Entertainment Tonight:
The Big, Bad and Ugly

From ET Online, November 20, 2001

It's not easy being an ugly giant. Scottish comic actor ROBBIE COLTRANE suffered through hours of wart-and-beard make-up, dragged around in a 100-pound costume and braved killer owls, all in the name of "Harry Potter"! Robbie tells ET about the wizardry that transformed him into Hagrid, the gentle giant groundskeeper, in this box-office sensation!

ET: When they said, "Hey do you want to be in 'Harry Potter,'" what happened?
Coltrane: J.K. Rowling, who wrote it, said she wanted me to play Hagrid. My son found out about it because it was in the papers, and if I hadn't done it then I would be dead!

Did you have your own ideas on how it should have been put together?
Everybody imagines the magical sequences in a different way. That's the difficult thing about making the transition from book to film, but I think they've done a brilliant job!

Now, you play Hagrid. Who is he?
Hagrid is half man and half giant. He's 8'6" tall and weighs 600 pounds! He's not a man to be messed with. But he has a big heart and soul, looks after injured animals and is very nice to children.

The costume must have been so real.
The costume weighed about 100 pounds wet and 65 pounds dry, so it was something to lug around, big boots and all!

You couldn't take it off?
No. The huge wart and beard and hair had to be glued on in the morning — that was not much fun.

How long did this process take?
When we started out, it took about 1 1/2 hours, but we got it down to 45 minutes by the end. It takes about the same time to get it off if you don't want to remove lumps of skin with the beard!

Would you talk to Joanne (J.K.) Rowling about it?
Yes, we had a lot of long conversations about it. She has encyclopedic knowledge of all the characters past and future. She has a psychological profile of all the characters in all the books — it's quite something to behold!

You had to work with animals and children.
Yes, I had to work with animals AND children! The problem with children and animals is that they tend to get it wrong an awful lot because they don't have the same emotional memory as adults.

I was overcome by Chris Columbus (the director) because he is fantastic with children! He would get them in little huddles whispering. Then you'd hear "and action," and he'd get it out of them. The children's performances were astonishing!

What was it like working with the owls?
Well, they're quite scary. They kill things. Their claws are like razors. If you catch their eye, they are likely to catch yours, if you know what I mean! Their handlers told me that they're not as clever as the myth says.

Is the hype worth it?
I think that the whole hype thing is insane. Sometimes it's counterproductive because people have great expectations, like "Star Wars". If it's not perfect, people think its rubbish, even if it's good. People will not be disappointed in this though! They will think that it's just what they wanted — it's going to be monstrous!

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