'Harry Potter' scribe wielded power

"Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling has cast a spell on Hollywood that rivals any wielded by the boy wizard.

Authors are notoriously rebuffed by filmmakers and studio bosses eager to reshuffle storylines or change characters to fit their own creative or marketing vision. But Warner Bros. was eager to please the British writer, envisioning her "Harry Potter" series as a franchise of seven movies that could generate billions of dollars over the next decade.

Rowling, a 36-year-old single mother, initially balked at all movie offers, and eventually parlayed that reluctance into power that may be unprecedented for an author over the $125 million adaptation of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"We were inundated with offers from film companies and I said no to all of them -- even Warner. But they kept coming back," she said in the book "Conversations with J.K. Rowling."

The decision to allow a film "wasn't about money or power," she said, but rather a desire to maintain the books' integrity.

"They've given me a lot of input, sent me maps and drawings of Hogwarts to make sure that when it appears on film it will be close to my vision of the place," Rowling said.

The author had input on virtually every aspect of the production, from the choice of director to the casting and scenery designs.

Strong and passionate

"She's strong, she's opinionated, she's clear, she's passionate," producer David Heyman said. "We wanted to be good to her book. We wanted her involvement."

So the studio accepted some difficult decisions from Rowling.

For instance, Steven Spielberg, who initially considered directing the first picture, reportedly wanted Haley Joel Osment as Potter. But the author demanded -- and got -- British child actors cast in the three main roles: Daniel Radcliffe as Potter, Rupert Grint as his red-haired pal Ron Weasley and Emma Watson as their bookish cohort Hermione Granger.

Rowling also nixed a notion to combine elements from the first two books.

After Spielberg dropped out, "Home Alone" director Chris Columbus, who wrote the dark fantasies "Gremlins" and "The Goonies," got the job, and their working relationship went relatively smoothly.