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Daniel Radcliffe will forever and always be known to millions of fans as the boy wizard Harry Potter from the film franchise of the same name. He was cast as Harry when he was a young child and grew up onscreen in front of fans everywhere. Throughout the course of the franchise, Radcliffe had the chance to work with a few different talented directors. While he had a positive experience with every director, one, in particular, made a great impression on the young actor.

Daniel Radcliffe opened up about Chris Columbus

daniel radcliffe harry potter
Daniel Radcliffe, the 11-year-old British star who has been picked out of thousands of hopefuls to star in the new Harry Potter movie poses with the director of the movie Chris Columbus at the Berkeley Hotel in London 23 August 2000. | Hugo Philpott/AFP via Getty Images

Radcliffe was new to the acting world when he was cast as Harry Potter. He had just two screen credits to his name. However, he managed to seriously impress director Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two movies in the franchise. It turns out Columbus also made a lasting impression on Radcliffe.

In a recent interview with GQ, Radcliffe opened up about the experience of working with Columbus. “I don’t think anyone else could have started the series in the way that Chris did,” he said. “I don’t think anyone else could have wrangled 30 kids and kept us all focused and happy in the way that he did.” Radcliffe spoke about Columbus with a great deal of affection and kindness, proving that Columbus’ influence has lasted for more than two decades.

Daniel Radcliffe praised his other ‘Harry Potter’ directors

Radcliffe had a lot of praise for his other Harry Potter directors as well. “Alfonso (Cuaron), when he came on, you know, we were all starting to become intense, brooding teenagers. And so he sort of came on at the right moment to capitalize on that,” he said. “And Mike (Newell) is like this bombastic, huge character, which is exactly what you needed for the fourth film and book.”

Radcliffe went on to compliment the final Harry Potter director he worked with, David Yates, telling GQ that “I really feel like, particularly the fifth film was where I like learned a lot…I think that’s sort of where I started to get more of a handle on what acting was. I’m incredibly lucky to have worked with all of them.”

Daniel Radcliffe said that he would have followed Chris Columbus ‘into hell’

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In the end, Radcliffe learned a lot from every one of the directors he worked with on the fan-favorite franchise. But there’s one who really stands out for him. “Honestly the person that I think had the greatest influence on me out of all of those is Chris Columbus,” Radcliffe said. “When Chris came back for the 20th-anniversary reunion last year, he came to the studio and there were people on set who were running across set to see this director that they had not seen in 20 years, and they remembered him, and he remembered them.”

Radcliffe went on to gush about the veteran filmmaker. “And there are so few people in the industry that can inspire that in people like that, genuinely the crews of the first few films would have followed Chris Columbus into hell. We just loved him so much,” he said. Radcliffe also credits Columbus for his affinity for the entertainment business. “I think a huge amount of his enthusiasm for being on set is sort of where I take mine from,” he shared. “And the reason, I think I love the job so much is in no small part due to him.”

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