Chris Columbus says he’s keen to direct a ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ film
The filmmaker is keen to reunite original cast members Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint
By Ella Kemp
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus has said he would be keen to direct a film based on Broadway spinoff Harry Potter and The Cursed Child.
The filmmaker, who first directed the first film in the franchise in 2001, has reflected on the Harry Potter universe 20 years on and noted he’s ready to direct a screen version of the Broadway hit.
The story takes place 19 years after the events of ‘The Deathly Hallows’ and follows Harry and his younger son Albus Severus Potter, who is about to begin his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
“A version of Cursed Child with Dan, Rupert and Emma at the right age, it’s cinematic bliss,” Columbus told The Hollywood Reporter of his idea for a film starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.
“If you’re a film nerd or cinephile, it’s kind of like what J.J. [Abrams] did with Star Wars,” he went on. “Star Wars really started to be great again when J.J. made the film and we had all the original cast back.”
Columbus added: “There’s no question if you’re a Star Wars fan, you were moved just seeing them on screen, seeing Harrison Ford as Han Solo again — and Chewy. It was very moving.
“I think that would be the same situation for Harry Potter fans. To able to actually see these adult actors now back in these roles? Oh, yeah. It would be amazingly fun to make that film — or two films.”
Chris Columbus made his directorial debut with ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ in 1987, and went on to direct ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’ in 1990 and 1992 respectively, as well as Potter sequel ‘Chamber of Secrets’ in 2002.
The filmmaker admitted in the same interview that he hasn’t watched the first film in the franchise since directing it, but has since returned to the others in the series, naming ‘Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and 2’ as his favourites.
‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ opened at the Palace Theatre in 2016, and then made its Broadway debut in 2018. The show has won a record-breaking nine Olivier awards and six Tonys.