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 In the romantic comedy "What If," out in U.S. theaters on
Friday, Radcliffe plays Wallace, a young man damaged by previous
romances who becomes enamored with a girl already in a steady
relationship.
The 25-year-old British actor talked to Reuters about leaving
"Potter" behind and proving his critics wrong.
Q: You have taken on action, fantasy and horror, but
never a romantic comedy. What drew you to "What If"?
A: I had never done a contemporary project that was set
in the world we are in that we recognize, I've never done that.
"Potter" was in its own fantasy world and everything else I've
done has been period films, so I've wanted to play somebody
contemporary for a long time.
Q: What did playing Wallace allow you to explore?
A: This is the first time I've ever played a character
that's quite close to myself, not in terms of the decisions he
makes or the way he goes about things, but just in terms of his
sense of humor and his speed of thought.
I used to worry that playing myself, or that not playing
somebody that different from myself, would make people think of
"Harry Potter." And then I realized I hadn't been playing myself
at all in "Harry Potter." I was playing a very different, much
sterner character than I am myself. So I think I let a bit of
that embarrassment go, and it definitely made it easier.
Q: You received criticism for your on-screen performances
early in your Potter career. Did that fuel your determination?
A: Yeah, prove everyone wrong. Anyone who ever said I
couldn't do it - and this does sound terrible - but I do want
every film to be a "fuck you" to them. If you say horrible shit
about a 12-year-old boy, then yeah, I want to make you pay for
that, I want to embarrass you by my success. Like, that's what I
do. (laughs) ... I'm not somebody who makes a fuss about stuff
or gets particularly angry ever, but I do have a mean
competitive streak, which I suppose that's how it comes out.
That and table tennis.
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Q: What genre would you like to take on?
A: I've always thought sci-fi looks really fun, just because
of the set. And if it's a good sci-fi movie, a clever sci-fi movie,
with an interesting take on the future, then God yeah, I'd be up for
that. I would just like to be on a spaceship set.
Q: How do you deal with the celebrity spotlight?
A: You don't. The only way to navigate it sanely is to pay as
little attention to it as possible. ... It's weird that people take
photographs of you, it's weird that anyone would care that you went
to the shops. They always have to write some headline, like "Daniel
Radcliffe and girlfriend go for a stroll to the shops," because that
makes a story. Because otherwise it's just some ... creep taking
photographs of you on the street, and if there isn't a headline,
that's all it amounts to.
Q: You've been acting for 15 years now. Would you ever step
away from it all?
A: There's a chance, but I love what I do so much that I don't think
I could ever imagine doing anything else. I can't imagine if
somebody told me tomorrow, "You're never going to be stepping on a
film set again." I genuinely don't know what I'd do. I couldn't
imagine my life without it.
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Leslie Adler)
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