From 2001 to 2011, Smith gained great acclaim and international recognition for playing Professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" movies. Smith reunited with Daniel Radcliffe with whom she recently starred in "David Copperfield" from 1999. Smith appeared in seven of the eight films. The series was known for hiring legendary and iconic British actors, including Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, and Helena Bonham Carter. Without inflation adjustment, it is the third-highest-grossing film series with $7.7 billion in worldwide receipts. In 2016, while promoting, "The Lady in the Van", Smith shared her experiences working on the "Harry Potter" films and working with the late Alan Rickman. "He was such a terrific actor, and that was such a terrific character that he played, and it was a joy to be with him. We used to laugh together because we ran out of reaction shots. They were always – when everything had been done and the children were finished, they would turn the camera around and we'd have to do various reaction shots of amazement or sadness and things. And we used to say we'd got to about number 200-and-something and we'd run out of knowing what to do when the camera came around on us. But he was a joy."