Davies, Hugh. "Author's favourites are chosen for Potter film," The Daily Telegraph, 14 August 2000

J K ROWLING confirmed yesterday that Warner Brothers had cast Dame Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane of Cracker fame as stars of the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Rowling said: "They were the two I wanted most of all - and I am quite happy about that." Dame Maggie, who was rumoured to be having second thoughts about the multi-million dollar project after her West End success in The Lady in the Van, is to play Prof McGonagall, second in command of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Coltrane is to play the friendly giant Hagrid, the groundkeeper at Hogwarts.

The world's best-selling author made the long-awaited announcement when she opened a book festival in Edinburgh, where as a penniless single mother she wrote the first Potter book in a cafe. Rowling side-stepped questions about the identity of the actor to play Harry, who it appears has been chosen after a nationwide hunt, but a contract has still to be finalised.

The director, Christopher Columbus, has been pressing for New Jersey-born Liam Aiken, 10, half-British on his mother's side, and star of I Dreamed of Africa. Columbus has liked Liam since he filmed him in Stepmom, playing Susan Sarandon's son. However, Rowling, who has always said she wanted an all-English Harry, warned her audience that it would be unwise to believe that the actor would be American.

The film is to be made in the autumn at Gloucester Cathedral and Leavesden Studios in Hertforshire for release in November next year. It is also expected to feature Richard Harris as Dumbledore, Potter's headmaster and protector against the hero's arch nemesis Lord Voldemort, a role not yet cast. Alan Rickman has been approached to play the dark and mysterious Professor Snape.

Rowling hinted that her next book - number five - would be published about the same time as the premiere of the film. There were sighs from the audience at having to wait so long. Despite her multi-millionaire status and world-wide fame, she spoke of still being unsure of her literary ability.

She said that she was "always fiddling with, always re-writing" her old Potter novels, "thinking to myself what did I say a thing like that for?". She said: "I can't let well enough alone." She said that in her latest book, she had so many doubts that she wrote 13 versions of chapter nine.

Rowling said: "I actually thought I'd never get past the chapter at one point. A couple of times I threw down my pen and said, no, it's too difficult, I can't do it. I did do it in the end, but it was a real nightmare." Rowling said it was "very easy" to shrug off her fame while actually writing.