Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t just one of the great horror actors and an all-around Hollywood legend; it seems she’s also some kind of clairvoyant. Back in 2001, Curtis worked with an at the time 10-year-old Daniel Radcliffe on the spy thriller “The Tailor of Panama,” and noticed his look was similar to that of a certain juvenile wizard.
“The Tailor of Panama” is an adaptation of John le Carré’s 1996 novel of the same name. Le Carré helped write the screenplay alongside Andrew Davies and director John Boorman, who ultimately created one of the best spy movies of all time. While Pierce Brosnan’s unscrupulous MI6 sleuth was busy forcing Geoffrey Rush’s ex-con into spying on the Panamanian government, Jamie Lee Curtis was playing Rush’s wife, who was oblivious to the whole thing. Radcliffe played the couple’s son in what was his feature film debut.
Yes, before he played Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe appeared in a forgotten Brosnan spy movie. But it seems even back in 2001, there was talk of the youngster one day portraying the Boy Who Lived. Not only was his mother in talks with Warner Bros. about the 10-year-old starring in the “Harry Potter” movies, but Curtis also noticed that he had exactly the right look for the role without even knowing he was up for the part.
Jamie Lee Curtis called Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter casting before he knew about it
25 years after witnessing one of Pierce Brosnan’s best performances first-hand, Jamie Lee Curtis and Daniel Radcliffe reunited on Today. There, Curtis revealed that while filming “The Tailor of Panama,” she’d told the young actor how much he looked like Harry Potter. According to the actor, she and Radcliffe were shooting a scene by the pool when she noticed the resemblance. “I remember he was sitting by the pool,” she said, “and I looked up at him at one point, and I went, ‘Wait, you know, you look like that kid who’s on the cover of that book.'”
At the time, four “Harry Potter” books had been published, with the first, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (or “Sorcerer’s Stone” in the United States), debuting in 1997. As such, the series was already popular, and it seems Curtis was well aware of it at the time she was shooting “The Tailor of Panama.” The very first film based on “Philosopher’s Stone” also debuted in 2001, but when Curtis and Radcliffe worked together, the young star hadn’t yet been cast. As such, it seems Radcliffe had no idea that he would play the wizard when Curtis made her observation. His mother, casting director Marcia Jeannine Gresham, however, was already in talks with Warner Bros.
“[Daniel’s] mom was a casting director,” continued Curtis, “and she said, ‘Yes, they’ve already called us.'” But Radcliffe had yet to learn about it. “At that point, it was to sign on for seven films,” he said. “I don’t think I knew about it. I think my mom was like, ‘No, no, don’t mention it to him.” Six months later, Radcliffe was cast as Harry Potter.
Daniel Radcliffe almost missed out on Harry Potter
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” debuted in November 2001, eight months after “The Tailor of Panama.” It launched Daniel Radcliffe to megastardom, but he almost missed out on the lead role. As director Christopher Columbus told The Independent, “Harry Potter was by far the hardest role to cast. We looked through thousands of auditions, but nothing was quite right.” Once he happened to catch Radcliffe in the two-part BBC drama “David Copperfield,” however, Columbus knew he’d found his Harry. “He was only in it for a few minutes,” said the director. “But I thought, ‘This is Harry Potter’. I told the casting director that I’d found Harry, but she told me I’d never get him as his parents were in the industry and they don’t want him to be overexposed.”
According to Columbus, it was only when producer David Heyman came across Radcliffe and his father in the audience at a West End production that they finally convinced the family to let the young actor audition. It must have been at some point between that meeting and Radcliffe’s time shooting “The Tailor of Panama” that Warners and his mother were in talks. Both parents were reluctant to let their son accept the role, due to their own experiences in the industry and the fact Warners wanted to sign Radcliffe to a seven-film deal. When Jamie Lee Curtis made her observation, Marcia Jeannine Gresham hadn’t yet confirmed the deal her son eventually signed, which initially committed him to two films instead of seven. Of course, we eventually saw Radcliffe star in all seven of the “Harry Potter” films, and now we’ll see a new generation portray Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley in the definitely necessary “Harry Potter” HBO series.
