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Daniel Radcliffe Initially Wasn’t Interested In The ‘Harry Potter’ Role, What He’s Done With His Earnings, And Being Compared To Elijah Wood

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 19:53 PST, Jan 10, 2017

Daniel Radcliffe, the English actor, was born in July, 1989. His character plays the main protagonist in the Harry Potter films, which to date have made him a small fortune. Radcliffe featured in the Harry Potter series from 2001 to 2011, with the series finally culminating with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The Huffington Post reports that Daniel Radcliffe initially wasn’t even interested in playing the role of Harry Potter. Casting director Janet Hirshenson remembered that director Chris Columbus had been interested in Radcliffe for the role ever since seeing him in David Copperfield, but the young actor just wasn’t interested.

“He just wasn’t interested. He didn’t want to be an actor anymore.”

Apparently, Radcliffe needed to be convinced to come in and audition, and for the millions of fans of the Harry Potter movies, it’s a good thing he eventually agreed.

The popular actor has reportedly earned $95.6 million from his stint in the Harry Potter films, and he was named the highest-paid actor in 2009. One could assume that anyone amassing such a fortune would use their money to enjoy the comforts and luxuries that money provides; however, Radcliffe appears to be very particular and cautious about his financial planning, with the actor revealing that he’s actually spent very little of his hard-earned wealth.

Clearly, Radcliffe’s prodigal nature suggests that he prefers to save his money for a rainy day. As an actor, Daniel Radcliffe understands that a show business career can be very unpredictable, and he’s cautiously saving money for the time when his career may reach a low point.

Obviously, the actor is happy that he’s amassed so much wealth and that he’s unlikely to face a financial crisis anytime soon. According to CBS News, Radcliffe spoke about the fact that, today, he rarely worries about financial instability.

“I’m very grateful for it, because having money means you don’t have to worry about it, which is a very lovely freedom to have. It also gives me immense freedom career-wise.”

Rather than focusing on making money, Daniel Radcliffe strives to entertain his fans by delivering stellar performances in his critically acclaimed movies. Apart from the Harry Potter films, Radcliffe has acted in other notable films like Kill Your Darlings, Imperium, The Woman in Black, Swiss Army Man, and What If.

Along with Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, and Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Radcliffe is considered one of Britain’s leading actors to feature in film projects based on English fantasy and Gothic novels. Another actor who gained prominence when the Harry Potter series was gaining popularity was Elijah Wood, the American actor, who played the memorable role of the hobbit Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Lord of the Rings series is considered the arch-rival of the Harry Potter film series, with the first films from both franchises being released in 2001. It, therefore, became natural for fans to compare Daniel Radcliffe with Elijah Wood, simply because the characters played by both actors resembled each other with regard to their personalities and looks.

Apart from bearing similar personas, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter were the protagonists of their respective franchises and both had to use their powers to fight evil to protect the innocent. It was natural for fans to draw parallels between these two characters, and Time magazine reports that many audiences mistook Daniel Radcliffe for Elijah Wood, simply due to their similar on-screen personas.

In fact, even today fans still compare the two actors. Recently, enthusiastic fans developed a gif image of Daniel Radcliffe that morphed into Elijah’s image.

This image has become so popular on the internet that organizers of Austin’s Fantastic Fest, a popular film festival, were planning to simulate a boxing fight as part of the Fantastic Fest Debate segment between the two actors. However, Wood didn’t wish to take the internet joke too far, because he respects Daniel Radcliffe as his professional peer.

Buzzworthy reports that Elijah Wood appeared on Conan, the popular talk show, and remarked that audiences still haven’t stopped comparing his Frodo with Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter, even though both actors have matured with age.

“After a while, you think, it hits the Internet and becomes a thing and people talk about it for a while, and you think, ‘OK, we get it,’ and the joke is over and it would die, but [the joke] has long legs… and it just keeps going.”

[Featured Image by Remy Steiner/Getty Images]

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