'Harry Potter' Director Chris Columbus Criticizes HBO's Remake: "What's the Point?"

The director -- who helmed the first two Warner Bros. films that launched the hit cinematic franchise -- recently made headlines for saying he wanted nothing to do with HBO's multi-season remake of J.K. Rowling's novels. But on a new podcast, Columbus made more pointed remarks about the project, reacting to photos making the rounds of Hagrid (Nick Frost) leading around a young Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) around London. "I looked online and there are photographs of Nick Frost as Hagrid with the new Harry Potter," Columbus told the The Rest is Entertainment podcast. "And he's wearing the exact same costume that we designed for Hagrid. Part of me was like: 'What's the point?' I thought everything [on the HBO show] the costumes and everything was going to be different. It's more of the same." Columbus continued: "It's very flattering for me, because I'm like: That's exactly the Hagrid costume that we designed. So part of it is really exciting. I'm excited to see what they're going to do with it. Part of it is sort of déjà vu all over again." Columbus added that he wasn't "jealous" about the remake. "I'm so beyond it," he said. "I did it. I've done that, it's time to move on. I've always had issues with the idea of franchise. When we did Gremlins and Goonies -- that's why I didn't do the second Gremlins film. My attitude then is I've done it and it's time to move on. Same with Potter. I feel like I've done it ... I'm really proud of those films -- the first three that I was involved with, and I'm moving on." Columbus also discussed how he shot films with Peeves the Poltergeist (Rik Mayall) for the first film, 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which were cut from the release. "We filmed the Peeves scenes, but it was a CGI character and we could never get it right. We could never design the scene the character to any of our liking, so they were cut from the film. That's the thing I'm probably most excited about in the HBO series, I want to see how they do Peeves. But Rik Mayall's performance was fantastic." The director also recently addressed the controversy of J.K. Rowling's trans views, telling Variety: "I like to sometimes separate the artist from the art, I think that's important to do. It's unfortunate, what's happened. I certainly don't agree with what she's talking about. But it's just sad, it's very sad." HBO's Harry Potter is coming in 2027 and pledges a "faithful" re-imagining of Rowling's seven novels as separate seasons of television. Producers have previously noted the new version will be able to include far more material from Rowling's novels than was able to be explored in the films. "The series will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved Harry Potter book series by author and executive producer J.K. Rowling and will feature an exciting and talented cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have adored for over 25 years," HBO said in a statement when announcing the project. "The original, classic and cherished films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch around the world."