Daniel Radcliffe On Playing Harry Potter And Taking On Unique Roles

With the current release of the romance What If, the upcoming release of the dark supernatural fantasy Horns, and the recent short story from J.K. Rowling featuring The Boy Who Lived, former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has been in the news quite a bit in the past month.

After some peaks and valleys, Radcliffe has been able to shake off the child actor curse and take on some wonderfully interesting and unique roles following his decade-long portrayal of Harry Potter. “Playing one part for 10 years builds up a desire to do as many different parts as you can afterward,” Radcliffe said in an interview with NJ. “Luckily, I haven’t found that a problem. I know it can be a struggle for youngish actors, who tend to be required to just play older teenagers. But I’ve been given the opportunity to do other things, and I’ve tried to take advantage.”

That being said, it’d be a lie to say that he’ll never be held up to his portrayal of Harry Potter ever again, but at 25, Radcliffe has a great attitude, learning from his perceived missteps on screen. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Radcliffe opened up on his performance as Harry Potter, and how his learning experience differed from most actors:

“The moments I’m not as proud of, mistakes other actors get to make in rehearsal rooms or at drama school, are all on film for everyone to see… And that’s why it’s hard to watch a film like ‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince,’ because I’m just not very good in it. I hate it. My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn’t come across.”

Having moved on to very different roles as of late, many wondered if the actor would return to Harry Potter world if given the opportunity. With Rowling’s release of the Harry Potter short story, many were asking just that, despite the fact that there are no plans to adapt the Harry Potter short onto film. In an Associated Press interview, Radcliffe expressed his knowledge that this would inevitably be asked of him:

“[Harry Potter]’s 10 years older than I am in this story so it’s really not even a hypothetical at the moment. I would obviously never say never because that’s a foolish thing to say, but I would have to think long and hard before I ever went back to anything.”

A very admirable take from Radcliffe on a role that could have very easily have been the sharpest double-edged sword in the history of cinema.