Having seen him the BBC’s version of David Copperfield, Columbus became determined to hire Daniel Radcliffe and was eventually successful. Columbus offered the lead role to Liam Aiken, with whom he had worked on Stepmom, but then immediately had to withdraw it because he wasn’t British. Columbus also wrote another boarding school whodunnit, 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes, excerpts of which were used in the open auditions for Harry, Ron, and Hermione.ĥ. Doubtfire, Chris Columbus was chosen to direct. Due to his success in working with child actors on Home Alone and Mrs. Rowling’s personal favorite candidate was Terry Gilliam, who later criticized the pedestrian nature of the films.Ĥ. Other directors considered included Rob Reiner and Ivan Reitman. Steven Spielberg famously passed on the project, stating that the success of the books made it an open goal. Rowling sold the rights for $1 million, with the stipulation that the studio could only make films based on her existing stories and only British and Irish actors would be cast.ģ.
Warner originally looked at making animated films of the books, or otherwise condensing some of the books into one film.
Rowling had previously turned down Michael Jackson’s interest in turning the books into a musical.Ģ. Now better known for the Transformers movies, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was instrumental in bringing the project to Warner Bros. Producer David Heyman optioned Rowling’s book in 2000, with studios lining up to bag the rights. acquired the rights to Rowling’s novels for the sum of $1 million in the year 2000 – here are some bits and bobs about the franchise’s development, and the actors who brought the characters to life…ġ.