There are popular franchises, and then there's Harry Potter. What began with J.K. Rowling's books grew into a wildly popular film series (which is streaming with a Max subscription), as well as theme parks, stage plays, and the upcoming Harry Potter TV show. The first few films were helmed by Chris Columbus, who recently explained the interesting and thoughtful way Home Alone factored into Daniel Radcliffe and company getting cast in the Wizarding World.
The Harry Potter movies made household names out of its starring cast, especially the trio of leads: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. The casting process to find these young actors was intense, and Columbus recently spoke to Variety about how his work on Home Alone influenced how he found the Potter cast. As he put it:
We went from shooting ‘Home Alone’ [where] nobody cared, but in the course of a year, Macaulay Culkin became a huge star, and that was unexpected. It’s not like ‘Harry Potter,’ where you know that it may be extraordinarily successful. … I came from a working-class family, and I’ve seen it a couple of times with kids when you see someone who comes from a working class family, and suddenly they’re thrown into — the kid becomes the breadwinner for the family
Points were made. Mega fame for a young person can be challenging, especially if they end up being the primary moneymaker for their family. And he saw this happen firsthand with Culkin and the Home Alone movies (which are streaming with a Disney+ subscription).
After seeing the way Culkin struggled with his family as his career boomed, Chris Columbus wanted to take very special care with finding the right kids (and parents) to portray Hogwarts students in the Harry Potter films. He explained this in the same interview, offering:
That’s the rest of your life as a child star. That’s gonna be your legacy, and you have to learn how to live with that... I can’t have [an actor] go home to a really sort of shaky environment for the sake of a film. It’s not worth it. It was as important to cast the parents as it was to cast the kids.
It sounds like the parents of the Harry Potter trio past that test for Chris Columbus, who would depart the Wizarding World after the first two movies. Despite moving on, he seems to still have strong feelings about the franchise, recently participating in the Return to Hogwarts reunion special. And his care about casting seems to have worked out, as Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint continue to have thriving careers, and seemingly without any strife from within their family units.
Macaulay Culkin's story is just one of many cautionary tales related to child actors, and it's one that Chris Columbus seemingly still feels partially responsible for. Luckily he was able to set up the Harry Potter cast for success. While we wait for news about the Hogwarts TV series, check the 2025 movie release dates.
