10 Movies That Made Subtle Character Changes At The Last Minute

The final entry into the Harry Potter franchise gets a lot of flak from fans for its epilogue sequence, in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) reappear 19 years later to see their own kids off to Hogwarts.

It's a touching scene albeit one which was roundly mocked by fans for the unconvincing makeup applied to make the actors resemble late-30s adults.

Many complained that the makeup was too intrusive and made them look considerably older than they were supposed to be, inviting titters of unintentional comedy.

But fans should probably count their lucky stars that the makeup team didn't stick with their originally shot version of the scene, which employed far more comprehensive makeup effects.

The original epilogue included a "whole series of prosthetic pieces," and according to makeup artist Nick Dudman - who received an Oscar nomination for his work on the film - was excessive enough that producers considered scrapping the scene entirely:

"We did go too far with the makeup [in the first epilogue shoot]... and the costumes didn't feel right, the performances didn't feel right."

Fellow makeup artist Lisa Tomblin concurred that the original makeup job was a misstep, and so the decision was made to scale the ageing effects back for the second go-around:

"Dan Radcliffe had a gray wig. Rupert had a receding wig with little bits of gray in it. Emma had a short wig. But it didn't really work. It's very difficult to age somebody that's 20. It's not like you're aging someone that's 30 and has the start of wrinkles... We just tried to do too much in the beginning... We simplified. Harry Potter always has his floppy hair in front of his face. Let's take his hair away from his face! No gray, just change his glasses, and hey presto, he looked older! He looked more mature."

The end result may still have left many fans unhappy, but it was clearly a step in the right direction compared to the first attempt.