'Harry Potter' reboot cinematographer reveals hidden cost of working with child actors

As the Harry Potter reboot is in full swing, several iconic characters have been recast with new child actors. But with them came key issues.

Adriano Goldman, who is serving as the series cinematographer, shed light on them in an interview with Andre Pilli on his YouTube channel.

He shared that the production became taxing because of the limited time young artists had to be on set.

“You have to shoot really fast, and the faster you go, the more you compromise quality,” he said.

The cinematographer continued, “There’s no way around it, right? Obviously, we have a lot of resources, but it’s brutal."

"The kids’ screen time is really brutal. So the methodology is very specific. You practically have to pre-shoot all the scenes while they’re in class.”

Goldman, for example, offered a glimpse into the brutal filming experience with him behind the camera.

According to cinematographers, Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter), Alastair Stout (Ron Weasley), and Arabella Stanton (Arabella Stanton) - the three leading trio - have often just had 90 minutes to be on set at a time.

In such a squeezed time, Goldman said the crew had been forced to add as many as six camera setups to shoot all the scenes before the child actors head back to their real-life schools.

He noted, “It’s really hard; you shoot everything out of order, right, because of that kind of scheduling. So the process is really complicated, but I’ve done one now.”

Harry Potter reboot will premiere on December 25, 2026.