Creating magic and mayhem in our Peterborough studio, Hollywood superstar and local lad Warwick Davis says that working on the Harry Potter films really does turn magic into a reality...
 | | Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter |
"The set really does have an element of magic about it," says Warwick. "Much more than a Star Wars film, for example." (Davis first became an actor as a child, playing the role of Wicket the Ewok in the original Star Wars film.) "When you're on a Star Wars set, much of what you see on the screen isn't actually there. "George Lucas (Star Wars' director) is the master of digital film-making so he puts a lot of it in afterwards, but when we're working on Harry Potter, the Great Hall actually does exist as a complete three-dimensional place, and when you're there, sitting at the head table, which I feel very honoured to do – to sit amongst such distinguished company – you know, you ARE there. The flames in the big burners at the side, they're real; the candles that float – they're actually there floating – everything you see in the movies is there. "So yes, it does give you a great sense of being at Hogwart's and actually it really helps with the performances and the magic of the whole thing."
 | | Stephen - competition winner |
Transforming Warwick into Professor Flitwick, on the other hand, is not such a magical experience. "I share something with Flitwick obviously – his height," laughs Warwick. "But yes, we do look very different - but that's due to the genius of the make-up artists who transform me every morning. It takes about four hours to have the make-up applied – it's a very, very slow process of gluing individual pieces of Professor Flitwick's face to me, followed of course by the beard and the hair. "It's a long process, but that's all part of my working day, which starts at about 5am and runs through to about 8pm or 9pm." Warwick has recently returned from Hollywood where he was filming the latest Harry Potter movie - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - the fourth in JK Rowling's series. "Filming's complete on that now," says Warwick, "and they're working to add on all the music and the special effects - then on 18th November we'll all get a chance to see that. It's going to be fun!"
 | | Fiona - competition winner |
Ah, how we envy Warwick's glamorous movie-star lifestyle... film premieres, parties, etc etc. "Oh yes!" Warwick chortles. "But that's the ONLY glamorous side of being an actor. Everyone thinks it's a marvellous Hollywood lifestyle that you lead, but really the premieres are the only glamorous part of it. The rest of it involves showing up at 5 o’clock in the morning to have silicon rubber glued to your face!" Warwick stayed around to present BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Harry Potter poetry competition winners with their brand new copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, followed by a little lesson with Flitwick - the master of charms at Hogwart's Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Altogether now, with a flick and a swish... | 
