“Hollywood is risk-adverse and what makes them feel secure is to have an American in the lead,” Heyman says. He’s prepared to forgive industry colleagues for proposing an Americanized Harry Potter. “This was before Harry Potter was the big phenomenon that he became, so they were entitled to that view. But for me, it would have destroyed the stories.

“For me, one of the things I responded to in these books is their Englishness. The story is very English. It has cultural specificity, but it has thematic and emotional universality.”

“We’ve all been through having our first crush, having our first kiss, suffering from confusion and social isolation, being embraced by friends and ostracized by them, having teachers you like and ones you don’t like — all these are moments that have been experienced by British kids and also by North American kids and people the world over.”