Harry Potter director says Home Alone inspired Daniel Radcliffe's casting

When Chris Columbus set out to cast Harry Potter’s Golden Trio more than 20 years ago, he knew he might pick faces not just for a single film but for an extensive franchise with a range of multimedia phenomena. It’s difficult to cast kids who don’t have many projects under their belt, but Columbus had experience working on previous child-centered films – especially Home alone. Macaulay Culkin’s naturalistic approach to acting in this film greatly influenced Columbus’ decisions for Harry Potter.

“When it came to casting the Potter kids, I wanted the same kind of realism,” Columbus tells Polygon as the movie’s 20th anniversary approaches. “What happens when you cast an actor who doesn’t have a lot of experience is that he brings in a tremendous amount of reality, naturalism, and comedy based on instinct, not the fact that they did seven years of Nickelodeon show. So for me [the goal] was finding these unknown actors who could basically become these characters. “

While the audition opened the doors to thousands of actors, Columbus was set dead on Daniel Radcliffe from the moment he saw the young actor’s performance on the TV adaptation of BBC One David Copperfield. Columbus saw a particularly eerie quality in Radcliffe’s eyes.

“I can’t explain it,” he says. “Something was going on behind his eyes that was extremely, extremely complex for a child of this age. And I thought, Well, that’s what Harry is going through, this incredibly difficult life with his aunt and uncle and cousin Dudley. I thought, Dan looks like the kind of kid who could play this in a deeper way. And he has proven it time and again, not just through Harry Potter, but with all of his appearances. “

Columbus says much of the first film felt like an acting class for the relatively young cast when he started working on the second film, but they had begun to develop serious acting skills. Columbus’ preference for practical effects over digital effects may have helped with this. Since watching Jurassic Park, he believed that practical effects helped bring the audience into the world of film. And when working with young actors, it was of the utmost importance to give them something tangible on set to respond to. In some cases, like Dobby the house elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Columbus relied on CG, but wherever possible he wanted to give the kids something real to stand up against.

“When you actually have the creature on set, its performance changes because it’s in this world. Like the chess scene, ”says Columbus. “The chess scene was 95% practical. There are a couple of visual effects in the scene. I love the children’s performances and this scene because they are dealing with real explosions. You are dealing with real, giant chess pieces. We built everything. “

Harry, Ron and Hermione compete against a giant chess set in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Working with young actors wasn’t the only thing Columbus got from his Home alone Experience. He also brought some of the same set design sensitivities with him.

“I said to each of my department heads [on Home Alone], I want this movie to feel timeless. In other words, I don’t want anyone to turn it on in 25 years and it feels out of date. I want it to feel like it was done yesterday. Everything from the cloakroom to the wallpaper – everything had to feel timeless. We brought that sensitivity to Harry Potter, ”he says. “The goal was, when you’re at Hogwarts, you may not be able to tell what year this film was made. That could have been shot in 1956, maybe 1977. Maybe it was shot in 2020. And that’s what I’m most proud of: You can’t pinpoint it. “