‘Born to be him’: Harry Potter TV show reveals Dominic McLaughlin’s ‘incredible’ audition tape
The new doc has left Harry Potter fans 'choked up'
Harry Potter fans have hailed Dominic McLaughlin after seeing his “incredible” audition tape for HBO’s TV show.
It’s been 15 years since Daniel Radcliffe’s tenure as the Boy Who Lived came to an end in Deathly Hallows Part 2. Since then, the franchise has produced a stage play, disastrous spin-offs, and a successful video game.
This Christmas, HBO Max is taking the world back to where it all began in the world of witchcraft and wizardry. The new series is a total remake, with new stars taking on every major role – including Babies star Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.
More importantly, three kids have been cast as the “golden trio” – including Dominic McLaughlin as the titular wizard.
Watch Dominic McLaughlin’s amazing Harry Potter audition now
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic, a 26-minute documentary about the making of the new series, is available to stream now.
It has all sorts of behind-the-scenes footage, including sneak peeks at the animatronics, locations (like Diagon Alley), and characters in costume.
The doc also includes interviews with the show’s casting directors, Emily Brockmann and Lucy Bevan. They watched 40,000 audition tapes in their search for the new Harry Potter, casting their net across the whole UK.
Dominic McLaughlin’s first audition for the role of Harry Potter in the HBO series pic.twitter.com/h1lKjRTGUl
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“It was a really exciting challenge to find three kids that you’d believe as friends… these are all ordinary kids, but they are all extraordinary. There’s magic in all of them,” Bevan said.
McLaughlin performed a poem (which he’d written himself) on his tape. “Dom just had this sort of quiet confidence in himself,” Bevan said.
It’s been picked out and praised by hundreds of fans who’ve watched the doc.
“The snippets of the trio’s audition tapes and them backstage only increased my faith in them,” one viewer commented on Reddit. “Even so early on you can tell what the casting directors saw in them,” another wrote.
“Dominic has that kind of young arrogance Harry had in the books that Radcliffe never really portrayed well. I honestly can see him and Arabella and maybe even Alastair capturing the characters a lot better than the movies,” a third wrote.
“This boy was born to be Harry,” a fourth added.
Harry Potter TV show doc leaves fans ‘choked up’
While there is some scepticism surrounding the TV show (mainly out of fear it’s nothing but a “cash grab”), the doc seems to have assured fans that it’s a considered, enormously detailed production. So much so, it’s made a lot of people rather emotional.
“Transportive and magical, truly. Choked up a bit watching it and thinking about it now,” one viewer wrote.
“I didn’t think it would make me tear up, but it totally did at the end. It’s all so beautiful and you can absolutely see and feel the love that went into it,” another commented.
“My eyes got teary when the designers start to tell how they feel responsible and do not want to let us and new fans down and also when they mentioned their fathers and mothers were in the original movie,” a third added.
Others have highlighted a moment near the end of the doc, where John Lithgow (who’s playing Dumbledore) takes about “growing old” with the cast.
“I knew that while I did the first season… I’d be turning 80 years old. That means I’d age to about 88 before it’s all over,” he explains.
“They’re gonna grow up with this, and I’m gonna grow old with them.”
Read more: The best movies and TV shows on HBO Max now
