What do Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and pretty much every other star from the Harry Potter movies have in common? Easy, they’re all British. This is no real surprise given the story is set in England. That said, what is surprising is that creator J.K. Rowling set a strict mandate that only British actors get cast in the adaptations of her novels. Original director Chris Columbus, who is American, was happy to adhere to this ruling, although he did twist it a bit.
“Jo Rowling and myself said to each other when we first met, ‘Look, we want this cast to be 100% British.’ And by the way, I stuck to that,” Columbus recently told Insider. And while you won’t hear any non-British accents while watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S.), you may have missed the one American actress that made a cameo. It was Columbus’ daughter, Eleanor, in a non-speaking role; she had the honor of being one of the first Hogwarts students to put on the sorting hat.
“She worked about 80 days,” Columbus revealed. “But she never spoke because you know the rule was if you’re not British, you can’t speak.”
Even the great Robin Williams was rejected under this rule. Williams was one of those very special, ubiquitous actors who was a credit to any project he was involved in. But when he wanted a role in Harry Potter — apparently he wanted to play Rumus Lupin — the super strict “British only” edict meant the American actor and comedian was rejected. “Robin would have been brilliant,” Columbus said. “It would have been a different interpretation — I thought David Thewlis was great — but Robin would have been brilliant.”
Columbus found filming Harry Potter “emotionally” draining
Given the scope and ambition of something like Harry Potter, it’s only natural that the filming process could be exhausting and monotonous. Columbus certainly felt that way at times. “I wasn’t seeing my kids, who were young at the time, growing up,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was missing dinners with them. I thought, ‘I can’t do another six, seven, eight years of this. My kids will grow up and I’ll never get to know them.’”
After filming Chamber of Secrets, the director recalled a moment when he “could barely speak.” Emotionally drained, he stepped down and subsequent movies were helmed by other directors, but he did stay on as a producer.
With rumors of a Harry Potter series in development at HBO Max, maybe it’s time for a non-British actor to enter Hogwarts. Well, so long as it’s not Chris Pratt.
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