Harry Potter: Memories From the Stars

''I was thrilled that I was going to get time out of school and more time on a film set, because I enjoyed [the 1999 BBC miniseries] David Copperfield. But I wasn't at the time as swept away by the Harry Potter phenomenon as other kids were. The full implications didn't mean as much to me at the time, though over the 10 years that followed I had great fun playing the part.'' —Daniel Radcliffe on his reaction to being cast as Harry Potter

''I was pretty intimidated by Ralph [Fiennes]. I still am to a certain extent. In real life he is quite sweet. But in terms of his acting, it can make you quake in your boots a little bit.'' —Radcliffe

''When it came time to shoot the big kiss between Ron and Hermione, Rupert [Grint] and I cracked under the pressure. We were just dying from laughter. It was quite hard to take it all so seriously, but we also knew we had to do it right, because we had only been building up to this moment for 10 years and seven films. I think we got there at the end. I was nervous and giggly, but it was good.'' —Emma Watson (Hermione Granger)

''My only regrets are that I didn't have more scenes with Ralph Fiennes, and that I didn't eat more candy and chocolates when I was on the set.'' —Watson

''The first thing I shot was the very last scene of the first film, when we're all on the train and leaving Hogwarts and going home. It was my first time anywhere near a film set. There were so many people and so much going on. It was very confusing, and very overwhelming, and yet also really, really exciting. From the very first time Chris Columbus said, 'Action!' I was just on this amazing high." —Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley)

''[Prisoner of Azkaban director] Alfonso Cuarón asked us to write essays about our characters. I didn't do mine, because I didn't think Ron would. Or that was my excuse. At the time, I was actually quite busy with the real schoolwork involved with my exams, and I just didn't do it. But in the end, it felt right because that's what Ron would have done.'' —Grint

''Chris wisely kept me away from [Daniel, Emma, and Rupert] before our first scene together. So in that sense, the first person they met was Gilderoy Lockhart. They seemed to enjoy and be fairly flabbergasted at his extraordinary personality, hair, and teeth. But I got to know them after that.'' —Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart)

''I wore a fat suit in [films] 3, 4, 5, and 6. And I had false teeth in 3 and 4. I didn't mind it — until I was 14 or 15 and there were girls on set. I was a bit like, 'Why me?''' —Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)

''My [filming] was always contained to seven weeks of the year. The rest of the time I was making other movies or directing. But as soon as I put that Snape costume back on, I sort of go, 'Oh, yeah...I know you.'' —Alan Rickman (Severus Snape)

''To be a schoolboy up in the gallery watching Michael Gambon and Maggie Smith at the National Theatre, and then [decades later] to find yourself sitting in a canvas chair, laughing with them on set... It's very special.'' —Rickman

''My wigs started off far more Pamela Anderson and ended up much more Lady Gaga. But I didn't get to keep any of them! I think, in fact, the wigs have a better agent than me. They are probably sunning themselves in the Bahamas as we speak.'' —Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy)

''Had I ever thought that I would be doing a scene with Gary Oldman that lasted a month, as my fight scene did, I would have always imagined it to have been Shakespeare, not a wand battle on a papier-mâché hillside. But still! It was more fun than people should get paid for.'' —Isaacs

''We all read the books when Jo [Rowling] released them, along with everyone else. It let us experience the books as readers and as fans, not just as people who work on the movie.'' —Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)

''I was so scared of Alan that it took me about five years to muster up a conversation with him. But he has an incredible sense of dry wit. While Snape is a very daunting character, Alan is actually a very friendly guy.'' —Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)

''Daniel is very inspiring to have on set because he's a real workaholic. When you're there for a long day, he's the first one to boost morale and remind us all how lucky we are to be there.'' —Felton

''All these props and sets started to feel real, the more you used them over the course of the films. The wands weren't just a prop or a piece of wood. They were very personal to you. There was something very, dare I say 'magical,' about it.'' —Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick)

''Oh, I loved my [onscreen] children! I loved them! The fourth film, I wasn't in it, and I got postcard from them saying, 'Come back, Mom! Dad can't control us!' The whole feel of the job was very homey and very family. I've never known a film [series] like it. I suppose it's because we were there for 10 years and we saw the children grow up and the rest of us grow old. It didn't ever feel like work.'' —Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley)

''When you use a wand, it's like [playing Nintendo] Wii. You use a lot of strength, but you're not actually hitting anything, so the next day your arm will be killing you from all that wand action.'' —Natalia Tena (Tonks)

''The werewolf transformation scene [in Prisoner of Azkaban] was a standout for me, because as a child, I'd always pretend to turn into a werewolf. It was a little uncomfortable and annoying with all of that makeup, but it was well worth it to have a werewolf scene under my belt.'' —David Thewlis (Professor Lupin)

''I had no idea what amount of expectation there was in playing the role until I went to a premiere for the first time and saw Dan get out of a car behind me. It was like a Beatle arriving. Your eardrums were bleeding. And when I got out, people were saying, 'We can't wait to see what you've done with Narcissa.' And I thought, 'Really? S---!''' —Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy)

''Helena [Bonham Carter] and Jason and I were all sitting in the same row at the premiere of [Deathly Hallows — Part 1]. When the end credits came up, there was silence in our row because they'd cut most of our parts. Helena was like, 'Do you want a drink?' I was like, 'Yeah, I want a double!' [Laughs] But it's not frustrating because all you care about is if it's a good story.'' —McCrory

''I loved my [fake] teeth! I kept them because they're not going to fit anybody else. I keep them in a blue plastic thing in the bathroom and bring them out when I miss [Bellatrix].'' —Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange)

''You tend to shoot for months and get cut out of most of the movie. But this last time I learned to stick my head very close to one of the three — you know, Emma or Daniel or Rupert. I was always saying, 'I'm not going to be cut out this time!' It's self-preservation in the Potter films.'' —Bonham Carter

''I was an obsessive fan of the books and movies. I remember the day [director] David Yates phoned the house and said I'd be doing a screen test with Daniel Radcliffe. I was pretending to be like, 'Yup, that's fine.' And I was freaking out inside.'' —Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)

''I met Jo at the read-through on the first day. She seemed like somebody who had been elected pope but didn't want to be. She's a shy lady. She had written these books, but she wasn't [yet] a household name and didn't want to be. And all of a sudden all these actors she had seen in movies and TV for years were all looking at her.'' —Ian Hart (Professor Quirrell)

''[My twin brother Oliver and I] actually didn't find out who was going to play Fred Weasley and who was going to play George Weasley until the read-through. We had the scripts and everything. I honestly did prefer Fred, and that's how it turned out.'' —James Phelps (Fred Weasley)

''[At Leavesden Studios], Rupert Grint and my brother [James] and I would hang out at the driving range downstairs quite a bit. I mean, I say driving range, but it was a mat and a 150-yard cone at the other end. Golf was one of the only sports we were allowed to do in our contract because it was relatively quite safe. We couldn't do any contact sports.'' —Oliver Phelps (George Weasley)

''I've always played bad people or funny people. I've never really played such a nice person in my life, certainly not for 10 years. So that was a really nice departure for me, and I still get sort of goggle-eyed 10-year-olds staring at me in supermarkets. It's quite odd, really.'' —Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid)

''I remember the very first take of the very first scene that I did; as I minced out of Dumbledore's office, Chris Columbus shouted, 'Shut the door behind you!' And I asked, 'Could I just wave my arm and the door shuts by magic?' And he said, 'Sure!' And I thought, 'This is going to be a ride.' And it was.'' —Isaacs

''My first memory was that I looked at the script and I had about three lines. And I thought, 'How am I going to make this interesting?' And then I got this carrot of luring interest from J.K. Rowling, saying Bellatrix was going to be 'very significant' in the last movie. So I just worked on trying to be as conspicuous as possible. You know, big hair, big teeth, everything.'' —Bonham Carter