When it came to instilling fear and causing on-set chaos while shooting the Harry Potter franchise, Helena Bonham Carter had become synonymous with trouble, more than a mischievous house elf. From scarring Emma Watson’s Hermione to causing real damage to one co-star, Carter became a menace on set.
Forget magical spells and epic duels; Helena Bonham Carter’s wand apparently wreaked havoc on set during different torture scenes. While the actress famously scarred Hermione in the Malfoy Manor torture sequence, she caused serious damage to Matthew Lewis’s eardrum during the intense Ministry of Magic scene.
Helena Bonham Carter Left Matthew Lewis with a Perforated Eardrum
The deeper we venture into the Harry Potter franchise, the more we learn about how the dark arts weren’t the only source of trauma on the sets. Because apparently, Bellatrix Lestrange actress Helena Bonham Carter was busy tormenting people onscreen as well as beyond camera. Perhaps, one of her favorite wizards to torment was Matthew Lewis’ Neville Longbottom.
After casting a spell on his parents that left them in a vegetative state, Helena Bonham Carter’s Bellatrix unwittingly cast a different kind of spell on the Neville actor–one that left poor Matthew Lewis with a perforated eardrum. Apparently, offering her crooked wand a side gig as an ear-cleaning device, Carter accidentally delivered an unexpected dose of eardrum perforation to Lewis.
During the intense scene in the Ministry of Magic, in Order of the Phoenix, Helena Bonham Carter’s attempt to use her wand as an impromptu Q-tip caused serious damage to Matthew Lewis that left him in a whole lot of unexpected pain. In Carter’s defense, she was merely using an extension of her wand as a cleaning kit, which accidentally became an instrument of ear-poking.
By mistake, I poked him in his ear. […] I thought I could brandish the wand like a sort of Q-tip, and clean out his ear. Sort of torture it. But unfortunately, he moved toward the wand as I was prodding it. And it actually perforated his eardrum. Isn’t that horrific? I damaged him! He’s such a nice young man, he didn’t admit to me that he actually had some internal bleeding about three days later. Carter told EW.
After learning about how Helena Bonham Carter’s attempt to clean up Matthew Lewis’s ear with her wand ended up being more “ear-piercing” than magical, it seems Emma Watson wasn’t the only one scarred by the actress. Considering how Watson’s scar was merely cinematic, Lewis’ injury became a scarred memory for him, from working with the queen of dark magic.
Emma Watson was Engraved by Helena Bonham Carter During One Scene
Following the unintentional accident with Matthew Lewis in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Helena Bonham Carter went on to brand Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger in Deathly Hallows Part 1. This time it wasn’t a BTS mishap, but instead a real scene that featured in the final cut of the film.
The scary scene occurred during the Golden Trio’s appearance at the Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange separated Emma Watson’s Hermione from her group, to torture her. Carving the slur “mudblood” into Hermione Granger’s arm, the duo took the scene to the next level, which turned out to be one of the most emotionally taxing and intense moments in the entire film series.
It was very weirdly affecting to do that scene. It was quite horrible. I think even Helena said to me afterwards, she was like, ‘I really didn’t enjoy doing that. I really didn’t.’ She usually gets very into that kind of evil stuff, but I think she felt quite uncomfortable. Watson told via CheatSheet
Well, although the torture scene became memorable because of Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Watson’s originality, the latter admitted to being profoundly affected by it. Therefore, in the end, considering the two incidents, it seems that Carter’s Bellatrix Lestrange was causing quite a lot of mayhem in the wizarding world with her wand.
Harry Potter films are currently available to watch on Max.
