Question: Is this true that line "I didn't know you could read" was improvised by Tom Felton, who forgot his original line?
lionhead
8th Oct 2021
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Answer: Yes in the same way Daniel Radcliffe improvised his line about always being around when talking to Lucius at the end.
Actually, Jason Isaacs said that, and he and Daniel didn't forget their lines but did it intentionally.
2nd Aug 2021
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: Why would Dumbledore hire Lockhart to be a professor at Hogwarts? Dumbledore knows how incompetent Lockhart is and that the DADA is cursed.
Answer: This is better explained in the book. Dumbledore, and also the other Hogwarts' staff, always doubted the narcissistic Lockhart's credentials and abilities, but no-one else would accept the job, knowing it was cursed and no instructor lasted more than a year. At the time, Dumbledore was pressed to hire a new teacher before the school year started, and Lockhart was the only option and better than nothing.
Answer: On paper, Lockheart is far from incompetent. Look at all his books. It appears he has exceptional experience of the Dark Arts and creatures such as Hag's Banshee's etc. So as far as Dumbledore knows he's the best position of the job. With regards to the job being cursed, it's been cursed for 13 years with no teacher lasting more than a year. He still needs a teacher. And all the teachers get more and more qualified as time goes on. Consider the fact that he hires ex-auror, Moody.
In the novels, Lockheart has admitted to Harry and Ron that he's a fraud. His backstory goes that all of his "accomplishments" were told to him by other wizards that actually achieved them and after he learned the whole story, he used Obliviate on them to make them forget what they did and claimed them as his own. Even the spell that he claims would work on pixies failed.
In the movie he tells them too. Nobody knew that though, not even Dumbledore when he hired him. Although some do start getting suspicious, like Snape.
Dumbledore was aware of Lockhart being a fraud as two of the wizards that had their memories erased were friends of his and was able to correctly guess that Lockhart was responsible.
I wouldn't consider Dolores Umbridge, who succeeded (the fake) Mad Eye Moody, as an improvement. She was mediocre in addition to being corrupt. The real Mad Eye, never taught, so it's unknown how well he would have done. Barty Crouch, Jr. (the fake Moody) was a dark wizard, making him an effective instructor. Lupin was an excellent teacher, as was Snape, though he didn't last a full year.
23rd Aug 2005
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Corrected entry: Why does Hogwarts have modern (muggle) toilets? I know that it is a main focal point for the plot, but if the school is really as old as they say, it surely wasn't built with them. They must have had some magical method of waste disposal (the 'scurgify' spell), and surely a way to create water, so why resort to installing plumbing and a (supposedly inefficient) muggle technology. They don't use electricity, Television, Internet, etc., so why plumbing?
Correction: Even if they don't use Muggle technology, not having indoor plumbing would be a hassle. They also use Muggle sinks. It's also a major plot point that the Basilisk travels through the school using the plumbing.
Not to mention wizards have been shown to use other muggle tech from triple decker buses to brooms to cameras to trains. Even the castle itself is an example (if you can have a massive room in a briefcase, why bother building a huge fortress unless it's because of the personal taste of the wizards involve). It's stated in the books that electricity doesn't work well around magic, hence no internet, but the wizarding community does use mechanical or chemical muggle tech that's often modified by magic.
Yep, I feel they are only a few steps behind on the muggle world in terms of technology, like early 20th century whilst it's the end of the 20th century. They obviously look at the muggle world and see what they can adapt to their world if it's useful. I'd say plumbing must have been introduced somewhere in the late 19th century for wizards. It's just that most aren't interested in the muggle world. It probably has to be a muggle-born wizard that tries to adapt muggle tech into the wizarding world. I mean Arthur is pretty interested in the muggle world so it's logical he owns a car.
29th Oct 2018
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Question: Considering how big the Basilisk is, how is it able to travel through the pipes in Hogwarts since so many of them are small?
So how was it able to get into the girls restroom and kill Moaning Myrtle many years ago? All of those pipes in the restroom aren't large enough.
The girls' bathroom is the entrance to the chamber of secrets. She was in there when Tom Riddle opened it and let the snake out.
Answer: Perhaps the basilisk is a magical creature and can change size at any given time to fit into those tiny pipes.
Yes like the Occamy in fantastic beasts and where to find them.
3rd Nov 2019
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Corrected entry: In Transfiguration class when professor McGonagall is explaining the lesson you can see that the instructions are mirrored on the blackboard. (00:54:18)
Correction: There are two chalkboards in Professor McGonagall's classroom, both with the same chalk drawings and instructional writing, though the chalkboard on the right has everything backwards on the board. However, none of the actual shots during this scene are flipped, not the closeups, medium shots, or the long shots. Note the part in McGonagall's hair, etc., stays consistent throughout. For whatever their reasons, the filmmakers decided to have identical chalkboards at both sides of the desk, and one with the reverse writing and images as its twin.
And since it's a class about casting spells it's not unlikely McGonagall wrote it in mirror on purpose. Perhaps they need to learn to read mirror since a lot of spells and spellbooks are written like that, a common myth surrounding spells.
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Answer: Yes. It's a common occurrence in a lot of movies for actors to forget their original lines so they improvise something to help move the scene along and not break character. Tom did this because he forgot what his original line was.