The young actor beat out numerous other performers (including the much rumored Gabriel Thomson, who ironically had played another Dickens hero, Pip in 1999's "Great Expectations", and Liam Aiken, who had co-starred in director Chris Columbus' "Stepmom" 1998). Radcliffe received the imprimatur of author Rowling and was expected to be a breakout when "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" opened in theaters in November 2001. Indeed, the film was received warmly by audiences and Radcliffe became one of the best known adolescent actors of the day. Following the success of the film and the attempt to shoot as many as closely as possible before the young actors outgrew their roles, Radcliffe found himself with little time to explore other roles, as he reprised the bespectacled young wizard in the sequels "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002) and the slightly darker "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004). After reviving the role for “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005), the first installment directed by a British director (Mike Newell), Radcliffe managed to squeeze in another film, “The December Boys” (lensed in 2005), a drama set in the 1960’s about four orphans longing for a home and a family.