Seldom comes something in the pop-culture circle that brings with it a global impact, the likes of which were never expected by the biggest enthusiast of the subject. Therefore, when the whole world was obsessed with wizardry and mystical forces brought by the Harry Potter film and literary franchise, it was something truly unique and exciting to witness.
And throughout the years, the craze and popularity of the series have only grown exponentially as the films from Warner Bros. gave us some very memorable scenes through its offering. And while many characters are remembered fondly by the audience, there are some that they despise very much, one of which happens to be Dolores Umbridge, who was so evil that even the actress who plays the role seems to detest her, especially for this one scene.
Imelda Staunton Hated Torturing Daniel Radcliffe In The Harry Potter Franchise
Since the year that the first film graced cinemas around the world, the Harry Potter franchise by Warner Bros. has never let its shine fade away through the creation and execution of some of the most memorable characters in the Hollywood industry. But some of these characters, like the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Dolores Umbridge, played by Imelda Staunton in Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix were less than likable to say the least, even to the actress, who was distraught after she had to torture her co-star during shooting.
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In a past interview, The Crown star highlighted her role as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts and how her twisted ways of vying for power and control over the academy was something that she disliked about the character to the greatest extent, although she still liked playing her in the film. She also talked about how she felt miserable when she had to shoot the detention scene where she made Daniel Radcliffe write “I Must Not Tell Lies” over and over again. She said:
“That touched into something that you think, ‘Gosh, we’re all capable of great cruelty.’ It was a horrible, horrible feeling, She’s not sort of twirling her mustache and saying ‘Muahahaha,’ it’s the absolute and utter belief that actually it is going to help and that’s, of course, so much more frightening.”
Despite this horrid experience, she took it as a challenge to bring out the best, most evil depiction of the character to life, which she executed with finesse.
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Why Was Harry Potter So Successful?
One of the main reasons why the franchise became such a cultural phenomenon was because of the captivating and unique story along with a mystical world-building and character-developing narrative that the films followed, not to mention, the adaptation of the pages of the novels by J.K Rowling created the perfect balance for the cine-goers and bookworms alike to love the cinematic franchise with little to no complaints.
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Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, streaming on Max.
Source: EW
