Dan talks HBP
posted by Jas, 04/26/08
IESB has an excerpt from Film Review's interview with Dan recently where he talked about Harry and the Half Blood Prince film.

Warner Bros sets 'Deathly Hallows' date
posted by Jas, 04/26/08
Warner Bros. has announced the release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the first installment will be open on November 19, 2010 and the second in summer 2011.

Interview with Dan
posted by Jas, 04/21/08
NY Daily News has an interview with Dan where he talked about My Boy Jack, Equus and HP among other personal things. Adelaide Now also talked to Dan about finding his mystery girl and Kangaroo Island.

"We live in pretty turbulent times and the feel of the period wasn't a massive mental stretch," he says. "Much harder were the grueling physical demands of shooting. There was mud everywhere, and I'd have to shower twice to get it all off. "It was so much fun. At first, the fact that I played Harry Potter was a novelty and the lads were having a bit of a laugh about it. But after two hours, when everyone was really feeling the cold, it didn't matter. We just kept each other's spirits up."

He's currently filming the series' grand finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - which is being made as two separate films. "It'll be quite sad and interesting to say goodbye to people who have become my best friends," says Radcliffe. "But the exciting part is now I'll be out in the big, wide world and doing different things." Some of them will be quite ordinary. Radcliffe describes himself as "boring," a bit "old-fashioned" and one who "gets vast amounts of pleasure out of very simple things." A big fan of cricket, he also enjoys reading literature and writing poems with strict rhyme and meter.

"I don't need to go to a massive party to have a great time," says Radcliffe, who speaks quickly and has a droll sense of humor. "I would much rather hang out with friends and watch a movie. Compared to how a lot of the younger actors in America have chosen to live, I lead a very, very dull life." Although he's moving to Manhattan for his "Equus" stint (Radcliffe has already purchased two apartments: a $4.3 million loft on Mercer St. and a $4.9 million, three-bedroom on Morton), he insists he won't party; he's too dedicated to performing each night. His father, former ICM literary agent Alan Radcliffe, will join him in New York.

"My dad gave up his job to chaperone me on set," says Radcliffe, who still lives with his parents in Fulham, West London. "My dad has been with me every single day and I think it strengthened the relationship. I learned to talk to my dad in a situation that most teenagers wouldn't find themselves in. I remember it shocking me when I was around at some of my friend's houses, the way they would talk to their parents."

During "Equus," Radcliffe strips down for a sex scene, a climax that had many fans and theatergoers hot and literally bothered when he debuted in London's West End last year. "I think it's rather funny that some people are rather overexcited about it," says Radcliffe. "There was a sense of moral outrage in America, a little bit in England when it was announced I would be naked. I didn't understand it because it's just a character. No one actually minded that he blinds six horses. It's a bit of a dose of double standard which aggravated me slightly."

Though his privates soon won't be, Radcliffe says he doesn't have much else to hide; he's not currently dating. "I am very busy with 'Potter' and all those things," he says. "I do love girls, love talking to girls. But at this point, [I'm] just very, very busy and I think relationships would not be the best idea."

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In an exclusive interview with The Advertiser, he said he had many adventures on a recent trip Down Under: from getting lost in a taxi in Melbourne and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge to meeting the locals on a not-so-gridlocked island off the South Australian coast."Kangaroo Island was a great place, a beautiful, amazing place but I remember meeting this guy who said he couldn't cope with the Adelaide traffic and that's why he had moved to Kangaroo Island." But the actor, who has often spoken about not being able to find a girlfriend, has revealed his love of "brilliant" Australian women in general – and one in particular he met backstage at an AFI ceremony.

"There was one girl there, oh my God, she had these eyes that just looked at me like she wanted to pounce on me," the star said yesterday. "She stared at me all night and I was going to get her number and then I couldn't find her. "I must have walked around at party for an hour looking for this girl like some sad, pathetic dweeb but it would have been so worth it." When asked if this newspaper could help find her, Radcliffe blushed and regretfully shook his head. "I don't know, I don't know her name, I can't remember her name. It was one of those things but she was stunning."

He said one day he hoped to meet the right woman and he would visit Australia again. He said his parents had a flat in Toorak and the Victorian city was his favourite although not the taxi drivers. "That's the one thing I'd say against Melbourne is the taxi drivers are useless," he said. "The amount of times my mum reached through and stopped the meter in those cars. It's ridiculous. I can't believe when you get in and say you are going to Federation Square they didn't know where that was. It's always worrying when you get into a cab and say 'Fed Square please' and they say 'do you know how to get there'. I say 'no that's why you're a cab driver'."

He said he found Adelaide "funny" and Kangaroo Island residents funnier. "Kangaroo Island was a great place, a beautiful, amazing place but I remember meeting this guy who said he couldn't cope with the Adelaide traffic and that's why he'd moved to Kangaroo Island," he said. "And I just said to him 'it's not that bad.' I'd only been in Adelaide for a month by this time and there is no traffic, you were always moving there. So I said to him 'have you ever been to London?' and he looked at me with the look of a bloke that had just come out of 'Nam. He just turned round and said 'yeah, yeah I have'. He was just terrified."

Radcliffe said his dream would be return to Australia with a bunch of his mates for an Ashes series, spend two months in the country and go to all five Tests.

Cap those lenses
posted by Jas, 04/19/08
NY Post has a report on the security measures for Equus on Broadway.

Fans of Daniel Radcliffe hoping to sneak cellphone snaps of the "Harry Potter" star fully naked in "Equus" on Broadway this fall are out of luck. Sources tell Page Six extraordinary security measures will be in place at the Broadhurst, possibly including infrared devices employed by movie studios to stop bootleggers. A Shubert Organization rep also told us plans are being made to make sure Radcliffe can get in and out of the theater without being stampeded by hysterical girls.

'Harry Potter's' Daniel Radcliffe in 'My Boy Jack'
posted by Jas, 04/19/08
AM New York has an interview with Dan where he talked about My Boy Jack and Deathly Hallows.

"I think I was the most nervous person around firearms that they had ever seen," the actor says. "I wasn't going to pull a trigger,, even if there were blanks in the gun, without asking someone twice if they were sure it was safe. It took me a while to get comfortable with holding a gun, because I've never done that in my life, except a BB gun. I found it very frightening, actually. I hadn't realized that blanks can do a hell of a lot of damage, which sort of makes me think twice about the end of 'Crash.'"

Actually, it was absolutely glorious," Radcliffe says. "All the actors took it upon themselves that they could hack it as well as the army boys could, and indeed we did. It was so cold and so wet because they were using rain machines, and the rain that comes out is doubly heavy to normal rain because it reads better on camera. A couple of the army boys actually ended up getting hypothermia and pneumonia.

"When people occasionally would bring trays of tea and coffee down into the trenches where we were filming, I just took it and poured it over my hands to warm them up. I'm not sure whether that is actually advisable, but it did keep me much warmer than I would have been otherwise. It stopped mattering very quickly that I had played Harry Potter. After a while no one cared because we were all soaked through and freezing, and we were just trying to make each other laugh. It was totally life-affirming and great fun."

"I had had an inkling that was going to be the case, and I am thrilled that that has come to fruition," he says. "You would have lost a lot of stuff that you couldn't really afford to lose if you had had to do it as one movie. In the fourth and fifth films, there was quite a bit of stuff you could get rid of without actually changing the story. In the seventh film, there is no really obvious subplot that you can do away with and keep the story going along the route it has to. I was struggling to see how they could do it as one film.

"Of course, the challenge now - and this is up to people who are much cleverer than me - is to find the breaking point, because there isn't an obvious breaking point halfway through the story where you go, 'Ah, here is where we can start the second film.' There is a gradual and relentless building up of momentum in the story and not really a place where you can leave the audience, but I am sure they will find one." Full interview

The Boy Wizrd Graduates to Mature Roles on Broadway and PBS
posted by Jas, 04/19/08
The Wall Street Journal also has a long interview with Dan about My Boy Jack, Equus and Harry Potter

Daniel Radcliffe gained international fame as a preteen when he was cast as boy wizard Harry Potter. Now 18, he's shooting the sixth installment of the franchise. Recently, he starred in the World War I period film "My Boy Jack," based on the true story of "Jungle Book" author Rudyard Kipling's teenage son Jack, an 18-year-old military officer who went missing during World War I. The film debuts April 20 on PBS's "Masterpiece Theater." We spoke with Mr. Radcliffe about growing up, taking on new roles and, of course, Harry Potter.

The Wall Street Journal: The roles you've played outside of Harry Potter don't have much in common with the boy wizard. Are you consciously looking for parts that are a departure from the role you're best known for?

Daniel Radcliffe: Realistically, if another seven-film fantasy series came along tomorrow I probably wouldn't do it. I don't think that would be the smartest career move in terms of separating myself and having people see me as an actor as opposed to a character.

WSJ: The role you play in "My Boy Jack" is that of a young solider during World War I. What drew you to that role?

Mr. Radcliffe: I have always been kind of fascinated by World War I. I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how we periodically get depressed about it. I find it a very affecting topic. The imagery that came out of it from the poets and writers at the time has really stuck with me.

WSJ: Anyone in particular?

Mr. Radcliffe: I've always had a love for Wilfred Owen and people like Isaac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas. [Mr. Thomas] is sort of more about England during that period but it's very affecting. It's those kinds of things and books like Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong.

When I did go into the trenches that had been made for the film, there was mud and rats and it was horrendous. I got in there and thought, 'How could anyone possibly live like this?' That was what was amazing to me -- what lengths human beings can push themselves to.

WSJ: You starred in the London revival of the controversial play Equus, about a boy who has a religious and erotic obsession with his horses. Were you nervous about the nudity in the play?

Mr. Radcliffe: It wasn't a huge concern. It's one of those things where you think, I signed up to do it and it's in the script, so just get on with it and do it. Though it is a bit nerve wracking the first couple of times.

WSJ: Your character in "My Boy Jack" enlists in the military at 17 and is forced to grow up quite quickly. Can you relate to that as a child actor?

Mr. Radcliffe: I think the difference between myself and Jack in that respect is that I grew up in an age where the idea and the concept of "teenager" existed. When Jack was around, it really didn't. You were either a child and in school, or an adult. And there was nothing in between really... But there are similarities in that we both had to grow up slightly faster than would be expected.

…I think in America you produce a very special breed of child actor. I see these kids at nine and ten and they're amazing, some of them. And I don't know how it happens. Dakota Fanning, for example… if she were physically older, she could sort of play anything. I didn't have that maturity at that age. In England, if you're a child actor, I think people don't expect you to be able to do it past age ten. It comes as a surprise if you're really interested in doing it aside from just getting rich or whatever.

WSJ: You're still just 18. Are you convinced that acting is what you want to do as a career, or are there other fields that interest you?

Mr. Radcliffe: There are plenty of fields I'm interested in, but acting is certainly the focus for me. Hopefully, people will do as they've done so far and keep giving me that chance to do that. I'm also very interested in writing.

WSJ: Really? What kind of writing?

Mr. Radcliffe: Poetry, mainly. I've written about 150 [poems] now and I love it. I've been doing it for about a year and a half and it's a massive release. As an actor, you do have a certain amount of creative outlet, but filmmaking is a thing that's done by committee and there's a lot of people with a lot of input. With poetry, it's different.

WSJ: I hear you're also a big music fan, too. Do you perform?

Mr. Radcliffe: I tried to play bass. I was rubbish at it -- it was really annoying. I learned bass for about a year and a half... I did actually have one lesson with [Harry Potter co-star] Gary Oldman. He's a pretty accomplished bass player himself and it was one of the highlights of my life. Then I got to the point where I thought, I'm not actually getting better.

WSJ: What types of film roles are you being offered these days?

Mr. Radcliffe: Right now it's very tricky because of Potter. I don't have a spare moment to make something until at least 2010 somewhere. I do the sixth Harry Potter…then I'm going to have a break, then I'm going to New York to do "Equus" on Broadway, which will be great. Then I'm going to do "Harry Potter 7" and by the time that's over I'll be 100 years old. I'm just kidding.

When Harry Met Samantha: Daniel Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall Talk My Boy Jack
posted by Jas, 04/19/08
TV Guide has an interview with Dan and Kim Cattrall where they talk about My Boy Jack. Dan also mention a little bit about filming Half Blood Prince.

TVGuide.com: My Boy Jack was a hit in England. What's it about?
Cattrall: It's a story about how war affects a family, in this case the writer Rudyard Kipling's family during World War I. I play his amazing American wife Carrie.
Radcliffe: For my character, Jack Kipling, it's about finding a source of escape from his famous father. He must overcome physical problems that could keep him from joining the army, because he wants to prove himself to be a man. It's quite relevant today.

TVGuide.com: Dan, you're coming to Broadway in Equus this fall. You were naked in the London production. How tough was that?
Radcliffe: The first time it was scary, but then you get used to it pretty quickly. It's liberating in a funny way.

TVGuide.com: Tell us something surprising about each other.
Cattrall: Daniel does fantastic magic tricks, and he's a wonderful storyteller. The amount of information that he has stored in his 18-year-old brain is really astounding!
Radcliffe: Kim's got a brilliant laugh you hear from miles away. It's delightful. Kim, you made me sound brilliant and I want to do the same, but I simply can't think of anything else on the spot!

TVGuide.com: Does Harry come of age in Half-Blood Prince, which you're filming now?
Radcliffe: Yes, his relationship with Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) changes from being teacher/pupil to a general and his foot soldier. Michael and I have been working together a huge amount and it's been absolutely great fun.

TVGuide.com: When do you start filming the last two Harry Potter movies?
Radcliffe: When I finish this sixth film, I'll take some time off to do Equus, and I'll get on to the Hallows films early next year.

TVGuide.com: Kim, how about a role in the final Potter flicks?
Cattrall: I would love to! It's so much fun working with Dan and I've always been such a huge fan of fantasy.
Radcliffe: Actually, you would qualify, because you're technically British.
Cattrall: I'm halfway to Hogwarts!

More MBJ reviews
posted by Jas, 04/17/08
More reviews of My Boy Jack from LA Times and New York Post. Update: more reviews added.

Radcliffe, of course, has a bit of box office appeal. It's fascinating to see the choices he is making as an actor as he prepares to doff the horn-rims and put down the wand for good. He wasn't able to do much playing an older orphan in the sloppy "December Boys" last year, but he didn't stink up the joint. Here he is given a bit more to work with, and he simply soars. He is the heart of the film, even when he's not onscreen. -- SF Chronicles

Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall are wonderfully unlike their famous personas. Radcliffe is no boy wizard here, having traded his round black Harry Potter glasses for oval wire specs. Radcliffe nails the part while Cattrall strains against the period. Neither approaches the brilliance of David Haig as Rudyard. -- Denver Post

If you think Daniel Radcliffe will never be able to shake off Harry Potter, see "My Boy Jack," the newest film in PBS's "Masterpiece" series. As Jack Kipling, the son of writer Rudyard Kipling, Radcliffe is superb - a tightly wound young man who joins in World War I despite abominable eyesight. He is notably un-Harry-like. -- Boston Globe

The Elijah Wood of his generation, Radcliffe has begun to look beyond the Big Franchise. Here he smokes and drinks and wears a mustache -- which certainly distinguishes him from Harry Potter, but also has the possibly intentional ironic effect of emphasizing rather than disguising his evident youth. (He is not yet 19.) The lieutenant's cap he wears seems pointedly too big, so that he looks, appropriately, like a child dressed up in Daddy's clothes. He seems even smaller in the trenches, all mud and rain and bad words. Radcliffe does some nice work here; he will doubtless overcome his child stardom. Full review

Radcliffe shoulders the heaviest load in the film since Jack is the only one of the four principal characters who gets his hands dirty in the atrocious trench warfare of the First World War. There is no sign of Harry Potter in his confident performance as a restless boy who becomes a man. Well-played, lad! Full review

My Boy Jack review
posted by Jas, 04/13/08
Entertainment Weekly and Variety have posted their reviews of My Boy Jack.

Radcliffe is hauntingly good as the boy who enters the fray of WWI despite being completely unqualified: He's blind without his spectacles. Radcliffe, heartbreakingly scrawny and young, plays Jack as a boy tragically eager to prove himself a man. In one perfect scene, Jack walks with his father to a waiting car, and somewhere in those strides, he unconsciously assumes his dad's gait and cadence. It's a smooth, subtle piece of acting on Radcliffe's part, and aside from the glasses and crooked grin, he never once evokes Harry Potter. Full review

It's not exactly "Equus," but Daniel Radcliffe's maturation into this young-adult role is merely one reason to watch a poignant, splendid "Masterpiece" production. If there were any doubts, it also demonstrates that for Radcliffe, there is clearly life after Harry Potter. Radcliffe has obviously been eager to prove he's not a kid anymore, from doing "Equus" onstage (complete with nude scene) to hilariously playing himself as a sex-crazed teen on HBO's "Extras." Even so, this strong performance as a determined young soldier underlines just how much Warner Bros.' favorite wizard has blossomed. Full review

My Boy Jack DVD review
posted by Jas, 04/13/08
DVD Talk has a review of My Boy Jack DVD which will be released on April 22, extra features include interviews with David Haig, Kim Cattrall and Dan as well as some deleted scenes.

Radcliffe to make Broadway debut in fall
posted by Jas, 04/08/08
"Equus" begins previews on Sept 5 for a limited 22-week run at the Broadhurst Theatre on West 44th Street. The play opens Sept. 25-Feb. 8, 2009.

Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the "Harry Potter" movies, will make his Broadway debut on Sept. 5, playing the disturbed stable boy in a revival of Peter Shaffer's play, "Equus," it was announced Tuesday. Radcliffe, 18, earned rave reviews for his performance in the London production of the Tony Award-winning play. He also received loads of media attention for appearing naked onstage — a departure from his wholesome image as the bespectacled boy wizard in the big-screen adaptations of J.K. Rowling's best-selling fantasy novels. "Equus" begins previews Sept. 5 for a limited 22-week run at the Broadhurst Theatre. The play opens Sept. 25-Feb. 8, 2009. Thea Sharrock directs. Richard Griffiths, who portrays Harry's mean Uncle Vernon in the "Potter" movies, reprises his London role as the psychiatrist who treats the stable boy, who has blinded six horses.

Interview with Thea Sharrock
posted by Jas, 04/08/08
Equus director, Thea Sharrock talks about working with Dan.

I'm taking Equus to Broadway in September. Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths are coming, but we're recasting the rest of it. That will be my Broadway debut. That really is a dream come true. It's the kind of thing you want so much and just don't believe will ever happen and then suddenly it actually might … I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it. Richard, Daniel and I agreed it was all or nothing, we wouldn't do it without each other.

And working with Daniel Radcliffe is nothing but a pleasure. I've never met anybody of his age who has his discipline and level of professionalism - and yet there was also a genuine nervousness and naivety because he'd never worked in the theatre before. There's something very special about being part of somebody's training, which is essentially what I was doing with him. We had a lot of madness over Daniel here and I'm sure it'll be the same in New York. The funny thing about the craziness is that, when you're right in the middle of it all, you still just have to get on with things. If you take your head out of the job, of course you notice all the paparazzi following him to work and back home again, all that. But you have a choice - you either see it from their point of view and become part of the monster that the media can create or you step away from that and remember that that's nothing to do with me, nothing to do with the job I'm doing. The job that I'm doing is directing this actor in the room, and you just get on with it."

Video Download: My Boy Jack clips
posted by Jas, 04/02/08
Warner Bros. has released some preview clips from My Boy Jack to promote the release of the DVD on April 22. The film will air on PBS on April 20.