Daniel Radcliffe Kept A Photo Of Cameron Diaz On Harry Potter Set For An Odd Reason
Daniel Radcliffe used a picture of Cameron Diaz to help him focus during the filming of special effects shots in the Harry Potter film series.
It has been over 20 years since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters, and the recent anniversary sparked a renewed interest in the film series based on the popular novels by author J.K. Rowling. Actor Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in eight films of the Harry Potter franchise, has written a memoir entitled Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard. In his much anticipated memoir, Felton notes a surprising anecdote about fellow costar Daniel Radcliffe that details how Radcliffe used a picture of Cameron Diaz to help with filming his flying scenes, due to the fact that Diaz has long been a celebrity crush of the young actor.
According to a report by Variety, Tom Felton details in his new memoir how Daniel Radcliffe attached a photograph of Cameron Diaz to a tennis ball during filming of the famous broomstick flying scenes, in order to have the young actor focus on something other than a tennis ball. Tennis balls were used in early days of visual effects artistry as a stand in for other objects that would be added in during post-production later, like dragons or bludgers in the case of Harry Potter. For many of the actors filming these scenes at the time of the early films of the Harry Potter franchise, the young cast had little to no experience in visual effects acting, so using objects like a picture of a famous celebrity crush helped Radcliffe focus on the task, and theoretical object, at hand.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in theaters in 2001 and started a wave of hit films that continue to this day with the Fantastic Beasts movies, eventually grossing over $7.7 billion as a franchise overall. The original eight movies based on the Harry Potter novels saw Daniel Radcliffe riding a broomstick while playing the fictional sport quidditch, which was featured as a way for Radcliffe’s titular character of Harry Potter to display wizardry talents in the air as well as on the ground. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone jumpstarted the careers of its young cast, who often acted alongside veteran of the film industry, which starred an ensemble of British actors that included Radcliffe, Felton, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, John Cleese, and the late Robbie Coltrane.
As for Daniel Radcliffe’s celebrity crush, Cameron Diaz, her career had achieved peak status by the time the early aughts rolled around, with lead roles in comedies and acclaimed dramas like Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky, There’s Something About Mary, Charlie’s Angels, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Mask, and Shrek. Since 2014, Diaz has been on a self-imposed retirement as the former actor is now married to musician Benji Madden of the band Good Charlotte, and they share a daughter. Recently, it has been reported that Cameron Diaz will be coming out of her eight-year acting retirement to star in a new movie called Back in Action for Netflix, alongside her Any Given Sunday former co-star, Jamie Foxx
