Fiction Spotlight: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

September 1st marks the traditional day students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry return to classes, so what better day to celebrate the Boy Who Lived?

The Harry Potter franchise is officially celebrating 28 years as of this June, but the franchise is even older than that. Joanne Rowling first began writing about Harry as early as 1990, putting Harry himself closer to 35 years old. Rowling came up with the initial concept during a train ride from Manchester to London, inspiring the ever-familiar trips through the Hogwarts Express. She began writing shortly after, including while she lived in Portugal with her first husband. After returning from abroad, she finished her first novel while living in Scotland.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

To say that the book sold well would be quite the understatement. Published in the UK by Bloomsbury and Scholastic in the US, the novel has become the fourth most sold book of all time, opens a new window* (on contemporary lists, excluding religious texts and political manifestos). If you include only the books published since 1997, then it's the most sold book of modern times by a huge margin of 120 million books, with 2nd place going to The DaVinci Code in 2003 with a paltry 80 million. And out of curiosity, the #3 book? Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Way to win both the gold and bronze medals!

The name of the book has its own little controversy as well. Originally, the book was published as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Famously, the book received a new title in the US, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Reasons vary as to why Scholastic changed the title (and all mentions) of the titular magical item, but the most popular rumor is that Scholastic believed intended readers in America would not know what a philosopher was. More notable perhaps is the legacy this has had on the history of the item itself. The idea of the 'philosopher's stone' has existed since ancient times and across multiple cultures. Over the centuries, it has gone by other names, such as The Stone, white stone, draco elixer, pandora, and more. Scholastic's renaming created a new term, the 'sorcerer's stone', which remains one of the most well known names for the mythical object in modern times.

Speaking of the stone, there's also a very real historical reference attached to it. In the book and movie, the Chocolate Frog card that Harry gets mentioning the item also mentions the wizard who made it, Nicholas Flamel, opens a new window. Readers might be surprised to learn (or maybe not!) that Nicholas Flamel was a very real person who lived in 14th century France. In life, Flamel was mostly known as a professional copyist, someone who transcribes writing and makes copies. Many years after his death, a book was published, attributed to Flamel, and detailed his search for the philosopher's stone. Far as we know, Flamel really did die in the 14th century, and never turned an ounce of lead into gold, nor was he a wizard!

Obviously, the book was a huge hit world-wide, so talks soon turned to sequels. Rowling got straight to work, and had two more published by 1999. At this time, Warner Bros. was also looking for more film properties to pursue, and the stars aligned that year when Rowling sold the rights to the company for, what would turn out to be, her entire book series. For the next two years, production began on the first film of the series, to be directed by Chris Columbus.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Columbus was not the first choice of director; Steven Spielberg has that claim to fame. As beloved as the film is, could you imagine if Spielberg had actually directed it? There were varying purported reasons why he did not direct, but one of the primary requests by Rowling was that only British actors and actresses would be hired for the production. Perhaps Spielberg's artistic vision differed too much from Rowling's dream of bringing the film to life. Rowling would remain a close consultant of the franchise, but most of the decisions were ultimately left to the producers and directors over the years.

And so out of a pack of celebrated directors, Chris Columbus rose as the top contender to direct. Columbus would also direct the second movie as well, before seeking sunnier pastures with other projects. Understandably, work on the films was intense, especially since they were shot and produced back to back. Ultimately, hard to argue against the results, but it is understandable if Mr. Columbus decided to step back afterwards.

As for the cast, what can be said that hasn't already been said? Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint would go on to be household names over the course of 8 films. The Hogwarts staff include several acclaimed actors and actresses, most of whom already had well respected careers beforehand, but now had a whole new generation of fans; Coltrane, Rickman, Smith, and Harris are iconic as Hagrid, Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. Many other actors would join over the years to add their star power, talent, and genuine love to the franchise. We'll talk more in depth about those films in due time, but it all started here. Rowling was quite insistent on the cast being comprised of native British where necessary, and the films only benefited from the amount of immersion fans were being put through.

While several of the film sets were done (and preserved) in London (and remain available as a studio lot attraction at Warner Bros. Studio London), there was an actual castle involved. Magical in their own way, the producers chose two sites to accomplish much of the principal photography: Alnwick Castle in Scotland and Gloucester Cathedral. Most of the school exterior and grounds scenes were shot at Alnwick, while the Cathedral notably played host to the Great Hall for this and several more films. The infamous towers however owe to the production of a scale model of the school, shot on set and mixed with details of Alnwick to produce the school as seen in film. The model is part of the aforementioned studio tour.

And then there's the music. We've already discussed it in a previous blog, opens a new window, but filmgoers the world over have much to appreciate whenever John Williams is your composer. He brought the film and world to life with his imaginative and soaring music, and Hedwig's Theme remains the signature motif for the entire franchise. He didn't compose for every single film in the series, or franchise, but Hedwig's Theme found its way into every film, and any time Hogwarts was re-introduced on screen.

Every film adaptation in history has struggled with time limits and cutting material, but few films in history have been as faithful to the source material or as widely beloved.

Thanks for reading! Mischief managed!