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CNN Larry King Live
Larry King Special: Harry Potter - The Final Chapter
Aired July 15, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, a Larry King exclusive 10 years in the making. The stars of "Harry Potter" open up about the very last "Potter" movie ever.
DANIEL RADCLIFFE, "HARRY POTTER": I kind of wept like a child on that last day.
KING: The most successful film franchise in history.
EMMA WATSON, "HERMIONE GRANGER": Children are sometimes scared at me because they think I'm going to -- I can do a spell or that I am magic in real life.
KING: And it's coming to an end.
RUPERT GRINT, "RON WEASLEY": I mean, just really grateful to be a part. I've loved every day of it.
KING: Never-before-seen footage of the making of Voldermort. Behind the scene secrets finally revealed. And an exclusive clip of the final "Harry Potter" movie you will not see anywhere else.
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, James and Oliver Phelps and Tom Felton. They're all here on the LARRY KING SPECIAL: HARRY POTTER, THE FINAL CHAPTER.
I'm coming to you tonight from "Harry Potter" the exhibition here in New York City. You might recognize Harry's Gryffindor dorm room, it's right behind me.
You know, whether you're a Muggle, a half-blood or a full-blown wizard, it may be hard to believe that one of Hollywood's most successful film franchises ever is about to come to an end. From books to movies to a theme park in Orlando, J.K. Rowling's story about a young wizard and his adventures has become a pop culture phenomenon.
The statistics are staggering. Over the past 10 years the seven films alone have made some $6 billion.
Tonight you'll hear secrets from the set. You'll see how the wizarding world was brought to the big screen. We'll even show you an exclusive never-before-scene clip of the final movie just days before it open.
First a look back at how it all began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be safe. Be strong.
KING (voice-over): Harry Potter, the boy who lived, faces his biggest challenge yet. A final showdown with the dark Lord Voldemort, an epic battle 10-years in the making.
(On camera): The last "Harry Potter." How's that feel?
RADCLIFFE: You know, very, very strange, considering we've done it for 10 years. But it's also a wonderful feeling of achievement and particularly I'm very, very proud of this last film and I think it's the best out of all of them, I think, and yes, I'm very, very excited.
KING (voice-over): Also excited, the millions of "Harry Potter" fans around the world who've been waiting years for this finale.
WATSON: From what I could see just shooting it, I knew it was -- pretty epic. It's -- I think we -- we do it justice. I definitely -- yes, we do.
RALPH FIENNES, "LORD VOLDEMORT": Now, join me, Harry, and confront your fate.
GRINT: Very serious. Voldemort is king of rising again. It's really quite disturbing. We're losing characters that we've known since the first book, and it's -- yes. I think it's going to be really shocking just to see the cast kind of collapse to this kind of burn in piles of rubble.
RADCLIFFE: Finish what we've started. Together.
KING: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two" is sure to be the biggest movie event of the summer, and we'll give fans the ending they've been waiting to see since we first met the young wizard in 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
It was 10 years ago for the very first time we were able to see the wizarding world that until then was only imagined in books.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And courage I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent.
FIONA SHAW, "AUNT PETUNIA DURSLEY": Up. Get up.
KING: We laid eyes on Harry Potter, an orphan who was made to live in the cupboard under the stairs by his aunt and uncle.
RICHARD GRIFFITH, "UNCLE VERMON DURSLEY": There's no such thing as magic.
HARRY MELLING, "DUDLEY DURSLEY": What's he doing?
KING: Tormented by his cousin. Feeling isolated and alone, who found out he was not only a wizard, but the most famous wizard of all.
We were also introduced to his two best friends.
WATSON: Well, are you doing magic?
KING: The book smart, know-it-all Hermione Granger and Harry's sidekick Ron Weasley. The books and seven movies so far have made stars out of the three-then unknown child actors -- Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. They have grown up before our eyes.
WATSON: It's really strange. That's the only way I can describe it. It's -- it's been -- I mean -- I was so young, it's difficult to remember much of my life before this thing happened to me. So -- it coming to an end, it's -- you know, it's huge.
I was 9 years old. You know -- I was still losing teeth. If that puts it in perspective. I was still losing baby teeth.
KING: The first hit was an instant hit for Warner Brothers which like CNN is owned by Time Warner. But that wasn't a surprise. By then Harry was already a household name around the world to the millions of fans of the books.
And it was all dreamed up by an unlikely author. J.K. Rowling, who at that time was a single mother on welfare when she came up with an idea about a boy who does not know he's a wizard.
(On camera): Do you remember how -- it's hard to -- it's impossible to say how an idea came about. Do you remember, though, the creation of this concept?
J.K. ROWLING, AUTHOR: Yes. It came to me on a train going from Manchester to London in England and it came very suddenly. I just --
KING: What came?
ROWLING: The idea for this boy who didn't know what he was, and until he was 11 and then he got this invitation to go off to wizard school, and I have this very physical response to the idea. I felt so excited. I just thought it would be such fun to write.
KING (voice-over): The first book was released in 1997, marketed as a simple children's book by a first-time author. Many people including Rowling herself did not have high hopes for it.
ROWLING: In all honesty I didn't think it would do this well with anyone. I thought I was writing quite an obscure book that if it ever got published, which maybe had a handful of devoted. Because I thought it is the easiest kind of a book for obsessives. I thought well, maybe a few people would like it a lot. I never expected it to have broad appeal.
KING: Rowling, who was turned down by several publishers after she wrote the first book, has become one of the richest women in the world. So successful, she's reportedly surpassed even the Queen in wealth. Rowling's story spawned seven best-selling novels which have sold more than 400 million copies. The books are available in 200 countries, and have been translated into some 70 languages. Each release a cause for celebration for fan who lined up days in advance to be the first to walk out with the latest story, but in 2007, when Rowling released the final chapter of the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," we knew it would eventually come to this.
FIENNES: The boy who lived come to die.
KING: Harry and Voldemort's the final stand. The last "Harry Potter" movie ever.
(On camera): You said this one, the one opening later this week, is the best. Why?
RADCLIFFE: I think it's the most exciting. I think it's the most direct. I think we did so well in part -- from seven part one by setting up all the plot that people need to understand this second film, that we can just dive straight in and give people this, and it's what's -- I think in this film we find the balance best between the emotional side of the films and the action-packed adventure exciting side. I mean, I think -- I think we've never got the balance so right before.
KING: I would agree. It's a hell of a movie.
RADCLIFFE: It is a hell of a movie.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Coming up, an exclusive clip from the final "Harry Potter" film that you won't see anywhere else.
Plus, we'll show you how Ralph Fiennes went from this to this. But next, Daniel Radcliffe reveals what happened on the last day of filming.
RADCLIFFE: I kind of wept like a child. I lost it.
KING: When this LARRY KING SPECIAL: HARRY POTTER, THE FINAL CHAPTER returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Ten years ago it was the million-dollar question. Who would play Harry Potter? Producers set out to find the perfect boy.
ROWLING: Dan is great. It was a very difficult process. Finding Harry was very hard. It was like trying to find -- and I think everyone was getting slightly desperate and I was walking down the streets of Edinburgh in London and looking at boys in a very suspicious way, you know, I said, could it be him? And then the producers and director told us one night and they've found one. And Danny is an actor. I mean he's just perfect.
KING: Dan, of course, is Daniel Radcliffe. Up to then, his biggest role in the BBC miniseries "David Copperfield." His parents both of whom have some connection to the industry tried to keep him from trying out for the "Potter" movies. Unbeknownst to Radcliffe, producers repeatedly had asked the boy's parents if he could audition. But not wanting the obligation of this role to disrupt his childhood, they declined. Eventually, they'd stepped in one night at the theater.
RADCLIFFE: I was sitting in the theater and minding my own business with my mom and dad, and in front of us was sitting the producer of "Harry Potter," David Hyman, and the screenwriter, Steve Clovis, and I was completely unaware of why this man kept turning around and looking at me, and sort of staring at me throughout the show.
And I was -- I didn't know what to make of it. Then I remember my dad and my mom getting quite flustered and eventually, this was -- that was the moment that they said, well, maybe this is just meant to be. Let's let him audition.
KING (on camera): How did they tell you you got it?
RADCLIFFE: I was in the bath and my dad -- my dad got the phone call downstairs and he came in and said, you got the part, and I was just very, very happy.
KING: How old were you?
RADCLIFFE: I was 11. I think I just turned 11. And yes. Had no idea what the implications were but knew that that probably meant that I bought myself a half an hour extra before I have to go to bed that night.
KING (voice-over): The implications were of course that Radcliffe's life was about to change forever.
(On camera): Did you have a normal boyhood?
RADCLIFFE: It's very hard to say. I mean, no. I suppose, is the short answer. I certainly didn't have normal teenage years but equally I don't really know what normal means. I mean, was I happy and healthy and surrounded by fun and love? Yes.
KING: Yes.
RADCLIFFE: And that's kind of all right with me. And was I -- and I was also surrounded by inspirational interesting people from a variety of different backgrounds.
KING: So many child stars, for want of a better term. Kids who become famous early, have major problems.
RADCLIFFE: Yes.
KING: KING: You didn't. Can you explain that? Kids are not supposed to be famous at 11.
RADCLIFFE: No. They're not. I think what I'd put it down to is the fact that I think it's very different doing it in England than it is doing in America. I think when you do it over here you're treated as a star first and a child second, whereas in England it's the other way around. You're treated as a child first and then you're also an actor on this film who, you know -- but I don't think anyone panders to it as much as possibly in England as they do in America, but thankfully I've not gone (INAUDIBLE) off the rails.
KING: Have you have enjoyed it?
RADCLIFFE: Oh, yes. Immensely. Absolutely. I mean, while there have been moments, obviously, you know I'd be lying if I said every single day was fantastic. But, you know, generally speaking, I just had the best time. I've got to work with my best friends every day.
KING: You like Harry?
RADCLIFFE: Yes, I do, very, very much.
KING: Anything you don't like about him?
RADCLIFFE: Yes, of course. I mean he's kind of -- he's kind of arrogant, and pretty selfish at times. Not so much in the later films, but -- and also I think there's often a little bit of the smell of burning martyr in Harry. He kind of -- he occasionally, I think, likes to -- the fact that it's all on him and I think as (INAUDIBLE) Snape says about Harry, he seems to relish fame.
And while that's not obviously true there's a certain part of it he does have a bit of hero complex, I think, and I think he thinks he always has to be there --
KING: The hero?
RADCLIFFE: Yes, absolutely, which I suffer from myself sometimes.
KING: Really?
RADCLIFFE: I think so, yes.
KING (voice-over): Not wanting to be typecast forever at Harry Potter, Radcliffe began branching out. In 2008, he made his Broadway debut in the controversial show "Equus" appearing necked on stage. Today he stars in the revival of "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying"
(On camera): It's so not what you would expect from you, dancing, singing, jumping.
RADCLIFFE: Absolutely. Well, I mean, anyone who knows me would expect the jumping, but the dancing and singing would -- yes, I mean it's something completely different and I -- you know, I've got the energy to do it at this age so I might as well be doing it.
I mean, it's also -- I do think there's a -- as an actor I don't think you'll ever work that much harder than doing a Broadway show. Particularly a musical eight time as week. And so yes. You know I like working hard.
KING: And so --
RADCLIFFE: That's the whole thing that I think Potter has instilled in me as a work ethic that I now -- you know I love to work.
KING: How have kept a balance through all of this?
RADCLIFFE: I think the most important thing for me to remember is that, it doesn't matter who had gotten this part, they would have been receiving this kind of attention. This -- you know, much -- when you step out of the car at a premier, you get hit by that wall of noise and screaming, you have to -- it's very important for me to remember that they would be screaming for somebody else had he got the part.
It's not about me. It's about the franchise and the character. So that I kind of have to think about a lot to help just keep it in perspective and stop myself from getting big headed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Coming up next, behind-the-scenes exclusive, special effect wizards will show us never-before-seen footage of the making of Lord Voldemort.
Plus an exclusive first look in a scene from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" on a LARRY KING SPECIAL: HARRY POTTER, THE FINAL CHAPTER.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: J.K. Rowling created a unique world within the pages of her "Harry Potter" books. A world where cars fly, wall portraits talk, books try to eat children, magic spells are cast with the simple wave of a wand.
RADCLIFFE: Fantastic, Ginny.
KING: And where Ralph Fiennes transforms into Voldemort. We'll be showing you more of this exclusive footage in just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM BURKE, VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR, "HARRY POTTER": It's a really interesting and -- there's an awful lot of very complex challenges in the "Potter" books, and J.K. Rowling's writings is great and she gives a lot of very good description. But writing it down on the page and then translating that into a moving image is difficult because, you know, everybody has an idea when they read the book of what something might like look like.
KING (voice-over): Tim Burke has been the visual effects supervisor on the "Harry Potter" films for the past eight years. His job, trying to make everything that happens at Hogwarts look real.
BURKE: I think visual effects and "Harry Potter" go hand in hand. I mean you can't make the films without them.
KING: Burke leads a team of hundreds of production wizards who make movie magic on the big screen.
BURKE: I don't think the audience would realize quite how many effects there are in these films. Especially down to the environment. It's quite startling when we show people what was actually shot with an actor in front of a green screen and then what is in the final film, and he's standing in the Scottish islands. It often surprises people.
RADCLIFFE: What's down there?
BURKE: Thankfully all three actors in all the films, you know, have basically learned how to act on terrible sort of green screen stages with nothing else to work off which is essential for us because, you know, it's only through their performance that you can then really believe that world existed when we've added it like to Ron.
KING: And out of the roughly 200 creatures Burke and his team created for the films he has his favorites.
BURKE: Most of them are probably animated characters. When we did the hippogriff on the third film, that was a very big technical challenge. At the time, maybe it would be easier to do now. But at the time it was certainly a very difficult complex thing to do but it was a very big character in the film, and we had to do a lot of complex things involving Harry having to ride and then fly on the back of it.
So realizing and completing that for the film was quite an achievement. And more recently I really, really thought that the work we did with creature and Dobby in "The Deathly Hallows Part 1" was sort of really sort of top notch, because they -- you know, you had to empathize with these little CG characters to the point where you really had to feel Harry's emotional distress when Dobby died at the end.
And to actually do a CG creature that causes the audience to shed a tear is quite a challenge, bus I think we managed to pull that off. So that was quite a difficult thing but very rewarding as well.
KING: But for every rewarding visual challenge there are some effects that Burke says had fallen flat.
BURKE: Some things, you're pleased with other things that never quite sort of were as good as you'd hoped, and I think for me, if I'm completely honest it would probably be crup (ph) on the fifth film didn't quite hit the mark unfortunately. We weren't really quite sure how believable he was at the end of date.
That was very disappointed, to be honest, and you know, let's -- you can't win them all. So --
KING: One of the most important transformations Tim and his team have done, turning Ralph Fiennes into the dark Lord Voldemort. In this exclusive video seen for the first time ever publicly, we're able to show you how it was done.
BURKE: The face something we've finessed the technique over the years and basically Ralph Fiennes wears makeup, prosthetic makeup, and then matrix of dots to the cover the area of his face that we have to replace with our digital prosthetic, and we filmed Ralph Fiennes in all the action sequences and all the drama pieces just normally, and then remove his real nose in the computer afterwards and replace it, after we've tracked the movement of his head in the computer, we replace it with our CG snake nose and that actually is animated as well.
So there are areas where we flare the nostrils to emphasize a point when he's speaking or talking. So there's animation goes into that as well, but it all has to be relit and texted to look like it was his real skin, and that's done through a lot of sort of reference, photos that we take for every set where we film it on and we use those to help light the skin.
KING: Another one of Burke's favorite effects, the monster Book of Monsters from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
BURKE: This a great sequence where the book actually comes alive, and it tries to get Harry, and his (INAUDIBLE). And this was done with a combination of a practical animatable prop that could actually open its mouth.
The idea is it's got these teeth here, and you can actually see it snap and try and get Harry. And it's a great, fun scene where he's trying to -- well, the book's trying to eat him and we've got a combination of CG animated book and a practical book that we use on the set.
And we animate all of these little tentacles as well. So that was something that we could film practically on the set with Dan and a real animatable book, and then also there were times when we replace the book itself with the CG one.
KING: There have been thousands of computer generated effects in the eight "Harry Potter" movies but Burke hopes you haven't noticed that.
BURKE: We often say that if you don't spot the effects that you've actually done your job well. The real reward is when people don't realize that you're watching effects. Especially those at home watching.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Up next, Rupert Grint turns the tables on Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, and asks some questions of his own.
GRINT: Maybe they want to know on the last day I brought them both a trumpet, and yes. They probably thought why a trumpet.
KING: And later, Robbie Coltrane and Helena Bonham Carter who reveal secrets from behind-the-scenes.
HELENA BONHAM CARTER, BELLATRIX LESTRANGE: After 25 takes, I just thought, gee, you have no idea what's happening down there.
KING: On this LARRY KING SPECIAL: HARRY POTTER: THE FINAL CHAPTER.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon live in the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Here are your headlines.
High stakes negotiations at the White House over raising the amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow. President Obama says a deal needs to be reached with 10 days. Republican congressional leaders say they won't agree to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts. They are balking at any proposed tax hikes.
There's further proof tonight of the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan. The U.S. is withholding $800 million in military aid to that country. White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley confirmed the move on ABC's "This Week."
Those are your headlines this hour. I'm Don Lemon. Now back to "HARRY POTTER: THE FINAL CHAPTER."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FELTON, "DRACO MALFOY": Hi there. I'm Tom Felton and I play Draco Malfoy in the "Harry Potter." It's been an incredible 10 years, and I've been very, very lucky to have been at Hogwarts for the last 10 years so I wanted a chance to say thank you very much and I really hope you enjoy the last film.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" gone is the innocence of childhood. Harry, Hermione and Ron face real danger. Life and death.
GRINT: A different film, really. It's all kind of quite intense. I think people would be shocked by how (INAUDIBLE).
WATSON: I mean, it was -- the last two films were dark for me to play them, and to be in that world every day. And we did so many scenes where there was so much adrenaline and fear required. It was really intense. Genuinely.
KING: Like millions of other children around the world, both Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were huge fans of "Harry Potter."
GRINT: Whenever I was reading the books, I always thought felt a strong connection to Ron. I even entered a look-alike competition that was in the paper, and, yes. I won the best Ron.
WATSON: I loved those books. My dad used to read them to my brother and I. I just loved them, and I always, always loved Hermione.
KING: Watson and Grint have spent almost half of their lives playing Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. And now with the release of the final film, they look back to the beginning.
GRINT: (INAUDIBLE) out first audition, when I first met Dan and Emma and, yes. It does seem like a such a long time ago.
WATSON: Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's stone.
GRINT: The what?
RADCLIFFE: The what?
GRINT: I think we were just reading a scene from the forbidden section of the library, and yes. I just remember, my voice, I was really kind of quiet.
KING: The three young stars have gone through so much together. Becoming famous the world over at such a young age.
GRINT: It's been, yes, 11 years of quite an intimate process where you're kind of with each other every day. All year, every year. It's quite a unique kind of thing we've kind of shared with each other, I think.
KING: So what do they really think of each other?
GRINT: Dan. He's always been quite hyperactive. Quite loud. He's very funny.
WATSON: Dan is the most energetic, hard-working, competent person. He works very, very hard. So he's pretty incredible.
GRINT: Yes. I mean, Emma's (INAUDIBLE) all the time. She's great. She's just -- she's really kind of caring.
WATSON: He's a real eccentric. He's a genuine eccentric. I've never been to his house, but I would love to go, because it just sounds like it's full of the most magical, wonderful and weird things. He has llamas and miniature pigs and he's bought a hovercraft and he has a cow on one of his roofs in his house in London, and he bought an ice cream van that genuinely works. And it's funny because he's this very funny guy but kind of just loves crazy stuff.
KING (on camera): Did you hit it off with Emma and Rupert right away?
RADCLIFFE: Yes, I think so. I mean --
KING: You grew up together, right?
RADCLIFFE: Yes. We kind of have to. And we did.
KING: You bonded.
RADCLIFFE: Yes. And I mean Rupert and I particularly. Emma was always the -- you know, the kind of -- when it came to preventing us from laughing on set, she was the best. Rupert and I were terrible.
KING (voice-over): During an interview, Rupert has some fun, and decided to ask some questions of his own.
GRINT: Ok, maybe they want to know, on the last day I brought them both a trumpet. And, yes. They want to know why a trumpet?
KING (on camera): Do you know why?
RADCLIFFE: I just -- because he's mad, and he's Rupert. I imagine. I don't know.
KING: He's crazy?
RADCLIFFE: I didn't know if there is another reason behind it.
KING: There's no reason for a trumpet.
RADCLIFFE: No.
GRINT: OK, so, Dan, have you ever considered dyeing your hair ginger?
RADCLIFFE: Yes, but only for him.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: In a private moment.
RADCLIFFE: At his request I would do that.
KING (voice-over): And for Emma?
GRINT: Emma. Who'd you like best? Me or Dan?
WATSON: Of course. Neither. (INAUDIBLE) that great. No, I'm joking. Obviously I love them both equally because that the diplomatic answer. That's the right thing to say.
KING (voice-over): Like they're characters Emma and Rupert have grown up in front of the world but unlike Ron and Hermione, they had to deal with the fame of who they are and what they represent to millions of fans.
GRINT: They give me like presents and stuff and just touch me. Really weird. That kind of sight has really taken me a while to kind of get used to.
WATSON: Some little children are sometimes scared of me because they think I'm going to -- I can do a spell that I really am magic in real life and I've always found that very funny and I try and kind of say, I'm not going to do anything to you. It's OK. Sometimes you can't convince them because they believe in it. They really believe in it.
KING: And now that it's over, the world and these actors prepare to say good-bye to Harry, Hermione and Ron.
GRINT: It was quite big kind of shock really kind of leaving a part -- I wasn't really prepared for the kind of how I'd feel and how much it kind of meant to me. WATSON: It's been pretty great to grow up being her even though I wasn't spending so much time being me. I really do understand and realize that, and feel good about it, and -- yes. I think we're very lucky. Definitely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Still ahead, James and Oliver Phelps take us on a tour of the wizarding world of "Harry Potter" and talk to fans on the eve of the final film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just seeing all their faces, they're just in awe of it. I think it just shows us how much it means to people.
KING: Plus a scene you won't see anywhere else. And Daniel Radcliffe talks about what's next.
RADCLIFFE: I want kids and I want a lot. I absolutely do.
KING: On this LARRY KING SPECIAL: HARRY POTTER, THE FINAL CHAPTER."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: I'm standing here in front of Hagrid's hut. Hagrid, the half giant, of course, was a friend and confidant of Harry and Ron and Hermione during their years at Hogwarts. Robbie Coltrane has played Hagrid since the beginning of the series. He's just one of many acclaimed British actors in this very talented cast. Including people like Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman and Helen Bonham Carter.
Tonight Robby and Helena open up about Harry Potter and why these may have been the roles a lifetime.
ROBBIE COLTRANE, "RUBEUS HAGRID": Welcome, Harry, to Daigon Alley.
KING: Rubeus Hagrid, a big man at more than 8 feet tall with a personality to match.
How big an outfit is it to get into?
COLTRANE: It weighs about 110 pounds, I guess. And there was no way around that, because it just had to look absolutely right.
KING: Do you like Hagrid?
COLTRANE: I do like Hagrid. Yes. I mean he's a sort of -- that's a very good question, though. Nobody's asked me that before. Do I like -- yes, I do like Hagrid. He's a big decent sort of bloke.
WATSON: Hagrid.
COLTRANE: Hello. Sorry. Don't wish to be rude but I'm in now fit, state to entertainment today.
WATSON: We know about the Sorcerer's Stone.
GRINT: We know about the Sorcerer's Stone.
KING: J.K. Rowling had said that Coltrane was her first choice to play the half giant, that his acting brought a subtlety necessary to the character.
(On camera): With all the fans that these books have and the films, do you feel an enormous responsibility to get Hagrid right?
COLTRANE: Yes, I did feel an enormous responsibility to get Hagrid right. But I also think everyone else did, you know? And I'm talking about the sparks and the woodworkers and the construction people. Everybody -- because they're all parents, too. They'd all read the books to their kids.
I think everybody raised their game and you look at the cast list of all the people we've had over the 10 years. You know, it's just the absolute who's who of British acting. It's been an extraordinary experience for everybody, I think.
KING (voice-over): One of the later additions to that who's who of British actor, Helen Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange.
CARTER: I think she's got some serious mental issues. She's a sociopath basically or even a psychopath. I don't know. She definitely takes pleasure from pain which makes it, you know, definitely very, very sick.
KING: Bellatrix has been a "Potter" fan favorite since she was introduced in "Order of the Phoenix."
CARTER: Great fun to play, because I just go to work and you know it was amazing to be paid for, you know, over a period of four years to go to work, be paid lots of money to wait around and - you know, play a witch and be really naughty.
KING: In the final film there's a pivotal scene at the end of the movie. A final fight during the battle of Hogwarts with Ron Weasley's mom, something Carter says fans will look forward to.
CARTER: Well, we had a duel, and one duel. It's a bit like fencing but without actually making contact. But it was really hard work for me and Julie -- we definitely needed the chiropractor after because it's very easy to throw your shoulder out.
KING: Carter is not one to hold back and when we asked her to tell us a secret from the set, well, she opened the floodgates.
CARTER: Yes, I did a wee-wee. Don't tell anyone.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Seems after giving birth to her daughter and returning to work, her bladder wasn't what it used to be.
CARTER: I'm barely able to stand up let alone jump around and screaming. Those are screams. Anybody who had a baby would know that if you scream, just had a baby, nothing's -- you know -- everything, you know -- after 25 takes, I just thought, you know, you have no idea what's happening down there.
Larry, you did ask me.
KING: Carter has played many quirky characters over the years but said she has an affection for Bellatrix and her time on "Harry Potter".
CARTER: I loved her. I felt it's been a real privilege and honor to be part of it. And to be part of something it just so stimulates the sort of mass imagination across the world with children. You know, and to feed on people's imaginations. I was all that -- and to even -- you know, it's in some way exciting for them.
KING: From the wizarding world on the screen to the wizarding world of "Harry Potter" at Universal Studios, Florida, where in the past years millions of "Potter" fans have gone to get an up-close look at where Harry and his friends called home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I suppose you can walk around the snow on the rooftops there. Brilliant. Just seeing all they're faces. They're just in awe of it. It's -- I think it's just shows us how much it means to people.
KING: We asked James and Oliver Phelps better known at Fred and George Weasley to give us a tour of the park from Dumbledore's office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The actual books on here aren't actually all detailed in about wizarding matters.
KING: To Olivander's wand shop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps this.
KING: To getting a butter beer. And as you can imagine, the fans took notice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quite a thing walk round here. People were just coming up to us and talking to us like we're Fred and George, which is pretty -- it's pretty neat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a lot of people taking photos and everything, which is quite -- it's quite surreal, really. It's nice, but it's just still surreal.
KING: The Phelps, like the rest of the cast, say they're sad to leave "Harry Potter" behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very surreal I think on the last day to walk out. We've had a great time. The last filming was quite emotional for us. But it's kind of bittersweet. Like we're aware that it's coming to the end now, and what better way to go out than on the biggest high there has been.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our work is done. KING: Find out what happened on the last day on set.
GRINT: It was very sad. It was -- yes. We all cried. It was -- it was really bizarre.
KING: As Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint say good-bye to "Harry Potter."
Plus, your exclusive look at a scene from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." It's all next on a LARRY KING SPECIAL, HARRY POTTER, THE FINAL CHAPTER.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Ten years in the making. And soon we'll see the last of "Harry Potter." And in just moments we'll show you an exclusive clip of the final movie.
From the beginning this story of a little boy who didn't know he was special has touched millions of people around the world.
(On camera): Why is it so successful?
RADCLIFFE: I think it's due to a lot of things. It's -- we love an underdog. I think the world of J.K. Rowling is so meticulously thought out that people like me, who like to geek out about these things can get wrapped up in the wizarding lore and the world and it's so complete.
I think we love that. We love the magic. We love the idea of that. And they're just -- and it's a testament to just the brilliance of the writing.
WATSON: I really love, and what I think the people really love and why the stories are so enduring and why they touch so many people is because the characters are so real and flawed and beautiful and inspiring and lovable. Just completely lovable.
KING (voice-over): As actors, crew members, and fans prepare themselves for the end of "Harry Potter," a few statistics. In the past 10 years Harry's famous lightning bolt scar has been applied to Daniel Radcliffe's forehead an estimated 2,000 times. Five hundred and 88 sets have been created. And Harry has gone through 160 pairs of glasses and some 70 magic wands. But as the final "Potter" film is about to open, all that is now history.
(On camera): What was the last day like?
RADCLIFFE: Very, very emotional. I remember I kind of wept like a child on that last day.
GRINT: It was kind of like the last day of school. And I remember packing up the dressing room. It was very sad. And we all cried. It was really, really bizarre.
KING (voice-over): As the cast moves on from "Harry Potter," they share thoughts of their past and of their future.
GRINT: It's definitely going to kind of be with me for the rest of my life, really. But yes. I'm really just grateful to be a part of it. I've loved every -- every day of it.
WATSON: It's bittersweet. You know, it's really exciting to see what's -- you know, what comes next. But it's definitely a big chapter closing.
KING: And for Daniel Radcliffe perhaps a chance for him to share his unusual childhood with his own children.
(On camera): Do you want family someday?
RADCLIFFE: Oh, god, yes. Absolutely. I'm one of the -- it's very strange. I'm one of the broodiest young men you will ever meet. I think also because I spend so much time around adults and I saw them all have kids --
KING: You want children?
RADCLIFFE: Oh, god, yes. Absolutely. I love -- not just now, but I want kids and I want lots.
KING: But you know you need someone else in order to --
RADCLIFFE: I need to get someone who's willing first, yes.
KING: Share their life with you.
RADCLIFFE: Yes. I mean, I've -- you know, I've got a girlfriend at the moment who I am very much in love with. So you know we'll see where that goes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: As we leave you tonight, here's your first look at a never- seen-before clip of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you come by this sword?
RADCLIFFE: It's complicated. Why do Bellatrix Lestrange think it should be in her vault at Gringotts?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's complicated.
RADCLIFFE: The sword presented itself to us in a moment of need. We didn't steal it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a sword in Madam Lestrange's vault identical to this one, but it is a fake. It was placed there this past summer.
RADCLIFFE: And she never suspected it was a fake? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that's because it's very convincing. Only a goblin would recognize that this is the true sword of Gryffindor.
RADCLIFFE: I need to get into Gringotts into one of the vaults.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is impossible.
RADCLIFFE: Alone, yes. But with you, no.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Thanks for joining us for tonight's special. Join us in October for another special that will -- well, you will not soon forget. Let's just leave it that way. And we'll leave you this way. Good night.
