Paul Kieve – magic consultant to Harry Potter and other films
Paul Kieve was the first illusionist to work on any of the Harry Potter films.
He was requested by director Alfonso Cuaron to add physical magic to the third movie – ” Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”.
He created magical effects performed ‘live’ for the cameras in a number of scenes including the opening Leaky Cauldron shot, the distinctive floating spheres in the Astronomy Room, as well as making a cameo appearance in the Three Broomsticks pub (the first and only magician ever to actually perform magic in a Harry Potter film).
Paul created, constructed and operated the final folding Maurauders map – the last full-sceen effects shot in the movie.
A scene involving Hogwart’s students performed magic in Hogwart’s Hall was deleted from the movie but appears on the DVD. In preparation for this scene Paul held the first ever magic class on set.
Paul also acted as a pre-production consultant to Mike Newall and the producers for the fourth movie “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”.
On a smaller scale he worked and collaborated with renowned German artist Christian Jankowski to create and star in a short film called “Flock” in which he transformed an audience into sheep and lead them around an art gallery.
He has worked closely with writer Tim Firth to develop a script for Sam Mendes and Working title for the forthcoming movie entitled “Fool”.
