Ep. 40 - The Franchise Who Lived! Part 1

This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] J.J.: I feel like I'm starting to maybe kind of feel my age a little bit or be reminded of my age now.

[0:10] Olaf: Well, welcome to the club.

[0:15] J.J.: Well, it took a while because some of us have been feeling our age for a while. I started feeling like this pain in my chest as I sort of laugh it off and I'm like, what is this? And it was all day on all day. So I was like, well, I don't really have much of an appetite. It's not indigestion because that's really that's in your stomach. That's like lower, I think. I mean, unless it's necessary roughness when...

[0:39] Olaf: Right, and that's believe it or not that actually popped into my head. I'm like well a necessary roughness.

[0:50] J.J.: So sad that that also popped into my head. So now we're at today where it's kind of gone again.

[1:01] Olaf: Maybe you need to go get checked out, right?

[1:02] J.J.: So, um, that's where I'm at. I'm kind of like I need to go get this checked out just because that would be the wisest thing to do.

[1:07] Olaf: Yeah, well if it was just the one time and then it went away then you're probably fine. But here's the thing coming back, I'm trying to make my own deductions in terms of what's exacerbating it. Is it food?

[1:18] J.J.: Have you eaten something not healthy for once? That's the thing. No. Yeah, so it's alarming.

[1:26] Olaf: I'm really hoping it is that.

[1:29] J.J.: I don't know. It's worth checking out. I've heard of plenty of super healthy people who like to run getting...

[1:35] Olaf: That's my major concern is like so don't do that in perfect health and they ran all the time and boop.

[1:41] J.J.: Yeah, and I'm like, come on. Well, isn't this a fun topic?

[1:45] Olaf: Hey, whether we choose to keep most any or all of this, it's a good service announcement to go get checked out regardless of what's happening.

[1:56] J.J.: Hey, but before you go to the hospital, let's go back to the movie theater.

[2:15] Olaf: Yes, on the way to the hospital we are gonna make a pit stop into the theater because we do have some great. We do have some business. We do need to attend to.

[2:35] J.J.: Let's see how you transition into this.

[2:38] Olaf: I'm believe me. I'm trying to figure out a good segue here into what we were just talking about to what we're about to talk about. Welcome back to the movie theater everybody where today we are jumping into the Harry Potter franchise.

[2:55] J.J.: So if you're having some heart palpitations or some chest pains, what better way to ease that pain by watching Harry Potter? And if you know a good spell that can get rid of something like this, please share with the audience, share with the class.

[3:12] Olaf: Oh boy. Well today we are gonna be talking about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but everyone else around the world that isn't American knows it as the Philosopher's Stone.

[3:23] J.J.: It is hard to believe that we are at 25 years. It doesn't feel like that at all.

[3:29] Olaf: No, it really doesn't even watching these the other day they still stand up they still look great.

[3:37] J.J.: Absolutely. And as of right now as we record this Harry Potter as a franchise and as a whole books and movies is still very very magical. It still has it still kind of holds a place. I know the new series is... we'll see.

[3:51] Olaf: We'll see.

[3:51] J.J.: Yeah, I don't have you read the books?

[3:55] Olaf: Yes, I have. I was late to the party on the books.

[3:58] J.J.: I was late to the party for everything when Harry Potter was like was introduced into my space into my world. The fourth book was already on its way out and the first movie hadn't come out yet. But people around me were like, "Oh Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that book is coming." I'm like, okay like cool. It didn't mean much to me.

[4:17] Olaf: It really didn't mean much to me until the first movie came out when I knew that it was coming out. I read the book before I was like, okay I'll read this book first because if I have the time and I'm interested enough, I'll do that. And so I really enjoyed the book and subsequently the movie as well. And so yes, I ended up reading the books in preparation for the movies.

[4:39] J.J.: I never read the books and I eventually watched the movies. I saw the first one in theater. So it was still in theaters when I saw it, but right I always avoid things that are super hyped up so the books were super hyped and then the movie was hyped so I eventually went and saw the movie and was so surprised by how much I enjoyed it and I ended up watching all of the movies before I attempted to read a book because there was a certain point where I was just like I'm this far in with the movies and I really enjoy them. I'll hold off. Yes, I can go back and read the books.

[5:15] Olaf: But I'll tell you I tried reading the books and I got through the first two and I just could not get into them.

[5:22] J.J.: It becomes a harder challenge at least for me if I've already seen the movie that the you know the book is based. I mean because then I'm like...

[5:31] Olaf: Sometimes it actually helps sometimes I it gives me more of a visual in my mind of what I'm reading and I'm like, oh yeah. Yeah, okay. This is what makes more sense this I see all this so it helps create that that world in my head when I'm reading but yeah, it's not it wasn't that it was just I just didn't really enjoy the writing.

[5:52] J.J.: Wow, it's interesting. Yeah, I couldn't get into it. I never finished reading the books, but the movies I...

[5:58] Olaf: The movies are yes and being a movie podcast as we are, we're gonna solely focus on the films and not books and I am NOT gonna make any comparisons to like well in the book they did...

[6:12] J.J.: Yeah, because like most books, yeah, the books are there's a lot of differences.

[6:18] Olaf: There's a lot of a lot of things a lot of things that were taken out. I will say this though the willingness by in this case Steve Kloves who is the screenwriter for this for the first two and I think for a lot of these but it definitely for these two he does a really great job of adapting this material.

[6:37] J.J.: Oh, yeah.

[6:37] Olaf: As far as I am aware based on what I remember reading and what other people have said the first two are very faithful to the books. They are there certain things that clearly were cut out for time even though these movies are still very long and these books aren't that long. The first two books are not that long.

[6:55] J.J.: Yeah, but the movies have more work to do because they do building a world. Speaking of...

[7:01] Olaf: Speaking of worlds to build and work to do we've got a lot to get through just to get started. So let's jump in. We're gonna start with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or the Philosopher's Stone depending on where you're listening, which hopefully there's other people listening.

[7:18] J.J.: Yes, so this came out in 2001, November of 2001, it's two hours 32 minutes, that's a good amount.

[7:24] Olaf: Oh, yeah, the Rotten Tomatoes score is 80% which is really good for...

[7:31] J.J.: Yeah, it's first outing audience score is 82%.

[7:35] Olaf: Okay, I can only assume that the audience scores get higher as the movies get continue to come out spoiler I guess they're all over the place.

[7:42] J.J.: Okay, but for this movie we got 82% which really isn't bad.

[8:04] Olaf: No, I don't think it's bad. The director is Chris Columbus. We all know him from the Home Alone movies. This is Doubtfire. I mean just a solid director.

[8:11] J.J.: Oh, yeah solid writer. He wrote Goonies. He wrote gremlins.

[8:17] Olaf: The composer for this is the legend John Williams, of course.

[8:22] J.J.: Oh, so so incredible and you can tell right out of the gate. It's like a warm blanket when you hear the music you're like, yeah. Yeah, it's so perfect feels like hook.

[8:33] Olaf: And then the cast for this movie now for this whole franchise a lot of people stay and you'll get like a handful of people that come and go, right? So for this first movie, there is quite a lot of people to mention.

[8:57] J.J.: Everybody but after that, you know, there's far less people to mention when we get through the cast, but here we go. We got Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. What a find.

[9:01] Olaf: Yeah.

[9:01] J.J.: I think the only thing the thing that I'd seen him before that was a movie called Taylor of Panama with Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Lee Curtis was like what's he? Yeah, he's like the Sun he's...

[9:11] Olaf: Oh wow, I don't I didn't know that part. I knew Christopher Columbus had seen him in David Copperfield and was just right obsessed with trying to get him.

[9:19] J.J.: Yeah, you have Rupert Grint is Ron Weasley Emma Watson as Hermione Richard Harris as Dumbledore.

[9:28] Olaf: Legend. Yeah, fantastic job. He does this one in the next one and then unfortunately passes away.

[9:35] J.J.: Maggie Smith, what an icon as Dame Dame Maggie Smith. My apologies.

[9:42] Olaf: Dame Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall Robbie Coltrane is Hagrid the incredible Alan Rickman as Professor Snape. Oh god. I wish he was still around.

[9:53] J.J.: You have Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy another incredible performance that I don't know if it gets enough credit.

[10:00] Olaf: Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia Dursley.

[10:03] J.J.: She's amazing and everything.

[10:07] Olaf: Yeah that she does. I think this series of movies introduced her to a whole new audience of people because she'd been around for a while before that.

[10:15] J.J.: I'd seen her and stuff before that but you definitely I'm just like wow she is bringing it to these scenes, which don't really ask for a lot. They're just...

[10:25] Olaf: No they're giving more to do.

[10:26] J.J.: Yeah, they're giving more to do in that in this first movie but even in the later movies when they have far less to do cuz they're like, hey, we got to get to the magic stuff.

[10:33] Olaf: Yeah, we got to get to the school. They show up.

[10:38] J.J.: Wonderfully cast. Yeah, Richard Griffiths plays her husband Vernon Dursley.

[10:43] Olaf: Harry Melling is Dudley Dursley, which you look at him now total transformation wouldn't we recognize him.

[10:52] J.J.: Warwick Davis?

[10:53] Olaf: Yes.

[10:53] J.J.: Classic actor been all over the place best known for Willow and his roles with Star Wars. He actually has three roles in the remember if it was two or three.

[11:00] Olaf: Yeah, yeah, he plays a goblin bank teller, he plays professor Flitwick and then he is the voiceover for Verne Troyer's grip hook.

[11:16] J.J.: Okay, there was a strict rule only English and Irish actors in this movie.

[11:22] Olaf: Yeah, and only a couple people got in on under that but they weren't allowed to talk. Let's see here we've got John Hurt the amazing as mr. Ollivander Julie water Walters as mrs. Weasley love Julie Walters.

[11:36] J.J.: Oh, she's and I love I love her in period but I love her in this as this and this as this character.

[11:42] Olaf: Yeah, I think she's wonderful. So good. Bonnie right is Ginny Weasley Verne Troyer as we said is grip hook but doesn't actually talk James Phelps and Oliver Phelps as Fred and George Weasley.

[11:56] J.J.: Which I'll be honest with you for a long time. I wasn't sure if they were actually twins.

[12:02] Olaf: Oh yeah.

[12:02] J.J.: It was one. It was CGI.

[12:07] Olaf: I yeah, I wasn't sure. They're so good. We have Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley. We see him for a couple of the movies Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom Devin Murray is Seamus Finnegan who is known as blowing himself up all the time.

[12:22] J.J.: John Cleese as nearly headless Nick.

[12:28] Olaf: Nearly headless lit. Yep. David Bradley is mr. Filch Zoe Wanamaker is madam hooch, which for whatever reason we only see her in this movie in the movie.

[12:35] J.J.: Yeah, she's the only movie she's in it's I don't understand why because you have Quidditch in like every single movie.

[12:42] Olaf: Yeah, but she isn't she just like I'm teaching you how to fly on a broom. She was also the referee.

[12:47] J.J.: Oh yeah, but yeah.

[12:50] Olaf: I don't know Geraldine Somerville is Lily Potter and Adrian Rollins is James Potter Ian Hart as professor quarrel.

[12:58] J.J.: Yes, and Richard Bremer is the physical embodiment of Voldemort during the flashbacks, but Ian Hart is the voice of Voldemort at the end of the movie.

[13:13] Olaf: Okay. Yes, very nice. So, there we go. That's that is the primary cast of people that we see that we will continue to see throughout the most part.

[13:20] J.J.: Yeah, I left a couple people out like Crabbe and Goyle. I didn't mention them.

[13:26] Olaf: Yeah, but and there's a couple other students that we'll see throughout the movie, but these are all of our primary players.

[13:33] J.J.: Yeah, it's quite fast you you rattle off that list of people and it's amazing because the cast is stellar.

[13:41] Olaf: It's almost really really bittersweet as well because a lot of these older actors now are no longer with us now.

[13:48] J.J.: Richard Harris passed away right after the second one came out, but in the last what five six years Robbie Coltrane Dame Maggie Smith Richard Griffiths passed away Alan Rickman almost now ten years.

[14:01] Olaf: It's been ten years since Alan Rickman passed away, which is hard to believe.

[14:06] J.J.: Yeah, it's sad. It is there were all greats perfectly cast in this film in these films.

[14:10] Olaf: Speaking of casting they were looking for Harry Potter for a while and they looked at like 5,000 boys in the audition process and none of them felt right.

[14:23] J.J.: Chris Columbus saw Daniel Radcliffe in David Coffey field, which I mentioned and just was like that's him.

[14:30] Olaf: And apparently they were showing clips of him in it as an example of who they were looking for because they couldn't find him.

[14:55] J.J.: We clearly need Harry, Ron, and Hermione because they're the ones you're going to really follow through these steps. So we've got to nail these three from a casting standpoint. We've got to lock these in and be really almost perfect with it. But what they get right, which we've already mentioned a few times, is all of the adult characters around these kids are top-notch because everybody else is unknown. You're going in there, you don't know any of these people. Plus, the first couple movies, they're kids, so their abilities aren't what they could be. You don't know! You need these heavy hitters to carry the movie.

[15:34] Olaf: Exactly. And they do without getting in the way or being distracting from the kids because you're supposed to hook into them, and you do. Daniel Radcliffe got a million dollars for this role.

[15:47] J.J.: For the first movie?

[15:48] Olaf: For the first movie. Okay, wow. Nice. Apparently, Christopher Columbus also learned some things from working with Macaulay Culkin and his parents.

[15:54] J.J.: Oh, and Home Alone, okay.

[15:56] Olaf: Yeah, so he made sure that there were no stage parents at the auditions.

[16:00] J.J.: Oh, okay.

[16:01] Olaf: Yeah, he didn't want, if there were stage parents, that person did not get the job.

[16:06] J.J.: That's such a bummer for the kid because they don't know. If I was 11, 12, and I was really wanting to do this, I would still want them there, but I would hope that they would be there to support, but I don't know.

[16:12] Olaf: Yeah, but then with everything that happened with Macaulay Culkin and his parents, it was something he wanted, Columbus wanted to avoid. This was the second highest grossing movie worldwide after Titanic.

[16:30] J.J.: Pretty impressive in 2002.

[16:32] Olaf: Yeah, 2002, yeah, wow. Alan Rickman was handpicked to play Snape by J.K. Rowling and actually gave him special instructions about the character and even provided him with vital details of Snape's backstory that was never revealed until the final novel.

[16:53] J.J.: Which I think is amazing for her to do that for him because his character has to carry these things because his character is living this. So as the actor, it's nice to go, oh, I have this that I can now use with everything I'm doing, as opposed to, I didn't know because they didn't know and we were just sort of figuring it out, so I just made this generic choice.

[17:13] Olaf: He's just being evil for evil's sake.

[17:15] J.J.: Right, but he's not. Because he knows. And playing that long game, you just don't see that very often. What a payoff. What a gift that he was given. In the first two movies, certain things that he's doing, certain things he reacts to when certain things happen, you're going, okay, there's a little more there than him just being mad or him realizing something or him just sort of brushing things off. Now there's a reason for everything that he's doing and he knows it, which is great.

[17:40] Olaf: Throughout the whole franchise, we're going to see some of Britain's top actors come through the halls of Hogwarts. It's quoted by Sir Patrick Stewart jokingly saying he and Sir Ian McKellen were the only two actors from Great Britain not asked to participate in the Harry Potter movies.

[18:01] J.J.: I wonder if it's, I mean, X-Men had just come out a year before. I wonder if it had that, like they're over there in that world.

[18:06] Olaf: Might've been scheduling.

[18:07] J.J.: It could have been. One other fun fact is all the food that is in the Great Hall in this movie was real.

[18:12] Olaf: I had that question when I was watching the second one. I didn't, I guess for whatever reason in the second one, I thought, oh, there's a lot of food here. Is it props? Is it real?

[18:20] J.J.: So Chris Columbus wanted a very elaborate welcome feast to match the description in the book, uh, with roast beef, ham, turkey, all the trimmings, all of it. Uh, unfortunately filming under the hot stage lighting for hours at a time, uh, quickly caused the food to develop an unpleasant odor. Uh, so after this movie, they switched to prop food.

[18:46] Olaf: Yeah. I mean, you never really see them eat it anyway, so it's not like, oh, they're eating throughout the whole franchise.

[18:51] J.J.: Well, yeah, but I mean, it's a lot of times they're just sitting there and then an owl flies in or somebody walks through the door or something happens to break or they're in mid conversation.

[19:02] Olaf: Yeah. Uh, it looks amazing. This movie visually is stunning and it still is.

[19:07] J.J.: Yeah, it really is. It really is. So jumping into the movie, everybody's seen this movie. You would think, I mean, I've run into people that haven't or just, it just wasn't something that they were really interested in. Um, which is okay. I mean, it's, yeah, I just, I feel like you're missing out if you haven't seen it.

[19:27] Olaf: I think so too. It's, if you enjoy Star Wars, these sorts of good versus evil, other worldly things like the Force versus magic, then come on in. I mean, it's great. It's magical.

[19:39] J.J.: The books themselves helped readers. It wasn't at Chris Columbus's daughter who he says he goes on record of saying that his daughter had issues reading and then she read the second book and it like opened up that, uh, part of her brain to sort of become a better reader. And then like, he was like, I want to do these movies. It was like one of the impetuses of him wanting to direct these movies.

[20:05] Olaf: Yeah, absolutely. Cause there was a huge line of people that wanted to be involved with this before him, which is very ironic to me that British book, British actors, nobody American, American director. I was just like, Oh, that's interesting. And I don't know if that's the studio kind of going, well, we at least need to get an American.

[20:24] J.J.: J.K. Rowling did not have say on who the director was, which for the first movie, I would think that she wouldn't, I don't know who could have done it better. I'm surprised Spielberg didn't direct this movie. He floated around the project for a while.

[20:40] Olaf: Yeah. I mean, it, it would be something that he would easily be able to put his fingerprints on.

[20:45] J.J.: Yeah. He ended up not doing it. There was a rumor that J.K. Rowling said no to him, but they've said that she didn't have say on who the director was. So, um, yeah. Uh, but Christopher Columbus, he's had a lot of history working with kids. And I, I think as far as like building the foundation and building the world that the rest of the movies will now exist in, I, wow, what a job. And he nailed it.

[21:10] Olaf: There is something to be said about by the time you make this first movie, there is already a built in fan base because four books have already come out.

[21:17] J.J.: Yeah. So the, there is an audience there that is going to be really fine tooth combing this. Did you get it right? Did you get the casting right? All of these things.

[21:26] Olaf: Oh yeah. That's a lot of pressure for anybody, for any director to have to take on.

[21:30] J.J.: Yeah. You're going to make a lot of money on the first one because everyone's going to come to see how you did. You hope it makes a lot of money. The only way you're going to do that is if you get it right. That's how you're going to make a lot of money. No one's coming to the second movie if you didn't get it right the first time.

[21:47] Olaf: Exactly. Everyone's showing up and paying those tickets to see if you got it right the first time.

[21:52] J.J.: Yeah. So let me ask you this, because we've talked about when these movies came out. I mean, I was 23 when the first movie came out. So I wasn't a kid. I just, I wasn't into the Harry Potter fandom that the majority of the audience was going to, was in. For you, when you finally were like, okay, I'm going to watch this movie. Was there a specific moment in the first film where you're like, they just, it just grabbed you and pulled you in and you're like, this is, or was it not until the end of the movie where you're, where you sat back and you went, wow.

[22:30] Olaf: I think I was really kind of into it from the beginning. You had the John Williams music playing and then this wizard comes out of the dark and turns out the lights and you see a cat turn into a woman and it's Maggie Smith. And like, I liked all the actors in it and I liked the composer and the director. So I didn't think I was going into something that I was going to dislike.

[22:56] J.J.: So you weren't like on the fence because of the hype. You weren't thinking,

[22:59] Olaf: I mean, I was on the fence about the story and the characters, I guess, but I kind of went in with no expectations and the way they shot the movie and everything right from the beginning is interesting and intriguing. And I'm like, I've never read these books, so nothing's spoiled for me. I'm seeing this for the first time.

[23:22] J.J.: Yeah. I was, I was already kind of like into it from the beginning because it's, Christopher Columbus just told the story so well. And that's where they get it really right, is if you can get people that haven't read the books, like yourself, who are hearing the hype, wanting to know what this is all about and then getting pulled in because for whatever reason, whether it's the opening.

[23:43] Olaf: I was really interested in their take on magic and wizardry and how it exists in the current world and all of that stuff. And I was just like, wow, this is all really interesting. I've never seen anything like this before.

[23:56] J.J.: Right. And if you've read the books, like for me, I was like, well, how are they going to shoot this scene? Hagrid coming in on his motorcycle at the beginning? Like, how is this? How are they going to do that? How are they going to do certain things? Obviously, they're going to cut some stuff out, but I never felt cheated having read the books, watching the movies. I was like, they did a bang up job of really putting print to screen like page to film at the zoo.

[24:27] Olaf: And they're at this the snake exhibit. I guess I'm asking you this question. It sort of gets answered for me a little bit, maybe in the second movie when he talks to the snake. Is he speaking parcel tongue and we just hear it is English or does the snake understand and speak English? Because he's just talking normal.

[24:49] J.J.: Right. Never hear him speak parcel tongue until the second movie.

[24:52] Olaf: Right. And then we learn that he can.

[24:54] J.J.: He can. And he thought he was speaking normally and everyone else was like, no, you weren't. So I'm just wondering if that was a choice they made at the beginning, knowing what they were doing for the second movie or.

[25:07] Olaf: Well, that's a great question, because the snake answers him in English.

[25:11] J.J.: Right. So I feel like they had this scene because it's in the book of him letting the snake out and all this other stuff. And to be honest with you, and this is where all the Harry Potter fans and the people that are deep dives into the books, they're like, you know, in the book he is speaking. I really think it's all English. Let me know. I don't know. I'm just going off of the movie. And in the movie he speaks English. I like the fact that he could be speaking parcel tongue, but for an audience and everybody, we don't know what that is yet. So he's it's just usually when something like that happens, they still let you know what's being said, but they also let you know that this is actually what's happening.

[25:43] J.J.: Right. Well, and even in this, even in the second movie, he's like, well, I've only done this one other time when I was at the zoo and I let the snake out. Yeah. But even he, like you just said in the second movie, thought he was speaking English and telling the snake not to attack the kid because later in the second movie, he starts speaking parcel tongue a lot more. Is he aware then that he's doing it?

[26:06] Olaf: Yeah. That one was a little unclear to me. Yeah. And that's, you know.

[26:10] J.J.: Yeah. I just think in the first movie, the fact that especially the way they shot it, where the glass disappears, Dursley falls in the snake, they have this little exchange. It's kind of like it's a fun little moment, especially from the book. And that's it. I think, I mean, I don't even think about it beyond that until the second movie.

[26:30] Olaf: Right. Until he mentions it. So then we get our invitation to Hogwarts in the mail from owls, which I just thought, oh, that's that's great. Owls deliver mail. That's neat. I like that. I like that. And it's very feels very wizardy, magical because I'd not read the books. There was this kind of like, I know the Dursley's are terrible, but when they want to get rid of him.

[26:57] J.J.: Right. You would think, why do you want him? The motivation to want to get rid of Harry feels so much higher than we don't like who you are.

[27:05] Olaf: Yeah. I mean, I know he says Vernon says when we took you in, we swore we would put an end to this magic nonsense. Like, and we learn later from Petunia that Lily is her sister. Yeah. And that right. She just has this resentment and jealousy and hatred for all of that stuff. And I guess maybe there is something inside them buried deep, deep, deep in the crevices of their evilness, where they're afraid for him, maybe. And so they don't want him to go. I don't know. I would be like, I don't like you. We treat you like garbage. You're in the like you're underneath the stairs is where you live.

[27:39] J.J.: Like, yeah. And then unless unless, sorry, I'm sorry, unless they were really concerned that he would come back and spite them, you know, because they're evil. They project that onto Harry going, well, we don't want you to go because if it is, then you'll come back and you'll make us pay. So we're just not even going to let you go.

[27:59] Olaf: So the the letters get more frequent and they show up in the most unusual ways. Petunia is cracking eggs open and there's letters inside the egg. And then eventually they just get an avalanche of letters coming out of the fireplace. Now, the thing that I noticed in this was Harry Potter jumps up on a table and is like trying to catch letters that are up in the air. But at this point, there's everywhere, hundreds on the ground that you could just grab. But I just I thought that was interesting.

[28:34] J.J.: And then they go to this island, this small, tiny rock island, no lighthouse. No, I didn't even get there. I was like, this is a safety concern. Anybody in this storm could just plow right into this tiny little island. And then we we see Hagrid for the first time. He shows up. No, the second time because he showed up at the beginning. He was at the beginning on the motorcycle, which I thought, again, was really cool. So then we see Hagrid for the second time breaking down the door. And this stood out to me. He breaks down the door. He comes in. Vernon Dursley's got a double barrel shotgun to ward off intruders. And Hagrid comes over.

[29:50] J.J. Gonzalez: Bends the barrels up into the air and then Dursley pulls the trigger. Yeah, that would have killed him. Yeah, he pulls the trigger. That tells me he was willing to take Hagrid's life. Oh, absolutely. That's just... The guy's out of his mind. It's just like, well, this is a kids movie. He's out of his mind. Yeah, it's just like, whoa, wow, that's... Oh yeah, no, no. Wow. And then this is the moment we get Fiona talking about her jealousy and righteousness and hateful feelings for her sister. And it's one of those things, too, where if you haven't read the books, you got to give the audience some sort of information. Well, yeah. And this is it for her. But she just knocks this out of the park.

Like just watching that scene, it's like, oh my gosh, so good. You wish that she, the actress, like what would she have been able to do if she had been cast as one of the teachers in the school, if she had been on the right side of the magic, you know what I mean? Like, because she's an amazing actress. She really is. It would have been fun to see her at Hogwarts as a professor of something.

[30:52] Olaf Adsit: So we jump ahead a little bit. Harry's run off with Hagrid to go to school. He's reading his acceptance letter and like all the things that he's going to need for class. And here's something that stood out to me. Per Hogwarts acceptance letter, a student may bring either an owl, a cat or a toad. So how does Ron bring a rat? Well, because that was not on the acceptance letter. Yeah, it was not on the supply list. Well, we find out later on. Well, yeah, we find out what the rat actually is. But right. That still doesn't explain no one saying, I'm sorry, you have to leave the rat at home because you clearly look at your acceptance letter. It does not say bring either an owl, a cat or a toad or, you know, maybe a rat if you feel like he's a legacy. He's got like nine other siblings that go to the school or I don't know, saying I'm there.

[31:43] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah. And then we get to Diagon Alley, which the set for this is so incredible. It looks amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. No. And on a side note, what Universal Studios has done to recreate that. Oh, yeah. It is amazing. Yeah. I mean, it's so impressive. It's very impressive because I used to work at Universal Studios and walking around those areas is you're you you feel like you're in it. Yeah, you're incredible. It is. I agree. We find out that Harry Potter is super rich. I mean, I love it beyond imagine what his parents do. How did they get all this gold? They don't ever really. Now, here's the here's the never explained in the films. It's never explained. And I can't remember if it's explained in the books either.

I would imagine that J.K. is a good enough writer to give some sort of explanation as to where the money came from. It's not important in the movies because clearly it's I mean, it's just knowing that he has the money to do whatever he wants. Right. But it's also one of those things. Oh, my gosh. It's a testament to who he is as a person to like he's never needed it. And this is who he is as a person. It's not going to change him because of who he is inside.

[33:04] Olaf Adsit: Yeah. The only thing he ever uses it for is to buy the entire trolley of candy. Right. Yeah. He doesn't ever throw it around because it's because clearly as we come to find in this world, it doesn't mean anything. It's meaningless, really, in terms of like. But when I saw that vault for the umpteenth time I've seen these movies, I just was like, he's loaded. Where did he get all this money? What is his parents into the mafia or something? Richie Rich, man. Yeah, it's crazy. We get to see the Hogwarts Express, which pretty iconic, beautiful piece of scenery. And then it's driving around the countryside and that's just gorgeous. And then we get the most dramatic arrival to the castle, which just on these little boats at night, at night, just going up to this castle.

Right. And I guess you think they're the train ride, who knows how long it is, but it's always obviously during the day because you get to see the countryside. But from whatever they get off the train and by the time they get on the boats and it's like pitch black.

[34:06] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, I think I think they've always timed it that way. It's like when kids arrive at a camp, a summer camp on the buses and stuff, it's just we've timed it to where it's at night. And yeah, I get it. It's very dramatic. Oh, and the shot is wonderful. It's amazing. It's iconic. Like you said, it's one of those scenes where you go, yeah, I know that. And then they all gather and they get a little like introductory speech before going into the Great Hall for the sorting hat. And it's yeah, man, that Great Hall, incredible. The school itself is another character of the books and of the movies. But then you look at specific parts of the school like the Great Hall where and the Quidditch field, but the Great Hall for sure, where you're just like this is immaculate because you have to create that world like you're saying, like it does an amazing job of creating this imagery and visual that immediately leaps off the page.

[35:05] Olaf Adsit: We get to see Alan Rickman as Snape. Fun fact about his character is the costume he's wearing never changes. The costume designer was like, it's perfect. And any other costume designers that came in were agreed. So his costume for the entire franchise never changed. It doesn't need to. Yeah, his hairstyle doesn't change his whole look. I mean, maybe his hair gets a little longer, but so many times costumes get like upgraded or altered a little bit. And now his never has never changed. What else you got?

[35:36] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, I wanted to point out that before Harry Potter has his first Quidditch match, he receives mail for like the first time. And what's funny about it is it's all wrapped up in the shape of a broom and no one knows what it is. They're like, open it. What is it? It could have been a baseball bat. There's this overhead shot of the table that it's on and it's clearly a broom. And until they unwrap it, they have no idea. And then once they do, they're like, it's a broom. And I was like, I don't know what else you thought this was going to be. So I don't know. We see in this movie, he receives the invisibility cloak, which will be a thing throughout the franchise. Which we've later find out we don't have any idea who gave it to him in the first movie, but we later find out it was from Dumbledore.

[36:27] Olaf Adsit: Yes. So there's a part in the movie where Harry Potter is sneaking around with the invisibility cloak, trying to find out the mysteries of what's going on in the story. And Mr. Filch discovers a broken lantern and sees Professor Quirrell and sees Snape and says, hey, there's kids out of their beds. And they go running off, clearly to go get those kids. But right after that, Harry just runs into another room. He's hanging out there. And then he goes and gets Ron and says, hey, let's go do this. I'm like, no concern with the fact that clearly they need to lay low now.

[37:05] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, and that's an interesting thing because there's a lot of heat. There's a lot of heat going on. We should probably just hang. We'll get to this tomorrow. But no, he's like, no, no, Ron, now you get up and now we'll both be out of bed. I need you to go look at this mirror. There's only so many times we can get in trouble.

[37:21] Olaf Adsit: I wanted to talk about this incredible stunt that happens in this movie. Neville gets frozen by Hermione. He stands up to the three of them because he doesn't want them to get in trouble. He doesn't want their house to get more points deducted because they're kind of troublemakers. And he does the brave thing of standing up to his friends and saying, guys, you shouldn't do this. And Hermione essentially freezes him and he falls back on the ground. It is one hell of a stunt. And there was very little padding.

[37:53] J.J. Gonzalez: So are you trying to tell me that it wasn't it was him or they got like a full like figure and they put it in and they just it was him.

[38:02] Olaf Adsit: Wow. OK, what a stunt.

[38:05] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah. I mean, because in the second movie, when the characters are petrified there, they just use models.

[38:12] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, those are models. So I just assume they did that for Neville as well.

[38:16] J.J. Gonzalez: No. And I don't encourage anyone to try this right now. But if you do, you'll notice it hurts. That does not feel good. And to stay that rigid as well.

[38:27] Olaf Adsit: Yeah. That was very impressive.

[38:29] J.J. Gonzalez: That's great. We're going to do it one more time.

[38:31] Olaf Adsit: Yeah. Take nine.

[38:33] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah. I forget how many times he did it, actually. But there's a behind the scenes bit that talks about that. And it's it's impressive.

[38:41] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, that is impressive. We get to see wizards chess, which is just except the figures just beat the crap out of each other. How cool would that I mean, that's so that's probably I would imagine have been a really fun scene to shoot, just like Ron getting on. Isn't he the knight?

[39:00] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah.

[39:00] Olaf Adsit: Yeah. Getting on the horse and like getting moved around. I don't know. I thought visually it was very well done. Very good. And then John Williams score, which is a whole nother character. This movie is so beautifully shot and well acted and all of that stuff. But it would not have been what it was without that music.

[39:19] J.J. Gonzalez: That music was really made the magic real.

[39:23] Olaf Adsit: Yes. It has a very hook vibe for me.

[39:26] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah. As well.

[39:28] Olaf Adsit: Some of the similar themes he uses.

[39:31] J.J. Gonzalez: But it puts you in that world, much like it did when you watch Hook, where you're in Neverland or you're you're there in this otherworldly place. It's just the power of John Williams.

[39:41] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, he's a genius.

[39:42] J.J. Gonzalez: As he shows in all of his movies. But yes.

[39:55] Olaf Adsit: We get to see Voldemort for the first time on the back of Professor Quirrell's head, and he looks nothing like what he does later. But, you know, they didn't know.

[40:05] J.J. Gonzalez: They didn't know.

[40:06] Olaf Adsit: People at this point, they don't know. And it starts the theme that carries over of the defense against a dark arts teacher. Only lasting one, one book, whether they're good or bad or whatever.

[40:23] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah, the rotation, the rotating door of defense against a dark arts teacher starts with Professor Quirrell. And what a cool if you especially hadn't read the book, a discovery to make because it harkens back to the Quidditch scene where you think Snape is trying to.

[40:35] Olaf Adsit: They set it all up so well.

[40:40] J.J. Gonzalez: Hurt Harry and really Snape is protecting Harry, but even though he doesn't know that Quirrell is trying to sabotage Harry in the match. You can go back and look and go like, oh, it all adds up.

[40:50] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, they did. They did that so well.

[40:52] J.J. Gonzalez: Going back to Voldemort, because they didn't know. And because this is the first time we see some sort of iteration of him. The idea of putting him on the back of the dude's head.

[41:03] Olaf Adsit: Yeah.

[41:04] J.J. Gonzalez: I think it's great.

[41:06] Olaf Adsit: Oh, yeah. He's wearing a turban or a head covering the whole movie.

[41:12] J.J. Gonzalez: You don't really know why. And you just buy it because you assume, well, it's the world we're living in.

[41:16] Olaf Adsit: Right.

[41:17] J.J. Gonzalez: And then to know that that's why is equal parts creepy and equal parts cool to me at the same time.

[41:25] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. Where they went with it after this was so much better.

[41:31] J.J. Gonzalez: Kids play compared to what they go through.

[41:33] Olaf Adsit: Yeah.

[41:34] J.J. Gonzalez: But yeah, no, it was great. And then we get to the end of the movie. The only other thing that I noticed near the end was everyone in the Great Hall is wearing all these pointy hats.

[41:45] Olaf Adsit: Never see those again.

[41:46] J.J. Gonzalez: No, I'm sure they looked at it and they went, we don't need those.

[41:50] Olaf Adsit: We don't need those again.

[41:51] J.J. Gonzalez: That's good.

[41:52] Olaf Adsit: Yeah, you never see those again.

[41:54] J.J. Gonzalez: But yeah, this movie for the first outing is so good. The world building is fantastic. Everything looks great. Now, Christopher Columbus will say that he was not happy with a lot of the visual effects because they didn't have enough time to really refine it. But that being said, especially for when this came out, it still looks good.

[42:17] Olaf Adsit: And a lot of times when they go in between CGI and practical, it's fairly seamless.

[42:24] J.J. Gonzalez: Especially as we dive into like the second one is very, to me, very seamless. This movie exceeded my expectations. Even having read the book clearly exceeded a lot of people's as it shows in the box office.

[42:38] Olaf Adsit: And what's wild for the actors is they start shooting the second movie right after the first one is released.

[42:45] J.J. Gonzalez: Yeah.

[42:46] Olaf Adsit: You're going, man, I hope people like it.

[42:47] J.J. Gonzalez: And then it blows up.

[42:49] Olaf Adsit: And then there's some sort of relaxation that can come over a little bit because you're going, all right, we got it.

[42:55] J.J. Gonzalez: We got it right. Now we have to keep getting it right.

[42:58] Olaf Adsit: And they did.

[42:59] J.J. Gonzalez: That's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. What a great start to the franchise. It's an amazing movie that, like you said earlier, still holds up on countless rewatches. It's a reason why it's 25 years and it still gets shown. What every Thanksgiving, there's always like a happy Harry Potter marathon on whatever free form or whatever channel is on. It gets that attention still because it still is very timeless.

[43:27] Olaf Adsit: I think. Do you have anything else you want to add for the first outing?

[43:31] J.J. Gonzalez: I'm going to really enjoy this because as we know, the movies.

[43:34] Olaf Adsit: They're great.

[43:35] J.J. Gonzalez: They're great.

[43:36] Olaf Adsit: And they get better and better.

[43:38] J.J. Gonzalez: And so it's going to be a lot of fun to see the evolution and to talk about the evolution of not only the characters, but how we as fans sort of got there as well.

[43:47] Olaf Adsit: So this is good.

[43:48] J.J. Gonzalez: Well, guys, be sure to check us out next time when we continue our Harry Potter coverage. We got the first one out of the way, and then we're going to jump into number two, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

[43:57] Olaf Adsit: So until then.

[44:03] J.J. Gonzalez: To be continued.

[44:04] Olaf Adsit: Back to the movie theater is hosted by J.J. Gonzalez and Olaf Adsit.

[44:13] J.J. Gonzalez: Produced by me, Johnny Clay, J.J. Gonzalez and Olaf Adsit.

[44:18] Olaf Adsit: Theme song and incidental music by The Dimes.

[44:21] J.J. Gonzalez: Visit us at bttmtpodcast.com for trivia, playalongs, merch, and more.

[44:27] Olaf Adsit: That's bttmtpodcast.com.

[44:31] J.J. Gonzalez: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok.

[44:33] Olaf Adsit: And find us on YouTube at Back to the Movie Theater with J.J. and Olaf.