Spielberg Says Kubrick's Death Pulled Him From Harry Potter

For years one of cinema’s great what-ifs has been how Harry Potter might have looked in Steven Spielberg’s hands. He was attached to launch the franchise in the late 1990s, sat in on early casting with J.K. Rowling, and then handed it back. The commonly told reason was that he did not want to relocate to London while his children were young, and he has said he does not regret giving up the series, but until now he had not revealed a decisive personal event that made the choice for him.

In a new interview with TCM, Spielberg said Stanley Kubrick’s death in 1999 and a request made at the funeral pulled him off Harry Potter and onto A.I. Christiane Kubrick and her brother Jan Harlan approached him about taking over the project Kubrick had been developing since the 1970s.

Spielberg added that he had already signed on and begun casting for Harry Potter when A.I. became unavoidable, and that he walked away from what would have been a huge movie to make A.I. instead.

steven spielberg, stanley kubrick, harry potter, a.i, j.k. rowling, christiane kubrick, jan harlan, 1999, funeral, casting