‘Harry Potter’ director Chris Columbus reflects on child casting, influenced by Macaulay Culkin

Harry Potter director Chris Columbus shares how Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone stardom influenced his child casting.

Chris Columbus, known for directing Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, recently opened up about the importance of finding the right parents when casting child stars. Speaking with Demi Lovato in her Hulu documentary Child Star, Columbus shared how his experience with Macaulay Culkin’s meteoric rise to fame shaped his approach during the Harry Potter casting process​.

Columbus revealed that Culkin’s sudden stardom after Home Alone was unexpected, saying, “It’s not like Harry Potter, where you know that it may be extraordinarily successful.” Reflecting on Culkin’s troubled family life, Columbus emphasized that casting the parents was as critical as casting the child actors themselves​. He explained, “I can’t have [an actor] go home to a really shaky environment for the sake of a film. It was as important to cast the parents as it was to cast the kids.”

As Harry Potter required its child stars to sign on for multiple films, Columbus felt a "tremendous responsibility" to ensure that young actors like Daniel Radcliffe understood the long-term impact of their roles. He recalled the widespread speculation surrounding the casting, noting, “You go on the street, you go into a pub, you go anywhere, and people are saying, ‘Who’s gonna be Harry Potter?’”​.

The documentary Child Star, now streaming on Hulu, further explores the challenges of childhood fame​,