The Harry Potter franchise has been casting magic all across the globe with its insane visuals, and enchanting spells with the help of an amazing cast and crew. Based on J.K Rowling’s novels of the same name, it strengthened the fanbase with Daniel Radcliffe donning the titular character in the Warner Bros. films.
Given that many actors gained global stardom through the film series, not everyone was an absolute delight to be associated with it. Late English actor, John Hurt talked about why he despised the popular franchise.
John Hurt Talked About Representation of British Filmmaking Culture
Late actor, John Hurt, who played wand-maker, Mr. Ollivander, in a 2009 interview with Rotten Tomatoes talked about the lack of British films in the filmmaking industry. He mentioned that the magical Harry Potter franchise despite majorly having a British cast was an American franchise since it was by Warner Bros.
“No, they’re not British films. Even Harry Potter isn’t a British [franchise]. We gave it to Warners, we just sit and collect. That always infuriates me.”
He found the British industry being overlooked despite having great potential.
“I do think huge areas of the industry are being neglected and we’ve lost the ability for middle-budget films. When we did have a stronger industry — and not just a business — we did have room for middle-budget films. They’ve gone out of the window, as they’ve done in America as well, but a $20m picture would be wonderful to make every now and then. We could do a lot for that.”
It is one of the reasons why he was driven insane when the famous franchise spent a fortune on unnecessary expenditures that could support middle-budget films.
John Hurt Didn’t Like Harry Potter Franchise’s Outrageous Expenses
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Talking about his dynamic acting career including his time on the fantasy franchise, the Indiana Jones actor threw light on the lavish expenses of the franchise especially in costumes which he found was not needed.
“But it’s like any country if you don’t have a lot of money to spend. And it’s interesting seeing how much money gets spent on Harry Potter. It’s quite absurd, really. I watch it and think it’s just the same as Hollywood. I look around and you’ve got three costumes there, none of which are likely to be worn, and they’re all replicas of each other. It’s a vacuous waste of money and it drives me insane.”
He further opened up about his experience working alongside Harrison Ford and Daniel Radcliffe in the major franchises stating,
“I enjoy the experiences — you can have fun — but I don’t enjoy seeing that waste. I don’t like that at all.”
It is clear that he was unable to withstand the waste big studios often do in trivial things that can be avoided. He further clarified that he just wanted to highlight the small-budget films that could shape the British filmmaking industry.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
