Child stars are notorious for turning into weird adults, which is perhaps unsurprising when your formative years were spent with the world watching your every move. So, it’s a small miracle that the three child stars of the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have turned out pretty well-adjusted (well, as far as we know anyway). Of the three, though, it’s Radcliffe who’s been the busiest, obviously eager to prove that he’s not just a pair of glasses, a wand and a rather fetching scar.
His post-Potter roles have ranged from a critically acclaimed turn in The Woman in Black, playing Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, a guy cursed with devil horns in Horns and, uh, a fart-propelled corpse in Swiss Army Man.
Now, in an interview with ET, he explains his thinking behind these choices:
Directly after Potter, it was a real concern of mine [to show my versatility as an actor], but now, I think it’s just a part of how I pick roles. I don’t want to repeat myself, because that’s not fun for me, but not because it’s a part of any huge grand plan to continue to distance myself from Potter.”
I’m sure there are actors looking at this with slightly envious eyes, but it’s nice that Radcliffe isn’t resting on his laurels and seems dedicated to expanding his range as much as possible. He went on to say:
“I think it’s because all the actors I admire [take varied roles], Steve Buscemi is actually an amazing example of somebody who, if you look at his film roles, he’s been in everything from Fargo to almost every movie Adam Sandler has ever made, and big action movies like Armageddon and Con Air. He’s just got an incredibly eclectic, varied resume, and I think that’s a sign of a really exciting career.”
Hey, if you’re going to emulate an actor, then you could do a hell of a lot worse than Steve Buscemi, right?
As for the future? Well, it sounds as if Radcliffe might be open to another long-running franchise:
“I don’t know if I would get into another massive one, like, seven or eight films, but I don’t think I’d have any reservations about jumping into something like that if it was the right thing… if I liked the script, then absolutely.”
Tell us, can you think of any franchise roles that Daniel Radcliffe would be perfect for? Perhaps he’s overdue for an appearance in the MCU?