Daniel Radcliffe Explains Why He Chose Weird Movie Roles After ‘Harry Potter’

You wouldn’t believe the coloful encounters Daniel Radcliffe has had in his life. It’s been filled with colorful encounters.

Once, the “Harry Potter” star was bottle-feeding a baby kangaroo when “The Office” cocreator Ricky Gervais called to pitch him an idea. Another time, while meeting his “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” costar Tracy Morgan, the comedian introduced himself by saying, “Dan, I just want to meet women and do karate.” (He did not say “meet” women.)

The price for all those star-studded encounters and fun stories is often high: The list of child actors who crumbled under the weight of fame is longer than the line for food at the Great Hall in Hogwarts Castle. Still, Radcliffe, 36, has navigated being the face of the beloved “Harry Potter” franchise with a grace and professionalism that has earned him a reputation as one of the most likable actors in the business.

Still, growing up “Potter” wasn’t always easy.

“There were definitely times when it was really hard,” Radcliffe told Business Insider. “There were times I didn’t think I was coping with it that well, and where I did find the fame slightly overwhelming, but then you get past that and grow up.”

For Radcliffe, growing up has meant crafting a post-“Potter” career of offbeat roles he could embody on his own terms — whether that meant playing a friendly corpse in “Swiss Army Man” or Weird Al Yankovic in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

His next move takes him to the small screen, starring alongside Morgan in NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” a mockumentary-style comedy series in which retired football star Reggie (Morgan) enlists the self-serious documentarian Arthur (Radcliffe) to chronicle his life in hopes of rehabilitating his image.

After that initial meeting with Morgan in which the comedian revealed his wants and needs, Radcliffe said he and his costar bonded over something a little more serious: how lucky they both feel to have the lives that they do.

“He survived an insane crash, so he feels incredibly blessed to be alive, let alone doing all the things he’s doing,” Radcliffe said, referring to the 2014 car accident Morgan survived that killed his friend and left Morgan severely injured.

“I think both of us have had crazy, unusual careers, and I think we’re both very delighted to find ourselves where we are now.”

For the latest interview in Business Insider’s “Role Play” series, Radcliffe discusses how he copes with global fame, the movie scene he doesn’t want his son to see someday, and the best business decision of his career.

On the lessons he learned on the ‘Harry Potter’ set and dealing with fame

Business Insider: You got to work with so many great actors while making the “Harry Potter” movies. Is there a specific actor and a specific skill they had that you learned from working with them?

Daniel Radcliffe: The people I really learned from and carry with me are Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. They both arrived on the third film at a time when I was getting a bit older. And they were the adult actors that, for the first time, I had really, really substantial scenes with. At 14, I was starting to see myself more as an adult, so we had a different relationship. 

Gary approaches the work with so much intensity. The level of commitment from him — he taught me to just fucking go for it. And then David Thewlis, as well as Michael Gambon, have something really in common, which is their relaxation.

Michael Gambon, may he rest in peace, he was too relaxed a lot of the time. He would be screwing around and not taking things too seriously until literally action. And even after action, he would try to make me laugh still. But there is something that comes from that, which is if you’re relaxed and at ease, you will probably be quite watchable. There is something compelling about that.

An aspect of “Potter” that you probably had to figure out on your own was how to cope with it becoming your identity. For the rest of your life, if “Harry Potter” is ever in the news, you are asked to comment. How have you coped with the fame, and how will you cope? Have you gotten into a rhythm, or are you just dealing with it?

I think you deal with it through life. Look, we could spend an hour on this question, but I think mostly the answer is you get used to it. I think in some ways it’s easier for it to happen when you’re very young because then the weirdness of it gets so intertwined with your life that it doesn’t really feel weird anymore. You don’t register it as being so bizarre.

I think the challenge it presents you with — as with any kind of fame — is you have to figure out what actually makes you happy, and then aim for that, and nothing else matters.

I’ve got a lot of great people around me. I always did. I had great parents, but also all the other adults on the “Potter” set. I did get some really good advice from some of the older actors, but most of the great advice I got came from crew or people I really knew well.

Honestly, the fame thing — with the new [“Harry Potter”] series — there’s going to be a little of a shared burden, which is quite nice. There are now multiple Harry Potters in the world, so I feel like that’s going to help. And there will be a time when, I feel at some point, I’m going to start looking less like Potter; I’m going to get old, and that will probably be another thing that helps in recognition on a daily basis.

When fame starts at a young age, you start getting this version of yourself reflected back at you from the world, but in a false mirror where suddenly you’re hearing this perceived version of yourself. You have to figure out, “Am I that? Do I really want to be that? Or do I actually want to be something else, and what’s important to me?”

You have to figure out what’s important to you and what you like. And I was really lucky because I always loved being on set, so I just needed to keep doing this in some form. You can put me on anything, and I’ll basically be happy if I’m on a film set. 

On playing himself as an entitled child star on ‘Extras’ and choosing offbeat roles

The first non-“Potter” project we saw you in was an episode of the Ricky Gervais series “Extras” in 2006, which you did while the franchise was still in production. What are your memories of doing that?

I was in Australia for holiday. Somebody said to us, “Hey, we’ve got a baby kangaroo at our house, do you want to come and visit?” And we were like, “Yeah, absolutely.” So I was holding this baby kangaroo, bottle feeding it, and then my dad came into the room looking like he’d just seen a ghost and was like, “Dan, I’ve just spoken to your agent, and now Ricky Gervais is on the phone and wants to pitch you with something.”

This is one of those moments when you go, “What a fucking life! What is happening?” So Ricky pitched me what the idea of the episode was. He basically was like, “We want to give you a chance to take the piss out of being a child star.” At that point, I was very familiar with what a child star was and what people expected me to be, so I was very relieved to have a chance to poke fun at that. 

Did you know Diane Rigg would also be in the scene?

I don’t remember her being in the initial pitch; there’s a chance they might have asked Maggie [Smith], and maybe she was like, “No, I’m not having a fucking condom thrown at me.”

You consistently have chosen offbeat roles in your post-“Potter” career. Did that happen naturally?

Yeah. It’s just my taste. I think “Swiss Army Man” is an example of a film where people always assumed that I had to be talked into doing it because it’s so weird. In reality, I read the script, and I was like, “This is great, this is some weird fucking Beckett play, it’s fantastic.” So I think it’s always been my taste, and I’ve been in this incredible position where I can afford to be guided by my taste and what I want to do.

Generally, in film, TV, and stage, if you are in a place where you are trying to second-guess what audiences want or what people want to see you in, that will always lead to some bad decisions. If you’re going to do something you don’t really believe in, but you think other people think you should do it, suddenly you’re in a position where the only way it can be a success is if it makes a shit ton of money, which almost nothing does, or it is incredibly well reviewed, which might happen but might not.

So I feel like if you do something because you love it, then it’s already a success. And if anything else happens after that, great, it’s a bonus. But if you had a good time making it, that’s really all that counts. I’m not someone who goes back and watches my work ever, so it doesn’t matter to me. Obviously, I want things to turn out well, but the main thing I’m going to be left with is the experience I had making something. 

I got to speak to you and Paul Dano for “Swiss Army Man,” and it still amazes me that it’s really you in that opening scene, with Paul on top of you in the water. Were you just game to do whatever the Daniels wanted you to do?

I think that really is residual left over from “Potter,” because I got to do some of the craziest stunts I will ever get to do. I’m more physically capable than people expect me to be, so I’m always like, “Yeah, throw me around.” So as soon as there was a chance for me being able to do that bit myself on “Swiss Army Man,” I was like, “Absolutely, I will want to do that.” And part of the joy of that film was I don’t want a dummy to play this role, I want it to be me. 

On the awkward movie scene he doesn’t want his son to see, and the best career decision he ever made

Have you thought about how you will explain “Guns Akimbo” to your child when he’s old enough to understand what “Guns Akimbo” is?

Um, not that one. The one that has come to mind is “Kill Your Darlings” because that’s the film me and his mum [Erin Darke] met on. And it’s also a film where I have a sex scene, and there’s a scene where his mum gives me a blowjob in the library. So that’s the film where I’m like, “Ah, you might want to avoid this one for a while, pal.” [Laughs]

But “Guns Akimbo,” by the time he’s a teenager and ready to understand it, that’s probably my easiest sell of a movie to a teenage boy. That’s one of the ones he might actually enjoy. 

In 2022, you were in two very different movies: “The Lost City” and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” What was it like having audiences see you in these roles around the same time?

“The Lost City” was very, very easy. It was a lovely job with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock, two of the most talented, charming, charismatic actors, and me playing a bad guy. I feel I play one type of bad guy, and it the is spoiled, bratty son of rich person. It’s a lot of fun to do, and I was so glad to be part of a fun action comedy. It didn’t feel high pressure.

“Weird,” I actually felt tons of pressure. Al has such a devoted and wonderful fan base, and he has such an incredible legacy that I didn’t want the movie to be shit and me to be shit playing him. So I was really relieved that wasn’t the case.

I truly did not know before it came out how people were going to respond, and when people started seeing it and started loving it, I remember being so relieved. I loved making that movie. I shot my whole part of that movie in 14 days. It was incredibly fast. The stunts I learned on “Potter” and the dancing I learned for Broadway, I was getting to use all these skills I had learned from other jobs on this movie in a hyper-focused way. 

Do you feel “Harry Potter” was the best business decision you ever made? Being paid what you were on those movies, that it gave you the freedom to go do a “Swiss Army Man” or a “Kill Your Darlings” without having to worry about a paycheck?

Yeah, absolutely. The best business decision I ever made is suddenly realizing what freedom you have because you’ve been given it by this incredible first job; not just in terms of the financial security, but also in terms of the visibility. For at least a few years, my name will carry enough cachet that it will help get something weird made that wouldn’t otherwise.

I think doing the play “Equus” also helped me from a critical and industry standpoint. I’ve heard from multiple directors since then that even if they didn’t get to see me in “Equus,” hearing that I had done it made people go, “Okay, so he wants to be in this more than just a minute.” So I feel “Potter” will be that No. 1, but I think a close second is doing “Equus.” 

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

More in the Role Play series: