The Harry Potter franchise has been entertaining audiences or decades. What started with J.K. Rowling’s acclaimed novels grew into an entire Wizarding World complete with stage plays, theme parks, and the Fantastic Beasts movies. The Harry Potter books were also adapted into eight movies, and a wild new deepfake sees actors like Meryl Streep and Adam Driver take on iconic roles. j
Warner Bros. started releasing Harry Potter movies before the novels were even all out yet, allowing audiences to grow with the students at Hogwarts. Throughout the franchise, A+ talent from across the pond was cast, but what if American actors were given those adult roles? A hilarious deepfake imagines just that, to bizarre results. Check it out below.
There are some things that one simply can’t unsee. And seeing the always iconic Nicolas Cage playing Voldemort is just one of those images. Because while Ralph Fiennes played You-Know-Who to perfection, Cage has a level of energy few can match.
The above video comes to us from YouTube, and is equal parts delightful and terrifying. The technology used to put American actors into the Harry Potter franchise is far from perfect, but it’s still funny to imagine this ensemble of actors occupying the Wizarding World. While this is a comedic video, some of the choices are solid.
In addition to putting the faces of actors Morgan Freeman and Samuel L. Jackson onto the bodies of characters like Dumbledore and Mad Eye Moody, the fan who edited the video together also added dialogue from their filmography. Sometimes this helps the illusion, while other times it pokes fun at the actors’ work. Either way, the results are delightful.
Some of the re-casting in the above Harry Potter are fairly brilliant choices, given the studio was willing to cast American actors. Meryl Streep would no doubt be a killer Professor McGonagall. And while he might have some massive shoes to fill, Adam Driver has the acting chops to pull off Snape.
As previously mentioned, other casting choices are pretty hilarious. Matthew McCounaghey as Olivander the Harry Potter wand make was particularly bonkers, and provided one of the funniest moments of the video. Similarly, I didn’t expect to see Steve Buscemi as Argus Filch, but now I’ll never be the same.
The Harry Potter franchise will continue with Fantastic Beasts 3, which is currently in production. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
