The action of a Wizarding World movie set is something that has to be both imaginative and pretty intense. So much so that one could see a lot of the wands used by various wizards in the series breaking on a rather frequent basis. However, when it comes to former series star Daniel Radcliffe’s time on the sets of the Harry Potter series, there’s a pretty weird reason why he broke his on a semi-regular basis. It all comes down to his love of drumming, particularly with the aid of his own tool of magical defense.
Being the latest celebrity to go through the rigorous process of being interviewed on Sean Evans’ hit internet talk show Hot Ones, Daniel Radcliffe endured a gauntlet of hot questions, all while sampling some of the spiciest sauces known to humanity. With the latest season of the show coming to a close, it felt like a good time to reveal some behind-the-scenes facts on a series as iconic as the Harry Potter movies, and Daniel Radcliffe didn’t disappoint with this interesting tidbit. Here’s what he had to say about his bouts of magical property damage:
The wands I broke a lot because I would just like drum on my legs with it all the time. So, once every three or four weeks, it would weaken to the point where it just snapped. So, I would say I was very sorry to the prop master, and he would give me a look like, please stop drumming.
Reading back what Daniel Radcliffe had to say about his days as a drumming wizard, it’s hard not to imagine the chaos that sort of thing would result with the students at Hogwarts. Especially if you’re someone like Rupert Grint’s Ron Weasley, who, as we saw in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, tried (and failed) to do proper magic with a broken wand that was hastily taped up. At least when Daniel Radcliffe had to bug the prop master for another wand, there wasn’t some poor phoenix being bothered off set to help make another one.
As the recent star of TV series like TBS’ Miracle Workers, Daniel Radcliffe has had some interesting stories about what goes on when the cameras are rolling. While breaking what must be dozens of wands isn’t exactly a duck pooping in his eyes, it’s still an interesting story to hear. Just imagine all the takes involving intense wizard fights having to be cut short because of a snapped wand. That image will now join all of the other nostalgic bits of reminiscence that will fuel the 20th anniversary celebrations honoring the recently re-released Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone next November.
If you want to revisit Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter days, you’d better have your own copy at home to enjoy. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the next streaming window on Peacock makes those films available again, whenever that may be. However, Radcliffe can be seen in two different projects that are currently making the rounds on streaming. He’s in both The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s interactive series finale special on Netflix, and his most recent film, Escape from Pretoria, is available to those who stream the Starz library.
