Harry Potter has his 10-year "birthday" this week, but it's not just the fantasy crowd that's celebrating (either with wizard-rock shows or readathons).
We checked in with a variety of musicians and actors (some from the films, some not) to see what they thought about the boy wizard and how he's impacted their lives. We thought we might get laughed at — after all, a lot of these folks were walking the red carpet at the VMAs and probably had something far more glamorous to attend to. But mention Harry Potter, and some people just light up.
Here are a few of them:
Keira Knightley: "I've read all the books. I haven't seen the films, except the first one. What's the alley where they get the wands from? [Diagon Alley.] That's an amazing image. Harry, he's pretty cool. He's got a good scar."
Jeremy Davis (Paramore): "Hell, yeah, I love 'Harry Potter'! I feel like 'Harry Potter,' the books and the movies, went above and beyond any other series. It would be a tough series to compete with. I would hate to try to compete against it."
Kellan Lutz ("Twilight"): "I love 'Harry Potter.' I actually wanted 'Harry Potter' as competition for 'Twilight,' because you'd be seeing the wizard side of fantasy and then jumping into the vampire life. Everyone I talk to is so obsessed with it. I always wished I had powers. I always wished I had a stick and a broom! It's a great story. It's so well-written. I think 'Harry Potter' hit everything. It set the precedent, that peak of Mount Everest, and we all want to climb that mountain. I just wish there were as many books to make movies of in 'Twilight' as there are in 'Harry Potter.' "
Robert Pattinson (Cedric in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Edward in "Twilight"): "Does it make me a traitor? 'Harry Potter' was what made me become an actor. I credit 'Harry Potter' with everything else that's come since for me. I didn't know what I was doing before that. I hadn't read the books before doing the movie, so at first I read it just as an acting exercise. But I really enjoyed it! But I think Edward would kick Cedric's ass, to be honest."
Lupe Fiasco: "I'm a spectator of the entire phenomenon, you know what I'm saying? The entire phenomenon inspires me. I love Harry Potter [he points to his own specs] because of the glasses."
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