Harry Potter director Christopher Columbus has ended any hopes of a reunion with the cast, insisting it would be ‘impossible’.
The 66-year-old film director – who is the mastermind behind big names including Home Alone and Gremlins – was speaking in an interview about his new film The Thursday Murder Club.
Christopher, directed the first two films in the Harry Potter series, The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber Of Secrets, admitted he could never see the cast reunite in the future due to the controversy surrounding the book’s author JK Rowling.
Asking about his plans for a film adaption of the stage show Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, he said: ‘It’s never going to happen with all that political stuff.’
Since December 2019, Scotland-based Rowling has hit the headlines for her outspoken views on transgender issues.
Speaking about Rowling, Christopher said: ‘Everyone in the cast has their own opinion, which is different from her opinion, which makes it impossible.
Harry Potter director Christopher Columbus has spoken out about his future plans of a reunion – saying it would be ‘impossible’
The director admitted he could never see the cast reunite in the future due to the controversy surrounding the book’s author JK Rowling
‘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 Daniel Radcliffe and I just spoke to him a few days ago,’ he told The Times.
‘I still have a great relationship with all the kids in the cast.’
Back in April, Rowling hit the headlines as she celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling that trans women are not legally women.
Britain’s top judges unanimously found that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender.
The decision was hailed by gender-critical campaigners as a major victory, with the multi-millionaire author saying it would protect ‘the rights of women and girls across the UK’.
Rowling, who reportedly helped fund the women’s rights campaign group which brought the Supreme Court case, shared a photo online from on board her $150 million superyacht puffing a cigar in celebration.
She told her 14.3million followers on X, formerly Twitter: ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’
Fans noted the apparent silence from stars who featured in the blockbuster movie adaptations of her Harry Potter books.
He said: ‘It’s never going to happen with all that political stuff’ (Christopher pictured with star Daniel Radcliffe in 2000)
Daniel Radcliffe, 35, and fellow Harry Potter stars Emma Watson, 35, and Rupert Grint, 36, have spoken publicly in support of gender ideology – that biologically male trans women should be regarded as women.
And they have each commented in opposition to Rowling’s views on the issue, while expressing their gratitude for her role in their careers.
The author herself appeared to aim a jibe at them, when sharing on her X account a response to another user who asked: ‘What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’
Rowling wrote: ‘Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.’
And she previously indicated in April last year she would not forgive Radcliffe nor Watson as she criticised celebrities she said had ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’.
On that occasion she hit out at stars accused of using their ‘platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors’ after the release of the long-awaited Cass report into gender treatment in the UK.
Radcliffe has spoken out in the past to say adults are ‘condescending’ for expressing misgivings over gender transitioning in children.
Speaking at a roundtable with six trans and non-binary children organised by the Trevor Project in 2023, the actor said: ‘There are also people who also have a slightly condescending but well meaning attitude of, People are young, and it is a huge decision.’
The previous November he appeared to aim a thinly-veiled shot at Rowling by suggesting young, queer and transgender fans of the Harry Potter franchise were upset by her stance.
Since 2019, Rowling has hit the headlines for her outspoken views on transgender issues, and in April she celebrated a ruling that trans women are not legally women
His comments seemed a barbed reference to Rowling’s tweets from June 2020 in which she ridiculed an article’s description of women as ‘people who menstruate’.
In response at the time, Radcliffe hit out at the author, saying: ‘To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you’.
Referring to Rowling’s comments, Radcliffe said that he wanted to let members of the LGBT+ community know ‘not everybody in the franchise felt that way’.
He added: ‘The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that.
‘And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.’
Meanwhile Watson, who became famous after playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, has previously spoken out on the trans debate.
Ms Watson wrote: ‘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.’
Their fellow co-star Grint has also previously spoken up, telling the Times in 2020: ‘I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers.
‘Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement.’
In March the following year, he explained his decision to voice his opposition to Rowling’s comments saying that while he has ‘huge respect’ for the author, he can still disagree with her views.
Speaking to Esquire, he added: ‘I am hugely grateful [for] everything that she’s done. I think that she’s extremely talented, and I mean, clearly, her works are genius.’
Elaborating on his reasoning, he added: ‘I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that.
‘Sometimes silence is even louder. I felt like I had to because I think it was important to. I mean, I don’t want to talk about all that… Generally, I’m not an authority on the subject.
‘Just out of kindness and just respecting people. I think it’s a valuable group that I think needs standing up for.’
