Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Tasha Hall & Sophie Buchan

Harry Potter body double for Emma Watson recalls punching Draco Malfoy

If you've seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, then you probably remember a certain scene involving Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton).

Yes - it's the punching scene.

The iconic moment will go down in history when Harry Potter's enemy got what was coming - and although we later grew to love Malfoy - it's still a great scene to watch even though you know what's coming.

READ MORE - Martin Lewis says there are three important things everyone must do before April 1

We previously reported on Emma Watson's stunt double, Flick Miles, who revealed all the behind the scenes gossip as well as talking about what was actually meant to happen in the cat scene after she transformed into the furry feline in the bathroom thanks to a potion gone wrong.

But now she's spilled the beans yet again in another exclusive with the Scottish Daily Express.

Being Emma Watson's stunt double meant Flick Miles had to do everything just as Emma did it, however it seems her punch scene didn't quite make the cut which Flick says is all down to her "really rubbish" punch.

Talking exclusively to the Scottish Express, Flick said: "It was probably cut because my punch was really rubbish and so not convincing so they just kept in Emma's.

"I am a really non-athletic person. I have never thrown a punch before in my life and the team told me just go for it so you are like 'oh okay'."

Whilst she stood in as a body double for the first three films, Flick said it was the last one that she was involved with the most with many of her scenes involving 'over the shoulder' shots.

Despite her punch not making it to the big screen, she said that she never hit Tom - who claims that Emma really did throw a punch.

Describing the scene, Emma herself said in a separate interview: "It's such as good moment. The fact that she hits him and it's not a spell or something - there's something very satisfying about that."

In the same interview Tom added that originally it said in the script she would "slap Draco and I think they were worried a punch was going to be a little too physical. So I said to Emma 'we should rehearse this to make it as convincing as possible - slap me' .

"She said 'no I'm not going to slap you'. And when I said slap me I was thinking a movie slap."

Instead Emma actually decided to slap poor Tom. In response Emma said she felt "terrible" and "really bad" adding she 'wasn't sure what she was thinking'.

They still laugh about it to this day.

Speaking about the scene Flick said: "It is such a great scene, isn't it. I filmed the scene as well and so did Emma, so that happens all the time, we both film a scene and they just edit it together.

"Our hands did not connect with his face it was more like a pass to him and he did the reaction. Tom is a great sport so he found it funny as well.

Flick and Emma filming together in Scotland. (Flick Miles/Twitter @FlickMiles1)

"Malfoy is a great character, and completely different to what Tom is like in real life, he is such a lovely person [laughs] so I think he was slightly glad the character got put in his place a little bit too."

Flick estimates that the cast and crew spent five weeks shooting the famous punching and time travelling scenes.

On discussing what it felt like to take part in the key moment in the franchise, Flick said it was "really fun" especially watching Hermione finally standing up for herself and "putting Malfoy in his place."

She added: "The character could finally let loose, she is always got it together and remains calm and composed but we really see her go off, so when she has those moments I think it is really quite fun and seeing her emotions finally coming through.

"She usually has to keep the boys in check, so in that scene I think it was such a key moment because she was like 'right I am going to deal with this' and actually took them by surprise."

The punching scene itself was said to have been filmed several times - many of them due to safety reasons in order to ensure actors knew what was happening.

In the scene Hermione uses her wand and to ensure there were no continuity errors, Flick had to use it too.

Talking about the moment she said: "Hermione has her wand out and using the props is always fun, I know that seems crazy because you assume they have their wands on them all the time but actually it's not that many times you get them out and hold them up against somebody which is also really fun.

"When you have got your wand and when Hermione has the time turner in the same film, when you get given props like that to wear it is fun you're like 'oh my gosh I have the time turner' [laughs] when you have read the book and visualised it, to actually see it is so cool.

"Hermione's wand is also really beautiful, so when you get to physically see them, touch them and wear them and 'use' them so to speak that's always really really fun."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.