Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone turns 20: Daniel Radcliffe, director Chris Columbus on translating the book to screen

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and director of the first film of the franchise, Chris Columbus, open up on creating awe-inspiring sets and sequences of The Great Hall, Quidditch matches, the Troll Attack, and the Chess Game. “And she said, ‘That’s exactly the same way I see it.’” He also got her to go to bat for him on one major casting decision: his Harry. We had to get everybody out of the set — and then we shot it two more times, telling ourselves, “We’re just going to add CGI candles.” Radcliffe: We scattered! Radcliffe: Looking back, it would have been totally acceptable for me as an 11-year-old in interviews to go, “Yeah, the Quidditch scenes are pretty painful.” But at the time, it was like, “I can’t say anything bad or negative about anything,” so you’re just like, “No, no, no, it’s great.” It was a broomstick with a thin seat in the middle, and you didn’t have stirrups — or, if you did, they were very, very high up — so you were basically leaning all your weight onto your junk when you leaned forward. And he said, “There’s one thing you’ve got to do: When these kids get off these rigs, they should be rubbing their thighs like athletes, like it’s really been this incredibly painful experience.” Radcliffe: I think on the fifth movie, they made a broom that had more of a rowing machine tractor seat, and we were like, “Why has this taken so long to change?