Magic mishap? Daniel Radcliffe revealed which Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets moment scarred him for life.
The British actor, 31, opened up about filming the 2002 scene where Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) teaches the Hogwarts students transfiguration in a room full of animals while appearing on the Thursday, December 3, episode of Hot Ones.
The memory, however, was not one of joy and childlike wonder. Instead, Radcliffe recalled seeing a monkey masturbating on the set as the cast shot the scene.
“You asked about such a specific thing in that McGonagall classroom. I definitely remember that there was a — there were a lot of animals,” the Now You See Me 2 actor said, before diving into the awkward part of the tale. “They must’ve had upwards of 60 there. I don’t imagine they were often all on set together.”
He continued: “But definitely in that scene, in the transfiguration classroom, there was a monkey of some kind in a cage that did just start jerking off relentlessly.”
The Miracle Workers actor noted that beside the one rouge monkey, the rest of the animals “were very well behaved” while shooting.
“Although I think Rupert [Grint] maybe got peed on by a bat at one point as well,” the Kill Your Darlings star told YouTube host Sean Evans. “But yeah, I got away pretty cleanly after that.”
Radcliffe also revealed the best and worst things he ate on set of Harry Potter, identifying the banquet scenes and “breakfast particularly” as the highlight.
“I was just an 11-12-year-old child just piling on fried eggs and bacon and sausages and baked beans every morning for just days,” he recalled. “So that was great.”
The food prop for Gillyweed, the magical plant that allowed Harry to swim underwater, however, was not tasty. “I remember by the third or fourth take of that I was like, ‘Oh, how many more of these are we gonna do?’” he recalled, noting it was actually black licorice designed to look like seaweed.
Radcliffe isn’t the only Harry Potter star reflecting on the film franchise this month, as Tom Felton recently rewatched the series while sharing his thoughts about it on social media.
The 33-year-old actor, who played Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy, joked about the theme song in the first Harry Potter film being “catchy” before praising Radcliffe for his portrayal of the lead character.
“There’s definitely potential for these movies,” he joked after watching a few scenes.
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