More than 10 years before JK Rowling published the first volume of her magical saga, another young hero named Harry Potter already existed in the cinema! Discover the incredible story of the movie “Troll”…
Nope ! JK Rowling is not the first to have created a young hero evolving in a magical universe and responding to the name of Harry Potter!
Indeed, even if it may seem incredible and totally improbable, in 1986, approximately 11 years before the publication of Harry Potter at the Sorcerer’s Stone in England, a fantastic B series feature film, signed by John Carl Buechler, landed in dark rooms.
The title of the film: Troll. The name of its main character: Harry Potter Jr.
Even if he was not a wizard himself, this young boy living in San Francisco found himself confronted with a magical world and evil forces, which suddenly burst into his daily life. As for his interpreter, fans of The NeverEnding Story know him well, since it is Noah Hathaway, the young actor who played Atreyu in Wolfgang Petersen’s film.
Is this pure coincidence? An extraordinary coincidence? Or – as some later claimed – was JK Rowling directly inspired by the 1986 film, going so far as to plagiarize the name of the protagonist to give life to her little wizard?
This last hypothesis, refuted by JK Rowling, seems rather unlikely. First, because these accusations of plagiarism vis-à-vis huge blockbusters are commonplace in Hollywood. Then, because if Rowling had indeed been inspired by Troll to create her own magical universe, it is hard to see why she would have gone so far as to copy the name of the main character.
Still, 15 years before Daniel Radcliffe, Noah Hathaway was the first actor to play a “Harry Potter” in the cinema. Now 50, he’s become a black belt in several martial arts and a professional tattoo artist, still attending The Neverending Story fan conventions.
(Re)discover the trailer for “The NeverEnding Story”…