One of the best casting decisions in recent memory is Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. The kid just looks like the spitting image of the literary icon, and he wears the scar and glasses like they're completely natural, like they've always been there. But can you imagine the Potter world without Radcliffe? Like, could you imagine William Moseley being the guy that gets to befriend Hermione and Ron, come onto Cho Chang,* chum up to Dumbledore, and take on Voldemort?

The actor recently talked with MTV, and mentions that he was up for the part of Harry, but that "I don't quite fit the bill, I think." Moseley certainly would've been a much different choice. Luckily, losing that role left him open to play a British child in a different epic, fantastical gig. He plays Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise.

He admits that he wonders what it would have been like, but that "if I could have chosen one part for myself, I would have chosen Peter every single time." So from an actor's perspective, he's happy with Peter, but I wonder, who is your preferred hero?

*Edited thanks to Monster. I don't know why I keep calling her Chen....

It's official! Harry Potter, otherwise known as Daniel Radcliffe, is heading to Broadway. Back in September of last year, I posted about the Brit's plans to reprise his starring role in Equus on Broadway, dropping trou for a whole new set of fans. Now Yahoo has confirmed it.

The young actor will make his Broadway debut on September 5 of this year, in previews for a limited, 22-week run that will stretch from September 25 to February 8 of 2009. Yes, folks, that means he'll be in New York City as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters. I'm thinking that the chances for a big premiere in the Big Apple are pretty darned good -- and just think -- if you book tickets for the play around November 2, you can have a double Radcliffe whammy!

Thea Sharrock is directing the play, which is based on the true story of a troubled young man who blinds horses with a metal hoof pick. Richard Griffiths (who plays Uncle Vernon in the Potter franchise) will also reprise his role as the psychiatrist who treats Radcliffe's troubled lead. Now the question becomes: Will Daniel's nudity and smoking create an uproar here as well? He is now 18, so that should stop some of the skin qualms, but the Big Apple certainly isn't the most smoke-friendly city these days.

What do you do when your best-grossing movie franchise is near its end? You try to prolong it, of course. This may be what Warner Bros. has decided to do with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the adaptation of the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series. According to The Mail on Sunday, "crew working on the sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, have been told J.K. Rowling's seventh book, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, will be released in two halves." But the decision -- if true -- is claimed not to be about squeezing more money out of the boy wizard. Instead the studio would split the final book over two films because the book of Deathly Hallows is way too long to appropriately condense it into one feature-length release. Of course, the book of Order of the Phoenix was even longer and they made that one into a single movie.

The move to extend Harry Potter 7 so that it's Harry Potter 7 and Harry Potter 8 seems to make sense for both financial and artistic reasons, and it also seems appropriate after the confirmation that The Hobbit would too be spread out over two films. Considering none of the other attempted fantasy franchises have been received very well, the idea that both the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings franchises would be extended appears to be a good one for both Hollywood and the fans. Who cares if Warner Bros. does want to do this for the money? You hardcore Potter lovers know you'd rather have another movie to watch, especially one that allows more of your favorite scenes from Deathly Hallows to make it in. Apparently Rowling agrees that the adaptation of her book needs to be at least longer than 4 hours -- and anybody thinking they can keep the kids seated for a single, 5-hour movie would have to be crazy. And speaking of crazy, that's exactly what The Mail on Sunday is for thinking Steven Spielberg could be the "big-name director" expected to helm the two-part Deathly Hallows and for thinking that Warner Bros. could seriously be hoping for an Oscar-worthy finale.

Now that Daniel Radcliffe has grown up a bit, he's looking to balance off those last few Harry Potter films with stuff a little more "adult." For one, he took on a role (and off his clothes) in the staged play Equus, while he also starred in a cameo during the HBO show Extras as himself (who also happened to be a sex-obsessed teenager). Now, as we begin to start the cycle all over again and anticipate a sixth Potter flick, the UK Guardian reports the dude is among those being considered to star as a war journalist in a film called Journey. They say, "The film, Journey, will see Radcliffe play Dan Eldon, a 22-year-old who was among four journalists stoned to death by a mob in Mogadishu in July 1993. Eldon left behind 17 journals, thousands of pictures and a legacy that has won admirers including Madonna and Julia Roberts." Nice, meaty role, says me.

On another front, it seems fans are getting just a tad restless now that the seventh and final Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is over and done with. The people want more! They want an eighth book! And they will torture poor J.K. Rowling with future Potter questions for what appears to be the rest of her life. According to IESB, this time it's Rowling's own children who seem to be pressuring her into penning an eighth book. But Rowling, who's made approximately five gabillion dollars off the boy wizard, isn't exactly biting ... yet. She says, "If - and it's a big if - I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I've already told his story. But these are big ifs. Let's give it ten years."

There's less than a year now until we get the next installment of the Harry Potter series and finally nip at the end of all this wizardry. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to come out on November 21, 2008 -- the week before Thanksgiving. So with less than 12 months to go, it's time to start getting that swarm of tantalizing pictures. First up isn't so tantalizing however. In fact, there's a decent chance you wouldn't recognize it as a new one -- it's right there, to the right. You can click on the image to make it bigger.

Harry looks like, well, himself, and I have to agree with Empire, who put the picture up -- Daniel Radcliffe looks a little bit younger. Perhaps it's the fact that he's fully-clothed, and not showing off his man-boy pecs, or that he isn't smoking and hugging horses. It could also be the airbrushing. Is that really necessary? You don't want to remove signs of age from a kid. He shouldn't have to struggle with that until he's at least...25?

But there you have it. Hopefully the next one will be much more exciting, because well, there's a whole lot of stuff coming up in this installment. Even darker than the previous stories, this tale has the clan back at Hogwarts while Voldemort and the Deatheaters gain strength. Dumbledore uses some fancy magic to prepare Harry for the days ahead, while Harry also gets an earful of Ron and Hermione's arguments. Draco, meanwhile, has the chance to become a tried-and-true bad guy, rather than just a wimpering bully, and Snape now teaches the Defense of the Dark Arts class. And if you've read the series, or happened to have seen that spoiler t-shirt, you know that there's also one heck of a twist on the way.

Oh yes, that's little Danny Radcliffe. It's kind of hard to imagine him as a little kid now, between the darkness and turmoil he's gone through as Harry Potter, and the fact that he showed all of his naked, birthday-suit goods to audiences on the theatrical stage. Still, he wasn't always a teen hero, or ballsy young actor. There was a time when he was just a young boy, one who could only dream of future fame; one who had no idea that he'd one day be one of Britain's richest teens.

Courtesy of Before They Were Famous, the above clip has Radcliffe as part of the audience in BBC Saturday's children's show, Live & Kicking. Ignore the year, which looks like "1988" in the actual clip -- Radcliffe wasn't born yet, and the show wasn't on air until 1993. Whoops! Still, that's Daniel in all his young glory. The actor is definitely one of those people who will probably look the same their whole life.

All of you Harry Potter fans who were disappointed with the absence of quidditch in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix can rejoice. There is definitely sequences of the wizard's sport in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I haven't read the book nor do I know exactly how much quidditch figures into the next installment, but I have just watched a new featurette on the film's production, which specifically focuses on quidditch costumes. Titled "Quidditch: Back in Style," and hosted by the site Worst Previews, the video features costume designer Jany Temime presenting a new padded quidditch uniform. She says that because the characters are now older, they are more physical in their play of the sport, hence the need for shoulder pads and such.

Another Half-Blood Prince featurette now available is titled "Set Magic: Creating Wool's Orphanage." In this video, we see production designer Stuart Craig discussing the plans for and construction of, yes, Wool's Orphanage. For those out of the loop, Wool's is the childhood residence of Tom Riddle (aka young Voldemort). There's models, sets, and other art department goods, but unfortunately for you fans there's no sign of the cast. At the beginning of each video, however, there is a bit of movie footage, plus Daniel Radcliffe saying he's glad to be back. Of course, we've only just begun to get the real goods from Half-Blood Prince, which only began filming two months ago. Earlier today we got casting news for the character of Lavendar Brown, and on Monday we found out who is playing Narcissa Malfoy. So, be sure and stay tuned to Cinematical for plenty more exciting Potter stuff as we receive it. And remember, we have a whole year before the thing comes out, so try to be patient.

He may be most famous for his role as Harry Potter, boy wizard, but Daniel Radcliffe isn't just The Boy Who Lived anymore. Moviefone's Patricia Chui recently had a chance to chat with Radcliffe via AIM about Harry Potter, the roles he's taken recently to break out of the Potter mold, how he felt about doing his first sex scene, what he'd name a band if he had one, and ... how he'd look wearing the Annie wig. Think you know everything there is to know about Radcliffe? What's his birth sign? What sport (besides Quidditch) is he obsessed with? And what nickname does he absolutely hate being called?

Most importantly, what's it like to be one of the most famous faces on the planet? Read Patricia's chat with Radcliffe yourself, and let him tell you all about being "Dan" in his own words ...

Around the same time that Daniel Radcliffe makes fans squee with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which is scheduled to come out in November of next year, it looks like he'll send North American girls into a flutter by reprising his Equus role in New York City. Reuters has reported that the actor is hoping to debut the play on Broadway late next year. I would assume that this would be after the film comes out, so he can get all the press tours done before he drops trou again.

His involvement in the UK production created enormous buzz, both for his nudity and his smoking, and the play relished in advanced ticket sales that rose above $4 million. If you remember, the play is about a psychiatrist who is trying to help a young man who has been blinding horses with a metal hoof pick. (It is also based on a true story.) As for a possible run on Broadway, Radcliffe says: "I would be very nervous because I think that [the audiences are] even more discerning than in London. But I know we have a good show, it was a good show when we did it in London and hopefully if we do it again it will still be that good. It has to be better."

Better or not, I bet he could totally mess up, and hordes of girls will still see it for not only a glimpse of Harry in person, but also Daniel in all his glory. I mean, how many fan girls ever get to see that much, especially when the actor is still so young? (He turned 18 in July.) At the very least it will remind audiences once again that he's more than just a princely wizard. I can only imagine what sort of roles he steps into once the franchise is complete... In the meantime, you can check him out in December Boys, which opens later this month.

Last week's License to Wed contest reinforced a couple of things for those of us over here at Moviefone. One, if it's bald and looks semi-crazy, it must be Britney Spears. Two, Michael Jackson jokes never get old. Congrats to our License to Wed loot winners below. They'll take home a beach towel tote, a Frisbee and a magnetic word set among other goodies. Alas, they will not be receiving the mechanical pooping baby pictured.

1. "I never even knew the Neverland Ranch had a gift shop." -- Todd G.

2. "Look, he's got your plastic." -- Ross M.

3. "You expect me to hold this thing?" ... "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!"
-- JD3

See full image and all captions

This week, we have a photo from the eagerly anticipated Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth chapter in the beloved boy-wizard saga. This time around, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) brace for the return of the vile Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and battle to free Hogwarts from the iron-fisted authoritarian rule of Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). And, in the midst of all this, Harry apparently finds some time to chill in a telephone booth with Ron's dad (Mark Williams).

Writers of our three favorite captions for the photo below will win a veritable Goblet of Fire full of Harry Potter swag, including a Death Eaters T-shirt (handy for those times when you just have to eat the deceased), a wooden notebook with quill and ink (so you can chronicle your hopes and dreams, Ginny Weasley-style) and some Potter temporary tattoos (because you know Harry loves to show off his ink). Good luck!

UPDATE: WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Click Here

NOTE: This article contains speculation by an actor as to how the Harry Potter saga will end. It does not contain spoilers for the Harry Potter series, because the actor in question doesn't know how the Harry Potter series will end and neither do I. Kapeesh? Very well. Proceed. If you want to. The final Harry Potter book will be in stores in about three weeks, and even Harry himself -- Daniel Radcliffe -- doesn't know what the wildly anticipated novel holds. That's not stopping him from making predictions, however. Radcliffe tells the Herald Sun "I think Harry will die. It's the only appropriate way of ending it. How else will J.K. Rowling be able to resist the deafening calls for her to continue (with the books) if Harry is still alive? And, on a selfish level, every actor wants to do a death scene . . . I'm going to milk it."

Ah, but It should be noted that Mr. Radcliffe has not signed on for the seventh Potter movie yet. The boy wonder says, "It all depends on the script and who's going to direct it. It would be foolish to make it for the sake of it." Let me just say, for the record...give me a fuh-reaking break. Radcliffe gains access to a reported $40 million bucks when he turns eighteen later this month. $40 million bucks for waving a wand around, y'all! When I was eighteen, I drove a 1982 Chevy Celebrity and I had a fifty dollar savings bond from my grandmother to my name. It depends on the script, does it Radcliffe? Depends on the director? If it wasn't for the Harry Potter franchise, you'd be getting beat up in gym class right now! Girls wouldn't be screaming your name and fainting every time you make a public appearance, they'd be turning you down when you ask them to the Homecoming Dance. You think high school's fun, punk? Does anyone actually believe the kid would do six movies and then bail? You think Warner Brothers will be cool with that one? "We'll just slap some glasses on Freddie Prinze Jr., nobody will notice!" Come on, Radcliffe! Come the freak on!

Post title edited to remove the details of the latest rumors. Obviously, don't continue reading below if you don't want to know the latest round of rumors.

The U.K. paper The Telegraph recently sat down with the stars of Harry Potter -- HP himself, Daniel Radcliffe, Hermione gal Emma Watson and Ron Weasley -aka- Rupert Grint. During the chat, Watson commented on the rumors circulating about the hacker rumors that circulated recently: "I really want to know what happens. There's a guy who claims he's been able to hack into J. K. Rowling's account, and he's saying that Hermione's going to die, and I found myself getting sad. I hadn't contemplated her dying." Somehow, her death hadn't occurred to me either, and now I'm feeling bad myself. You see, I have this uncanny tendency to really like characters who end up getting axed. Twin Peaks, Scream, Buffy, you name it. (And a different Potter character too, although I won't say who.) If it actually happens, I'm sorry, Emma! It certainly would be a big blow of a twist on the whole death thing. So many people expect Harry to die now that killing Hermione could possibly hurt more. Eh, let's hope not. I don't want to end my Potter experience bummed out.

The interview also delves into lighter topics as well. Radcliffe is apparently a big Peter Sellers fan and wants a film future with dramatic and light-comedy, as well as a whole new kind of world if he was a leader: "Somebody asked me today what I would do if I was a leader of a country and it would be flying saucers and unicycles -- everybody needs a unicycle in life." As for Rupert, ah that kid... It seems he bought an ice cream truck that he drives around: "I don't know why I bought it, but it's really cool. I've always had an interest in the ice cream industry. It's really cool; it's got a freezer in the back and a big kitchen with sinks. It's got a bell that plays a tune. It's really cool." Cool indeed.

The Sunday edition of The Scotsman is reporting today that Sue Quinn, a locations manager for Warner Bros. has been seen in the far north of Scotland, around the area of Cape Wrath, known for its spectacular cliffs and caves. According to the paper, the Harry Potter producers are considering using the caves and cliffs to shoot the climax of the sixth film of the series, when the heroes must travel along a coastline in search of the soul of Voldemort. Among the areas Quinn is known to have checked out include Smoo Cave, a 200 ft. long, 130 ft. wide cave, the Clo Mor cliffs, which are nearly 1,000 ft. high, the Cape Wrath arches, which contain a string of caves, a rock tower called Stac Clo Kearvaig that rises 130 ft., and the Whaligoe Steps cave, which is in a bay enclosed by two sea cliffs. The paper also notes that the Scotland locales are thought to be in competition with similar locations in Ireland and New Zealand.

A harbor master who took Quinn out on his boat to scout the locations told the paper that "she was taking thousands of photographs of the cliffs, caves and rocks. She seemed to be very interested in Smoo Cave and the stacks in particular. Warner Bros. would not comment for the paper, but a spokesperson for VisitScotland said "It would be great if filming for the next Harry Potter movie took place here. 'Set-jetting' is an increasingly popular trend." There's still plenty of time, of course -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince isn't scheduled to hit theaters until November 28, 2008.

When I saw the name of Warner Brothers' new website for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I was concerned. I worried that JoinDumbledoresArmy might be some sneaky plan by the Bush administration to draft our youngsters into fighting overseas. But after closer inspection, the site appears legit. It allows you to enroll alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione to fight the Dark Arts and also to send messages to Dumbledore's Army that will appear on the website. The messages that have been left so far range from the heroic -- ("We must band together against the Dark Lord," says Larry R.) to the cryptic --("I'm of Brazil, yeah!!! LOL," says Eder F.) to the profound -- ("EEEEEEEEEEEE!" says Katie A.)

Once you enroll in the Army, you can download wallpapers, skins, banners, images, and buddy icons. I must admit, I did not enroll -- I fear a 26 year-old man signing up for "Dumbledore's Army" would surely put me on some sort of pedophile watch list -- but I did play the site's game: "Dark Arts Defense." The object of the game is to master spells. I won my school's spell-ing bee three years in a row, but alas, those skills did not translate. You have a wand, they give you symbols and you're supposed to trace them out in the air to defeat your opponent. There's a training course, but I got cocky and skipped right over it, which was a mistake. I must say, the game was a lot of fun, but playing it was quite a blow to my self-esteem. The current high score: 318,071. My score: 6.

The thing I like most about this poster is that I don't feel obliged to point out to you, once again, when the film opens. It's right there in big bold print. One thing I find a little odd is that Helena Bonham Carter, who you have to agree is a star, if not a major star, is not getting a prominent place in the press materials I've seen so far for the film. Yes, I know they clearly chose to focus on the kids for this poster, and I don't expect anyone to get bigger billing than the three main kids, obviously, but Bonham Carter is certainly a bigger name and a more recognizable face than whoever that scowling gentleman is on the right side, one down from Emma Watson. Can't the adults squeeze in here somewhere? Oh well. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens on (see above.)