Dan Radcliffe Interview - December 19, 2005
(Originally published in K-Zone Magazine’s December 2005 issue.)
K-Zone: You’re in between films at the moment. What kind of stuff do you get up to when you’re not filming and not at school?
Daniel Radcliffe: That doesn’t leave a lot of time! A couple of weeks ago I started my A/S-Levels (like the HSC) so I’m quite busy at the moment. During the holidays I went to the Reading Music Festival which was really cool.
KZ: Did you camp?
DR: I wasn’t quite that hardcore. My friends went the year before and got all their stuff stolen. Also, people might have found out whose tent it was and then I’d have been in trouble. I stayed in this local hotel where I was told all the bands stayed, but none of them turned up!
KZ: Mike Newell’s the first British director of a Harry film. Was it different working with him on Goblet of Fire?
DR: Yes. He understands the world of boarding schools, because he went to one. That’s how he grew up.
KZ: Did he make the flick funnier?
DR: It needed lighter bits to contrast the very dark bits. There are parts in the film - although I find it hard to find anything that I personally do remotely funny - where I’ve watched a scene I’m in and found myself laughing at it.
In the Homework Club scene, Rupert [Grint who plays Ron Weasley] and I are talking about how to get dates for the Yule Ball. We’re not supposed to be talking in there, so Snape keeps coming up behind us and smacking us on the back of our heads with books, which is incredibly simple but very funny.
KZ: ‘Cos of the nature of the book did the film require more physical challenges, like acting underwater?
DR: Yeah, that was physically tough, but the thing I found hardest was the dragon task. There’s a bit in the dragon task that isn’t actually in the book - I fall off my broom and start sliding down a roof. I had to be suspended from the ceiling on a wire and then they let me go. It was very scary because I free-fell 18m in about 2.5 seconds. I’m not even going to pretend I was being brave! The mental challenges were things like the confrontation with Voldemort. While it is physical it’s also incredibly emotional for Harry because he’s meeting the person who killed his parents and whom he wants to kill. Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort is fantastic and in the event that I’m not great he’ll distract the audience. That’s my plan.
KZ: You had the horrendous challenge of learning to ballroom dance for this one…
DR: That was tough! You’ll notice in that scene you never see my legs - the dancing’s all from the waist up! All the other kids had about three weeks to learn the routine, but I was doing a big scene with Mad-Eye Moody while they were learning and rehearsing and only had about three hours rehearsal time in total. As soon as I got past the first six or seven steps it would fall apart!
KZ: Do you and Rupert still get up to fun stuff or have you matured?.
DR: It isn’t so much that we’ve matured, but we’ve been forced to grow up ‘cos of school! I never saw this, but I was told Rupert was making a film out of LEGO people. I really wanted to see it and would have been involved if I wasn’t doing exams.
KZ: What was the film about?
DR: I have no idea. It might be a Harry Potter film in LEGO ‘cos they make Harry Potter LEGO! I remember during the third film we were building a mini-golf course out of cardboard boxes, but that was a while ago. I can’t remember anything funny we really did during Goblet of Fire.
KZ: They’re working you too hard obviously…
DR: Seriously, that’s what it is! You should call the producer David Heyman’s office and say, “you didn’t allow Dan to participate in the LEGO film. How dare you?”
KZ: New Harry books are coming out ahead of the films. Is it daunting? Do you feel locked in?
DR: If, when the sixth book came out, it wasn’t good I would have thought, “oh, that’s a bit disappointing. Am I going to do this? I don’t know”. But because I really enjoyed it, I thought it was absolutely fantastic. It’s not daunting, it’s exciting. If the sixth film happens, which it probably will, it’s something to look forward to. It’s not like a ‘to do’ list.