Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

July 2003, Leavesden Studios, London

I raced inside the maze, with Henry Cavill right by my side.

“See you on the finishing line, Harry!” He grinned as he dashed towards the left, while I went right. Ignoring the cameras around me, I kept running aimlessly for what seemed like hours (because of all the retakes), before finally, a giant black teddy bear was in front of me again, which I recognized immediately. It was the same figure used in the [Prisoner of Azkaban] for a dementor.

“Expecto Patronum!” I waved my wand in his direction, expecting a glowing stag to be added in the post-production. When it didn’t have that much effect on the figure, I mused out loud, “Oh, you must be a Boggart. Riddikulus!” The figure was snatched away using strings and I moved on.

I kept running some more before the maze started closing in on me. It was made of very soft material, so it didn’t hurt me, but it was a little claustrophobic to move through it, so I increased my pace. Somehow, I escaped that jungle and ran some more, but not before hearing a loud feminine scream that could only belong to Lea. I turned the corner of the maze in front of me, only to come face to face with Stan (who played Krum). He held a shining wand up to my face, his eyes appeared glassy, having been covered with special contacts for this scene. Seeing it was me, he lowered his wand and continued forward as if I was unimportant.

I stood there in the corner, in shock that he left me alone. Nonetheless, after a couple of seconds, I ran over to where Stan had come from, only to see Lea Seydoux fainted.

“Fleur?” I called her out but received no response, so I raised my wand towards the sky and shouted, “Periculum!”

Suddenly, fast winds started blowing in the maze as it started closing around me again. I ran in the only direction available to me. When the maze calmed down, I came across a sphinx. Not really a sphinx, it was just a woman with her face revealed. Below her neck, she was fully decked in a green suit to add CGI later on.

“You are very near your goal,” she said mysteriously. “Answer my riddle, and the way is just behind me.”

“First think of the person who lives in disguise,  

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.  

Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,  

The middle of middle and end of the end?  

And finally, give me the sound often heard  

During the search for a hard-to-find word.  

Now string them together, and answer me this,  

Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?” 

I put on my metaphorical thinking cap, and mused it out loud, “A person who lives in disguise, an impostor… No, he deals in secrets, so a spy. Middle of middle, and end of end… er… let’s put a pin in it for now. A sound during hard-to-find word…er… Yes! That would be ‘Er’. Spy…er… Spider! It’s a spider that I’m unwilling to kiss!”

The woman cracked a smile before giving me the way. I ran forward again, only to hear a loud shout of ‘Crucio!’ followed by agonizing screams of one Henry Cavill. I turned around the corner to see Stan towering over a twitching form of Henry.

“Stupefy!” I called out, sending Stan down on the ground.

“Are you okay, Cedric?” I asked Henry as I helped him up his feet. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before nodding. Then he turned to Stan, and in anger, he kicked at Stan’s torso. He missed, but the camera angle would make it seem he didn’t. Then Henry raised his wand to curse the stunned boy, but I stopped him by holding his arm down.

“He has been bewitched. I could see it in his eyes. He attacked Fleur as well.” I was hyperventilating a little at this point. Henry broke free from my grip before raising his wand in the air and casting the same spell over Krum that I did to disqualify Fleur from the competition.

Then came the final scene of the maze as we started running together in one direction where a faint blue light of the cup was visible from the distance. We shoved and pushed each other back, both trying to reach the cup before the other. The maze was back to being its treacherous self as it attacked us with vines and bushes sprouting out of nowhere. Henry was always a few steps ahead of me, but suddenly, I was running alone. I stopped to see that he was being attacked by an acromantula, which was a giant spider.

“Harry!” Henry cried out in pain. “Help!”

Making my decision, I ran back to him and shouted curse after curse at the blasted spider. “Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Impedimenta!” It didn’t kill off the spider, but it freed Henry. He got up and together we shouted, “Stupefy!” And then the spider didn’t get up.

“Thanks,” Henry whispered to me. “For a moment, I thought you were gonna let it get me.”

“For a moment, so did I,” I said somberly.

Suddenly, the wind started blowing up again, thanks to some sturdy fans, so we ran in the direction of the glowing blue Triwizard Cup.

“Go on, take it,” Henry insisted. “You saved me. Take it.”

“Together,” I insisted. “One, two, three!”

We both lunged at the cup, holding on to one handle each, before hearing the blasted word, “Cut!”

We waited with bated breath for Alfonso’s final verdict about the scene.

“Perfect! We are done for the day, everyone.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. Goddamn it, I would never take another action movie in my life. I ran for just this scene and I was hating Alfonso already with the number of retakes he made me do of just running. If I had to do this for months, I’d go mental.

(Break)

“Avada Kedavra!” Timothy Spall, who played Peter Pettigrew, yelled while pointing his wand towards Henry. Wires that had been attached to him yanked him back until he lay on the ground motionless.

“Cedric, no!” I yelled helplessly, staring at the corpse of the older boy. My eyes watered slightly as realization sank in. I couldn’t move from my spot. Unfortunately, that turned out to be my downfall as I was lifted by wires as well before an animatronic statue of a death reaper held me tightly, leaving me unable to move at all.

“You murderer!” I yelled with as much hate as I could muster. “I’ll kill you!”

“Do it! Now!” A whispery voice said the words, making the older man ignore me entirely, as he proceeded to add ingredients to a cauldron, which included a fake bone, a prosthetic hand, and some red-colored corn syrup that he collected from me. All the while, I kept glaring at him hatefully.

And then came the moment that took the franchise and turned it on its head yet again. Ralph Fiennes entered, complete in his Voldemort getup, wearing a long black robe, walking barefoot.

This was the first time I was seeing him like this, and it was creepy as fuck. Maybe this was the reason I wasn’t allowed to see his complete look until this moment so that my reaction could be genuine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything but hang back on the statue as different actors playing Death Eaters, including Jason Isaacs (who played Lucius Malfoy), walked in and continued the scene. One big difference I could see from the original film was that the costume of the Death Eaters didn’t look like the KKK in this reality. All thanks to my timely intervention.

Back to the scene, Fiennes walked over to Henry and tilted his head over with his foot. He tutted, “Such a handsome boy.”

“Don’t touch him!” I shouted.

“Harry!” Fiennes grinned maniacally while walking over to where I was being held by the statue. “I’d almost forgotten you were here. Standing on the bones of my mudblood father. I’d introduce you, but word has it that you’re almost as famous as me these days. The boy-who-lived. How lies have fed your legend, Harry.” His face and expressions were so frightening, that any sane person would run for the hills.

He continued his monologue, telling everyone about what happened 13 years ago. Meanwhile, all I could do was try to push the statue away from me, but I was helpless as he pushed a finger into my forehead to show everyone that he could touch me now.

“Pick up your wand, Potter!” Ralph Fiennes growled as the statue holding me suddenly relinquished its hold. I rolled over on the ground. “I said pick it up! Get up, you filthy blood traitor! You’ve been taught how to duel, I presume, yes?”

As he was saying this, I scrambled back towards my wand and stood up shakily.

“And now we bow.” He bowed mockingly. When I didn’t follow his example, he chuckled as if we were taking a stroll in the park. “Come on, Harry, the niceties must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn’t want you to forget your manners, would he?” Suddenly, his grin vanished as he yelled, “I said, bow!” His wand was raised in my direction, so I yelped out and bent forward as if I were being forced to do it.

“That’s better,” He grinned again. “And now, Crucio!”

This was supposed to be the third big moment within a few minutes after Cedric’s death and Voldemort’s resurrection when viewers realized that this wasn’t a kids’ movie anymore. I screamed the most agonizing scream that I could, and went down on the ground, writhing on the floor. I probably screamed for a long time before I heard the magic word.

“Cut!”

I heaved a sigh of relief as I got up from where I was lying on the ground. Acting as if you’re being tortured magically is difficult both on my body and my vocal cords.

“We’ll need to redo the torture scene, Troy,” Alfonso called out as he walked over to me. “Can you perhaps take it up a notch? You are doing great, but this is a big shift in the movie as far as darkness is concerned. We want to dial it up all the way. You know what I mean?”

I didn’t. I was already giving this scene my 100%. I don’t know what I could do better here. Yet, I didn’t think telling that to Alfonso would solve the problem. Maybe I will get it better after a few repetitions. With that thought in mind, I nodded, not wanting to speak because I was still panting from my last effort in the scene.

“Do you think you need a break?” Alfonso asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “Let’s just get this over with.”

This was the last scene we were shooting, and I just wanted this nightmare of a shoot to be over. If we include the [Prisoner of Azkaban] as well, we have been shooting for this film for more than a year, and right now, I just want to laze around for a month or two. Ideally, we would have preferred to shoot this scene before, but Ralph Fiennes didn’t have dates available, so we adjusted our schedule to match his.

“We’ll still need a few minutes to adjust the equipment,” Alfonso said.

I nodded in assent as he patted me on the shoulder before walking over to adjust the camera settings. Meanwhile, I stood there awkwardly. Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, and Timothy Spall were talking to each other animatedly as the scene was being reset. I wanted to go and chat with them as well, but I didn’t think I could. Ralph Fiennes was so good as Voldemort, as if he was born to play this role. His every word, every syllable seemed nuanced, as if he had spent months, if not years perfecting the role. I, on the other hand, has been literally playing this role for years, and I'm still not perfect in this portrayal.

I needed a perfect mental state to give this performance. For that, I needed to feel alone, desperate, and afraid of the hideous man known as Lord Voldemort. So I ignored everything around me. I ignored Tobias, who had offered me a bottle of water. I ignored the cast members chatting merrily as if we were on a holiday. I ignored the crew members bustling around the set. I even ignored Evan as he was assisting Alfonso once again. All I cared about was my art, and making it perfect.

True to his words, it didn’t take long for Alfonso to adjust the cameras, and it was time for another take.

(Break)

Evan was excited. The shoot for the fourth Harry Potter film was just about to end, and Alfonso Cuaron, the director, was so impressed with him that he had offered Evan the chance to help in the post-production of the third and the fourth films in the series. Like any aspiring filmmaker, Evan had leaped at the opportunity like a hungry lion.

One of the last scenes to be shot was Harry getting tortured by Voldemort before dueling him, and then fleeing with Cedric’s body. But they were shooting in reverse order, so the duel scene and the fleeing part had already been shot. Evan thought that the torture scene was also enacted beautifully by Troy, and shot quite well by their cameraman, but Alfonso begged to differ.

“Why are we redoing it?” Evan asked curiously. “I genuinely thought that last take was good enough.”

“That’s the problem,” Alfonso said pointedly. “As a good filmmaker, never settle for good enough. Always go beyond and perfect it. I have seen that boy act for more than a year now. I know what he’s capable of when pushed correctly. I have done just that, and I’m sure he’ll give us something magical to look at.”

“Stop with the magical puns already,” Evan mumbled, but Alfonso either ignored him or didn’t hear.

“Action!” Alfonso called out after everyone was in their spot.

Immediately the cast went into motion.

“Crucio!” The big baddie called Voldemort shouted while pointing his wand at Troy. Troy let out a blood-curdling scream as if he had been lit on fire while being held captive by metal chains around him.

Immediately, Evan understood the difference between this shot and the one before. While the first shot was good, this one was almost impossible to watch for Evan because his brother Troy was right there writhing on the ground as if he was actually being tortured in front of everyone. Seeing that, Evan’s breath hitched, and he controlled his desire to run up to Troy and comfort him.

‘It’s just acting,’ Evan repeated that mantra again and again in his mind until after the scene was complete, and Alfonso called out, “Cut, print, check the gate!”

Then he turned to Evan and asked, “Still think the first shot was better?”

Evan could only shake his head as he saw Tobias running up to Troy and getting him up to his feet.

“No actor is perfect all the time,” Alfonso lectured. “Troy is one of the better actors I have worked with, but he cannot hit a high note in every scene. It’s the duty of a director to push their actors. Resultantly, what we have here is cinematic gold.” As Alfonso replayed the scene of Harry’s torture, Evan could see why such a curse would be named ‘unforgivable’ by the Ministry of Magic.

“Do you think he can get another Oscar for this?” Evan asked bewildered.

Alfonso chuckled and shook his head, “Unlikely, but that doesn’t mean this performance was any less than an Oscar-winning performance.”

Then Alfonso turned to the crew at large and announced, “Alright everyone, we are done with this scene. And with that, we finish the shooting of [Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]. Let’s get ready for a big party tonight!”

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