HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. English title: HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. Year: 2002. Director: CHRIS COLUMBUS. Stars: EMMA WATSON; RUPERT GRINT; DANIEL RADCLIFFE. Credit: WARNER BROS. PICTURES / Album© Alamy

Harry Potter star shares 'disappointing' truth about the movies, revealing details

The Warner Bros. adaptations of J.K. Rowling's popular series proved to be a huge success

Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
August 31, 2023

The Harry Potter film series by Warner Bros. had the impossible task of doing justice to J.K. Rowling's hugely popular books, and based on the critical scores and box office numbers, it more than met that demand.

Starting in 2001 and concluding in 2011 after eight movies, the franchise proved to be a smash hit, making stars of its cast members, notably the core three of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, while spotlighting the talents of its supporting players as well.

However, when bringing thousands of pages of literature to the screen, some things had to be left on the cutting room floor, to the disappointment of actress Bonnie Wright.

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The 32-year-old made her acting debut as Ginny Weasley with 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at the age of nine, appearing in every film since as her role in the story became more and more crucial.

In a new appearance on the podcast Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, though, the star shared her thoughts on seeing much of her character not actually make the journey from page to screen.

She stated that she did as much as she could with what was given to her in the script, saying: "There was just no room for much change in those scripts," she added. "There were a million executives going through them all."

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Bonnie Wright opened up about her "disappointment" with the films

Bonnie continued: "I think what I maybe took, which I don't take so much to heart now, is I kind of felt that maybe my anxiety was about like, 'Oh, I'm going to be seen as badly portraying this character,' rather than later realizing that I wasn't really given the opportunity to do that.' So it wasn't really my 'fault,' exactly."

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The English star, who has since made a name for herself with her directorial and independent work, expressed that she felt the same disappointment that fans of the youngest Weasley did.

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She gushed about growing up on set and working with people who are now friends

"And when fans do share that disappointment, they do it in a way where they're like, 'We know it wasn't you. We just wanted more of you.' And that's the same with every character." 

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"If only they could've been five-hour-long movies, but it would've taken probably two years to film each one or something."

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"There were parts of the character that just didn't get to come through because there weren't the scenes to do that."

Bonnie got candid about her feelings of frustration on not seeing her character feel fully realized, echoing a general sentiment from fans, who felt that the progression of Ginny and Harry's romance was not organic enough.

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"Sometimes that was a little disappointing," she continued. "Because there were parts of the character that just didn't get to come through because there weren't the scenes to do that. So that made me feel a bit anxious or just frustrated, I guess."

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"And when fans do share that disappointment, they do it in a way where they're like, 'We know it wasn't you. We just wanted more of you.' And that's the same with every character."

However, she gushed about the experience of growing up on the set of Hogwarts and learning about filmmaking from a very young age.

"I got this amazing look into the film world. I was so interested in not just the role as an actor, but also just all the other incredible things that made the films what they are. I was so exposed to just attention to detail, to craftsmanship, and just the quality of work was really what set me up."

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