Question: I've heard that the cast is entirely British, except for one American. Who is the American? These ALL seem like British actors or actresses to me.
Answer: While she is known as a British actress, Zoe Wannamaker (Madam Hooch) was born in the United States. Another American that makes an appearance in the film is Verne Troyer (Mini-Me from the "Austin Powers" films), who plays Griphook the Goblin.
Cubs FanQuestion: Whats the deal with the moving staircases? Wouldn't they make all the students late for classes?
Answer: Hogwarts is a highly magical place with many oddities built into it; the staircases are one of those, but most are reasonably predictable in how and when they move. The students simply have to learn the patterns to avoid problems.
Tailkinker
Question: What is the actor who played the Slytherin seeker in this movie called?
Answer: Will Theakston plays Terrence Higgs, the Slytherin seeker, according to the IMDb.
Super GroverQuestion: This question applies to all three Harry Potter movies. Why is no one allowed to say Voldemorts name?
Answer: There's no actual law preventing it, it's largely traditional, left over from when Voldemort was previously active. He was considered so terrifying that people were frightened simply by the power of his name, so it became the norm to use an alternate method of referring to him if it was necessary to do so. Despite his apparent fall, the tendency remains. Later on, when Voldemort rises to power once again and gets hold of the ministry, a taboo is placed upon his name. Meaning that those who speak the dark lords name will immediately be attacked by death eaters. Some speculate the taboo was placed so as to find Harry more easily, as after Dumbledores death he was the only one brave enough to speak the name.
TailkinkerQuestion: I listened to the scene where Harry goes to visit Ron and Hermione at the end after he gets out of the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione apparently have a conversation that's not appropriate for a PG rated movie, and I turned it up as loud as I could, and I heard Ron say something like, "I have this black shirt." Can anyone tell me what he really is saying?
leyesalot82789Chosen answer: While he stands at the top of the stairs with Hermione, Ron says, "I had a resurrection!!", referring to his 'near death' experience on the chess board earlier in the film. Some people mis-hear it as a reference to "an erection" which is why you may have heard people think it's inappropriate.
Super GroverQuestion: My son and I believe that, in Harry's photo album and the magic Mirror, Lily and James Potter are played by J.K. Rowling and a friend of hers named "Sean" who is said to be the inspiration for Ron Weasley's character. Can anyone confirm/deny?
Answer: According to J.K. Rowling on her official site (www.jkrowling.com), the filmmakers asked her to play Lily, but she felt she "would have messed it up somehow". IMDb credits Geraldine Somerville as Lily and Adrian Rawlins as James.
Kathy TjarksQuestion: If no one is permitted to use magic outside of Hogwarts, then what is the point of teaching it?
Answer: Only underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, much the same as underage people are not allowed to drink or smoke here. They aren't mature enough to do so, but once they come of age they can do it permitting no Muggles see them.
shorty30490Question: Not from the movie, but there were two books actually printed that were mentioned in the harry potter books, called 'Quidditch Through the Ages', with the claimed author of Kennilworthy Whisp, and 'Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander. My question is do these people exist or did J.K Rowling write these books as well, but since they were supposed to be Harry's schoolbooks did she use different names? Also, what exactly does IMBd stand for?
Answer: Yes, J.K. Rowling wrote both of those books; she used the pseudonyms to make the books more realistic (as opposed to just being a HP spinoff). IMDb stands for Internet Movie Database, probably the premiere site online for movie information (http://www.imdb.com).
XoferQuestion: There is a Nicholas Flamel mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. He's on the list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (he's the 8th one, 1398-1418). I was just wondering if Nicholas Flamel was a real person and, if so, who was he? If he was alive at the end of the 14th century, then, if he were still alive today because of the magic of the Sorceror's Stone, he would be about as old as Hermione says he is.
Answer: Nicholas Flamel was, indeed, a real person, he did indeed research the Philosopher's Stone and his wife (as mentioned in the Potter story) was indeed called Perenelle. He travelled widely in his research, supposedly seeking the understanding of a mysterious book that he had acquired. On his return, he used his unsurpassed knowledge of alchemy to become very wealthy and became known as a philanthropist, donating large sums to hospitals and churches. As an interesting aside, his tomb in Paris is empty. One theory is that it was ransacked by people in search of his alchemical secrets. Of course, if he did manage to create the Philosopher's Stone, and it was widely believed at the time that he had, then there may be a far more interesting reason why his tomb remains unoccupied.
TailkinkerQuestion: What I don't understand is: Dumbledore has the brilliant idea of using the Mirror of Erised to hide the stone in. Yet the mirror is in some room in the castle, where Harry eventually finds it, and not inside the guarded area, where the stone is hidden, until very much later into the movie. Why is that? Even if it was there to teach Harry its secret, it would mean the stone was less efficiently guarded. Or did Dumbledure just get the idea of using the mirror later into the movie ?
Answer: Presumably, Dumbledore came up with his idea after catching Harry in front of the mirror, after he explained the mirror's "power" to Harry. It is safe to assume that the stone was stored in some other magical manner that was less secure before Dumbledore decided to use the mirror.
BGrazQuestion: When they are getting on to Platform 9 3/4, why don't the Muggles notice them running through a brick wall? And if a Muggle did notice them, could he/she get on to Platform 9 3/4?
Answer: Most likely this is part of the magic of Platform 9 3/4 - provided that they're careful and don't do it blatantly in front of Muggles, the Muggles won't pick up on it. Muggles certainly can get onto the platform - after all, quite a number of students have at least one Muggle parent, who would want to see them off. Whether this would be possible for Muggles in other circumstances is unclear.
TailkinkerQuestion: Where exactly does it say the school's family motto?
Answer: Hogwarts' motto ('Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus' - 'Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon') is never overtly stated in either the books or the films. It appears on the title page of all the books however, as part of the school crest.
STPQuestion: Why does Harry's scar hurt when he looks at Professor Snape for the first time? Obviously this is to arouse suspicion around the teacher, but later, when it gets revealed that someone else was really the host of You-Know-Who, *that* is when Harry's scar hurts again...although Harry looks at that person numerous times - even talks to them, and nothing happens all those other times. What's up with all this?
redbaron2000Chosen answer: Remember how You-Know-Who is on the back of someone else's head? Well, it is You-Know-Who in the hall who causes Harry's scar to hurt - you can see 'someone else' is facing away from Harry so You-Know-Who would be able to make his scar hurt.
KingofallSamuraiQuestion: During the scene where the first-years are being sorted into their houses, the sorting hat is set on each students head, except for Malfoy. It is merely held above his head, as it announces his house. Is there a reason for this?
Answer: Malfoy is so strongly Slytherin that the Sorting Hat can tell he needs to be in Slytherin before reaching his head and having to "think" about it.
angiQuestion: On the American DVD where are the deleted scenes on the second disc?
Answer: 1. On the Opening screen on Disc two, select Diagon Alley (Hedwig). 2. Put the selector thingy on Gringotts, then press down selecting the key, click to get to the gringotts area then select the Galleon, Sickle, and Knut and click. 3. Now you should be back at the main page for diagon alley, go to ollivander's and have fun selecting your wand (not sure if its the same for every DVD). 4. Go back to the main screen and select the wand and click, getting to the classrooms. 5. Select Transfiguration (the cat), then hit down to select the owls on the torch, then hit up to select the H on a Shield. Click. 6. At Fluffy, select the Flute and click. 7. At the Keys, select the Silver one in the middle with a bent wing (its the only one that is completely over the door in the background). 8. At the Bottles (which was not in the Movie) select the round one with the yellow liquid. 9. Select the Red stone in the mirror to get to the cut scenes (only seven, but I bet there's more).
Grumpy ScotQuestion: Is there a definite answer as to why this is called "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" in the US?
Answer: Both the book and the film were retitled because Scholastic, the publishers, were worried that American children wouldn't have heard the legend of the "philosopher's stone", and would think the book was about philosophy. They wanted to rename it to something that made it obvious that it's about magic, so they used "sorceror's".
Moose
Answer: It was sent to Harry by Professor McGonagall. She was able to persuade Dumbledore to bend the rule regarding first years and broomsticks, so Harry would be allowed to play on the Gryffindor Qudditch team.
Cubs Fan