Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, has fought off competition from Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom to land the lead role in a new movie about a slain photojournalist. The 18-year-old will appear as photographer Dan Eldon in Journey, a film chronicling the civil war in Somalia.

Eldon was one of four journalists stoned to death by a mob in the African country in 1993.

Eldon’s mother Kathy believes Radcliffe was the perfect choice to play her tragic son. She says, “We resisted a lot of older actors because Dan was a boy emerging into manhood.” A compilation of Eldon’s diaries – on which the film is based – has sold 200,000 copies since being published in 1997.

I know the pic is old, but he’s just so hot here!