Original ‘Harry Potter’ Director Wants to Make ‘Cursed Child’ Film with Main Trio: They’re ‘the Right Age’
There hasn’t been a “Harry Potter” movie proper since 2011’s “Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” even as the spinoff series “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is well underway. But still, the beloved universe spun by J.K. Rowling continues to delight hearts and minds — and stoke the hopes of fans for a movie adaptation of the 2016 play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The play, written by Jack Thorne with Rowling and John Tiffany providing the story, takes place 19 years after the events of the 2007 novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and follows Harry Potter as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic.
That nearly two-decade time jump means that, were a movie adaptation to take place, the original “Harry Potter” film stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) could technically star in the movie. Which is exactly what “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Chamber of Secrets” director Chris Columbus would hope to do, according to a new interview in Variety celebrating the first film’s 20th anniversary.
“I would love to direct ‘The Cursed Child.’ It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine,” Columbus said. Radcliffe is 32, Grint 33, and Watson is 31. “Harry Potter” fans already got a glimpse of what the trio might look like in their older age in “Deathly Hallows – Part 2” where, to some controversy, the makeup team tried to age up the 20-year-old actors. This was much derided by fans.
The two-part “Cursed Child Play” won six Tonys at the 2018 awards, including Best Play. At the time, it also set the record for the highest all-time weekly ticket sales of a play. The show is returning to Broadway this month in a streamlined one part production.
Columbus also spoke of some of his many fond memories circa “Sorcerer’s Stone” days, including initial reactions to the film’s two-hour-and-32-minute running time, which is pretty long for a kids movie. “Since ‘Home Alone,’ I’ve always had a superstition about doing test screenings in Chicago, so the studio flew us from London to Chicago to screen the film,” Columbus said. “At that point, it was nearly three hours long. We did the focus group, and all the parents said the film is too long, and all the kids said it’s too short. ‘Where’s this scene?’ I knew it was working when I saw kids at that screening sprinting to go to the bathroom and sprinting back because they didn’t want to miss anything.”
