Painful story behind the new Harry Potter series
In any given week there are any number of images that are likely to elicit an Edvard Munch-y Scream but this week there was one photo, shot in a green and pleasant bit of England which could have doubled as a Wind In the Willows set, that should have set your hair on fire.
In the image, three tweens crouch, broadly grinning for the camera, the trio having beaten out tens of thousands of other 9-11-year-olds to nab the lead roles in the New HBO remake of Harry Potter.
Ohgodisthisagoodideareallyummmm….
Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton have been cast, respectively, as the Harry and his sidekicks Ron and Hermione, guaranteeing them fortunes, fame and never having to sit through year ten modern history should they not fancy.
That day, they just might be in Cannes doing a quick red carpet or in Prague shooting Darron Aronofksy's newie. Ciao darling.
I'm sure that for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton it's a dream come true. They feel like golden ticket winners, the envy of kids the world over and are about to embark on an incredible adventure.
But boring adult me looks at this publicity shot and wants to do some Munch-ing.
Child stardom, historically, has a helluva chequered record.
The announcement of McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton as the new faces of Harry Potter feels like the most double edged of swords going outside of a Roman military museum.
On one hand, what child's dream would not be to get to skive off school to pretend to be a wizard all day while earning squillions?
On the other hand, youthful fame is notorious for wreaking havoc and often coming with an extraordinarily high, lifelong cost.
The most obvious casualties: Drew Barrymore, Cory Haim, Cory Feldman, Edward Furlong, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Tatum O'Neil, Macaulay Culkin, and Amanda Bynes.
We could also probably add in Justin Bieber considering he seems to really be going through something right now.
Hello, stints in rehab, reality TV, and even court, with the occasional caught-by-the-paps, head-shaving breakdown thrown in there too.
For decades it has been clear that childhood stardom both arrests and speeds up the normal sort of emotional, psychological and social development that you are meant to go through as you leave childhood and awkwardly galumph into adulthood.
We've known all of this since Ronald Reagan was eating all the red jelly beans out of his Oval Office jar and yet every generation there are new fresh-faced enthusiastic pre-teens who don't, who can't, quite realise what they are about to sacrifice.
Look no further than the original Potter stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
They have all made clear that the actual acting on the eight original movies – the larking about on sets and the creative aspect of it all – was a real joy but that tremendous, global fame that came with it deeply affected them.
Radcliffe, Watson and Grint might never have to worry about mortgage payments or how they can afford that ice cream truck they always wanted (Grint) but the life-altering reverberations of being cast in Potter are clear to this day.
Radcliffe has, on a number of occasions, talked about how he started drinking heavily as a teenager to cope with it all.
'The quickest way to forget about the fact that you're being watched is to get very drunk,' he told Off Camera With Sam Jones in 2019.
'I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic,' he told Shortlist in 2012. 'I'd stay in my apartment
for days and drink alone.'
During a Newsweek interview in 2022 he was clear: 'I wouldn't want fame for my kid.'
Speaking to The Times in 2021, Grint said: 'I found it hard to deal with the fame side of things. If I ever do see Dan [Radcliffe] or Emma [Watson], fame is the one thing we never talk about.'
Wade into the myriad of interviews Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have given over the years and the words they use to describe becoming global megastars so young are ones like 'scary', 'dehumanising', 'surreal and odd', 'weird' and 'vulnerable'.
They have talked about feeling 'detached' from other teenagers. Grint said in 2018, when he would go back to his old school and see his peers, 'We had very little in common, which is quite isolating in a way.'
Radcliffe, Watson and Grint won their roles in 2000 and yet here we are, 25 years later, and their careers and public identities are still indelibly shaped by a movie they started shooting a full year before 9/11 even happened.
Smartphones didn't exist yet. Instagram had barely been invented when the final Potter movie came out.
So, what will the future be like for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton? They are about to embark on a project that will make them some of the most instantly recognisable teenagers in a world saturated by social media. How will they get through this unscathed?
I'm sure their parents, HBO and every producer involved will do absolutely everything in their power to look after them; that they will all take every precaution and hire every child psychologist and adolescent specialist and on-set advocate to try and protect McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton as much as possible.
But surely there is only so far a well-meaning studio and the most thoughtful and best of parents can go to shield them from real world consequences of their roles.
Just think about what lies ahead. McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton will have to go through the profound, innate awkwardness of adolescence – the hormones, the physical and emotional changes – with People keeping a around-the-clock watch.
Their faces will be on screens the world over. For a new generation, they will be Harry, Hermione and Ron. They will become immutable parts of the cultural furniture and nothing can ever change that.
There will be no going back. They are making what could be a lifelong choice at 11.
There will be at least one season per book, with the first out in 2026 meaning that, assuming there is one series per year, the final one could be screening in 2034.
McLaughlin as the titular Harry will be 19-years-old by then. How will they be on the other side of this?
I hope that what lies ahead for McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton is all the joy and fun and magic of bringing these characters to life. I hope against hope that they can somehow dodge having to walk the tough path that many other child stars have over the years.
I hope. I so very dearly hope. And if all else fails, they can buy themselves an ice cream van I suppose.
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