Harry Potter Director Chris Columbus Talks J.K. Rowling

At one point, director Chris Columbus hoped to direct a film adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, the stage show co-written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, with the original cast from the Harry Potter movies, the first two of which he directed. Then came Rowling’s transphobic statements, and now, Columbus considers his vision for a Cursed Child cast reunion a non-starter.

Columbus cast pessimism about that prospect in a new interview with The Times.

“It’s never going to happen,” he told the U.K. newspaper. “It’s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff. Everyone in the cast has their own opinion, which is different from [Rowling’s] opinion, which makes it impossible. … I haven’t spoken to Miss Rowling in a decade or so, so I have no idea what’s going on with her, but I keep very close contact with [Harry Potter portrayer] Daniel Radcliffe and I just spoke to him a few days ago. I still have a great relationship with all the kids in the cast.”

Rowling’s anti-trans statements, as Entertainment Weekly reports, have included her repeated self-identifications as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF; her suggestion she’d “happily do two years” in prison rather than supporting policies protecting trans individuals from hate crimes; and her celebrations over a U.K. Supreme Court ruling that womanhood is legally defined by biological sex.

Columbus, who directed the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the 2002 sequel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, previously expressed disappointment about Rowling’s views in a Variety interview earlier this month. “I like to sometimes separate the artist from the art; I think that’s important to do,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, what’s happened. I certainly don’t agree with what she’s talking about. But it’s just sad, it’s very sad.”

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Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric has spurred responses from the movies’ cast. In a 2020 essay for The Trevor Project, Radcliffe wrote, “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Two days later, Radcliffe’s costar Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film series, tweeted, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are. I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”