‘Harry Potter’: Daniel Radcliffe Names the Person Who Had ‘the Greatest Influence’ on Him

Though Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t have “traditional” acting training, he learned quite a few skills whilst filming the Harry Potter movies. The English actor literally grew up on set, spending a full decade of his life portraying the boy who lived. Over the years, he got to work with British acting royalty like Maggie Smith and the late Alan Rickman. He also got to learn from world-famous directors like Alfonso Cuarón and Chris Columbus. But who had the biggest influence on the actor?

How did Daniel Radcliffe join the ‘Harry Potter’ cast?

Unlike his fellow co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, Radcliffe had professional acting credits prior to making the Harry Potter movies. In fact, it was Maggie Smith (who portrayed Minerva McGonagall) who recommended him for the role. Smith had previously worked with Radcliffe on David Copperfield, a two-part BBC television drama, and thought he’d be a good fit for The Chosen One. Coincidentally, Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge) also worked on that project with them.

The actor was constantly impressed with his fellow co-stars

As an actor, Radcliffe was infinitely impressed by the work of his co-stars. In particular, he loved watching Staunton, Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbeldore in the final 6 Harry Potter movies), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin), and Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) act. According to the December Boys alum, those actors were very down-to-earth but could turn it on at the drop of a hat when the cameras began rolling.

Chris Columbus had a huge impact on Radcliffe

While Radcliffe learned a lot from his fellow actors, it was actually a director who had the greatest impact on him. While speaking with GQ, Radcliffe gave Columbus (who directed the first two Harry Potter movies) his flowers. He praised the director for his kindness, patience, and his love of movie-making.

Radcliffe recalls that the director of the first two ‘Harry Potter’ movies was beloved

“I’m incredibly lucky to have worked with all of them, but honestly, the person that I think had the greatest influence on me out of all of those is Chris Columbus,” Radcliffe shared. “When Chris came back for the 20th-anniversary reunion last year, he came to the studios, 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.”

Continuing on, Radclidde explained why the director was so beloved by him and the crew. “There are so few people in the industry that can like inspire that in people like that you genuinely, the crews of the first two [Harry] Potter films would’ve followed Chris Columbus into hell, you know?” Radcliffe explained. “We just loved him so much. I think a huge amount of his enthusiasm for like being on set is sort of where I take mine from, and the reason I think I love the job so much is, in no small part, due to him.”

Clearly, Columbus was the right person to kick off the Harry Potter franchise. He helped create the huge world that the following six movies would inhabit. Certainly, the director’s impact is felt by Radcliffe and many, many, others.