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In the latest episode of The Jess Cagle Interview, Daniel Radcliffe talks about working with hugely successful actors such as Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and Ralph Fiennes in his role as Harry Potter, and reveals a few stories about the late Richard Harris, and comments on being intimidated by Ralph Fiennes!

Dan is told to describe the actors he worked with. He calls Emma Watson ‘smart‘, Rupert Grint ‘funny‘, Maggie Smith ‘sharp as a knife, in a wonderful way … tough and quick witted’, Alan Rickman ‘generous‘ and Michael Gambon ‘out of control, funny, just mad in a great way, again’.

Richard Harris he says ‘The first thing that comes to mind is phoenix, I suppose – there was this one moment where Fawkes, the animatronic phoenix in the second film … Richard thought it was a real bird’

Dan says of Richard Harris’ death:

‘I remember it was devastating, it was so sad … I’d never known a person who had died before so it was crazy. I feel like looking back it’s just one of those things where you just have to go “I am so lucky to have worked with him” – it’s an amazing thing to be able to say now … the films he made are going to be true parts of history, a lot of them, it’s going to be an incredible thing to be able to say that I worked with him.

I’ve spent some time with his granddaughter, Ella, who’s also a wonderful person- his whole family was incredibly sweet to me … I was involved a little bit in a memorial service for him and they were just incredibly kind and warm”

Dan describes Helena Bonham-Carter as ‘nuts, and fabulous … I love her‘

He then calls Ralph Fiennes ‘genuinely intimidating’:

‘I remember when I was 15 doing scenes with Ralph for the first time. He was even scarier than Alan was at first … Alan was super intimidating to start off with as well, but then you get into it, but Ralph genuinely scared me for a few years.’

Dan then imagines working with Ralph on a comedy in the future, and says it was ‘a hell of a learning experience’ to have worked with him.

Read more at Entertainment Weekly, and watch the interview below!

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Radio Times writes that Daniel Radcliffe has not completely ruled out the possibility of returning to his iconic role as Harry Potter.

In light of the expansion of the wizarding world via Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Radio Times asked Radcliffe whether he would consider the possibility of playing Harry Potter as an adult, to which Radcliffe responded:

“It would depend on the script,” he said. “The circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary. But then I am sure Harrison Ford said that with Han Solo and look what happened there! So I am saying, ‘No,’ for now but leaving room to backtrack in the future.”

Radcliffe definitely has his hands full at the moment, with the press of his new releases Now You See Me 2 and Swiss Army Man. He is also the star of Imperium, an upcoming thriller that is scheduled to be release on August 19, 2016 in limited release and through VOD. In 2017 Radcliffe can be seen in Greg McLean’s thriller Jungle which started production in April 2016 in Australia.

While we might not see Daniel back in the wizarding world for a good while, it is good to know he is still keeping that option open for the future.

 

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Daniel Radcliffe shared his story of meeting Donald Trump on the Late Night With Seth Meyers before talking about his new off-Broadway play Privacy. 

Radcliffe tells that he met Trump while visiting New York City for the first time as an 11-year-old for an appearance on the Today Show. According to Radcliffe he was marched over to meet Trump and when the presumptive Republican presidential nominee asked how he was doing, Radcliffe told him that he was nervous about what to talk about in the show. Radcliffe states that Trump’s response was the following:

“You just tell them that you met Mr Trump!”

Radcliffe also talks about his new off-Broadway show Privacy, which is co-created and written by James Graham and Josie Rourke. According to Broadwayworld.com “Privacy is a timely exploration of the digital age that will feature a cast of seven, including Radcliffe as “The Writer.”” In addition to Radcliffe the cast includes De’Adre Aziza, Raffi Barsoumian, Michael Countryman, Rachel Dratch and Reg Rogers.

Broadwayworld.com writes:

“Inspired by the revelations of Edward Snowden, Privacy explores our complicated relationship with technology and data through the funny and heart-breaking travails of a lonely guy (Daniel Radcliffe), who arrives in the city to figure out how to like, tag, and share his life without giving it all away. The play uncovers what our technological choices reveal about who we are, what we want and who’s keeping track of it all. This provocative theatrical event will ask audiences to charge their phones, leave them ON during the performance and to embark on a fascinating dive online and into a new reality where we’re all connected…for better or worse.”

Privacy will begin previews for a limited engagement on July 5th in the Newman Theater. The official press opening of the play will be on Monday, July 18.

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With the first screenings beginning last night, Now You See Me 2 is now in theaters!

Daniel Radcliffe’s face graces our the big screen as he appears in the movie as Walter Mabry, a spoiled billionaire who kidnaps the Horseman (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Lizzy Caplan) and tricks then into committing a heist. The Horseman, however, have other plans. They come up with an elaborate stunt to expose Walter Mabry and clear their names.

Coming from a lifetime in the Harry Potter world, you’d think Daniel Radcliffe would know quite a bit about magic. Well, he reveals, in this USA Today article, that he isn’t as good as Harry was with magic tricks.

“The one thing I can kind of do is the bit I screw up in the first scene,” says Radcliffe, 26, flicking an imaginary card from one hand to the other. “I can actually do that, but then the one time I missed, I was like, ‘Ah, that’s definitely going to be the (take) they use.’ Failure is always funnier than success, particularly when it comes to this character.”

Daniel tells that to prepare to play a smart yet bratty young billionaire, he looked to his private school classmates as inspiration. He clarifies that, while a lot of good, perfectly nice people come out of private schools, occasionally there will be those who have a false sense of entitlement which causes them to be quite arrogant. “I saw him as a product of that environment,” says Daniel.

Playing Walter Mabry in this illusion themed sequel to the 2013 surprise hit gave Daniel Radcliffe a chance to not on play the villain for the first time but also to work with a line-up of A-list actors. Being able to work with Michael Caine was particularly gratifying for Daniel. “A long-held personal goal of mine,” Daniel says of Caine, who plays Walter’s father in the film. “Growing up in England, you hear Michael talked about so much, with such reverence. Knowing that I’d have significant scenes with him was amazing.”

See more about the film here. Be sure to catch the film in theaters everywhere and see the trailer below!

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In a recent interview with GQ earlier this week, Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) talked about his journey from playing our favorite boy wizard, to playing the role of a farting corpse in his new film, Swiss Army Man. Radcliffe has played a diverse set of roles, and Now You See Me Two has him playing a muggle who is bad at magic tricks (rather than a boy wizard who is better than average at magic, but no Hermione).

Radcliffe is a busy man and already back to filming another movie. GQ reports:

 

As a famous person, you’re choosing lots of parts these days that involve solitude and getting away from civilization.
The group of people I’m out with is [f-ing] awesome, so I’m having a really good time. This is an incredibly fun job, and it’s very rare as an actor that you feel like you’re earning your money, where you actually go home feeling physically like you’ve worked a really good day. We were filming by a river last week, and the river rose ten meters overnight, so three of our sets got washed away. It’s not normal making a movie like we are, out in a [f-ing] jungle.

Do you have lots of bugs and [stuff] eating you out there?
There are bugs eating us, yes. But we were making this film about this guy who went into the jungle and struggled desperately to survive for three weeks. I’m not in any way a method actor, but if I’m playing a guy who’s starving and I’m going home at night and tucking into a [f-ing] pizza, I’m making it much harder for myself to do my job.

But you’re at a place where you don’t really have to take on rough s–t like making movies in jungles if you don’t want to. So why do it?
I get a lot of credit that I don’t deserve—people notice that I pick very different things more than they do with other actors, because I played one part for so long. Paul Dano (Radcliffe’s co-star in Swiss Army Man)…his career is [f-ing] amazingly varied, and everybody I know wants the same thing, which is they want as diverse a career as possible.

Like, it’s my total ambition at some point in my life to be in some massive [****y] big disaster movie. But I’m in an amazing position, which is that I have a certain amount of financial security and that allows me to do things that make me happy, and things that will fulfill me and challenge me, with people I’ll have a good time with. You hear horror stories about actors all the time, and I’ve worked with so few of them compared to the amount of stories I’ve heard. I’ve been incredibly lucky, and I do believe life is too short to work with arseholes.

I just saw Now You See Me 2 (in theaters June 10), and in it you’re a rich young tech guru who’s a spoiled dick. I think you do derive extra joy in playing a d**K on screen specifically because you aren’t one.
Totally. You’re absolutely right. Ricky Gervais talked to me about doingExtras for the first time. I was like, yes, please—finally, a chance to show that I have a [f-ing] sense of humor about all this. Because you are confronted very regularly with the expectation that A) you’re gonna be a d**k, B) you’re gonna fail, and C) “Do you really deserve this?”

How’s fame been treating you? Has your fame settled down sincePotter?
I think so. It took me a few years to work out my priorities. Now I pick things that I think will make me the most happy, and not try to think, “What’s gonna be the most successful thing I can do?” You can be despondent about the fact that you’re never gonna be in something that big again, but that’s [f-ing] idiotic. I’ve been in the most successful thing I ever will be in, and to me it’s a huge relief. Because you just go, “Okay, that’s literally never gonna happen again.”

Would you do a Star Wars movie if you were asked?
I’d love to. I would jump at the chance. I have absolutely no tolerance for people who are not [f-ing] delighted to be on set every day, because you should be.

What made you want to play a farting corpse [in Swiss Army Man]?
The farting didn’t even enter my head as being a weird thing. I was really quite taken aback when we sound mastered it and it caused such a weird reaction in some people. [Many people at Sundance walked out of the initial screening, possibly because one of the opening scenes involves Paul Dano riding Radcliffe’s dead body like a jet ski, only powered by farts.] I can understand it being not for everyone, but controversial? It’s not like we’re making a massive racist remark. It was very strange to me but also kind of entertaining.

Were you upset by the negative reaction?
I remember there was one tweet—I’m not on Twitter. I don’t get involved. But I did get sucked in over that period, and there was one tweet that did get under my skin, because it was a guy that was all p–sed off. He hashtagged one of his tweets #makebettermovies, which I was just like, f-ing—it’s from a man who’s never made a movie! The s—ttiest film you’ve ever seen has had such f-ing hard work put into it! You can’t say s**t like that.

For Swiss Army Man, did they also make you fart and groan on cue? Or did they add all the farts in post-production?
I definitely can’t fart on cue. That is beyond me. They were all done later. The directors basically announced if anyone wanted to just go over to the sound recordist, Steve, and fart, he would record it and they would try and put it in the movie.

Could you see yourself not acting at some point? Taking a permanent break?
Not really. I don’t think I could ever enjoy that if I wasn’t in some way going back to contributing to a film in some way.

My daughter wanted me to ask you why you wanted to be an actor.
Because it was so much better than being at school!

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Inquirer.net recently sat down to talk to Daniel Radcliffe about Cursed Child, magic and his acting career thus far. Dan recently starred in Swiss Army Man and Victor Frankenstein, and will soon be appearing as Walter Mabry in Now You See Me 2.

Mabry is a wealthy, magical entrepreneur who has captured the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan) – you can catch glimpses of his character in the movie’s trailer (below).

On whether or not he’ll be likely to see Cursed Child:

“I don’t know if I would. Because I feel like me going to see that show, it might become more about the fact that I was there seeing that show that night than anything else.”

At which point the Inquirer hinted to him that he might just be able to sneak into the show, asking if he was keeping up with the show:

“Do you really think that’s possible (for me to sneak in) (laughs)? No, I haven’t been keeping tabs. But I know Jamie Parker is playing me (Harry), which I’m very happy about, because he’s a great actor.”

Dan also said that he doesn’t see Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint very much anymore (he’s working on his own TV comedy at the moment!), but did say that he saw him “at the beginning of the year, or the end of last year”.

On working with Michael Caine:

“Growing up in England… he is someone that you grow up being aware of as an institution. He’s everything that I want to be when I grow up as an actor.

When I first started working on “Potter,” there were crew members who have known Michael and had worked with him on various projects. To listen to them talk about Michael and the respect that they have for him, it made me, as a young actor, go, “God, I want to do that.”

When you work with him, he is utterly professional and also really good fun. He enjoys his job so much. I do love my job and I am thinking, if you aren’t having fun at work, you shouldn’t be there.

But watching Michael—I guess he is in his 80s by now—act at four o’clock in the morning in cold and dark England and still be there…

So many other actors would have been complaining and moaning. Michael is unflappable, and he’s still having a good time, telling stories, joking and laughing. He knows everyone’s name. It was a pleasure to be around him, to watch him work and to work with him. It was extraordinary.

Whenever I need a bit of a boost, I just go on Michael Caine’s IMDb page.”

On Swiss Army Man and its many complexities:

“I am not staying away from [romantic-comedy] roles. I think it’s more that it’s actually a lot harder to write something happy than it is to write something dark. There’s a lot of different versions of darkness that are very interesting. It’s harder to make happiness interesting onscreen for whatever reason.

“Swiss Army Man” sounds like a dark character because I’m playing a dead guy. The film does have its dark moments, but it’s got a lot of levity and joy. For me, that film is about joy. It isn’t a traditional rom-com, but it’s definitely got some lightness to it.”

Read the full interview over at Inquirer.net here, which includes more about his character in Now You See Me 2. Watch the latest trailer for the film below!

 

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Daniel Radcliffe had the opportunity to sit for an interview with Italy’s Vanity Fair. The interview was a part of his extensive promotional campaign for his new movie, Victor Frankenstein. In Italy, the movie will be titled Victor – The Secret History of Dr. Frankenstein, and coming to Italy in April.

The article opens with Dan discussing the affects of his fame. With fame, he could name the precise moment his childhood ended and his adult life began. He had to grow up young. Roughly translating from Italian used in the article, Dan said:

“The first time I went to Japan to promote Harry Potter I was 11 and waiting for me at the airport, I found something like five thousand people “he says with his fast-talking, sitting in a hotel suite in London. “There were girls screaming my name, I touched it by mistake and fainted. For me, so small, it was an amazing thing, insane. At that moment I realized that my life had changed, and what it meant “to be famous. ‘”

To read more of Dan’s article, and the discussion of his character, Igor, in the new Frankenstein movie, read here.

 

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According to The Mirror, Radcliffe is “really good” at falling over and acting as though he is being attacked:

“If I joined the circus, undoubtedly I’d be the fall guy in the clown routine,” he said. “I’m really good at falling over and taking hits and, perversely, I enjoy it.”

He reportedly said that being the victim of the punches (rather than the attacker) is his “speciality”:

 “Weirdly I haven’t had to deliver many punches throughout my career so I’m very good at being beaten and getting hit. That’s my speciality.”

The Mirror also reports that Dan found the action scenes in Victor Frankenstein easier to shoot than the “emotional” scenes:

 “The final emotional scenes of the film with Igor and Victor were more challenging. You put pressure on yourself and think, ‘This has to go right’. Because if you don’t nail this part, none of the action matters.”

Dan’s is currently working on his portrayal of a young, undercover FBI agent in Imperium, an FBI thriller – maybe we’ll get to see more of his fight-scene specialty moves!

The ‘Indie-Dramedy’ Swiss Army Man – Radcliffe’s next appearance – premieres at the Sundance Film Festival between January 21-31st.

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NME recently released their cover interview with Daniel Radcliffe – which is hilarious as usual – and definitely worth a read.

Here are a few extracts:

‘Bouncing into a huge wood-panelled conference room above the photography studio where he’s just been shot for NME’s cover, Daniel Radcliffe is presented with a cup and reaches for the sweeteners. “How many of these are you supposed to use?” he asks, merrily clicking little white pellets into his drink. Each of those is one sugar, we tell him. You’ve just given yourself seven sugars. “Oh, right,” he laughs. “Well, we’ll leave that then.”’

Radcliffe was asked about his choices in on-screen and stage appearances since Harry Potter. From The Woman In Black, Horns, Kill Your Darlings and The Young Doctor’s Notebook, to Equus, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and – most recently – ‘Igor’ in Victor Frankenstein (released December 3rd):

‘“No, I don’t really have mainstream tastes,” he says. “People do ask me, ‘Why do you choose such weird movies?’ but I don’t think they’re weird, they’re just stories I’m interested in. Isn’t having weird tastes good, though? I think so. I think that’s better than always wanting to play the handsome hero. You think I’m weird? I’ll take that.”’

Answering on expectations of his acting abilities after Potter, and on his appearance in studio films:

‘“I had a huge amount to prove [after Potter],” continues Radcliffe. “Proving that you can be a young actor and not be a complete f*****g disaster when you grow up. That is the – quite unfair I think – image that people have of young actors. There are a huge number of child actors who grow up fine. Always with my career in film, I saw Potter as an amazing beginning to it. I’m sure I’ll never hit that kind of commercial peak again but very, very few people will.” ‘

…

”Doing studio movies is fun because you get to do stuff that you mostly wouldn’t get to do on an indie movie, in terms of action. There is a part of me that, because I grew up doing it, loves that stuff and really misses it. Frankenstein was just the most interesting and original script I’d seen from a studio. It looked like fun to make, and it was.”’

Dan even commented on the first images of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:

‘We meet on the day that the first images were revealed of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, the 1920s-set Potter spin-off that stars Eddie Redmayne as a magical explorer who collects bizarre creatures. Radcliffe hasn’t seen the pictures and jumps up to look at them on my phone, clocking Redmayne’s swishy cerulean coat and barking, “Oh f*** you, Eddie, in your brilliant costume… I got jeans and a zip top for 10 years and you’ve got a greatcoat already?”’

The prospect of anybody else playing Harry is strange to all of us (including Dan), but exciting at the same time – so exciting that Dan says he wants to wants to see Cursed Child:

‘What’s it like knowing someone else is going to play Harry? “It’s weird,” he says. “But I’m happy for it to go on without me. I’ve no ownership of it.” Would he go and see it? “Now that I know [Harry’s in it] I actually really want to see it. It would be a mental thing to try and see it with lots of very excited Harry Potter fans. But I kind of would like to know what happens now.”’

And – finally – touching words regarding the success of Harry Potter in continuing to inspire the world, and the part he plays in its influence:

‘He goes all wistful for a minute. “I’d always thought in the years after Potter finished that it would die down, but it’s just grown more because the people who were massive Harry Potter fans in their teens are now adults. So you meet them more. They’re not at home with their parents, they’re out in the world. It always amazes me when someone says what a huge part of their childhood it was. I still have a natural reserve that makes me go, ‘Oh don’t be so silly, I wasn’t responsible for your childhood.’ But I think about the stuff that means a lot for me from my childhood, like The Simpsons, and how, when I did a voice on The Simpsons I got a signed thing from Matt Groening and that was so f*****g exciting. The thought that I might occupy that space in somebody else’s childhood…”’

We’d definitely recommend reading the rest of the interview here!

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Daniel Radcliffe will be joining the cast of the Now You See Me prequel, the first of which was a smash hit film in 2013.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Radcliffe spoke about being in a movie that  involves “magic” again.

Now You See Me: The Second Act will be released June 10th 2016. Watch the teaser trailer here.

Radcliffe spoke about his past and current roles, ‘proving himself’ as an actor, his attachment to independent films and his personal life. The excerpts on Now You See Me: The Second Act are below:

What are the things that hook you in when you are looking for a movie now?

Daniel Radcliffe: In this one, there was definitely a challenge of creating a character that everyone has an impression of and thinks that they know, but trying to do something that is your own with it, and fits in this world that we’re creating. Somebody asked me the other day, “What’s more important to you: plot or character?” And I’d never really thought about it before, but it became apparent to me very quickly that plot is more important than character. I’d rather be a semi-interesting character in a fantastic story than [have] an incredible, showy part in a film that no one cares about, in a story that’s irrelevant. Ideally, I’d like both, obviously.

Now You See Me 2, what was attractive about that was the cast. The first movie’s really fun. It’s great. But, like, the thing that made me want to do it was the fact that I would get scenes with Mark Ruffalo and Michael Caine and Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg.

Will you be doing any magic in that movie?

DR: I don’t want say too much of what I’m doing, but I feel anyone who knows me generally will have known that I’m not going straight back into, like, a full-on magical role. I did get to learn a couple of cool card tricks, just from hanging around on set. But I don’t really have a reason to apply them in the movie.

When you were approached about that film, did a part of you think, Well, it’s about magic…?

DR: It didn’t. Like, it f***ing should. But it didn’t until later, and I was like, oh, it’s magic. Everyone’s going to ask about that. Oh well.

It’s funny. I don’t have as much of a sense of that as everyone else does. When I did Kill Your Darlings, the first scene in that film was me sweeping the floor, and I never fucking thought anything of that until somebody in an interview was like, “So, first scene, you’ve got glasses on and you have a broomstick.” I went, “Ugh.”

And then in Horns, you know, my character wore Gryffindor colors. I was like, I should have thought of that said, “Don’t do that!” But I don’t think about things like that. In a way, I’m glad I don’t think in those terms, because then I probably would have gone, “Oh no, I can’t do Now You See Me.” And I had a fantastic time on that movie.

Read the rest of the interview here!

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While promoting his upcoming film Victor Frankenstein, Daniel Radcliffe caught up with E! News, and the conversation inevitably turned to the new wizarding world film series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

Eonline released a short clip of the interview, in which Radcliffe is asked how he feels about the upcoming films. He replied, “I can barely keep myself in this chair. Yes, I am very excited, but I’ve also been asked about it a lot, and I don’t have any information to give, unfortunately.” He also adds, “I’ve just seen the image of [Eddie Redmayne], and he looks great.”

He was also asked if, as a veteran of the wizarding world, he has any advice for Redmayne:

 

“No, I don’t think he needs advice, just like enjoy it,” Radcliffe says. “I don’t think there’s anything to live up to as well, especially in a way because it’s not like there’s original source material which is a very strong narrative. You know the Fantastic Beasts book is really cool…I hope he’s just enjoying it.”

Radcliffe wants Redmayne and the new movies to be able to stand on their own two feet, which is why he previously told E! News‘ Marc Malkin that he wouldn’t be appearing in Fantastic Beasts. “I feel that would be a very distracting thing so I’m not looking to pop up in them,” he confessed.

 

In the article, Eonline reiterates that Fantastic Beasts takes place 70 years before Harry’s time. It therefore seems unlikely that Daniel Radcliffe would have a part to play, anyway, unless the films somehow incorporated a flash-forward sequence. Who knows what J.K. Rowing and the other creative minds involved in the films might dream up?

In related news, Dan also weighed in on the ‘No-Maj’ controversy. ‘No-Maj’ is the American alternative to ‘Muggle,’ and will be used by American characters in the Fantastic Beasts films. According to Mashable:

“I have no strong opinions about this,” Radcliffe told Mashable when asked about the no-maj news.

“We have different words in England, so it makes perfect sense that there should be a different word for it in America.”

Radcliffe, who is currently in New York City promoting his new film Victor Frankenstein alongside James McAvoy, added that “because no one has pronounced it on film yet, no one [really] knows how to say it.”

“I guess part of the new prequel is set here, or they come here, so I’m excited to see what they do with that,” he added.

 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be released in theatres in November 2016.

 

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Daniel Radcliffe has been making the rounds on talk shows, promoting his new movie, Victor Frankenstein, which hits theaters November 25th.

Right before going to a premier for the movie, Dan Radcliffe stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. After forcing Jimmy to dance the Gangnam Style, they engaged in a card game of War…with a watery twist. Half way through getting soaked, Dan remembered that he was going to a premiere and didn’t bring a dry change in underwear. Check the videos out on The Tonight Show web page, and below:

 

 

Sitting down with SlashFilm.com on the set of Victor Frankenstein, Daniel talks about working in unconventional roles, and goes into detail about his role as Igor. He talks of playing the part physically, including wearing a prosthetic hump and performing stunts, such as stage fighting, without hurting the other person. Dan also discusses what attracted him to the role in the first place

 

“James McAvoy said there’s a physicality to this role. Could you describe that for us?

Yeah, in my experience in doing various physical scenes with people, half of your energy that day is just spent in getting the other actor to engage physically with you. Most actors don’t do it, don’t want to hurt you, but James and I have enough confidence in each other that we’re not going to hurt each other. It’s amazing working with James on that level; he gives 100% every time. He just throws me around.

I’d like to think I’ve been the most willing victim he’s ever had. Pretty much our first day actually was him repeatedly slamming me against a pillar; so yeah, that set the tone. I’ve enjoyed all aspects of working with him, but I think the physical side is what sets this apart.

Does that physical side take a toll on things, even on elements such as your costume?

Not so much on those things, but on the first day, that slamming against a post, I had a prosthetic on — not of the full hump, but of the hump when it’s been drained, so it’s actually messed up and not nice looking. So I had that on for three hours, then I put a costume on over it, so it started getting sweaty and covered in material, and then I’m landing on it every time when I go back, I’m hitting the prosthetic time after time after time. And then, at the end of the day, after doing that for seven hours, they were like, “OK, close up on the hump,” and actually, it held up remarkably well. James has got the brilliant ability where he really looks like he’s slamming you against the wall, while actually taking most of the impact himself. So it held up better than we thought.

But was that an attraction to this?

There’s always an attraction to it, in the same way there was about playing Ginsberg [in Kill Your Darlings], about any kind of transformation – particularly a physical one as well – I really enjoy that. I enjoy working with hair and makeup a lot, I enjoy watching people being good at their jobs, and so hair and makeup and prosthetics and all that lot, I’ve always loved being involved in that, but this is definitely the most heavily made up look. I’m not sure if it’s a deliberate thing, but I think most actors enjoy looking in a mirror and not seeing themselves.“

 

Dan talked in detail about his character, Igor, and how his adaption of the role is different than any other of the Hollywood character (Igor has become a staple to Frankenstein movies, though the character was never present in the novel by Mary Shelley.)

 

“What differentiates this new iteration of Frankenstein?

One of the big differences in this film is when the monster is created, and that puts a very different perspective on everything. The monster isn’t created until the end of… we have several attempts throughout the movie, but the main monster isn’t created until nearer the end of the movie, whereas traditionally it’s something that happens earlier. So it’s less about what happens to the world after the monster is created, and the monster in general, it’s more about the relationship between Frankenstein and Igor preceding it, which of course isn’t a relationship that is in the book. It’s something that has been entered into a global consciousness by loads and loads of movies.

Does Igor have the same drive to play God that Frankenstein does?

Not at all, he wants to… the battle for Igor is, once Victor has rescued him, and he develops this insane loyalty to him, then Victor starts going off the deep end ego-wise. It starts off being very well intentioned, ‘I want to create life, and do something incredible to change the world’, and as his ego takes over, it just becomes, ‘how far can I push this? What crazy, insane thing can I do, just because I can?’, and I think Igor – the chance to change the world for the better is something he never thought he would get, so entering into that, he’s incredibly excited, he wants to be part of that, but then the battle for him in the film is trying to work up the courage to actually stand up to Victor and to tell him to stop.

Are you interested in any other portrayals of Igor from the past?

Other than the ones I’ve already seen, and grew up loving, like Marty Feldman [in Young Frankenstein] is one I get referenced a lot, I think this treads a really wonderful line between Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein. There is humor in this film, it’s not a comedy by any stretch, but there is humor in it. I’ve played a few parts where there have been other people who have played them — when I did Equus, there was a film of that — I’m always worried about being influenced too much, especially this where it is such a fresh take on Igor. I’m a terrible mimic, if I see something to hang on to, I’ll probably do that, so it’s just trying to create it myself, and trying not to do bits from Marty Feldman.

So how old is Igor supposed to be?

I think he’s supposed to be early 20s. He’s younger than Frankenstein. He’s also supposed to have lived his life entirely in the circus, so he is — he’s not naive, but he’s terrified of the world around him.“

 

To read much much more of this very extensive interview, Dan’s relationship with the crew on set, his love of Sherlock, and his character’s relationships with Victor Frankenstein and Jessica Brown Findlay’s character, visit the original article, here.

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In a recent interview with Nylon magazine, for the magazine’s November issue, Daniel Radcliffe gave his support for his Harry Potter co-star, Emma Watson. He backed her decision to bring attention to gender equality, and fuel a conversation for it that includes contributions from both genders. Radcliffe told Nylon magazine:

 

‘“I think it’s fantastic that she’s bringing attention to it and adding to the conversation. I also find it bemusing, honestly, maybe because I have cool parents with a very equal marriage and have had good role models all my life, but I thought this was done,” he says. Things are improving, at least in his own industry, Radcliffe adds, noting that he’d never seen a film crew more equally split gender-wise than on the set ofSwiss Army Man, which he’s just returned from after 25 days of shooting.‘

 

Radcliffe told Nylon that he is most thankful for being alive today, especially for the medical advancements the world has made. He went on to discuss everything from the socks he wears, to the pranks he plays on his friends from the Harry Potter cast, to his new film projects. He discussed how he chose the projects he was involved in, saying:

 

‘“My guiding principal is to find jobs with that kind of electric atmosphere,” he says. But that’s not to say his entire life revolves around work. We all know he likes to rap (see: his flawless renditions of Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady” and Blackalicious’ “Alphabet Aerobics”), but sadly there are no plans for further musical endeavors. “I find it very hard to take any actor’s band seriously, so I would assume other people feel the same way about it,” he says.‘

 

A few of the very artistic photos from the cover shoot can be seen below. To read more of this extensive interview, and view more photos, visit Nylon. The November 2015 issue of Nylon is now available on newsstands.

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Yesterday Playboy released a 20Q interview with Daniel Radcliffe, centred around his role as Harry Potter, his personal life and beliefs, Victor Frankenstein, Equus and the price of fame.

Here’s some of the Potter highlights from the interview!:

Q1
You were 12 years old when the first Harry Potter film came out. At what point did you realize the role was going to follow you for the rest of your life?
It may have become clear to me only in the past few years. In your head, you imagine it will all go away once the series is over. When I was first going out to bars and pubs, I was trying to pretend I could have a normal existence. Then you realize that people know who you are, and when you’re in a bar they take out their camera phones. Eventually you accept that you have to adapt how you live.

Q2
The Potter series is over. Has the attention gone away?
It feels like I get recognized more now. Here’s what’s scary: If you were 14 when the first film came out, you’d now be almost in your 30s and could well have a child under 10 whom you’re now introducing to Harry Potter. We’re already getting the next generation. That’s just bizarre. It’s never going away.

Q3
Why hasn’t the appeal faded?
Because the stories are great! A huge part of our culture now is that if something becomes successful there’s a backlash. Harry Potter didn’t have that. There are people who don’t want to read it, but the number of people who actively dislike it is very low. The books are great, and they came along at the perfect moment, when there was a fear, because of the rise of computer games, that reading was going to become a thing of the past. When kids suddenly found these books, it was something everyone could get behind as a global populace.

Q8
You’ve said that your performance in Harry Potter  and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth movie in the series, was your best, but you hate watching yourself in the sixth, The Half-Blood Prince. How did your best and worst performances come back-to-back?
In every movie up to the sixth one, you can see a big step forward in my acting. And then it stopped, or went backward maybe, in the sixth film. I really enjoyed my performance in the fifth—part of it was how much I worked with people like Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. On the sixth, I remember watching it and thinking, Wow, there’s been no growth. You’re watching a mistake you made every day for 11 months—that’s the way I saw it. I had the idea that Harry was like a soldier traumatized by war, and as a result of that, he shuts down emotionally. That’s not a bad idea, but it’s not the most interesting thing to watch for two and a half hours.

Q13
You’ve focused mainly on low-budget independent films since playing Potter. Will people ever not think of you as Harry?
One of the positive by-products of celebrity culture for actors like me who’ve been stuck with one character for a long time is the opportunity for people to get to know me. I don’t think Mark Hamill, for example, had the same opportunities for people to get to know him. When I went on Jimmy Fallon and rapped a Blackalicious song, I got a job off that—playing Sam Houser in Game Changer, the movie about Grand Theft Auto. It made the guy in charge go, “Oh, he’s interested in hip-hop. He’s not just a typical posh white boy.”

The full interview can be read here.

Victor Frankenstein – Daniel Radcliffe’s newest appearance as Igor – is released on November 25th. Watch him talk about this role at Comic Con here!

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Daniel Radcliffe has shown his good humor this week at San Diego Comic Con.  While officially there to promote Victor Frankenstein, he hasn’t shied away from media interviews and selfie shots.

The photo of the Con so far has been Maisie William’s Instagram post of herself with Hannah Murray, Daniel Radcliffe, and Jenna Coleman.  Nothing makes fandom swoon like a Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Doctor Who meet-up!

Also, Daniel Radcliffe has done some brief camera interviews while in San Diego.  Talking to Extra, Radcliffe confirms that a cameo in Fantastic Beasts is highly unlikely.  Considering the action of the new film takes place decades before Harry Potter is even born, this isn’t surprising.

Radcliffe also shares his excitement for Victor Frankenstein, calling it a “buddy-adventure movie, but with a lot of, like, you know, dissection of animals and stitching them back together to make new improved animals,” since Frankenstein and Igor’s projects involve a lot of animal re-composition as part of the larger storyline.

In another interview, Daniel Radcliffe jokes about his Rear of the Year award.  To E!, he glibly says, “Oh, yeah, I’ve been campaigning for years.”  Radcliffe then gives a mock acceptance speech for the award, saying that he’s honored– and we’ll all get to see more of his backside in the future.

To read more about the Instagram photo, see here.  To read the article from E!, see here.

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Images have surfaced online from Daniel Radcliffe's attendance at the premieres for "The Woman in Black" in London and Toronto.

On Tuesday, the horror film premiered in Radcliffe's hometown of London. Some images can be seen in the Leaky galleries at this link. DanRadcliffe.com also has a report from the premiere with additional images. See it here.

Thursday night, Radcliffe was in Toronto promoting his new film. Images from the Canadian premiere are available on this page.

"The Woman in Black" will be released Feb. 3, 2012 in the U.S. and Feb. 10 in the U.K.

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The Hollywood Reporter was present on Monday when Warner Bros. hosted a luncheon to celebrate the Harry Potter franchise at Club 21 in New York City. In attendance at the luncheon were Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman, director David Yates and producer David Heyman.

Video of Yates and Heyman making remarks about the Harry Potter series during the luncheon can be seen below:



THR also spoke to Radcliffe prior to the luncheon where he talked about his feelings now that Potter is behind him and the adjustment to life in the public eye. Audio of the interview along with a full transcript is available here.

What are your feelings now that it has all wound down?
Daniel Radcliffe: Well, you know, I think my feelings are that the series is, kind of, its own commemoration -- I mean, to me at least. I won't be able to look at any of these films without remembering what they did for the British film industry at a time when it wasn't doing great -- it's now flourishing, but in the early half of the decade, you know, there was nothing happening, and films were closing, and Potter was the only, kind of, sure-thing happening in England. And, you know, my memories of it are incredibly nostalgic, and romantic, and, I think, how everybody views their teenage years, you know: with complete idealism, having forgotten that there was ever any, you know, hormonal rage or any of that kind of stuff. You know, I had a moment the other day of actually really missing it for the first time since, of going, "God, I miss those people!" But, yeah, I mean, it's been over a year now, and I've been having this amazing year here, so it's been a great first year away -- may they all be this good!

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Leaky has gotten an early copy of the forthcoming "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" Blu-ray DVD for review and has a chance to look over many of its special features included in this edition.  We will be highlighting different aspects of the DVD's special features and give a full review of the complete Blu-ray edition soon.  Firstly, readers will recall various clips making their way online of an interview between Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter actor Dan Radcliffe about their experiences in the world of Harry Potter.  In the much of the full interview, Mr. Radcliffe speaks to Jo about her impressions over the past ten years as she gave over her work to the filmmakers and how the process has been for her.

From the start, Jo recalls, she found the young actors to be ideal for their respective roles as the Trio.  In one moment, she shares about the first time she saw Dan as Harry:

"The first time I ever saw you was on the screen in my sitting room at home. They sent me a video of you... So, I saw you on that audition tape and I don't think I ever really told you, that I found you incredibly moving.  At that point, I didn't have a son, and I phoned David [Heyman] up and said he's great, he's fantastic... and I did say to David that it was like watching my son on screen.  Because, after all, Harry feels like this ghostly son I've had in my life."

Ms. Rowling goes on to speak to her characters and the actors who played them by describing them all as "far too pretty," but growing to understand that they actors were right for their roles once she met them.  She explains:

"It was a quite a big deal for me that I had written a strong female character who was primarily about brains, and that she chose to become a little bit more glamorous (in "Goblet of Fire") as us geeks do in a certain point in our lives. (laughs)  I accepted it.  Emma is a great access and I loved her as a person.  I felt that there were so many connections between her and Hermione that, did it matter that she was beautiful [from the start]? Come on."

Later in the conversation, the pair turns to discussing some of the creative turns the film made and Jo's reaction to a those alterations.  She says, "Inevitability you had to depart from the strict storyline of the books... the books are simply too long to make into very faithful films.  I can think of many places where it has worked just beautifully."  On the subject of changes she requested, Jo recalls one instance with "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" director Alfonso Cuaron in which she halted a creative effect from one scene.  Quoteage:

"Alfonso really wanted to get music into the film, and he put the choir in, which I loved.  But at one point he had this rather bizarre scene where Flitwick was conducting, and there were miniature people in an orchestra inside of something.  I said to him, 'But, why?'  I know it's visually exciting, but I think what was part of what fans really enjoy about the literacy world was that there was a logic that underpinned it.  There was always a logic to the magic, however strange it became.  And I know it's intriguing to people to go through the mouth of whatever it was and to see these little people, but why have they done it? …. Normally with the magic, there is a point.  So we had a little discussion about that.

The them of logic in the world of Harry Potter continues as a theme from this interview and it picked up again when the actor and author discuss the school setting of Hogwarts and reasons behind Jo's decision to have Hogwarts be a boarding school.  

"I certainly wasn't pro-boarding school... it was simply logistics.  There is a logic underpinning the world, and if you are a part of a society that is living in secret and you want to gather together a large number of your children and teach

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As a followup to today's earlier post, more information from author J. K. Rowling about the fates of characters from special material included on the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" DVD has been released care of MTV.  This new information comes from a report on EW which details more from a conversation the Harry Potter author had with actor Dan Radcliffe for the DVD.  Here, Ms. Rowling explains how she came to the decision of the fates of Hagrid and Lupin and how her thoughts on the characters were altered as she wrote the books.  Quoteage:

Rowling tells Radcliffe that the image of Hagrid cradling "dead" Harry — a bookend to the beginning of the series, when Hagrid brought infant Harry to the Dursleys – stuck with her the entire time she wrote the books and she never let it go. If she had, Rowling says Hagrid would have been a “natural” target for elimination. "That image kept him safe," she says.

Rowling also reveals that in her original "sketch" (her word) of the series climax, one of the most beloved characters in the Potter canon survived: Remus Lupin — tragic werewolf, former Defense Against The Dark Arts professor, and husband to the metamorphmagus and auror, Nymphadora Tonks... The seventh book tells us that before their deaths during the Battle of Hogwarts, Lupin and Tonks had a child. On the DVD, Rowling shares with Radcliffe that when she created Lupin’s character, she planned for him to survive the finale. While the author has said as much in other interviews, here, she elaborates, explaining that she changed her mind when she realized that her last Harry Potter story was really about war, and that “one of the most horrifying things about war is how it leaves children fatherless and motherless.” The most powerful way she could dramatize that idea, she says, was to kill a set of parents that were dear to readers. “I had no intention of killing [Lupin],” says Rowling. “But then it dawned on me he had to die."

The full interview is set to be included as part of the special features on the Blu-ray edition of the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," scheduled for release on November 11 in the US and December 2nd in the UK.

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Entertainment Weekly has released an exclusive behind the scenes clip from the "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" Blu-ray. The clip features interviews with the Weasley actors discussing Molly Weasley's (Julie Walters) famous line in the series when she battles Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). See that video here.

Another clip was unlocked by fans playing on the website Harry Potter: The Quest. This new feature focuses on Harry and Dumbledore's relationship through the years and includes previously unseen behind the scenes footage of Daniel Radcliffe and Michael Gambon joking around on the set. See it on YouTube or below:



"Deathly Hallows: Part 2" will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Nov. 11 in the U.S. and Dec. 2 in the U.K.

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Video of actor Dan Radcliffe's appearance on Anderson, the daily talk show hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, is now online and can be viewed right here.  During the segment, the Harry Potter actor talks about his experiences on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," moving from his time on the Harry Potter films, and how he feels about his role and place as a celebrity.  Parts one through five are available starting below:

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Daniel Radcliffe has spoken to a Scottish newspaper about filming "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in the recent snowy weather. Mr. Radcliffe, speaking to the Sunday Mail, describes the camping scenes filmed by Loch Etive in Scotland as "magic." He goes on to say, "[the] mountains up there looked kind of blue and the weather was great." Talking about the various filming locations used for... Read the rest of this post

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CNN has a new article online today where cast members reflect back on the beginning of their time with the Harry Potter series as well as life post Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of interest are comments from Dan Radcliffe who spoke about that first day for filming of Sorcerer's Stone: "It was September 29, 2000," Daniel Radcliffe, now 20, told CNN with a hint of nostalgia about his firs... Read the rest of this post

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As part of the release for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD (with the Deathly Hallows sneak preview), members of the cast have done several new interviews. Now available are videos from the AP, ITN and WireImage as follows:

Update: ET Canada continues their HBP interviews, this with Bonnie Wright

AP:  Dan Radcliffe on the Blu-ray Live screening of HBP

ITN: <>Dan, Rupert Grint, Bonnie W... Read the rest of this post

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Thanks to our friends at Oclumencia for pointing us to a series of interviews with Vira-Tempo blog where director David Yates and several of the cast members discuss the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD. Links can be found here: Dan Radcliffe, David Yates, Rupert Grint,  Bonnie Wright, and Emma Watson. Of interest are new comments from Dan Radcliffe and David Yates on that Bl... Read the rest of this post

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