Potter’s Paternal Perks

If anyone could teach classes in how to wheedle, it would be your average 'tweeny' as director Chris Columbus appears to have discovered. The Harry Potter director may have spent months searching for the three main child leads in his movie, but his 11-year-old daughter has managed to skip the audition process and land a role as an extra in the movie. According to a report in today's Daily Express, Eleanor Columbus will play one of Hermione's schoolfriend chums in the upcoming blockbuster. While Warner Bros wouldn't comment, Columbus himself has revealed the extent of his children's influence in earlier interviews. 'From the first time I read Harry Potter with my children I fell in love with these wonderful characters and this world,' the director told reporters when he was first linked with the Potter project. 'Between my kids and all their friends, I've heard a lot about what this movie should be and how I could ruin it if I cut this or that scene.'