Harry Potter (film series) was that the principal cast be kept strictly British, allowing nevertheless for the inclusion of many Irish actors, such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and for casting of French and Eastern European actors in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" where characters from the book are specified as such. Rowling was hesitant to sell the rights because she "didn't want to give them control over the rest of the story" by selling the rights to the characters, which would have enabled Warner Bros. to make non-author-written sequels. Although Steven Spielberg initially negotiated to direct the first film, he declined
Harry Potter Gilliam, Jonathan Demme, and Alan Parker were considered, Chris Columbus was appointed on 28 March 2000 as the director for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (titled ""Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"" in the United States), with Warner Bros. citing his work on other family films such as "Home Alone" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" and proven experience with directing children as influences for their decision. After extensive casting, filming began in October 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London itself, with production ending in July 2001. "Philosopher's Stone" was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the