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Columbus to Direct 'Harry Potter'
Tuesday, March 28, 2000 12:00 AM EST
Warner Bros. has announced that the highly anticipated film adaptation of "Harry Potter" will be directed by Chris Columbus.
Columbus, who has helmed such box office hits "Home Alone" and "Mrs. Doubtfire", will be given the reigns to make "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone", the first in a projected series of movies based on writer J.K. Rowling's hit series of kids novels.
"From the first time I read Harry Potter with my children I fell in love with these wonderful characters and this world," Columbus said in a press release.
"I'm thrilled and honored to bring J.K. Rowling's classic story to the screen."
A virtual who's-who of Hollywood talent had been mentioned as a potential director for the project. Warner Bros. first offered the "Potter" to Steven Spielberg, who toyed with it for months before finally turning it down.
Other directors mentioned included Rob Reiner ("The Princess Bride"), Jonathan Demme ("Silence Of The Lambs"), Mike Newell ("Four Weddings And A Funeral"), Tim Robbins ("Cradle Will Rock"), Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"), Wolfgang Petersen ("Air Force One") and Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?").
More recently the short list was trimmed downt to four: Columbus, Brad Silberling ("City Of Angels"), Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam (who helmed "Brazil", "The Fisher King" and "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas"), and Alan Parker, who made "Evita", "Pink Floyd's The Wall", "Midnight Express", "The Commitments" and most recently directed "Angela's Ashes".
The naming of those four directors was seen as a hint of an internal battle at Warner Bros. over a direction for the film. Gilliam and Parker are both noted for a darker vision, while Silberling and Columbus are associated with more light-hearted work.
Ultimately, Columbus' commercial track-record seems to have won the day, a point underscored by Warner Bros. press release, which emphasized Columbus is "director of some of the decade's most successful family films" - although they fail to mention his most recent effort, "Bicentennial Man" died a quick box-office death, despite the star-power of Robin Williams.
Winning the Potter franchise will likely come as vindication for Columbus, who had reportedly lobbied hard to direct two other high-profile projects: adaptations of Marvel Comics' "Spider Man" and "The Fantastic Four".
Columbus first found success in movies with a trio of original scripts, "Gremlins", "Goonies" and "Young Sherlock Holmes" before switching to directing with "Home Alone", "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York", "Stepmom", "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Nine Months" with Julianne Moore and Hugh Grant.
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