We all watched the stars of the Harry Potter films grow up before our eyes over the course of a decade. The eight-movie franchise was an absolutely herculean task, and it’s still more than a little amazing that it turned out as well as it did. It’s equally surprising that, given how often child actors have difficulties later in life, the cast of Harry Potter has all turned out pretty well.
Credit for this is often given to the fact that, while the child stars of Harry Potter were unknown, many of the adult roles were played by some of the greatest British actors who have ever lived. Certainly, working with them helped the young stars learn how to handle themselves. Not so fact, say Daniel Radcliffe, who recently told ScreenRant:
Everyone has an image of the way we were all raised on the set by the best British actors, and that’s why we all turned out fine. It’s like, ‘Guys, the best British actors were around us for like two weeks of 10-month shoots.’ Like, they were amazing, of course they were, but Maggie Smith wasn’t coming in to give me advice on how to grow up, nor should they have been.
It’s a fair point that makes a great deal of sense when explained just like that. While the kids undoubtedly learned something from their adult counterparts, much of it was likely unintentional. The majority of the kids’ scenes were together, but without other adults, or at least not with the same adults over and over again. Everybody there was doing a job, and they all tried to do it well, and then they went home. Many actors were there just as long as the kids, but others had much shorter tenures in the franchise.
While Radcliffe says he got close with some of the adult actors, the group that he, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint truly became close to were the crew, as they, like the child actors, were with them the entire 10 years they were making the Harry Potter movie. Radcliffe continued…
I got close with some of the adults, a little bit, but the people we were really, really close to were the crew. This is my own little pet peeve that I’m getting on now, but we’ve had some older cast members who’ve passed away in the last few years, many obviously. One of them being John Hurt.
The former Harry Potter clearly get a little annoyed by the entire situation as he mentions that when the legendary John Hurt passed away, people asked him for a comment, which was something he simply wasn’t able to give because he felt he didn’t know John Hurt all that well considering the short time they spent together. Meanwhile, nobody asks him for a comment when an accomplished Second Unit Director passes away. Radcliffe said…
People came to me for a comment when he passed away. I’m like, ‘I filmed with John Hurt for two days across 10 years. You should ask his friends. Ask people who knew him really well.’ Whereas, when we tragically have lost a couple of young assistant directors from Potter who passed away, Jamie Christopher is the person I’m thinking of now. Jamie was a much more influential person in my life than a lot of the other actors. No one comes to ask me about him. The thing I would say is the crew were the people that became my best friends, some of the people I’m really, really close to.
For the record, Jamie Christopher was an incredibly prolific director who was the first assistant director: second unit, for all eight Harry Potter movies. He also worked on several Marvel Cinematic Universe films and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Christopher died of heart complications in 2023 at the age of 52. Fantastic Four: The First Steps was dedicated to his memory.
Radcliffe’s advice for the cast of the new Harry Potter TV series was to trust the crew, because as they were for him, they will likely be there every step of the way.
