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Radcliffe was first cast as Potter when he was 11. Since then, a lot has changed: he's taller and his face has become more defined, his voice has changed, he's got complexion issues and is growing starter stubble.
For director Mike Newell, that causes problems.
"I've just been working on a scene which we shot in our first week, and Dan still looks like the little kid that he was in Sorcerer's Stone," he said. "Now, 11 months later, he doesn't look like that at all."
Radcliffe is still waiting for one teenage milestone - a girlfriend. Have sparks flown between him and Emma Watson, who plays the nerdy Hermione Granger?
"No. But I had a big crush on her when I first met her, definitely," he said. "But she's more like a sister now, so it would be a bit incestuous. It's too weird."
Jaive Jordan to launch Defkey
By Jamila Najmuddin
Ashoka Jaive Jordan - a Sri Lankan national - gained international fame by entering the international music industry seven years ago.
Working with international musicians such as Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera and Madonna, Jaive started out as a back up artiste in the American studios but was soon recognised for his own talent and is now set to release his own album.
A professional musician
Currently on tour to all South Asian countries to promote his album titled Special South Asia Promo, Jaive says, "I'm very lucky to work in the American studios simply because it's the ultimate modern age destination of every international artiste. I wanted to create my own album and now I'm happy to introduce myself as a professional musician."
One of the founding members of the team of the world renown Grapx ML - the total multimedia solution company with its head quaters based in New York - Jaive says he was inspired by the American artistes and it was through their help that he was transformed from a back up singer to a professional musician.
All the final preparations are now underway to release his album in the USA and in the Western world the album would be titled Defkey. "I love all types of music and every country creates its own tune. My album consists of a variety of songs ranging from techno, hip-hop, rock and pop," Jaive says.
Tremendous response
Studying the South Asian market, he adds that the 'South Asian Promo' which is mainly for the South Asian public has already received tremendous response. "The Indians love it and it has already received publicity from the Indian media. The songs are also being played by one of the best Indian DJs," he says.
In order to help his motherland, Jaive has also organised some tsunami relief programmes in the USA through which he improved his contacts in the international music industry.
"I visited India recently and met professional artistes such as Rakesh Nigam and was amazed at the Indian music industry. One advantage about their industry is that they maintain high standards and use the latest technology. I was also inspired by the Bollywood stars as they are so dedicated and committed to their work. They also use hundreds of acres of land for filming and use multi storeyed buildings as their
studios," he says.
Freedom Jam concert
During his stay in India Jaive was also an active member of the 'Freedom Jam' concert - an international Indian festival for music. The concert was the biggest live concert ever performed in India.
"It has three stages and eight hours of non stop music. I was also happy when I learnt that three or four Sri Lankan bands were participating in such an international event," he says.
Jaive started his studies in the medical field and is now involved in physiology sessions within charity organisations.
Born in Moratuwa, Jaive thanks the local artistes who helped him gain fame and adds, "I will never forget my country as there is no other place like Sri Lanka."
Mel Gibson to shoot epic movie in Mayan language
 Actor Mel Gibson, who turned a Latin script on the crucifixion of Christ into box office gold last year, is in Mexico to shoot his latest film: an action movie shot entirely in an ancient Mayan tongue.
The star turned independent director was in the eastern state of Veracruz this week where he is to film Apocalypto, a thriller set in an ancient Mayan settlement and shot in the Yucatec dialect.
"It's set before the Conquest, so there are no European faces, and we are using mostly indigenous people and actors from Mexico City," Gibson, sporting a long beard, said at a news conference in the port city of Veracruz.
"There's still a lot of mystery to the Mayan culture, but when all is said and done, it's just the backdrop to what I'm doing - creating an action adventure of mythic proportions," he said, blinking before a bank of flash lights.
Gibson achieved fame with lucrative movies like the epic The Patriot, the sci-fi thriller Signs and the Lethal Weapon series and has become one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, commanding a fee of $25 million a film.
A devout Roman Catholic, he had the greatest hit of his career with last year's The Passion of the Christ, which became the most successful independent film ever made despite its impenetrable Latin and Aramaic dialogue and stomach churning flogging sequences.
The 49-year-old star is making Apocalypto through his Los Angeles-based Icon production company with an undisclosed budget. It will be distributed by Disney, although the shooting script remains under wraps.
The runaway success of The Passion of the Christ, which grossed more than US$ 600 million worldwide, has given Gibson the financial freedom and industry clout to pursue projects like Apocalypto.
"Above all, film is a business ...Independence is a really cool thing as you can be a bit more bold, and take a few more chances with what you do," he said.
Gibson said the story would be told through the eyes of a Mayan man, his family and village, and would touch on universal themes about "civilisations and what undermines them," but he declined to go into details about the plot.
He said Mayan myths from the Popol Vuh sacred texts formed part of his research for the film, which also drew on input from indigenous groups and Spanish mission texts from the 1700s and Mayan language translators.
"A lot of it I just made up, and when I checked it out with historians and archeologists, it wasn't that far wrong," he said.
After visiting Guatemala, the Yucatan Peninsula and Costa Rica to scope out locations, he settled on unspoiled jungle in Veracruz to frame the story.
Celebrating Halloween
Last week, my friends and I walked into a pool parlour to watch a band play, only to be leapt upon by a man in a voluminous black cape and a white skull mask, who proceeded to say "welcome" in a 'spooky' voice.
In a way you could say he got what he wanted (one of my friends yelled as she was not anticipating being attacked by a wannabe ghost.) As everyone knows, Halloween falls every year on October 31, an occasion where everyone sets out to scare everyone else, (not always succeeding!)
People might be interested to know that Halloween was of Celtic origin. They believed that on the day before November 1 (which was when they celebrated New Year) the boundary between the world of the living and the dead became blurred. They believed the ghosts of the dead returned to earth on this day, and paid homage to them, so that they would not be visited by ill fortune. They wore costumes of animal skin or fur.
How this celebration has evolved today! Instead of animal skin, you'll find people dressing as mummies, skeletons, ghosts and so on. Many people make evil looking jack 'o lanterns to sit out on their front porch. (To ward off evil or to invite it in, I wonder?) Shop windows suddenly have bats, spiders and other creepy crawlies pasted across them. No longer a sacred rite, it has become a day of celebration and fun. And why
not? People are no longer as superstitious as they once were.
One interesting Halloween tradition is 'Trick or Treating' where kids go from house to house demanding candy or sweets. If they don't get any, the stingy owners of that house are in trouble! Hmmm. people handing out free candy? We're on to something there!
Of course, people also try to scare each other that night by relating ghost stories, until everyone is too frightened to get to sleep! One friend I know used to go to a graveyard with a couple of friends and stay there until early morning, swapping ghost stories until they imagined white figures everywhere. Not quite my way of celebrating!
In addition, there are plenty of games to play on Halloween, including apple bobbing, where apples are floated in a bowl and players have to try and pick one up using only their teeth. not as easy as it sounds when you try it! Some people also believe that if you float a piece of apple peel in a bowl of water, after a certain amount of time you should see the apple peel forming into the initial of the person who you will end
up marrying. I highly doubt the accuracy of this!
Halloween is now simply a reason to wear an outfit that you'd never even dream of wearing the rest of the year! It's also an occasion to play pranks, scare each other (friends or enemies!) and generally have fun. And hey, in a world that is sometimes filled with sadness and despair, we could all use a little fun!
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