Radcliffe fought off stiff competition from other Hollywood stars including
Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, Ryan Phillippe and Orlando Bloom to land the
role, after Eldon's family decided he would be perfect for the part.
The late photographer's mother Kathy said: "We resisted a lot of older
actors because Dan was a boy emerging into manhood. The timing is right and
the person is right and I couldn't ask for more.
"He has portrayed a magician for years and my Dan was a different kind of
magician. There are parallels in the two Dans' lives.
"Daniel Radcliffe is a poet, he keeps journals and he is half Jewish. He has
a sense of humour and energy inside him which reminds me of Dan."
Eldon was just 22 when he was murdered in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.
The film will be based on his diaries 'The Journey is the Destination',
which were published in 1997.