Even young wizards have a lot to learn"Child actors run the risk of falling behind in their schoolingbut personal tuition on set can actually improve their work." Karen Gold reports | ||||||||
1 | When Tolga Kenan, 12, slight and dark, was picked as | in films such as Empire of the Sun, The Borrowers, | ||||||
a 'double' to stand in as 'Harry' during lighting | and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. | |||||||
rehearsals for the Harry Potter film that premiered | 4 | As Harry Potter filming could last for seven | ||||||
last week, the first thought of Tolga's mother was | films and seven years - some children's entire | |||||||
5 | "What about his education?" Tolga, then 11, had been | 30 | secondary school careers - the studio has invested in | |||||
at secondary school, Bishop Stopford comprehensive in | specialist tutors, textbooks and science equipment. | |||||||
Enfield, for just a month: "I was expecting the school | 5 | "Step into the Harry Potter classrooms, where | ||||||
to raise concerns, but they thought it was a fantastic | teachers are working with small groups of children in | |||||||
chance and he should take it," says his mother. So, | full costume and make-up (perhaps Malfoy, Dudley | |||||||
10 | Tolga stood in for Daniel Radcliffe to give the Potter | 35 | and Crabbe in one, two or three uncannily similar | |||||
star time for his own tutoring. | Harry and Hermione doubles in another), and all the | |||||||
2 | Every day, by law, child actors must receive a | children will be doing different work set by their | ||||||
minimum of one hour's education and a maximum of | individual schools," says Willis. | |||||||
five hours. Therefore, all 450 child stars, doubles and | 6 | According to parents, children and teachers, | ||||||
15 | extras acting in Harry Potter carried on with normal | 40 | endless interruptions to learning are the biggest | |||||
education through the past year in a specially | disadvantage to film acting; the needs of the film | |||||||
established school at Leavesden studios in | override everyone and everything else. "One or two | |||||||
Hertfordshire. | decided not to come back after the first film," says | |||||||
3 | "The teacher attention the children get in groups | Willis. "They go to high-flying schools and I think | ||||||
20 | of three or five - Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and | 45 | they have made a very wise decision." | |||||
Hermione (Emma Watson) have their own individual | 7 | All the children go back to their own schools for | ||||||
tutors - means filming can improve their | exams - the next Harry Potter film has been | |||||||
schoolwork," says Janet Willis, the Harry Potter head | scheduled so the Weasley twins in particular are free | |||||||
tutor. And Willis ou t to know, she has been in | for their GCSEs¹. | |||||||
25 | films and theatre for 25 years, teaching children |