Radcliffe Signs on for Journey

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has landed a role as a British war photographer whose work has been widely acclaimed since his tragic death. 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.In 1992, he went to Somalia on assignment for Reuters. He witnessed American and UN troops launch 'Operation Restore Hope', first with a sense of relief, then growing frustration, and his pictures helped draw international attention to the developing crisis. Eldon's mother, Kathy, says that she has rejected numerous bids for film rights to the story, and met but turned down leading actors including Orlando Bloom, Heath Ledger, Ryan Phillippe and Joaquin Phoenix, all of whom were eager to play the part. But then she sat down with 18-year-old Radcliffe and his parents at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.

Daniel just wrapped filming on his first role in a TV drama – he will play Jack, son of British author Rudyard Kipling, in the Ecosse Films production My Boy Jack. The story recounts how Kipling used his influence to get his 17-year-old son an officer's commission in the British army during WWI despite Jack's poor eyesight. Jack never returned from the French trenches, and Kipling and his wife spent years looking for his body."For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book," Radcliffe said. "But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was, with young men still sacrificing their lives in the name of war."The ITV television-movie is set to air next fall on flagship web ITV1.