A common practice in Hollywood is casting full-grown adults as much younger characters. It's happened in Gilmore Girls, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Euphoria, the list goes on. The Harry Potter franchise, for the most part, avoided this trend, with its main three actors—Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grin—matching the age of their roles. However, there was one notable exception: Myrtle Warren, a.k.a. Moaning Myrtle.
The Harry Potter series featured a large cast of characters across its eight films. Ironically, though, given her relatively short amount of screen time, Myrtle was perhaps one of the most memorable. The character, who debuted in 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was 14 years old. Her actress, Shirley Henderson, was 36 when production started. It was a significant age gap between performer and character. Now, the actress has opened up about what it was like to land the role.
Speaking to The Independent, Henderson revealed that, while considering whether to audition or not, the film's casting director told her to do so. Yet, she cautioned her to keep her age a secret: "The casting director said, 'Go for it—and don't mention your age."
Henderson expanded on that during an interview with Radio Times, stating: "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. But I spoke to the casting director Karen Lindsay-Stewart and she said, 'I haven't told them your age.'"
As she explained, she dressed up in a school uniform, and felt the situation was "ridiculous." "I went to the audition dressed as a schoolgirl—white shirt, black skirt, ponytail—thinking, 'This is ridiculous.' I did my wee bit for them and they thanked me."
Months later, she got word that the people behind the film wanted to meet with her again: "Months went by and I thought that was it, but then they phoned my agent, asked to see me again, and offered me the [part]."
Henderson then stated that ultimately, due to the character being a ghost, she was constantly surrounded by mist (and was darn near invisible), which aided in hiding her age: "Myrtle is an old person in a young person's body and because she's ghosty, there's a kind of mistiness. You're not looking closely at my face, so we could get away with it."
Being a crying ghost in the halls of Hogwarts, Myrtle spent most of her time alone. Emulating the isolation experienced by her tragic character, Henderson revealed to The Independent that she filmed her scenes by herself in front of a green screen.
The Harry Potter films are available to stream on HBO Max.
What did you think about the process behind casting Shirley Henderson as Myrtle? Drop your thoughts in the comments!