December is the month when snowstorms rage outside, and the house is filled with the cozy scent of hot chocolate. And now is the perfect time to return to Hogwarts by rewatching the legendary Harry Potter films. But, as is customary in the world of magic, even the cinematic saga about the young wizard is shrouded in its own secrets. For example, one of them is related to Hermione Granger, a role that made Emma Watson a star. Although Emma was the perfect Hermione, she was still a child. According to industry regulations, children under 16 can only be on set for four hours a day. To avoid slowing down the process, the directors resorted to using stand-ins.
One of them was Flick Miles, a girl who almost imperceptibly blended into the image of Granger. Her "substitution" can first be seen in the scene where Hermione accidentally drank a potion containing cat hair and transformed into a fluffy creature with whiskers and a tail.
And here things get complicated: Emma Watson was unable to finish this scene for a very valid reason. The actress developed an allergy to the makeup glue that was used to create the cat makeup. To avoid any risk, she was replaced by a stand-in. According to Flick, the work was not easy—under the layer of makeup, her own facial expressions practically disappeared, but the result was so harmonious that none of the viewers noticed the trick.
Miles later admitted that she is often asked what it's like to be the "shadow" Hermione. "That was my magic," she laughs. But does Flick resemble Emma in real life? Perhaps if they met in the halls of Hogwarts, they could easily be mistaken for twins.
So the next time you rewatch The Chamber of Secrets, pay attention to this scene. Maybe for the first time in all these years, you'll notice the small but charming "substitution." After all, even in the world of cinema, magic is sometimes created from little secrets.
