SnitchSeeker.com - Harry Potter set designer & decorator talk Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Gringotts scene

Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig - who is currently working on the creation for the upcoming new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando theme park expansion - and Stephenie McMillan, set decorator of the film series, discussed one of the most difficult sets to create and shoot for Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - the Lestrange vault scene where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook, at Gringotts bank, tried to retrieve the Hufflepuff cup Horcrux. Craig and McMillan commented on how they manipulated the set so that it seemed the possessions in the vault were multiplying, and the months it took to put the scene together. David Yates noted on several occasions, including at the BD/DVD launch at Orlando in November, that the Gringotts scene was the most challenging to shoot in the finale.

The Hollywood Reporter, who posted the interview, revealed some alarming statistics about the number of props made for the Gringotts scene, and how many times Harry's famous scar was applied on the foreheads of Daniel Radcliffe, and his stunt and body doubles.

• 53,000: Total number of assorted rubberized pieces of "treasure" made for this scene.
• 5,800: Number of times Harry Potter's scar has been applied to Daniel Radcliffe, his doubles and stunt doubles throughout the film series.
• 30,000: Number of "gold" coins manufactured by the Potter propmaking team.

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"We made an enormous amount," says Craig. "We made it all in a softish foam so that the actors could get buried in it without sharp edges injuring them."

Adds McMillan, "We had a machine in the studio that was going almost nonstop for three months pressing out the shapes of the goblets. Because they were flexible, it was very difficult to keep the high-gloss paint sticking to them. Sometimes they didn't bear scrutiny."

The drowning effect was achieved, says Craig, by raising the treasure-filled set floor, which was elevated by a scissors lift above the foundation at London's Leavesden Studios. This gave the illusion that the treasure was multiplying itself, with the effect that "there was a tidal wave of this stuff in an ever-raising pile," he adds.

Says McMillan, "It was one of those sets where you dress it and then leave the art direction unit to get on with it because it's so complicated and is going to take them such a long time."

In all, it took the Potter team -- including the film's director, David Yates, and the visual effects, special effects, concept art, propmaking and even accounting departments -- more than two months to plan and discuss the scene, though it took only five days out of the six-month shoot for its actual filming. "Lots of sets went really easily," says McMillan. "That one was a very difficult one to pin down."

Deathly Hallows: Part 2 DVD and Blu-ray sets are available at the official Warner Bros Shop.

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