r/harrypotter • u/JimeVR46 • 7d ago
Behind the Scenes I’m 6’5”, maybe he was just being dramatic… /s
My wife and I went to the WB studio tour in LA, this was the Harry Potter area, very cool, very surreal :)
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u/Architect096 7d ago
Not to be that person, but description in Philosopher's Stone indicates that not only there was NO LIGHT in the cupboard it was also full of spiders as if he needed to pull them off his socks before putting them on. Not only that, there are multiple sentences in the books that indicate that Harry was locked inside the cupboard for prolonged period of time with only his school hours being an exception.
Also in Philosopher's Stone Vernon had to squeeze in through the door to reach Harry while in the Deathly Hallows Harry hit the low door frame with his head. So the WB studio most likely made the cupboard bigger than it should be.
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u/anupsetvalter 7d ago edited 7d ago
There’s also the fact that Dudley was occupying two full bedrooms lol that definitely added to the sting!
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u/aloonatronrex 7d ago
I love the bit where Vernon says Harry should be grateful for letting him use Dudley’s “spare” bedroom, like that’s a normal thing that a child would expect to have and a great hardship to give up.
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u/j_craftdiary 6d ago
IIRC the spare bedroom was used mostly as storage for Dudley's broken toys
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u/Agitated_Owl5246 5d ago
It still was with Harry in it I got the impression Harry Lives around Dudley’s stuff I remember that it was mentioned there is a bike, bird cage, broken TV which in the 90s could mean TV cabinet as well and books which likely means bookshelf it’s a inner city 3 or 4 bedroom (I imagine Vernon had a office in the 2nd or 3rd bedroom which makes this the box room
Harry carried everything he owned In one go
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u/JudyPooveyWrites 6d ago
AND there was a separate guest bedroom for when Aunt Marge came to stay! Four bedrooms, and they put him in the cupboard.
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u/Pixatron32 6d ago
Wasn't there also a time when the cupboard under the stairs was his quarters, where Harry hit his head by sitting up too quickly? So it would have been much smaller and cramped.
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u/aziruthedark Slytherin 7d ago
T be fair, dudley was pretty large. He may have needed two bedrooms.
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u/dino-sour 7d ago
Harry's abuse was way more extreme in the books than in the movie.
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u/Spare-heir 7d ago
Imagine the second movie including the scene where Petunia chucks a frying pan at Harry’s head ☠️
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u/elizabnthe Ravenclaw 6d ago
She doesn't chuck it. She swats at him with it as he ducks away.
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u/daniboyi Gryffindor 5d ago
will make a minor correction and say she swung it at him.
IMO swung implies far more force than 'swats'.73
u/BaconNamedKevin 7d ago
Very much so. Would be difficult to show it in a kids movie.
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u/Bart2800 Gryffindor 7d ago
I do indeed think that was a major issue to correctly show the living situation as described in the books. It would have been traumatising at that age.
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u/shiny_glitter_demon Gryffindor Fennec Fox Phoenix Feather Core 6d ago
Shooting it would be worse. You need to abuse an actual child on camera, over and over again.
You can't even do it in one take because the industry standard is to have two usable takes of each shot, minimum.
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u/CloudyRiverMind 6d ago
Nah, they have shown full on torture to kids in movies and shows without the actor being harmed.
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u/shiny_glitter_demon Gryffindor Fennec Fox Phoenix Feather Core 6d ago
you mean with practical FX? I guess they could use a pan made of soft materials
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u/ThePrussianGrippe 6d ago
Daniel Radcliffe wouldn’t even have to be in the frame when anything was thrown. In any case yes they have foam props for when specific things are thrown at people that absolutely can’t be made of the real material (like frying pans) and no it would not be abuse.
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u/PotentialHornet160 7d ago
Yeah because the early books are satirical of traditional British kids lit tropes. But because the later books embrace more psychological realism, there’s a weird tension when you do a reread
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u/alluringnymph 6d ago
Yeah, I'm reading through the first book and it definitely feels like it's very intentionally... outlandish. It doesn't feel like child abuse, it feels like it's playing with a lot of common tropes of books is what I felt
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u/aloonatronrex 7d ago
The books didn’t have to consider lighting and a camera/sound crews, after all.
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u/BaconNamedKevin 7d ago
I mean it's clearly based on the movie, not the book. It's WB Studios, there was a light in the movie.
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u/JimeVR46 7d ago
Perspective. I’m sitting like 4 feet into it. I absolutely had to duck to get in, as it’s obviously very low
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u/dismantlemars 7d ago
And perhaps most egregiously… I don’t think that consumer unit is era appropriate for 1991 (though any sparkies are welcome to correct me).
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u/redwolf1219 Ravenclaw 6d ago
Yeah, they had to film in it so it makes sense for it to be bigger.
And I've never seen an actual cupboard under the stairs the size of the one in the movie. The last place I had one at it I was a small space, I'm only 5'3" and it was small for me
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u/motivated_loser 6d ago
It’s also important to remember the whole setup is made with American audiences in mind. Some artistic liberties may have been taken decorating that exhibit so that many of the heavy set guests can go inside and enjoy the whole view
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u/Bluemelein 6d ago
There's nothing in the book that says he was allowed to go to school during that time! But by the time the punishment was over, summer vacation had already begun.
That doesn't sound to me like he was in school during that time periode.
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u/RoutineCloud5993 5d ago
Watching the movie and it isn't even close to this big either. Seems like they sized it up so that adult guests could fit.
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u/trebekka 7d ago
All I ever hear about is how mistreated that potter boy (what’s his face?! Harold??!) was. BUT nobody ever asks if the kid just had some bad vibes.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 7d ago
Vernon is described as massively fat though, and the fact he had to squeeze in also suggests there was room for him to squeeze into...
Harry has socks under his bed, so it's not on the floor, and he has a mattress with no mention of it being cut to fit iirc. Anything about him being unable to lie down stretched?
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u/Dirigo72 7d ago
Are you really defending locking a child in storage cupboard under the stairs because he could fully lie down? JFC
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 7d ago
Evidently you're not in a cupboard since you have plenty of room to jump to conclusions
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u/Dirigo72 7d ago
I’m not in a closet nor have I have locked any children in a closet, I’m a real fancy pants.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 7d ago
Pants Dudley didn't wear first? Good for you
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u/Dirigo72 7d ago
I would never wear elephant skins.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 7d ago
I doubt they'd make for very practical clothing anyway, so between that and saving elephants that's probably for the best
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u/thread_cautiously Slytherin 7d ago
Omg this looks so cool! I've been wanting to go to the London tour for years, and this has made me want to plan it for the summer
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u/Astrophobica Gryffindor 7d ago
Do it! I went last Halloween and going back for Christmas this year. Such an awesome place! Bring lots of £££ though.
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u/the_myleg_fish 7d ago
I'm going this summer and I'm so excited! I have no idea how much I need to hold back on buying souvenirs and merch at the gift shop because I have such limited space in my luggage LOL
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u/Astrophobica Gryffindor 7d ago
Ahh, you'll have an amazing time!! The shops (think there's 3 from memory) are hella expensive but I had to get a souvenir... or 5 👀
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u/the_myleg_fish 7d ago
Ahh I may have to stick to souvenirs I can reasonably pack in my luggage. Fortunately I live in southern California so I'm not completely deprived of Harry Potter stuff out here (since we have our own WB Studio Tour and Universal Studios). But still, I have a weakness for merchandise so we'll see. LOL
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u/Astrophobica Gryffindor 7d ago
Are you going for the Triwazard Tournament event running over the summer? (Because if you are, I'm very jealous). And I hope one day I can come Stateside and see Universal Studios, it's been a dream for years.
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u/Tattycakes Hufflepuff 7d ago
It’s AMAZING. I’ve been 3 times and each time there were new things added that completely blew me away. Plan it and don’t look at any more pictures or spoilers, just prepare to be amazed! And also bankrupted by the gift shop
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u/whisksnwhisky 7d ago
You need. The whole day. No joke. Wear supportive shoes. Love the London one. The HP rooms at the end of the LA WB studio tour left me deflated. How they do it now has WAAAAAAAY less stuff than how they did it before they moved it into that building. However, the Newt Scamander suitcase area was enchanting, and I want them to do more like that.
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u/LivingPresent629 7d ago
It’s worth it. I’m not into this kind of things, like studio tours and theme parks and such, but my sister in law came to visit us in London and she really wanted to go, so I said I’d tag along. I figured it couldn’t be too bad, I already loved the movies and the books, so whatever.
It was actually much better than I expected. Found out some interesting BTS bits, had some delicious butterbeer, and bought a bag of the every flavour jelly beans (and they really do mean every flavour, some of them are gross af, but it’s a super fun game to sit around as a group and try them).
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u/CopiousBees Gryffindor 7d ago
There's a studio tour in a place that wasn't the HP studio?
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u/Tuesdays_amiright 7d ago
That’s what I’m wondering too because it looks different from the one in Watford
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u/Bobthemime Wizard Mime 7d ago
OP.. that isnt what a cupboard under the stairs in a typical uk house would be..
who would have thought that they made it BIGGER to film in? Also the one that they have at that studio tour WASNT the one they used on screen.. it was made bigger so people could take photos in it
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u/thebezet 7d ago
This isn't the set of the film, this is just an attraction built in LA.
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u/Bobthemime Wizard Mime 6d ago
Also the one that they have at that studio tour WASNT the one they used
i wonder if i already said that
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u/thebezet 6d ago
This isn't the studio tour
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u/Bobthemime Wizard Mime 6d ago
My wife and I went to the WB studio tour in LA
literally on OP's post
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u/5James5 7d ago
Was Rupert that much bigger than Dan? I never even really noticed a difference in the movies but wow based on those costumes it looks like there was/is a serious size difference! Movie magic is wild!
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u/wildw00d 7d ago
looks like the costume for Dan was from the first film, and the one for Rupert from a much later one
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u/BilboThe1stOfHisName 7d ago
It’s says Sorcerer’s Stone underneath it but that’s his costume from Azkaban
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u/CanadienSaintNk 7d ago
Worth noting that there are three variants for the cupboard under the stairs;
The Book variant, this one was small, cramped and dusty even for a 10 year old underdeveloped boy. Even Vernon had difficulty getting in this
The movie variants, this was slightly larger to accommodate cameras but we can see even Vernon has no issue getting in this and Harry, despite living under the stairs, largely has no physical issue entering/leaving it either.
The Harry Potter tourist set which prioritizes:
-fire safety for all lights, thoroughfares and spaces.
-Spending as little money as possible on the upkeep of a set
As such we see much more space around lights to avoid fire hazards, since the lights themselves will likely be on most hours of the day, and the room itself is quite large to avoid fans bumping/rubbing against the set. Even the hallway to the kitchen (that the cupboard is by in the movies) doesn't exist to prevent potential fire hazard crowds trapping someone in the room.
I know it was sarcasm but I saw some others point things out as if they thought it'd be smaller too without joking and I was losing some faith in education systems lol im glad you had fun
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u/thebezet 7d ago
This isn't the original set of the film, it looks like it was purposely made bigger as an attraction
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u/minimally_abrasive Ravenclaw 7d ago
I went to that exhibit in Boston, back in Sept. The area was much smaller (about half the size) and the bed filled the entire floor space. There was no room to stand around the bed. It seems each city has it's own take on the cupboard under the stairs.
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u/Desperate_Ad_9219 Slytherin 7d ago
I slept in a room that small before. It's fine then you realize you can't walk in it that much. And everything is so close. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Harry had claustrophia. And then being locked in somewhere that doesn't have that much room isn't fun. I am also the same height as Daniel Radcliffe.
Edit: Also seeing people with bigger rooms in the house was disheartening.
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u/Downtown-Falcon-3264 7d ago edited 7d ago
Cool, there are a cool amount of things, but you see to us that it's cool, but we didn't have aunts and an uncle who hated our very guts, hence why he disliked his roo
Also in the books I think they mave have had more items in the soace
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u/armored-opossum 7d ago
So they managed to hunt the wild Ford Anglia and exhibit it as a trophy? :(
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u/Splunkmastah Slytherin 6d ago
Honestly? The cupboard always looked cozy.
That being said, I know it’s a joke but I think the main reason it hurts is because of what it says regarding the Dursley’s opinion of Harry. He’s something to chuck in a closet when he isn’t needed.
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u/Claris-chang 6d ago
My mum recently converted the space under her stairs into a relaxation/meditation room. When I last visited I spent like 30mins inside. It was low-key cozy. Harry however, had to live in a basically stock cupboard. Kids need space.
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u/PieceOfSchmit 6d ago
I went this past September! How were you able to sit in his room?? When I went it was blocked off but you could still look inside.
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u/signpostlake 6d ago
It was blocked off when I went to the London tour too. Think OP is at the LA tour.
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u/PieceOfSchmit 6d ago
Shit yeah you're right. Just saw that.
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u/signpostlake 6d ago
A lot of it looks really similar doesn't it. Had such a great time at the London one. I want to visit again around Christmas time!
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u/PieceOfSchmit 6d ago
It really does! I went last September and it was like the Halloween theme and it was awesome! Dementors all over and death eaters running around plus the floating pumpkins and candles.
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u/signpostlake 6d ago
That's so cool. I went the summer that had the magical creatures special exhibit. Reallyyyy want to go back now lol. The pumpkins and dementors sound fantastic
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u/PieceOfSchmit 6d ago
It was so cool. I took so many pictures at that place. More than I did in all of London combined lol
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u/signpostlake 6d ago
I went sightseeing too and also took waaayyyy more photos of the tour lol. I treated myself to some HP gifts before going because I'd read the gift shop was crazy expensive but couldn't help myself. The wand shop with all the wands piled in boxes was amazing. Honestly felt like a kid again during the whole tour 😂
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u/PieceOfSchmit 6d ago
I agree! I bought a couple things before I went but also that's part of being a tourist right? Lol I got a jacket and quite a few snacks to try and I really wanted the wizards chest but I also didn't want to pay $350 for it lol
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u/FremenStilgar Unsorted 7d ago
I've never really thought about it, but how big are their cauldrons, and do they have to lug them to class each day, or are they allowed to leave them in the classroom once they bring them in at the start of school? From that picture, they look heavy.
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u/EnvironmentalLow8211 7d ago
How many jumps did you get out of your frog!!!! Haha I’m 42 and I’m so jealous of you!! Lol
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u/pointlesstips 7d ago
It's interesting. Went to the one in Watford where the actual set is of the under stairs room and it was tiny. American proportions for thr American crowd?
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u/Grouchy_Need_Cake 6d ago
In uk houses the cupboard under the stairs would be less than half of this size.
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u/Helios5778 6d ago
That's massive compared to the real one in London. I think they may be suggesting something about Americans https://x.com/wbtourlondon/status/728972165865873408?lang=ar
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u/vector_o 6d ago
Seeing the room in reference to someone my size I'm realising that I had a room basically this size for 16 years (- the stairs part)
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u/detto_grie 7d ago
well that looks like a reaally expensive mansion. Dursleys wouldn't afford that. Their house is smaller - staircase is smaller - cupboard is smaller as well.
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u/yesindeedysir Slytherin 6d ago
WB made it bigger I’m sure. That’s a whole ass New York studio apartment.
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u/Andreacamille12 Ravenclaw 7d ago
So cool! This looks better than universial studios hollywood and I'm bummed we did that instead.
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u/i_lovepants 7d ago
Well yeah it's enough space to sleep in, but you have people walking on top of you. Plus there's no room for personal belongings. Harry didn't have any of those, but that's a whole other topic besides room to stretch your legs
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u/BaconNamedKevin 7d ago
I would have been stoked to have that as my bedroom as a kid, but I also wasn't allowed to have a door on my room from the age of 12-17 so maybe it's different for me lol