Based mostly on memorable moments in HBO’s twentieth Anniversary reunion particular, the fantasy franchise meant rather a lot to the Harry Potter forged. Nevertheless, for among the actors who had smaller elements within the Harry Potter films, there appears to be a distinct story. Emma Thompson, who had a minor function within the collection as Professor Trelawney, will get actual with what filming was truly like for her.
In comparison with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, whose childhoods had been spent in Harry Potter, maybe those that had small-yet-memorable roles had been simply ready to return to being Muggles. Thompson is not the primary particular person to be ho-hum concerning the collection, both. Miriam Margolyes, who performed Professor Sprout, mentioned Harry Potter “wasn’t essential” to her, as she solely had a couple of minutes of display screen time.
Throughout a latest discuss on the Locarno Movie Pageant (by way of THR), Emma Thompson bought actual about her time enjoying Professor Trelawney and what her brief time within the franchise meant to her:
This isn’t actually an essential a part of my inventive endeavor…. I’m actually sorry. I don’t imply to be impolite to these of you who like Harry Potter, however you already know, I actually got here in, did a bit with glasses and hair, after which left, having been fairly properly paid. I’m very grateful to them.
I imagine Emma Thompson when she says she’s not attempting to be “impolite.” Since her Hogwarts professor character was primarily featured in Prisoner of Azkaban, with temporary display screen time in Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows: Half 2, it is smart that her connection to the franchise isn’t a very private one. It truly offers me echoes of Harry Melling, who performed Dudley Dursley. His expertise filming Potter was additionally a blip by which he filmed brief scenes, then went again to highschool.
Regardless that Professor Trelawney didn’t have a giant function within the Harry Potter collection, you’ll be able to’t fail to acknowledge her significance. The underrated Divinations teacher deserved extra credit score within the guide collection for her single coolest factor: delivering the prophecy to Dumbledore that doomed the Potters. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, the marginally aloof professor additionally unknowingly instructed Harry in a trance that the one who betrayed his mother and father would return, although Harry initially assumed she meant Sirius Black and never Peter Pettigrew.
Not solely was Professor Trelawney such a memorable character, however so was the actress who performed her. Emma Thompson, who’s given transformative performances within the Nanny McPhee films and Sense and Sensibility, was utterly unrecognizable because the Hogwarts instructor. The way in which she portrayed her character’s unpredictability and eccentricities with such humor made the minor character completely unforgettable — at the least to me, apparently.
Emma Thompson’s time in Harry Potter could not have been “an essential half” of her profession, however she mentioned she did really feel “grateful” for the expertise. Whereas it’s too early to know but who would be the subsequent actress to tackle Professor Trelawney for the Harry Potter TV collection, I’ll always remember that Thompson will at all times be the primary one who introduced the beloved character to life.