'Harry Potter' cast recalls horrible haircuts in reunion special

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'Harry Potter' cast recalls horrible haircuts in reunion special

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Daniel Radcliffe recalled embarrassing haircuts, Emma Watson saw meeting her “Harry Potter” cast mates “an unexpected joy,” and director Christopher Columbus recalled the sets for the film as “the greatest playground in the world.”

Many of the cast of the “Harry Potter” film franchise have reunited for a 20th anniversary TV special, called “Return to Hogwarts,” to air Jan. 1 on HBO Max.

Radcliffe, 32, was just 11 years old when he was portrayed as an orphan boy with magical powers. He said at the reunion on set in Leavesden, outside London, that he was always happy to talk about the film.

“Every part of my life is connected to Potter and to Leavesden."

Radcliffe recalls how they hated Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) being told to grow their hair out for a fuzzy look in subsequent films in the series.

"We re like,  No, no, no, no, no. You re not leaving us like this? We re supposed to be becoming teenagers and dating girls in this film! That s not what it s going to be, is it?  So, I think we were pretty devastated as we realized that it was," he said.

Radcliffe, Grint, Watson (Hermione) and Columbus are joined by actors Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and other cast members for the reunion.

Watson said she was been overwhelmed with emotion at the reunion after so many years.

"Some of us haven t seen each other for years. So it s just been a joy. An unexpected joy," she said.

Oldman said getting back together was a "weird experience because you met them as kid, and now some of them are married and they ve got kids of their own."

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone" ("Philosopher s Stone" in the UK) was released in November 2001. The eight film franchise based on J.K. Rowling s stories took in some $7.8 billion at the global box office.

Rowling does not make a personal appearance on the reunion special but will show up in archive footage.