Fans of the Harry Potter series have shared how, as children, they believed the filmmakers had taken a cheeky shortcut in casting for the character Moaning Myrtle.
The Harry Potter movies are among the most beloved franchises ever created, and for good reason. Recently, however, some fans have made a humorous and surprising admission.
Moaning Myrtle, who makes her first appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, may not have been a main character, but her ghostly antics and spirited portrayal left a lasting impression. The actress who portrayed her, Shirley Henderson, stood apart from her fellow cast members for a noteworthy reason.
Unlike the character she played, a ghost of a girl who died while at Hogwarts, Henderson was much older — she was 37 years old when she went for the audition.
In an interview with the Independent, Henderson recounted: “When I was first asked for an audition, I didn’t know who Harry Potter was. But my sister, who was staying with me, had read the books. Still, I wasn’t convinced I could play a 14-year-old girl because I was in my 30s at the time.
“I went to the audition dressed as a schoolgirl — white shirt, black skirt, ponytail — thinking, ‘This is ridiculous.’”
Henderson was eventually called back and offered the role. The filmmakers were confident that with the ‘mistiness’ and ‘ghostly’ effect, her age would not be an issue.
However, Henderson’s casting has come as an unexpected revelation to some fans, who as children thought the character was simply lead actor Daniel Radcliffe in disguise.
On Reddit, a user confessed: “They definitely fooled me. I spent years thinking she’s just Daniel Radcliffe in a wig.”
Another user added: “I also thought she was Daniel Radcliffe in a wig until right now! I had no idea.”
A third commented: “I thought that too!! During his Google autocomplete interview, he was baffled that him being Moaning Myrtle was a search result, but it seems to be a common misconception lol.”
Amazingly, another fan agreed, saying: “Yeah because some of us were pretty young watching the second movie and thought she was Daniel Radcliffe in a wig.”
It seems this misconception was surprisingly common among young viewers when the films were first released. The more you know, right?