While J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series earned critical acclamation for opening an entirely new portal to the world of magic, the film series based on the book was appreciated even more than originally expected, making the franchise an incredible success and a giant contributor to the entertainment industry. The perfect casting against the remarkable storyline and exceptional visual effects paved the way for some young actors to earn fame even in their early years in Hollywood.
This included the young star who played ‘the boy who lived’ on the big screens aka Daniel Radcliffe, who was undoubtedly the perfect choice for the role. Yet, as surprising as it may be, he wasn’t the first choice for the character; rather, it was Liam Aiken who nearly got away with the part of Potter.
Liam Aiken Was The Original Choice For Harry Potter
Although the Harry Potter cast could literally not get any better than what ended up being, the original actor chosen for the titular character in the film saga was not Daniel Radcliffe, but rather A Series of Unfortunate Events actor, Liam Aiken.
Even though this sounds new because no one would have imagined anyone else playing the boy who lived beside the Kill Your Darlings actor, Aiken’s appearance was the closest it could be to the Harry Potter drawn in the books. Had he been selected, he would have been the perfect choice if the outer appearance was referred super closely to the book series.
However, there was one fault with him: he was not British, and not only the titular character but the entire cast was supposed to be British. Thus, the author of the book, J.K. Rowling, ruled out even the idea of having the Stepmom actor play the character.
In fact, Rowling wanted the films to remain so utterly faithful to the books that she went so far as to call producer Chris Columbus, who was charged with perfectly adapting the movies to the books, only to make sure that Liam Aiken couldn’t get the part.
How Daniel Radcliffe Bagged The Role Of Harry Potter
Since Liam Aiken was out of the picture, the search for the perfect and most suitable ‘British’ actor to play the titular character resumed once again. This had Chris Columbus searching for months and months until the day he found himself sitting in a hotel room in 2000, watching the 1999 BBC drama adaptation of David Copperfield.
Interestingly enough, Daniel Radcliffe made his acting debut in the same drama by playing the titular character in it. Thus, as soon as Columbus saw him, he thought to himself (via ScreenRant):
“This is Harry Potter. This is the kid we’ve been looking for for months.”
However, one issue persisted even then: Radcliffe’s parents showed resistance to the idea. Yet, after another fortunate (perhaps destined) meeting with The Lost City star in a theater in London, producer David Heyman tried his best to convince Radcliffe’s parents until they finally agreed.
Just like that, Daniel Radcliffe signed up for the role of Harry Potter which eventually ended up defining his career just at 11 years of age.
