DanRadcliffe.co.uk Exclusive Interview with Daniel Radcliffe

Interview, Monday, 19/9/2005

Daniel Radcliffe Interview with Page Banfield, DanRadcliffe.co.uk

Leavesden Studios

Page: “This is Page with DanRadcliffe.co.uk again sitting here with Dan Radcliffe at Leavesden studios.  This is actually the third time we’ve interviewed together, I think.”

Dan:  “Yeah.”

Page:  “Since 2003, thank you very much for giving me the time again.  So I thought I’d start off with a pulse check. Back in, I guess it might have been 2003, during Chamber of Secrets promotion, you sort of openly admitted that you felt it would be quite an honour to play Harry throughout the whole series in the films. So you’ve just completed four films, do you still feel like it’s still an honour?”

Dan:  “Yeah absolutely, particularly after having read the sixth book, I think it would definitely be a massive honour to play Harry in all of them. It does just sort of depend on what happens with, I mean if everyone else starts to tower over me, or I’m too short, or I suddenly grow loads, I don’t know what will happen, but you know, or I suddenly become too tall or whatever, you know, so it’s um..  obviously it would be an amazing opportunity to have played him in all seven films, assuming they do all seven.  But yeah certainly having done four films already feels like a fantastic honour to have actually done them, because you know, the majority of the films are done, and it really feels like a massive achievement.”

Page: “During our last interview, you explained that Goblet of Fire was your favourite script, you actually called it a masterpiece.  Is it still your favourite script, and have you read the script for Order of the Phoenix yet?”

Dan: “I haven’t read the script for Order of the Phoenix yet, I think they are doing, they’ve just got a new draft out at the moment, but I think that they’ve just started work on an even newer version so I think when they finish that one, I’ll get a copy of that.  I could have one, sort of now, I could ask for one, but there would be no point because, it would still be quite far away from how the film will actually end up being, but I reckon after the next draft is done, it should really start to take shape and be very recognizable as the film they are going to make.”

Page: “Based on having read the book then, are you looking forward to filming any scenes in Order of the Phoenix?  You’ve sort of openly admitted that you’re going to be back for that film, even though it hasn’t really officially been announced yet.”

Dan:  “No, I mean I’m going to do the fifth one definitely, which scene, I’m looking forward to all the scenes with Neville, because they are I think very sort of sweet and very important really because, you know, obviously in the fifth, we learn about the connection between Harry and Neville, and I just think it’s a very important part and also because the guy who plays Neville, Matt Lewis, is just so fantastic.  I’m really looking forward to doing some big acting scenes with him, because now we’ve not got a chance to do sort of any really substantial big scenes together which would be really good. I’m also looking forward to all the stuff with Sirius and the final scene with Dumbledore as well are the ones I’m sort of really looking forward to.”

Page:  “Are you looking forward to any particular characters in Order of the Phoenix being cast?”

Dan:  “Well, Luna Lovegood, and Tonks as well, I mean those two I’m sort of really curious to see, I’m sure there probably are others, but I can’t remember their names at the moment.  Obviously all of the people who were actually in the Order of the Phoenix, so who’s that, that’s Kingsley, Shackelbolt, and I can’t remember (Page says Umbridge) Umbridge! Of course! Is the other, a MAJOR part, that’s going to be great, because it’s so horrible what she does to him. But yeah, so it’s going to be really interesting, I have no idea who is actually playing Umbridge, but it’s very exciting, whoever it will be.”

Page:  “Goblet of Fire is the first Harry Potter film that’s received a PG-13 rating.”

Dan:  “Yes.”

Page:  “How do you feel about that rating based on the content of this film?  Would you let a five year old see it?”

Dan:  “Not unless you necessarily wanted to warp his mind (we laugh..) no I mean, I haven’t actually seen the film, based on what we’ve actually filmed, there is some stuff that’s very intense. The final scene with Voldemort is really quite scary stuff. I think also having seen, because I think it probably, we could have done it in a way where everyone could come and watch it, but obviously it would have been no good. It would have been, because it wouldn’t have done justice to the darkness that’s in the books. And so you know, there’s all the stuff where Wormtail cuts Harry’s arm, and extracts blood and stuff like that, because I saw a bit of dubbing the other day, and I saw that bit of that scene, and they haven’t sort of pulled away from the daunting. It is very scary. So I think the rating it gets, it does deserve it, because I think it is, and it‘s not like the entire film is absolutely terrifying, for the majority of the time, absolutely kids will be able to see it and anyone can watch it but there are moments which are really, really frightening, and that certainly will be one of them. But also the dragon task might be slightly scary, I’m not sure, so you know.”

Page: “Of the four films that you’ve filmed so far, and of the four very climactic endings, which were you were favorite, which ending is your favorite?”

Dan: “Well I think with the fourth film, the ending is sort of what the last three films really have been building towards. There was a tremendous sort of hype on the set, the sense of excitement on the set where everybody did sort of feel like this is what we’ve been building towards this scene, the confrontation with Harry because I think that’s what, both in the books and the films and also just the people who are watching the films, I think that confrontation between Harry and Voldemort is what everybody has been waiting for really. So there was a tremendous sort of excitement, so that was really good for me to do because I just really enjoyed being on the set even more than I normally do, because everyone was just really focused, and everyone just wanted to do the the best job they possibly, possibly could, to make this scene, to do the scene justice, so that people didn’t go to the cinema and watch that scene and say, ‘oh I was a bit disappointed in the ending,’ so we all wanted to avoid that at all cost, so you know it was incredibly exciting to be a part of that.”

Page: “I was going to ask you, but I think you’ve already answered this question, so you’ve read book six, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.”

Dan: “Yes.”

Page: “What are your personal thoughts on the storyline of that book, and has it changed your mind about the way you think the series ends?”

Dan: “I loved the book, I really really enjoyed it, because it shows that, you know, whereas most of the other books start with a sort of, with a big opening like in the first one, it’s the ‘you’re a wizard.’ In the second one you’ve got the flying car, the fourth one, it’s the quidditch world cup, the third one it’s the dementors. Now it’s… that right, the fifth one, so long ago, the third one has the knight bus, and Sirius Black having escaped from prison, so but with this one, with the sixth one, there’s none of that, it’s just very slowly sort of, it’s as if the storyline sort of creeps up on you and by the time it’s there, it’s fully formed and you haven’t even noticed it, it’s just sort of growing it’s just suddenly there?  But I mean I loved it, I don’t know if it’s changed my mind, I still, and also it goes, because the theory I had before, which is that Harry may die in the last book, was sort of, it does work, when you take into account the prediction that was made by Trelawney, and so I don’t know, I think I don’t’ know what’s going to happen.  I’m really sort of, the thing I completely didn’t expect was that he was going to leave Hogwarts. I really didn’t see that coming at all. I really enjoyed the book, I mean, I found Dumbledore’s death, because I was one of the unfortunate people who had been told beforehand that he was going to die, not by J.K. Rowling or anybody, but just by this person that I met. He said, ‘oh have you read the sixth book, he dies’, so I sort of knew from the beginning, but even when I got to it, I so in my head, couldn’t believe that it would happen, that when I read it, it still came as a bit of a shock. But yeah so I loved the book, I really, really enjoyed it.”

Page: “Of the three Goblet of Fire  tri-wizard tournament tasks, which did you have the most fun filming, which affected you the most emotionally, and which challenged you the most physically?

Dan: “Um, the most fun filming, most fun to film was probably, the maze was quite fun to film, they were all actually pretty fun to film, but I think the maze was the most, because I mean, even though we did, that was probably, none of them really affected me emotionally, but if I had to pick, it would probably be the maze because everyone did start to go slightly mad. But there was only one that was basically, the magic of the movies, there’s only about, there was one bit of maze, then three other bits, and that was sort of it, as I remember, and they could sort of turn them around and make it look like there were different bits of the maze. So we were basically stuck in the same thing about this wide (Dan motions width, with his arms..) for about three weeks, so we started to go a bit mad. Then physically the most challenging was probably the diving, the underwater stuff, because I trained for a long time to be able to do that, and it was tough but ultimately it was really gratifying to know that when I watch the film, and I see all those underwater scenes, I can, it was, I was told that David Holmes, my stunt double they were in there as well, but I trained for six months and I spent 41 hours, 23 minutes underwater filming, so you know, it was really good.”

Page: “I think of everything that I’ve seen in the trailer so far, that just shocked me to death, was the diving of course, but you just coming far out of the water, and I thought, ‘wait a minute! I don’t think this is in the book, but GOD that’s so cool’!”

Dan: “I know, there is a sort of, what we’ve done I think in this film, sort of for the first time, I’m not sure if we’ve really done it before, because obviously in other films we’ve had to edit things out of the book, but I think this is one of the first ones where we’ve actually put stuff in.  So I think, there’s a scene with McGonagall for the Yule Ball (Page laughs) where she’s sort of teaching everyone how to waltz, um, and is that in the trailer?”

Page: “There was a bit in the trailer with Rupert that made me laugh hysterically”

Dan:  “Okay, because I’ve not actually seen the trailer, I’ve seen sort of the first one with all the faces changing, but I haven’t seen the new one, so there’s that and um, and there’s a whole section, the dropping sequences which isn’t in the book, but hopefully it will be fantastic in the film. When we were first doing it, it was very scary, but it was really terrific, just great, because one of the things I have to do which was more than slightly scary, was the way I have to hold on to this thing at the top of the set, and then let go, and sort of free fall about 60 feet. I was on a wire, so they could have caught me, but basically they just let me free fall but and it was very scary, but really sort of after about the first two or three I started to quite enjoy it, so you know…that was quite terrifying.”

Page: “So if I call you next year and want to go sky-diving, you’ll be the first to volunteer?”

Dan: “I’ll be absolutely the first in the queue, yeah.” (lots of laughing going on here….)

Page:  “I’m gonna do that!”

Dan:  “Well I should be on the plane already!”

Page:  “What did Mike Newell’s direction bring to the table for this film as compared to Alfonso’s or Chris’ and who did you most enjoy working with of the new actors?”

Dan:  “I loved working with Brendan Gleason, he was fantastic. I loved working with David Tennant, who plays Barty Crouch, Jr. And I wish, I really wish he could have been in it more, because I would have loved to sort of get to know, because we only really got two scenes together in the entire film, and one of those we don’t even speak together, so I wish I could have worked with him more because he was fantastic.  And Michael Gambon, he’s not a new actor he was in the third film, but I sort of feel, because we had no sort of massive scenes really in the third one, but in this one, we have so many scenes together, that I really feel I sort of got to know him slightly better, because he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. So I got to know him, I could tell you very little about him, because I mean, he just does, he makes stuff up all the time and you don’t know where reality begins or where it ends, which is something I sort of really liked about him, so he was great. The Mike Newell question, I think what Mike brings, because Mike does sort go into, I mean we sort of, me and Matt Lewis, one of the first scenes we thought was a small scene between myself and Matt Lewis, and um, the scene was about two inches long on the script, and Mike, me, and Matt rehearsed it for about an hour and a quarter?  And me and Matt were really excited about the fact that he was going into so much detail, but at the same time we were going, “well if it takes an hour and a quarter rehearsal to do a one and a half, oh, like  two inches, how long is it going to be to do one and a half pages!  But, you know, so we got slightly scared but it was, you know, we weren’t actually scared, it was just fantastic, because he really goes into detail with performances, you know, which is wonderful. And also what I think is fantastic about Mike for the films, is because Mike grew up in the British Public School Boarding school arena, and so, he came in it, whereas Chris growing up in America, and Alfonso is from Mexico, he came into it with a very sort of British eye, and so there’s all this stuff. There’s this one scene where we’re doing homework club, which is I think is a purely British thing. I don’t even know if any other countries, where some schools mainly private schools, mainly boarding schools out of them, will have sort of after school has ended, will have an hour to two hours, where everyone sits inside and does their homework, right? And um, so there’s one scene in the film where we’re all doing that, and we’re discussing, me and Rupert, are discussing how to get dates for the Yule Ball, and Snape keeps catching us and smacking us over the back of the head, and I can’t help but laugh every time I see myself hit with a book, because I don’t know why it’s just very, very funny, so there’s stuff like that. So I think Mike came at it with a very British eye, and he really created that boarding school atmosphere I think, not on the set, in the film.”

Page:  “Do you feel like you’ve missed anything by fulfilling Jo Rowling’s prophesy regarding Harry in the books in that one day, every child in the world would know your name? It’s just a real poignant point in the book and it comes across in the first film as well.”

Dan:  “Do I think I’ve missed it?  No, not really, no…..I mean no, I can’t really think of anything. I mean, the only difference is that, I’ve sort of maybe grown up a bit faster than other kids, just simply because I’ve spent so much time around adults. Whether or not that means I’ve missed anything I don’t know, I don’t think it does, I mean, I’ve just had a fantastic time, so I don’t mind.”

Page: “As a 16-year-old teenager, actually let me re-phrase that…as a young adult…”

Dan:  “THANK YOU!”

Page:  “With your own emotions taking a roller coaster ride at the moment, how do you turn off what you’re feeling and tune into what Harry’s experiencing? I mean Goblet of Fire’s themes are very dark and deep, and I can’t fathom some of the things that Harry’s had to endure at such a young age. How do you keep so cheerful and smiley, you know because then you have to turn around and film something as haunting as the final task?”

Dan:  “Yeah, I mean that’s the thing, when I was doing the confrontation with Voldemort, I wasn’t being sort of, but at this stage in my acting, I’m not actually, I know I‘m not good enough to be talking or chatting away and smiley, smiley, smiley with Ralph Fiennes and then turn around and pretend he’s one of my worst enemies and I want to kill him….so…”

Page: “Now see, I would beg to differ there, because I think you ARE that good, I mean, the very fact that you can do that? And it’s so clearly evident to everybody that’s watching the film, it’s so completely indicative of how good you are.”

Dan:  “Thank you very much, you’re very kind. I mean, what I didn’t want to risk happening was that I would be talking to him, and then I wouldn’t be able to hate him as much, because I had talked to him, and I’d really grown to like him, so I really wouldn’t be able to hate him as Harry does. I wouldn’t be able to sort of focus in on that, so I didn’t really want to do that, just in case it didn’t look good when we actually filmed it, but I mean, when it’s lighter scenes or when it’s just scenes, not quite as important as that one, it is sort of , as long as you take about five or ten seconds before you start filming, and as long as you constantly are focused, and not kind of laughing and joking, because I do get the giggles really badly. So if I found something really funny, and I’ve got a lot better at it now, I don’t do it as much, I remember on the second one, me and Rupert, there was one scene with Ken Branagh and we were laughing so much, me and Rupert, that it just got absolutely ridiculous but I mean, but generally, I don’t think it’s a big thing it’s just something you do, to sort of turn it off, and like when your thinking about your own thoughts and personal stuff or whatever, you just sort of, as soon as you hear turn over, and quiet everyone, you just sort of stop then, and start having Harry’s thoughts again.”

Page:  “I’m going to turn the tables and go a little bit more personal.”

Dan:  “Okay.”

Page:  “Everybody’s dying to know how you did on your exams, don’t give me your grades, but did you do well on your exams?”

Dan:  “Yeah, really, really pleased, really pleased.”

Page: “Good, are you still planning to go to college or university?”

Dan:  “Yeah, I’ve started, I don’t know about university, but I’ve started my next year of school already, I started about three weeks ago, and it’s going really well, but it’s tough, because essays, are always the things I found hardest because I always used to get the note back, ‘not enough detail.’ So I always found it hard to write as much as was actually needed.  But I’ve found that now that I’m typing, I’ve started to type more?  It’s actually really, really helped.  I’m getting a lot more detail into my stuff, so it’s going a lot better yeah.”

Page:  “You’re fast approaching driving age, have you taken any driving lessons yet, or learned to drive? Got any plans for a car soon?”

Dan:  “I just want to get a normal car that gets me from one place to the other, because I don’t know if I’ll be safe behind the wheel of a fast car, and also because my dad tends to be the worst driver in the world! And he actually now doesn’t drive at all so hopefully it will balance out. I’ll be an okay driver, because my dad’s the worst driver, and my mom is a fantastic driver, so hopefully I’ll be somewhere in the middle, but I’m a bit nervous about it. I mean, you have to also, you have to learn how to drive, because if you get it wrong, and you can’t drive a car, then it becomes a problem, I don’t know how I’m going to do, but I’ll let you know.”

Page:  “You’re quite influential with your music taste on your fans, fans seem to learn of your favorite bands through newsletters and interviews, and then they want to email me and ask me where to find that music, which leads me to my next question.  I’ve noticed on iTunes that there are quite a number of celebrities that create their own playlists. Does that sound like something you’d like to do?”

Note: There was quite a bit of conversation going on during this question between Dan and I, and his Representative with respect to this topic.  The conversational pieces shouldn’t be heard and were sliced out of the recording, however, we are pleased to announce that Dan’s playlist for iTunes IS in the process, and further information regarding that will be rolled out soon!

Dan:  “Yeah, I think yeah, so yeah I’ve done that, I mean what’s some of the stuff I’m listening to at the moment. There’s a great band called The Rakes, who’ve got an album called Capture Release. Hard-Fi, who’ve got an album called Stars of CCTV.  Now for anyone buying that album in countries other than England, CCTV is closed circuit television. That was a bad bit of publicity on Hard-Fi’s part, because of course this band had been promoting this album all around the world, and nobody knows what CCTV is. It’s basically an anti-terror thing where whenever you go into somewhere, they’re filming you all the time, so that’s why it’s Stars of CCTV, and also I’d recommend to everyone to go and get T-Rex’s album, Electric Warrior, because I’ve started to listen to that out of my dad’s collection of records and it’s absolutely amazing, so yeah.”

Page:  “That’s it!”

Dan:  “Fantastic!”

Page: “I had more, but that’s okay!” (everyone laughs..)

Dan: “Thank you very very much for being here.”

Page: “Thank you so much for allowing me to come and interview again today.”

Dan:  “Not at all, no!”

Interview transcript copyright © DanRadcliffe.co.uk, 19 September, 2005, Page Banfield, Webmaster.  Use of this transcript requires permission from the webmaster.