Sue Blackhall - Daniel Radcliffe

D aniel has used the word lucky many times in reference to his getting the iconic role. He has also said that by chance he happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was on a night out in 1999 with his parents in the London audience at the play Stones in His Pockets, where Potter producer David Heyman and screenwriter Steve Kloves were sitting several rows in front. Heyman was already known to Daniels parents, as his mother, Norma Heyman, was a client of literary agent Alan Radcliffe. During the interlude, Heyman introduced himself, omitting any mention of the new project, a film adaptation of J. K. Rowlings hugely successful series of boy wizard books that was already in preproduction in October 1999. Or so the story goes.

In fact, upon seeing Daniel at the theatre, Heyman had made a surreptitious call to director Chris Columbus, who was now panicking because the perfect Potter had still not been found so close to the start of filming, to tell him that by amazing coincidence he had stumbled across the boy who had made such an impression in the BBC two-part drama David Copperfield. Columbus urged Heyman to make contact, leaving Daniel bemused at the garbled conversations between the grown-ups. I had this feeling that my parents were keeping me out of the loop, somehow, he said. All I could think about was why this guy had been staring at me.

At one point, Daniel was ushered behind a theatre column with his parents seemingly talking in some secret code about something he knew nothing about. In fact, the complete story is that, when the casting crew were looking around for their Harry Potter, Columbus had watched Daniel in a video of David Copperfield. He has always been irked about the myth of David Heyman seeing Daniel at the theatre, turning round and happening upon Harry Potter. Columbus said: That story drives me crazy. Its only part of it. We had a casting director who would bring in hundreds and hundreds of kids every week and Id look at all these videotapes submitted from all over England but we never really found the right boy.

The search lasted for nine months and around sixteen thousand children were seen. There are reports that one casting director actually lost their job amid the desperation to find the right boy. It was watching the Copperfield video that made Columbus think that at last they had the perfect Potter child actor. I became enchanted with the kid and told the casting director that we had to see him. He had that haunted quality we were looking for. I couldnt get his image out of my mind. The immediate response he received was that because of the reluctance of Daniels parents it would never happen. The casting search continued until one day a frustrated Columbus threw the video on his desk and demanded in frustration, This is what I want! This is the kid. Just bring him to me.

With a new two-film contract in place, Daniels parents eventually relented and let him audition. To the Radcliffes credit, said Columbus, they were totally aware of the enormity of the project and were not going to make this decision lightly. We made it very clear to them that we would protect their son.

It was the experience Columbus had had with child actors that secured him the directing role in the first place. He had not been first choice. The job was originally offered to Steven Spielberg who actually worked for a few months on the project with Steve Kloves but later withdrew after disagreeing with Jo Rowlings insistence on an all-British cast. Spielberg was later to say, I just felt I wasnt ready to make an all-kids movie and my kids thought I was crazy. And the books were by that time popular so, when I dropped out, I knew it was going to be a phenomenon. But you know, I dont make films because theyre gonna be a phenomenon.

In another interview, he was to go even further, saying, I purposely didnt do the Harry Potter movie because, for me, that was shooting ducks in a barrel. Its just a slam dunk. Its just like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts. Theres no challenge.

Fate, it seemed, was to play a huge part in Daniels future, for Spielberg had also wanted to hire young American actor Haley Joel Osment, who already had a number of films behind him including Forrest Gump and The Sixth Sense, as Harry Potter. Another American boy star, Liam Aiken from Stepmom, was also said at one time to be up for the part.

Other names for the directors job included Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, Jonathan Demme who directed The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, and Brad Silberling (City of Angels and Casper). But fortunately for Daniel, Columbus was taken on and Columbus knew exactly who he wanted, despite what he described as an intense process. There were times when we felt we would never find an individual who embodied the complex spirit and depth of Harry Potter. Then Dan walked into the room and we all knew we had found Harry.

And there was someone else who also thought Daniel would be perfect for the part and had recommended him Maggie Smith, who had been greatly impressed by him when she acted alongside him as Aunt Betsey Trotwood in Copperfield. I owe her big, Daniel was to say many years later. So it was a kind of staged fate the meeting at the theatre that night combined with a series of fortuitous events that was to turn Daniel into one of the worlds most famous stars.

Daniel got the call for a more formal meeting followed by three auditions and a series of screen tests. He said he entered them all with little confidence but a lot of hope. My parents told me to believe in myself but they also said not to get my hopes up too much because I could end up really disappointed.

He had every reason to be cautious because the cast hunt for Harry Potter was hugely publicised, with new names in the frame for the title role being mooted every day. But he was slowly getting there. In one crucial five-minute screen test he had to express a range of emotions from pleasure to gravity including performing a poignant Harry Potter speech Do you know what I hear? I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort and if you heard your mum screaming about to be killed you wouldnt forget in a hurry being one of the lines from it.