The Harry Potter film series may have ended in 2011, but its lead, Daniel Radcliffe, remains a household name. He’s made a splash not only by taking on so many “weird” film projects, but he's also made a mark in TV and on Broadway. If you can believe it, the British actor himself said people told him he would have career troubles after his Wizarding World days. However, Radcliffe ultimately succeeded, and he recently recalled how all that happened..
After Daniel Radcliffe nailed his adorable, precious Harry Potter audition when he was 11, his life would change forever. However, the David Copperfield actor opened on The Old Man and the Three about how challenging it was for him in transitioning to life post-Potter. And I didn’t expect such a brutally honest take:
The thing I always say about Potter and what it did for me in terms of like — towards the end of the films I started getting all of us started getting the question a lot from journalists of like, ‘What are you going to do after this?’.... The implication was always like, ‘Well, you're fucked now aren't you? What are you going to do after this? There's nothing left.’ And you know, actually as I look back and I'm like, I can't believe people were saying that kind of stuff to a teenager. It's a really crazy thing to say to a young person.
It's a real shame that people suggested that to Radcliffe and put so much pressure on him at a young age. From the outside looking in, it almost seemed like he was being set up to fail. I can understand that there are many actors out there who are forever remembered for one role. However, that didn't necessarily mean the December Boys actor would be one of them. Radcliffe continued to explain on the podcast that he didn’t let anyone’s negativity bother him:
So I think there's a thing that happens when part of growing up famous is that as you are trying to figure out who you are, you are getting this perceived version of yourself reflected back at you from like a million places and a million people all the time. And so you have to figure out what of that is not real and what you actually are and what you actually want.
After Radcliffe spent so many years playing The Boy Who Lived, I can really understand why he'd go down a path of self-discovery. Even his Harry Potter co-star, Alan Rickman, advised him and other alumni to try theater. And lo and behold, Radcliffe would eventually star in the Broadway show Merrily We Roll Along, which made tons of money and landed him his first Tony Award.
Plus, we can’t forget that Radcliffe got into “deeply fucking weird” stuff in film projects that would come after Potter. To name a few examples, he played a farting corpse in Swiss Army Man, sported pistols for hands in Guns Akimbo, and showed his dark side while growing horns from his head in, well, Horns. Plus, we can’t forget when he put the weird in Weird: The Al Yankovic, which he described as his favorite film he did post-Potter.
It goes without saying that Daniel Radcliffe has been quite fortunate, and he can openly admit he hasn't done it alone. He also credits the creatives he's worked with for hiring him:
So a lot of people were asking us like, ‘What are you going to do after this, and are you going to be typecast?’ And I think there has — I'm sure there is an element of there are some directors out there who particularly in the first few years after Potter didn't want me in their movie because they're like, ‘Everyone will just be seeing Harry Potter when they look at him.’ But for every one of those directors, there was also a director that went, ‘Oh, I would like him in my movie because I want to be the person that reinvents him or that can show an audience this actor that they think they know in a different light.’
Well, there you go. It appears that directors wanted the credit to be able to help show Radcliffe’s versatility outside of playing a wizard. Of course, many filmmakers naturally become impressed when an actor knows how to step outside of his comfort zone and take on different roles. To that point, Radcliffe’s former Harry Potter director, Chris Columbus, was definitely impressed with the talented actor’s career moves when the franchise ended, saying his projects showed how “fearless” he was.
Even though Radcliffe received a lot of negativity that his career would end once Harry Potter did, I’m so happy they were proven wrong. And, with that, the public at large has been able to enjoy watching the actor take on a plethora of roles. While the fantasy franchise will always be a career-defining moment, I’m glad that Radcliffe is thriving and continuing to test himself as an actor.
Fans can still revisit the films that first brought fame to the English actor, though as the Harry Potter movies are streaming now with an HBO Max subscription. And don’t forget that the book-adapted TV series will head arrive on that same streamer as part of the streaming schedule on Christmas Day.
