When Chris Columbus made the first two Harry Potter films in the early 2000s, the stars of most Hogwarts students were still very young. But that doesn’t protect them from being punished as troublemakers. Ron actor Rupert Grint in particular had to fork out a lot of money for his missteps during filming.
Ban on laughing on the Harry Potter set? Rupert Grint paid for his escapes with over 4,000 euros
In his autobiographical book Beyond Magic *, Draco actor Tom Felton not only describes an alternative Harry Potter ending with Draco Malfoy as the world savior, but also the lives of the Hogwarts stars on set. Young as they were, the children broke there often in disturbing fits of giggles which delayed the shoot. Director Chris Columbus then introduced a punishment system to keep the Hogwarts students quiet on his own initiative:
Columbus developed a system [um gegen konstante Ausgelassenheit vorzugehen]. Whenever one of us disrupted the scene, he or she got a red card. A red card meant you had to put £10 in a bag at the end of the day of filming. All money was donated to charitable organizations.
Warner Bros.
Harry Potter: Laughter forbidden?
According to the conversion rate at the time, this was a little over 16 euros fine per episode of laughter are not much when it comes to the salary of the Harry Potter stars. According to Screen Rant, the three main actors each received around $1 million in fees for the first Harry Potter film, which only increased later. But as an immediate reduction in pocket money, the red penalty card was apparently often effective – although not for everyone. Tom Felton, an occasional laugh-troublemaker himself, remembers:
It was a good system to keep us on track, but it didn’t always work. Rupert Grint was one of the worst offenders. I think he dropped over £2,500 in the first two films alone. Such was his inability to control himself when the giggling started.
2,500 British pounds sterling was in the early 2000s over 4,100 euros. Which says a lot about how vulnerable Harry Potter star Rupert Grint must have been when laughing. But at least he seems to have had a lot of fun on set as a child, despite some negative memories.
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