There are often very romantic ideas about how the filming of a big Hollywood blockbuster goes. The truth is: there is usually more chaos on the set than the finished images in the cinema suggest. Samantha Clinch can tell many of these stories, because she was one of the Extra in two Harry Potter films.
That is exactly what she does on her TikTok channel. Clinch played the role of Hogwarts student Eloise MidgenNow she shares funny anecdotes in short videos and remembers the experiences she had on the set of the fantasy blockbusters.
When the Dementors come in Harry Potter, even Dumbledore can lose his temper
In one of her Harry Potter videos, Clinch reveals that her Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon is in a particularly intense scene in the heat of the moment. Not many people can end their TikToks with the words “Just remembering the time Dumbledore spat in my face” initiate.
Clinch describes the situation as follows:
In the Goblet of Fire [Anm.d.Red.: vermutlich eher Der Gefangene von Askaban] There is a moment when Dumbledore has to announce that the Dementors are coming, and of course that is absolutely terrible, terrifying news for everyone involved. But Dumbledore being Dumbledore, he has a lot at stake. A whole lot.
Then the big drama happened:
Anyway, he comes over to the table where I’m sitting, puts his hand on my shoulder, looks me straight in the face and says: The Dementors are coming! [Er hatte] in the truest sense of the word Foam at the mouththere was spit everywhere. Maybe it even got in my eye.
This fits perfectly with the Dumbledore that Gambon played from the third part onwards. While the version played by Richard Harris in the first two films was still very much oriented towards a loving fairy tale uncle, Gambon expanded the Hogwarts headmaster to include darker facets and often used harsh words towards Harry.
Dumbledore’s big spitting moment didn’t make it into the final version of the Harry Potter film
Clinch’s story sounds like a memory for eternity. But she still suffered a tragic defeat: The scene is not shown in the finished film. It ended up on the cutting room floor:
Dumbledore spat in my eyes and that scene didn’t make it into the movie. Strange, strange, I don’t know why. That would be a great sight. So that’s the moment when Dumbledore probably drank one butterbeer too many and spat in my face. Good times, a career highlight, I would say.
But thanks to Clinch’s TikTok, the whole world now knows about Dumbledore’s big spitting moment – or at least the fans who can’t get enough behind-the-scenes stories about the Harry Potter films.