Harry Potter's Professor Flitwick Was A Role Warwick Davis Felt Destined To Play
British actor Warwick Davis has been part of some of the biggest fantasy franchises in motion picture history. He has been a part of the "Star Wars" films, the "Leprechaun" films, and most importantly, he has played three characters throughout the "Harry Potter" franchise.
Davis initially portrayed a Gringotts bank employee that gave Hagrid access to the vault containing the sorcerer's stone. He later represented two iterations of the Hogwarts charms instructor, Professor Flitwick. And then there's the critical role of Griphook, a Gringotts goblin (with not necessarily good intentions) who helps Harry, Ron, and Hermione to break into the wizard bank to steal a Horcrux. Of all three roles, one more fascinating than the other, Davis most enjoyed playing Professor Flitwick — a part the actor believes he was destined to play.
It's his favorite character to have played
The actor played two distinct versions of Professor Flitwick in the first two movies — in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," he portrayed an old, grey-bearded wizard. In "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," we see a much younger Fillius Flitwick who sports a snazzy mustache and conducts the Hogwarts choir. The changes in the character aren't addressed in the films, and Davis isn't referred to as the Professor in the third, but it is presumed the transformation had to do with the director's vision at the time. Christopher Columbus directed the first two and wanted to stay faithful to the source material, which describes Flitwick as a small, old wizard with a white beard who would stand on a pile of books to teach.
In a 2009 interview with ET Canada, the actor looked back at his "Harry Potter" days and detailed how he was always meant to play Professor Flitwick.
"I'm very fond of Professor Flitwick, he was a teacher of Charms. It was my first day on the 'Harry Potter' movies, that sequence where I taught Hermione to levitate the feather ... I was just so fond of that character."
'I finally had the chance of playing him'
Warwick Davis' portrayal of Flitwick came from a personal space. The actor explored a version of the character when he was younger, he told ET Canada:
"He was a character that I'd sort of been storing away since I was about 13. I have a video of myself in my bedroom with lots of test tubes and doing experiments and playing this crazy Professor. He kind of was the forerunner to Professor Flitwick. He's a character who was in me and I finally had the chance of playing him."
David reprised his role as Flitwick and choirmaster in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and went on to play Griphook later on. Whether he was portraying a Hogwarts professor or a bank teller at a wizard bank, Davis' endearing performance in multiple roles throughout the films cemented his status as one of the franchise's most memorable stars.