How Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Captured The Real-Life Awkwardness Of The Cast
Warner Bros
By Shania Russell/Jan. 1, 2022 2:38 pm EST
Saving the world from a villain so chilling that people are afraid to speak his name is one thing, but have you tried asking a girl to the Yule Ball? How about actually dancing in front of all your classmates at said event? Such are the unspeakable horrors of adolescence. I for one would be happy to face down Voldemort any day, but reliving the embarrassment of being 14 is way too much to bear. Aside from the unbearable awkwardness of being their teenage selves, filming the fourth movie was quite a time for the young cast for reasons that Rupert Grint cheekily alluded to:
“[Harry] is just a slightly awkward teenage boy, in a very unremarkable way which I suppose feels pretty remarkable for a hero character… It did not take a huge acting stretch for me to tap into my awkward, nerdy teenage side.”
“It was a very interesting film in terms of a lot of hormones flying around.”
Harry’s Goblet Runneth Over (With Hormones)
Thus, Harry is thrust into yet another perilous adventure, facing off against dragons, killer mermaids, and scariest of all, teenage girls. Our little wizards and witches are growing up at this point, dealing with crushes, asking people on dates, and embarrassing themselves in oh-so-many ways. Bonnie Wright, who you’ll recognize as Ginny Weasley, recalled the experience fondly in the reunion special, saying:
This is the very same movie that introduces eventual teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson! And he’s just one new face among the many more joining the cast as Hogwarts temporarily merges with two other wizarding schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Even more teens joining the cast didn’t help with the whole “hormones flying” situation according to Radcliffe, who added:
“In ‘The Goblet of Fire,’ that film is just all about teenagers having crushes for the first time, asking someone on a date to the Yule Ball… They just mirrored all those awkward phases you go through as a teenager and they really felt like that too, because we were literally having the same experiences.”
“That film was probably peak hormones, at least for me. It was exactly what you expect and especially because the fourth film was the one with like the Beauxbatons and the Durmstrangs so you had a bunch of hormonal teenagers anyway and then like bring in two massive groups of new people, all of them are like purposely hot for the film.”
“Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts” is now streaming on HBO Max.
