New Potter director fitting in

Maggie Smith says the young stars of the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, hit it off well with the new director, Mexican-born Alfonso Cuaron, who has replaced Chris Columbus.

“He’s just enchanting,” said the actress, who once again plays the shape-shifting Professor McGonnagall.

“He’s great and the children get on very well with him. He has a very thick accent but they’re all very, very fond of him and he’s like a kid himself. He’s a great joy on the set and Chris Columbus is still there to keep a continuity with the children, because they would have been very lost without him.”

The film has lost Richard Harris, who died in October, but has gained Michael Gambon who has taken over as the kindly headmaster Professor Dumbledore.

“Richard’s death was obviously very sad and very hard on the kids and a horrible loss,” Smith told journalists in New York. “But Mike Gambon is a great character and he’s also a very good actor. He has the same hair and makeup because Dumbledore is Dumbledore and if you don’t portray him the way the kids think he should be portrayed, they get really cross.

“That’s what’s hard, because there are lots of things in the book that have to be cut because it’s too long and then the children say ‘well, what happened to that bit?”’

Reports from Hollywood indicate that filmmaker Mike Newell could be the first Briton to direct a Harry Potter film. He is reportedly talking with the Harry Potter team about directing the fourth instalment of the series, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.