10 Most Paused Harry Potter Moments
4. Ian Brown In The Leaky Cauldron
Given Alfonso Cuarón’s direction and Michael Seresin’s cinematography, there are many pause-worthy moments in The Prisoner of Azkaban. Yet there’s one celebrity cameo that had many of us stretching for the remote.
Shortly after Harry’s arrival at the Leaky Cauldron, the camera sweeps across the lower floor of the inn and captures a middle-aged wizard reading a book. Fans of British rock music may recognise this man as Ian Brown, the lead singer of The Stone Roses.
Due to the speed of this celebrity cameo, it’s an easy one to miss. But if you pause at the right moment, you’ll notice Ian isn’t holding a Potter-related book at all – he’s actually reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist.
As such, we’re essentially getting two celebrity cameos in a single frame. The book is a nod to the end of the movie (which features Hermione’s Time-Turner), and as for Ian, he was asked to be in the film simply because he knew the director.