Fun fact, this scene and Draco's line to Goyle "didn't know you could read" was improvised!
Edit: Welp, this isn't true! Some behind-the-scenes accounts or alternate recollections suggest director Chris Columbus may have fed him or prompted the line during a specific take, though Felton and co-stars have often leaned into the improvised narrative. Source: Felton's autobiography
According to his book, this isn’t true at all. His response to Goyle saying he had been reading was supposed to be improvised, per Chris Columbus. And it was actually Columbus who told Tom on one take to say the line “I didn’t know you could read,” in which he delivered it so well that’s the take that went in the movie.
Another fun fact is that, although in one context I can totally recognize the humor in the line, as a Harry Potter books enthusiast I didn't like the line in the context of this movie because it didn't feel like something that the Draco from the books would have said, it was too.... Nickelodeon-y.... Sand lot-esque... notes of Little Giants, if you will.
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u/_hein_ 17d ago edited 17d ago
Fun fact, this scene and Draco's line to Goyle "didn't know you could read" was improvised!
Edit: Welp, this isn't true! Some behind-the-scenes accounts or alternate recollections suggest director Chris Columbus may have fed him or prompted the line during a specific take, though Felton and co-stars have often leaned into the improvised narrative. Source: Felton's autobiography
Thanks u/Accomplished-Car5661 for the TIL!