Daniel Radcliffe and the Cast of “Fantastic Beasts” on Their Earliest “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” Memories!

When most of us think back to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it’s probably to an iconic moment such as seeing the Great Hall for the first time or watching Harry get his wand.

As for Daniel Radcliffe… well, his first memories from the set of Sorcerer’s Stone aren’t quite what you might expect!

As you may or may not know, this past week we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the release of the film Sorcerer‘s Stone, and Digital Spy got the chance to sit down with Dan to reminisce on some of his favorite on-set moments.

The first few days on the train platform in Goathland, which is also where they film ‘Heartbeat’, I think… I remember being there and them saying, ‘This is where they film “Heartbeat”‘, and I was like ‘No s**t! Really? Awesome!’ That’s a TV show I’d heard of as a kid.

Dan also took the time to reflect upon how much his role in the movies changed his life, noting that he didn’t feel “fazed” until the release.

No one ever sat us down and said ‘this might happen, this might happen’… The first time I really got the sense of that was the first premiere and the first time I got recognized in the street by somebody who went crazy. I was really frightened.

Dan, who has always expressed his gratitude toward his family for helping him deal with fame, mentions in the interview that his parents always tried to see the bright side, regardless of how crazy his life became.

I think my parents were really good in how they dealt with it. Whether they were freaked out or not, they’d turn to me and be like, ‘Isn’t life funny! What a weird thing all this stuff’s happening!’ 

And I think that gave me a good perspective on it rather than me thinking that all this was happening because I’m so amazing, or it was something to be feared or negative – so they gave me a really nice healthy attitude towards it.

It’s not just Dan who’s been feeling nostalgic! In another interview with Digital Spy, the cast of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took a trip down memory lane. Alison Sudol explained how happy she was when she first saw Hogwarts on the big screen.

It was really scary for me as such a big fan – are they going to capture Hogwarts? Hogwarts is so vivid in your imagination, from the way that J.K. Rowling writes. Seeing it was as magical as one would hope it would be.

Eddie Redmayne noted the impact the original Potter movies had on him – especially when it came to filming.

The first thing was even arriving on set because we shot the film at Leavesden Studio near Watford where they shot all the ‘Harry Potter’ films, and there’s now this amazing, magical tour.

Anyone who’s had the chance to visit the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter may recall the rather large photographs adorning the entrance of the building, and it’s safe to say these didn’t go unnoticed by Redmayne!

[There are] huge photographs of Daniel [Radcliffe] and Ralph [Fiennes], and all of those characters you’ve seen for years. So before I’d even got through the gates, I was kind of ready to turn around and go home! It was a mixture of excitement and nerves and anticipation.

Have you done anything to mark the 15th anniversary of Sorcerer’s Stone? Or are there any moments from the first movie that stand out in your memory? Let us know in the comments!