Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2002)
12 Apr 2002 ● English ● 2 hrs 39 mins
Based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling, this action-oriented fantasy movie is the first instalment in the Harry Potter film series.
The story follows Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts as he discovers that he is a famous wizard and begins his magical education.
From being a solitary, ill-adapted, and abused orphan, Harry Potter embarks on a journey to grow into his full potential as one of the most talented wizards in the world. Will he have the strength, courage and skill to stand up against the most evil and feared dark Wizard the magical community has ever known?
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Rupert Grint
Crew: Chris Columbus (Director), John Seale (Director of Photography), John Williams (Music Director)
Rating: U (India)
Genres: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Release Dates: 12 Apr 2002 (India)
Tagline: Hidden deep within in the school lies an object that can make you immortal,that can make you powerful,that can make you deadly!
Did you know? The author of the Harry Potter series of books J.K. Rowling, had initially wanted former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam to direct the movies. However, Warner Bros. chose Chris Columbus, who had experience directing child actors (most notably, Macauly Culkin in the "Home Alone" films). Interestingly, John Cleese, who was in Python with Gilliam, appears in the film as Nearly Headless Nick. Read More
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Direction
Director
Distribution
Distributor
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Music
Music Director
Editorial
Editor
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1, 2.39:1 (Scope)
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Hidden deep within in the school lies an object that can make you immortal,that can make you powerful,that can make you deadly!
Let the magic begin
Journey beyond your imagination
Let the magic begin
Journey beyond your imagination
Movie Connection(s):
Followed by: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (English)
Followed by: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (English)
Followed by: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (English)
Goofs:
Crew/Equipment Visible
When the Queen attacks Ron's horse during the chess game, in the shot from behind Ron, as he falls the black straps attached to the horse's left rear leg, used to aid the stunt, is completely visible.
Continuity
In the chess scene, at the end of the montage of shots of pieces being smashed, the White Queen turns her attention to a Black Rook. The first stroke of her sword clearly goes through the structure of the castle, which disintegrates. We cut to various different angles and watch pieces of the destroyed castle flying all over the place. Cut back to the original angle, and we see the Queen attacking again, but the Castle is completely intact - only the figure from on top of it is missing. And it cannot have been the second castle, since that's Hermione's position.
Miscellaneous
When Harry is in the restricted section of the library looking for Nicholas Flamel, we never see the reflection of the light from the lantern on the books or the shelves. However, when Harry was standing in another shot holding the edge of Nicholas Flamel book to take it off the shelf, we clearly see the reflection of the lantern light now. That is because in the previous shot when Harry was wearing the cloak and looking for the book, he was never actually standing there but instead it was an empty camera footage and Harry's body and footage was filmed on green/blue screen then edited to fit the camera shot.
Miscellaneous
When Harry is walking in the library's restricted section, you see the shadow of the library pillars on the bookshelf. If the light was coming from his lantern, there would be no shadow - the light is obviously from a spotlight elsewhere.
Crew/Equipment Visible
Hermione opens the door to Fluffy's room when she says, "Alohomora!" so she, Harry and Ron could hide from Filch and Mrs. Norris. As Ron closes the door the top of the third floor corridor set is visible at the top of the screen.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Harry, Ron and Hermione are running away from Mrs. Norris, Harry yells, "Quick hide through that door!" and if you look close enough you can see that his mouth doesn't move when he says that.
Miscellaneous
In the scene where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on the staircase while the stair case changes, right before when they enter the forbidden floor, when the staircase stops and all three run up the stairs, you can see the staircase shaking in its position as they run because it is actually not a real staircase but a fake suspended one.
Continuity
After Seamus' disaster with the rum spell, the mail arrives. Ron catches his mail, then holds the Daily Prophet in his right hand and the letters in his left. Yet in the next close-up he holds the Daily Prophet in his left hand and the letters in his right.
Continuity
When Harry is in the potions class he is caught writing notes down, we see his neat writing in close up ... but when the camera angle changes we can see that the writing has changed in size to very large letters and quite messy writing.
Continuity
At the start of term feast, after Harry is sorted into Gryffindor, he sits down on the right side of the table next to Ron. When the feast appears, Harry is on the other side of the table, next to Hermione.
Miscellaneous
During the sorting ceremony, when Hermione is sorted into Gryffindor she leaves to the right (her left) but when Ron is sorted he leaves to the left (his right).
Continuity
When the first years are first led into the Great Hall, in the shot facing the teacher's table, the twins sit to Wood's left at the end of Gryffindor's table. However, in the next shot facing the first years, the twins sit on Wood's right.
Crew/Equipment Visible
On the Hogwarts Express, as Ron says, "This is Scabbers by the way," the acrylic string/wire which is attached to the bottom of Bertie Botts box, that is over Scabber's head, is perfectly visible.
Continuity
After shopping in Diagon Alley, when Harry confronts Hagrid about Voldemort, in the first overhead wide shot Hedwig's cage is right next to Hagrid on the bench and is positioned a particular way. Yet in the next shot, the cage is much farther from Hagrid and is positioned the opposite way on the bench.
Continuity
When Harry walks into Ollivanders, in the overhead shot of the shop the table is angled directly in front of the ladder. Yet, when Mr. Ollivander hands Harry the second wand the table is beside the ladder in this shot.
Continuity
When Harry and Hagrid are in Gringotts, Hagrid takes the letter from Professor Dumbledore out of his pocket to give to the Head Goblin. The string it is tied with has a bow that runs from the top to bottom of the envelope, and the envelope is creased. When the Goblin takes it off Hagrid, it is a different envelope - the bow runs from left to right and the envelope is not creased. When viewed from where Harry and Hagrid are standing, the final shot of the envelope again shows it is creased.
Continuity
In the scene in Diagon alley when Harry first enters there are some witches on the left hand side of the screen looking at what appears to be large lollipops and Harry walks past them. The camera angle changes and Harry walks past them again.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Harry and Hagrid walk down Diagon Alley, in the close-up of Quality Quidditch Supplies, a clear reflection of a crew member in a blue shirt is visible, at the top of the screen in the hanging vertical pennant, just as the man with the long red hair walks past the camera.
Crew/Equipment Visible
As Hagrid aims his umbrella at Dudley while he eats Harry's birthday cake, in the side shot one end of the blue string (that was tied around the cake box) hangs down the side of the table, but when Vernon rushes Petunia and Dudley off, in this shot that end of the string lies on top of the table. Yet, when Hagrid says, "We're a bit behind schedule. Best be off," the string hangs off the side again.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Hagrid stomps up to Vernon and says, "Wise up Dursley, you great prune" you can see the chalkmark where he's supposed to bend the gun.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Hagrid enters the hut on the rock, as well as when he leaves, the bare floor near the front door is clearly visible. However, when he says, "It's not everyday your young man turns eleven, now is it?" in the next shot as Hagrid sits down, on the floor to his left is the crew's mat with marks for the Dursleys (Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths), who stand near the door.
Continuity
At the hut on the rock, after Harry draws the candles in the dirt, he glances behind him at Dudley's watch. In the next close-up of the watch, as it turns 12:00, the watch is actually on Dudley's wrist (notice his fingers) the opposite way from the previous shot.
Miscellaneous
In the scene at the beginning of the film where all of the letters from Hogwarts are coming into the Dursley's house, it causes everything to shake. It is quite obvious, however, that it is just the cameras that are moving as no objects in the room are moving at all (e.g. the curtains, or any of the knick-knacks).
Miscellaneous
When Uncle Vernon is ripping up the letters, if you pause just before he tears, you can clearly see the marks for him to tear.
Continuity
In the Dursley's kitchen, as Harry walks by, on the table is Vernon's cereal bowl between the coffee pot on his right and orange juice on his left, plus the tea pot is in the centre of the table. In the close-up as Vernon says, "Yours? Who'd be writing to you?" the cereal bowl is missing and the tea pot is near his juice. In the next close-up of the letter, the cereal bowl is back and the juice is now on Vernon's right, near the coffee cup.
Continuity
In the shots facing Vernon, he holds the first Hogwarts letter while sitting at the table. Though in the close-up of the letter as he holds it, it is not Richard Griffiths' hand, that is shown with bitten up fingernails, holding the envelope.
Continuity
When Harry lifts the mail from the floor at the Dursleys, the Hogwarts envelope flap is sealed shut and it has the red wax seal at the tip. Yet in the kitchen after he hands Vernon the other letters, Harry holds the Hogwarts envelope and though the red seal is on the back, the flap itself is not sealed shut. The wax seals differ in both shots as well.
Continuity
Petunia and Dudley enter the house when they return from the zoo, followed by Vernon and Harry. The crew's equipment is plainly visible on the ground beyond the doorway. Also, the pavement at the threshold extends far beyond the doorway and just before Vernon walks into the house, Vernon is visibly coming from the side of the doorway. In the earlier exterior shot when they stand by the car before they leave, as Vernon says, "I'm warning you now boy...," not only is the ground at the doorway completely different, there is a garden surrounded by white bricks beside the door, making it impossible for Vernon to have been standing there.
Crew/Equipment Visible
While at the zoo, after Dudley falls into the snake exhibit there is a close-up of the Python's head. At the start of this shot, before Dudley pops out of the water, in the upper left corner of the screen a wood stick comes down to actually prod the trained snake and then quickly moves back up out of shot.
Continuity
At the snake exhibit, while Harry speaks with the Python the snake's body lies curled over a long wood log and a large rock. In the shot from outside the Python's exhibit, after the glass pane disappears Dudley falls over the rail and the snake is gone, not positioned differently, but altogether gone! In the next overhead shot inside the Python's exhibit, while Dudley falls the snake is back lying on the log and rock, in the same position as in the previous shots.
Continuity
At the zoo, Harry looks to his right, at the 'bred in captivity' sign of the Python. In this close-up, the green plant that is below, to the side of the exhibit sign, is protruding out past where the glass supposedly is, yet this is before the glass disappears. As a matter of fact, this plant, nearest the exhibit sign, changes its position considerably throughout these shots.
Factual Mistake
In the scene when Harry talks to the snake, the camera shows a close up of the snake, and it blinks. Snakes don't blink, however the book also mentions the snake blinking.
Crew/Equipment Visible
Petunia has her hands on Dudley's eyes as they walk towards all of his birthday gifts. When she removes her hands from Dudley's eyes, in this shot and in the next, the long black microphone wire as well as its tape, which obviously peeled free, are blatantly visible and are sticking out at the neckline of her v-neck top under the pearl necklace. It's gone in the following shots.
Miscellaneous
In the opening shot at the hut on the rock, when the camera pans down to Harry lying on the floor the long marks that are taped to the floor near the couch are visible. These are the positions of Vernon and Petunia when confronting Hagrid about Hogwarts.
Continuity
The morning of Dudley's birthday, Petunia wakes Harry and the next shot shows Harry in the cupboard with the shelves behind him. When Dudley runs downstairs and pushes Harry back into the cupboard, things inside are positioned differently. This also occurs in the two shots when Harry plays with the small plastic figures inside the cupboard and then when he peeks out as Vernon attaches the wood to the mail slot.
Continuity
Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid leave baby Harry on the Dursley's doorstep. When the shot opens in the first close-up of the baby, as Dumbledore places the envelope on the blanket, though a good portion of his forehead is visible, the scar is not there. In his next close-up, it is very apparent, due to the position of the scar, that part of it should have been visible on his forehead in the previous close-up.
Continuity
When Hagrid steps off the motorbike while holding young Harry, the Dursley's house (with a small bush to the right of the front door) is visible directly behind McGonagall. The house is fully attached on both sides to homes with a one car garage. Yet after Vernon asks, "Who'd be writing to you?" in the shot of the owl dropping the letter which flies through the front door mail slot, the house to the left of the Dursleys' (when facing the front) has a two car garage, is not attached to the Dursley's house and is quite a bit away from the Dursleys' house as well.
When the Queen attacks Ron's horse during the chess game, in the shot from behind Ron, as he falls the black straps attached to the horse's left rear leg, used to aid the stunt, is completely visible.
Continuity
In the chess scene, at the end of the montage of shots of pieces being smashed, the White Queen turns her attention to a Black Rook. The first stroke of her sword clearly goes through the structure of the castle, which disintegrates. We cut to various different angles and watch pieces of the destroyed castle flying all over the place. Cut back to the original angle, and we see the Queen attacking again, but the Castle is completely intact - only the figure from on top of it is missing. And it cannot have been the second castle, since that's Hermione's position.
Miscellaneous
When Harry is in the restricted section of the library looking for Nicholas Flamel, we never see the reflection of the light from the lantern on the books or the shelves. However, when Harry was standing in another shot holding the edge of Nicholas Flamel book to take it off the shelf, we clearly see the reflection of the lantern light now. That is because in the previous shot when Harry was wearing the cloak and looking for the book, he was never actually standing there but instead it was an empty camera footage and Harry's body and footage was filmed on green/blue screen then edited to fit the camera shot.
Miscellaneous
When Harry is walking in the library's restricted section, you see the shadow of the library pillars on the bookshelf. If the light was coming from his lantern, there would be no shadow - the light is obviously from a spotlight elsewhere.
Crew/Equipment Visible
Hermione opens the door to Fluffy's room when she says, "Alohomora!" so she, Harry and Ron could hide from Filch and Mrs. Norris. As Ron closes the door the top of the third floor corridor set is visible at the top of the screen.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Harry, Ron and Hermione are running away from Mrs. Norris, Harry yells, "Quick hide through that door!" and if you look close enough you can see that his mouth doesn't move when he says that.
Miscellaneous
In the scene where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on the staircase while the stair case changes, right before when they enter the forbidden floor, when the staircase stops and all three run up the stairs, you can see the staircase shaking in its position as they run because it is actually not a real staircase but a fake suspended one.
Continuity
After Seamus' disaster with the rum spell, the mail arrives. Ron catches his mail, then holds the Daily Prophet in his right hand and the letters in his left. Yet in the next close-up he holds the Daily Prophet in his left hand and the letters in his right.
Continuity
When Harry is in the potions class he is caught writing notes down, we see his neat writing in close up ... but when the camera angle changes we can see that the writing has changed in size to very large letters and quite messy writing.
Continuity
At the start of term feast, after Harry is sorted into Gryffindor, he sits down on the right side of the table next to Ron. When the feast appears, Harry is on the other side of the table, next to Hermione.
Miscellaneous
During the sorting ceremony, when Hermione is sorted into Gryffindor she leaves to the right (her left) but when Ron is sorted he leaves to the left (his right).
Continuity
When the first years are first led into the Great Hall, in the shot facing the teacher's table, the twins sit to Wood's left at the end of Gryffindor's table. However, in the next shot facing the first years, the twins sit on Wood's right.
Crew/Equipment Visible
On the Hogwarts Express, as Ron says, "This is Scabbers by the way," the acrylic string/wire which is attached to the bottom of Bertie Botts box, that is over Scabber's head, is perfectly visible.
Continuity
After shopping in Diagon Alley, when Harry confronts Hagrid about Voldemort, in the first overhead wide shot Hedwig's cage is right next to Hagrid on the bench and is positioned a particular way. Yet in the next shot, the cage is much farther from Hagrid and is positioned the opposite way on the bench.
Continuity
When Harry walks into Ollivanders, in the overhead shot of the shop the table is angled directly in front of the ladder. Yet, when Mr. Ollivander hands Harry the second wand the table is beside the ladder in this shot.
Continuity
When Harry and Hagrid are in Gringotts, Hagrid takes the letter from Professor Dumbledore out of his pocket to give to the Head Goblin. The string it is tied with has a bow that runs from the top to bottom of the envelope, and the envelope is creased. When the Goblin takes it off Hagrid, it is a different envelope - the bow runs from left to right and the envelope is not creased. When viewed from where Harry and Hagrid are standing, the final shot of the envelope again shows it is creased.
Continuity
In the scene in Diagon alley when Harry first enters there are some witches on the left hand side of the screen looking at what appears to be large lollipops and Harry walks past them. The camera angle changes and Harry walks past them again.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Harry and Hagrid walk down Diagon Alley, in the close-up of Quality Quidditch Supplies, a clear reflection of a crew member in a blue shirt is visible, at the top of the screen in the hanging vertical pennant, just as the man with the long red hair walks past the camera.
Crew/Equipment Visible
As Hagrid aims his umbrella at Dudley while he eats Harry's birthday cake, in the side shot one end of the blue string (that was tied around the cake box) hangs down the side of the table, but when Vernon rushes Petunia and Dudley off, in this shot that end of the string lies on top of the table. Yet, when Hagrid says, "We're a bit behind schedule. Best be off," the string hangs off the side again.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Hagrid stomps up to Vernon and says, "Wise up Dursley, you great prune" you can see the chalkmark where he's supposed to bend the gun.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Hagrid enters the hut on the rock, as well as when he leaves, the bare floor near the front door is clearly visible. However, when he says, "It's not everyday your young man turns eleven, now is it?" in the next shot as Hagrid sits down, on the floor to his left is the crew's mat with marks for the Dursleys (Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths), who stand near the door.
Continuity
At the hut on the rock, after Harry draws the candles in the dirt, he glances behind him at Dudley's watch. In the next close-up of the watch, as it turns 12:00, the watch is actually on Dudley's wrist (notice his fingers) the opposite way from the previous shot.
Miscellaneous
In the scene at the beginning of the film where all of the letters from Hogwarts are coming into the Dursley's house, it causes everything to shake. It is quite obvious, however, that it is just the cameras that are moving as no objects in the room are moving at all (e.g. the curtains, or any of the knick-knacks).
Miscellaneous
When Uncle Vernon is ripping up the letters, if you pause just before he tears, you can clearly see the marks for him to tear.
Continuity
In the Dursley's kitchen, as Harry walks by, on the table is Vernon's cereal bowl between the coffee pot on his right and orange juice on his left, plus the tea pot is in the centre of the table. In the close-up as Vernon says, "Yours? Who'd be writing to you?" the cereal bowl is missing and the tea pot is near his juice. In the next close-up of the letter, the cereal bowl is back and the juice is now on Vernon's right, near the coffee cup.
Continuity
In the shots facing Vernon, he holds the first Hogwarts letter while sitting at the table. Though in the close-up of the letter as he holds it, it is not Richard Griffiths' hand, that is shown with bitten up fingernails, holding the envelope.
Continuity
When Harry lifts the mail from the floor at the Dursleys, the Hogwarts envelope flap is sealed shut and it has the red wax seal at the tip. Yet in the kitchen after he hands Vernon the other letters, Harry holds the Hogwarts envelope and though the red seal is on the back, the flap itself is not sealed shut. The wax seals differ in both shots as well.
Continuity
Petunia and Dudley enter the house when they return from the zoo, followed by Vernon and Harry. The crew's equipment is plainly visible on the ground beyond the doorway. Also, the pavement at the threshold extends far beyond the doorway and just before Vernon walks into the house, Vernon is visibly coming from the side of the doorway. In the earlier exterior shot when they stand by the car before they leave, as Vernon says, "I'm warning you now boy...," not only is the ground at the doorway completely different, there is a garden surrounded by white bricks beside the door, making it impossible for Vernon to have been standing there.
Crew/Equipment Visible
While at the zoo, after Dudley falls into the snake exhibit there is a close-up of the Python's head. At the start of this shot, before Dudley pops out of the water, in the upper left corner of the screen a wood stick comes down to actually prod the trained snake and then quickly moves back up out of shot.
Continuity
At the snake exhibit, while Harry speaks with the Python the snake's body lies curled over a long wood log and a large rock. In the shot from outside the Python's exhibit, after the glass pane disappears Dudley falls over the rail and the snake is gone, not positioned differently, but altogether gone! In the next overhead shot inside the Python's exhibit, while Dudley falls the snake is back lying on the log and rock, in the same position as in the previous shots.
Continuity
At the zoo, Harry looks to his right, at the 'bred in captivity' sign of the Python. In this close-up, the green plant that is below, to the side of the exhibit sign, is protruding out past where the glass supposedly is, yet this is before the glass disappears. As a matter of fact, this plant, nearest the exhibit sign, changes its position considerably throughout these shots.
Factual Mistake
In the scene when Harry talks to the snake, the camera shows a close up of the snake, and it blinks. Snakes don't blink, however the book also mentions the snake blinking.
Crew/Equipment Visible
Petunia has her hands on Dudley's eyes as they walk towards all of his birthday gifts. When she removes her hands from Dudley's eyes, in this shot and in the next, the long black microphone wire as well as its tape, which obviously peeled free, are blatantly visible and are sticking out at the neckline of her v-neck top under the pearl necklace. It's gone in the following shots.
Miscellaneous
In the opening shot at the hut on the rock, when the camera pans down to Harry lying on the floor the long marks that are taped to the floor near the couch are visible. These are the positions of Vernon and Petunia when confronting Hagrid about Hogwarts.
Continuity
The morning of Dudley's birthday, Petunia wakes Harry and the next shot shows Harry in the cupboard with the shelves behind him. When Dudley runs downstairs and pushes Harry back into the cupboard, things inside are positioned differently. This also occurs in the two shots when Harry plays with the small plastic figures inside the cupboard and then when he peeks out as Vernon attaches the wood to the mail slot.
Continuity
Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid leave baby Harry on the Dursley's doorstep. When the shot opens in the first close-up of the baby, as Dumbledore places the envelope on the blanket, though a good portion of his forehead is visible, the scar is not there. In his next close-up, it is very apparent, due to the position of the scar, that part of it should have been visible on his forehead in the previous close-up.
Continuity
When Hagrid steps off the motorbike while holding young Harry, the Dursley's house (with a small bush to the right of the front door) is visible directly behind McGonagall. The house is fully attached on both sides to homes with a one car garage. Yet after Vernon asks, "Who'd be writing to you?" in the shot of the owl dropping the letter which flies through the front door mail slot, the house to the left of the Dursleys' (when facing the front) has a two car garage, is not attached to the Dursley's house and is quite a bit away from the Dursleys' house as well.
Trivia:
The author of the Harry Potter series of books J.K. Rowling, had initially wanted former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam to direct the movies. However, Warner Bros. chose Chris Columbus, who had experience directing child actors (most notably, Macauly Culkin in the "Home Alone" films). Interestingly, John Cleese, who was in Python with Gilliam, appears in the film as Nearly Headless Nick.
If you look at the early parts of the movie, where you can see the houses in Harry's neighbourhood, all of the houses have Vauxhall Cavalier cars sitting in the driveways. To show the passage of time they are replaced by the then newer Vauxhall Vectra.
One of the portraits on the wall is of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife and the mother of Queen Elizabeth. She was popularly believed to be a witch.
Susan Bones, who was sorted into Hufflepuff, is shown prominently throughout the film, even in some of the Gryffindor classes. The reason she is used so much is that she is actually Chris Columbus's daughter, Eleanor.
Most of the shots in hallways are filmed in Gloucester Cathedral.
The name 'Voldemort' comes from the French 'vol de mort' which means 'flight of death'.
J K Rowling was approached, but declined the offer to play Lily Potter.
As the title for the US release was 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' every time a character said 'Philosopher's' in a scene, the crew would have to shoot that scene a second time and change the word to 'Sorcerer's' for the US release.
Richard Harris agreed to take the role as Albus Dumbledore only after his 11 year-old granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again.
The Hogwarts motto, 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus', is Latin, and means 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'.
The inscription on top of the Mirror of Erised says 'erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. If you read the inscription backwards it says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'.
If you look at the early parts of the movie, where you can see the houses in Harry's neighbourhood, all of the houses have Vauxhall Cavalier cars sitting in the driveways. To show the passage of time they are replaced by the then newer Vauxhall Vectra.
One of the portraits on the wall is of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife and the mother of Queen Elizabeth. She was popularly believed to be a witch.
Susan Bones, who was sorted into Hufflepuff, is shown prominently throughout the film, even in some of the Gryffindor classes. The reason she is used so much is that she is actually Chris Columbus's daughter, Eleanor.
Most of the shots in hallways are filmed in Gloucester Cathedral.
The name 'Voldemort' comes from the French 'vol de mort' which means 'flight of death'.
J K Rowling was approached, but declined the offer to play Lily Potter.
As the title for the US release was 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' every time a character said 'Philosopher's' in a scene, the crew would have to shoot that scene a second time and change the word to 'Sorcerer's' for the US release.
Richard Harris agreed to take the role as Albus Dumbledore only after his 11 year-old granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again.
The Hogwarts motto, 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus', is Latin, and means 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'.
The inscription on top of the Mirror of Erised says 'erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. If you read the inscription backwards it says 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'.
