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CNN Live At Daybreak

Richard Harris in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

Aired December 03, 2001 - 05:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has been a sustained smash at the box office. That may not surprise you. It was the No. 1 movie for the third weekend in a row. In 17 days, it's raked in more than $220 million.

But as CNN's Jodi Ross reports, a lot of the film's stars almost didn't take the part.

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RICHARD HARRIS, ACTOR: I see the Jew (ph) like so many before you have discovered the delights of the mirror of Aroset (ph).

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JODI ROSS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" makes magic at the box office, one actor from the film finds himself not entirely spellbound.

HARRIS: I've never read the books. I never will read the books. They're not my type of reading, simple as that.

ROSS: Lack of knowledge of the literature made Richard Harris leery of taking on the role of head wizard Hagrid Dumbledore until his 12-year-old granddaughter stepped in.

HARRIS: And so she called me up and said, papa, if you don't play Dumbledore, I'll never speak to you again. So that was it. She's a fanatic.

ROSS (on camera): Like she's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

HARRIS: She's like most kids, fanatical about it.

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HARRIS: He doesn't age. He youthens.

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ROSS (voice-over): Fanatical is the approach this actor has taken to his line of work. Seventy-one-year-old Harris has stared in more than 70 films beginning over 40 years ago. From King Arthur in "Camelot" to what may be his most memorable movie, "A Man Called Horse."

In the last decade, Harris played meaty character parts in "Unforgiven," "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" and "Gladiator."

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HARRIS: That is why it must be you.

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ROSS: Only one thing is missing from such an eccentric and varied career, a kid's movie.

HARRIS: And years and years ago I did -- I did a movie that was a flop. I did an animated version of "Gulliver's Travels."

ROSS: With the cartoon catastrophe well behind him, "Harry Potter" brings Harris to a whole new audience of younger fan and also another first, he gets to be an action figure.

ROSS (on camera): You know there'll be a doll of you.

HARRIS: I know. I haven't seen it yet.

ROSS: What would you like it to look like?

HARRIS: Would you take the -- would you take the doll of me to bed? Ah-ha, CNN, would you?

ROSS: Yes.

(voice-over): The dolls might have had something to do with it, but it seems now Harris is finally a "Potter" fan.

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HARRIS: Yes and no.

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HARRIS: I think it's magic. I think it's great.

ROSS: Jodi Ross, CNN Entertainment News, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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