens, it’s either over in a flash or I end up doing the same thing over and over while light, sound, position, and script adjustments are made—all while everyone else has to keep deathly quiet. Not the best place to celebrate one’s thirteenth birthday.

I tried to make it sound special when I broke the news and said we were going to spend Annabelle’s birthday on the set of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
: “Won’t that be a nice treat?” I asked optimistically. Annabelle’s muted response left me somewhat deflated.

I was, however, determined to do
something
to make this day memorable for Annabelle. On the day when everyone was finally ready to shoot the scene in the Great Hall, it was packed full. Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, and Michael Gambon were there along with three hundred Hogwarts students, all in uniform.

On the teachers’ table at the head of the hall sat a large birthday cake with twelve candles.

“Now I believe it’s someone’s birthday today,” Michael said in his finest Dumbledorian tones.

Annabelle turned bright red as, gradually, all faces turned to look at her. I waved her forward and as we walked to the front table, Michael led the way: “All together now: Happy Birthday to you . . .” The whole hall—even “Snape” in his distinctive monotone—sang at full volume, nearly blowing the enchanted ceiling off.

This moment was captured on film as part of our “Golden Board” collection. These were very personal (and often very silly) scenes shot with the cast and crew throughout filming. One was filmed every day, and a special golden clapperboard was used to start each shot with the day number recorded on it. The clips were edited together into a DVD that was played to the entire cast and crew on Saturday, June 12, 2010, the very last day of filming.

That final day was extremely emotional, just like the last day at school before everybody heads off into the big wide world and you really don’t know when you’re going to see all the people you’ve been hanging out with for the past ten years or so (which is not always a bad thing, of course).

A half day was planned with a barbecue to follow. England was due to play America in the World Cup, so all the football fans wanted to rush off and watch the big match.

Of course, just my luck, I had to work right up to the last moment and was in costume as Griphook, filming a short insert shot in the Lestrange vault.

Once my scene was done, I scrubbed up and trotted across to the only other stage in action that day, where Rupert, Emma, and Dan were diving into the Floo Network in the Ministry of Magic in front of a high-speed camera.

As I watched them jump time and time again, I realized that they really had undergone a magical transformation since I’d first seen them in Professor Flitwick’s classroom (Harrow School) a decade earlier. They were now young adults and fine actors.

I was struck by the fact that they were about the same age I was when I’d finished filming
Willow
. “Gosh,” I thought, “I’ve been through quite a bit since then!” Goodness knows what awaits these young stars.

Finally, director David Yates announced he was happy with the shot and it was left to Jamie Christopher, the first assistant director, to call out, with reluctance, and for the final time: “It’s a wrap!”

We were then ushered over to watch the compilation of all the Golden Board clips. I was soon chuckling along with everyone else
²
until I suddenly saw myself in one of the clips. I stopped and mouthed a silent “Uh-oh.” I’d forgotten all about it.

I am the proud owner of a specially adapted Segway, one of those two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicles, which helps me whizz around large studios (unfortunately it’s not street legal so its use is limited to the film sets). I had the steering column shortened, chopping off the “S”—making mine the one and only “Egway.” In the clip, I was cruising on the Egway through Malfoy Manor in full goblin costume, which was surreal enough. When Jamie Christopher spotted me, he had a bright idea for the Golden Boards: “Whizz up to the camera,” he said, so, in full show-off mode I floored it (well, I leaned forward as far as I dared, which is how you get them to move). I suddenly realized, as I hurtled toward the camera, the Egway’s electronic engine whining at a rapidly increasing pitch, that I’d never driven it this fast before and I wasn’t sure what the braking was like. I was also hurtling toward a very expensive-looking studio camera that had shot a morning’s worth of scenes, not to mention the walls of a very carefully and lovingly constructed set.

I had visions of an Egway-sized hole in the side of the wall, or smashing a million-pound camera and ruining a morning’s worth of footage. As a look of comic determination was replaced with a flash of genuine panic on my goblin face, I threw myself backward to brake and to my amazement I pulled up perfectly, right in front of the camera.