Harry Potter Star Broke Goblet Of Fire Director's Ribs On Set

The feature-length special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts that was released today (1 January) has coughed up some absolute gems for all of those Potter fans out there.

During their reunion, cast and grew come together to discuss what it had been like filming the movies over the course of a decade – at a time when many of the younger stars were in their formative years. 

So much so that James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley, recalled an incident where he somehow managed to break Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell's ribs during filming.

Yep, you heard that correctly.

Warner Bros.

"We were doing the scene when Fred and George are rejected from entering the Tri-Wizard tournament," Phelps explained.

"We had these wigs on and beards on what looked like old men, and Mike said, 'OK, I think you guys are going to be really annoyed with each other, I think you should have a good fight about this'."

"These two were sort of prissying about at it and I said, 'No, come on boys, it's a fight'," Newell then said.

"I was a tubby 60-year-old gent at that stage and I really shouldn't have done it."

Alamy

Newell explained: "I remember gripping him round the waist and trying to fling him about and so forth and I cracked a couple of ribs.

"I was in absolute agony from then on, but of course the wonderful thing was that I'd made a complete twit of myself and everybody felt much better for that."

Emma Watson also revealed how she had wanted to quit the Harry Potter films mid-way through the franchise, saying it was actually the fans that kept her going. 

She said of her own experience: “The fame thing had finally hit home – in a big way.  

“No one had to convince me to see it through. The fans genuinely wanted me to succeed and they all genuinely have each other’s backs. How great is that?” 

HBO Max

Tom Felton, who portrayed Draco Malfoy, had also spotted the difficulties that Watson, in particular, had been through.

He said: "People definitely forget what she took on, and how gracefully she did it," he says in the reunion episode.

"Dan and Rupert, they had each other, I had my cronies, whereas Emma was not only younger, she was by herself."

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts on can now be exclusively watched on HBO, Sky and streaming service NOW.

NOW members can watch the TV specials with a NOW Entertainment Membership and enjoy all ten movies with a NOW Cinema Membership.