Harry Potter goes to Mogadishu

That Daniel Radcliffe's in such a hurry to grow up. First, there was his full-frontal showing in a London revival of Peter Shaffer's Equus, and... well, until he commits a live sex act or eats one of those six-pound steaks in one sitting, I think he's effectively shattered his boy wizard image for the time being.

And while he's still got a couple more o' those Harry Potter movies to make, it looks like he's going to keep after that whole adult acting career thing with the lead role in Journey, a biopic about the life of British photographer Dan Eldon, who was stoned to death in Mogadishu in 1993 (whilst attempting to take pictures of the aftermath of an errant attempt by the UN to assassinate General Farah Aideed). Eldon, who was only twenty-two when he was murdered, has been immortalized through his journals, which were published a decade ago as The Journey is the Destination. According to The Guardian, Baz Luhrmann and Peter Gabriel circled the project for a time before it fell to Bronwen Hughes.

Hughes is an interesting hire. After an unrewarding Hollywood dalliance (which spawned Harriet the Spy and Forces of Nature), she made the gritty, very solid Stander. If there's a decent film to be made from Jan Sardi's adaptation, I think Hughes could deliver something fairly memorable. And, judging from her collaboration with Thomas Jane, I think she could coax a fairly indelible performance out of Radcliffe. Failing that, perhaps she can get him to whip it out again.

Journey is in the very nascent stages of development, so this is all subject to change.


01.03.08 By Jeremy Smith Contributing sources: The Guardian