&34;Even now,&34; Oliver Phelps said, &34;if I watch any of those scenes, I can still smell roasting or oiled vegetables — which isn't a great smell.&34; Harry Potter stars say filming Great Hall scenes reeked of 'smelly socks' &34;Even now,&34; Oliver Phelps said, &34;if I watch any of those scenes, I can still smell roasting or oiled vegetables — which isn't a great smell.&34; By Sydney Bucksbaum :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/headshotb5dc24df8d5d43d1a16c9ce0e0383119.jpg) Sydney Bucksbaum Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at . She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author.

"Even now," Oliver Phelps said, "if I watch any of those scenes, I can still smell roasting or oiled vegetables — which isn't a great smell."

Harry Potter stars say filming Great Hall scenes reeked of 'smelly socks'

"Even now," Oliver Phelps said, "if I watch any of those scenes, I can still smell roasting or oiled vegetables — which isn't a great smell."

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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November 28, 2025 5:40 p.m. ET

Maggie Smith and Daniel Radcliffe in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. Credit:

Warner Bros. Pictures

In the *Harry Potter* movies, the Great Hall always looked so warm and inviting — but now two of the actors are revealing that there was a healthy dose of movie magic involved, because the set actually smelled pretty pungent.

More than two decades after they starred in the blockbuster Wizarding World franchise as twin brothers Fred and George Weasley, Oliver and James Phelps are back at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England to host *Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking* season 2. And the duo admit that the Hogwarts set smells so much better as the site of a Food Network show, as opposed to when the Great Hall was filled with tons of people for the films, including the main stars, hundreds of background extras, and all the crew.

"It was funny because when we were filming any Great Hall day, when it was just filled with people, there'd be so many smells," Oliver recently told PEOPLE. "Even now, if I watch any of those scenes, I can still smell roasting or oiled vegetables — which isn't a great smell."

James Phelps and Oliver Phelps in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'.

Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett

Oliver, 39, laughed as he explained that the stench came from the ornate food tableaux, which were made to look delicious but didn't always hold up throughout long filming days.

"To look good for all the feasts and everything like that, they wanted all these turkeys and everything like that," he said. "But yeah, the elements I just think of are smelly socks, pretty much… It's funny, all these years later, the Great Hall still feels magical. It just smells a lot better now."

Off-putting odors aside, the twins remember living out every *Harry Potter* fan's dream by playing around on all the sets when they weren't in use.

"When we weren't filming on one set, it would be open, so we'd play soccer in the Great Hall or we'd play cricket on Privet Drive," Oliver remembered. "All those kinds of things, so the behind-the-scenes memories still come back quite a lot."

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For James, watching any of the eight movies immediately transports him back to when they grew up on those sets.

"I think like anyone that's in any movie, whether it's an indie or something like *Potter*, if you watch it back and you're in it, you remember what you were doing behind the camera at that time," he said. "It's quite unique to be able to remember what you were doing 25 years ago if you watch a movie."

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Oliver and James both laughed at how certain scenes in the movies remind them of cherished memories that aren't shown on screen.

"The fourth movie, for example, there's a scene when the students are being taught by [Professor] McGonagall [played by Maggie Smith] how to dance," Oliver said. "I remember that was filmed in Oxford, and we'd literally come from a music festival the day before. It was in the summer, and we were filming there, trying to look composed. But you remember those moments — the feeling, the people, the smell of the room. It's all still there."

Sock stench and all.

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Published: November 29, 2025 at 01:38AM on Source: MARIO MAG

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