Daniel Radcliffe recently described why he wants a reputation for undertaking weird film projects. Of course, he is best recognized for his role as the eponymous character in the phenomenally successful Harry Potter film series. He originally took on the role of the boy-wizard in 2001, when he was just 11 years old, and continued to play him until 2011.
The Harry Potter franchise swiftly became one of the most popular in the world, and many people associate Daniel with the Harry Potter who first appeared on-screen in The Sorcerer's Stone. Despite having the clout to earn large blockbuster roles for the rest of his career, he has been known as an actor who appears in off-beat independent films since the completion of the series. What could be the reason why he gets ‘weird’ projects?
Daniel Radcliffe Enjoys Making Weird Films
Since 2011, Radcliffe has constantly demonstrated that he is a talented and versatile actor, and it is now nearly a certainty that witnessing one of his films will be a completely different experience each time. After taking up the classic villain mantle in The Lost City and other weird roles, there is no telling where he may go next with his acting skills.
In an interview with Empire, Daniel revealed exactly why enjoys making “weird” movies. For him, one of the best things an actor can do is “get a reputation for being weird.” He has also stated that every time he takes on a strange role, it shows other filmmakers his potential.
The actor further explained, “One thing leads to another and it keeps meaning I get to do random stuff, which I’m always very happy with. It appears that doing those “weird” roles can create a cycle in which he can make a career out of it, and this approach has certainly worked for him so far.
Despite the fact that he is no longer a part of a multi-film franchise, Daniel has worked almost as steadily since the end of the Harry Potter saga as he did during the ten years the saga was in production. And though he loved being on the set of the Harry Potter films, he has to move on and explore other film genres.
The actor has been able to take creative risks with the films he stars in, a luxury he believes he owes to his early success in the fantasy wizard series. Given the creative flexibility to play who he wants, his ability to spread out into unusual characters means he always seems excited about the projects he works on.
In fact, he has played a man who inexplicably gets horns after his girlfriend's death in Horns, a sentient corpse in Swiss Army Man, and a man who wakes up with guns strapped to his hands in Guns Akimbo, among other roles since Harry Potter.
Daniel Radcliffe Enjoys Playing A Villain
Since fans are used to seeing him as the hero and good guy, many are enthralled to witness Daniel taking a villain role. The new endeavor is yet another way he is entertaining his loyal supporters, and himself as well. While there are some who are not used to this side of his acting skills, he has a lot of feelings about his new role.
Daniel admitted in an interview he had reveled in portraying a villain on screen. He said, “There’s a rich tradition of English actors being the bad guys in American movies. When you watch those kinds of performances, like Tim Curry or Alan Cumming, these people who are great at playing bad guys, they seem to really revel it.”
The actor, who confessed he can’t watch himself in Harry Potter, continued to explain, “There is something about watching those actors where the theme is – and I’m a very different actor from both of those people – but the theme is that you see how much they are enjoying.”
Although he was “nervous” to play a villain, Daniel admitted that it was fun to play around “being this insane person,” adding that there were “no specific influences or people that I drew from, but I think generally, it’s a bit of a rite of passage, being the English bad guy is something.”
The renowned star can be seen opposite Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock in The Lost City, where he plays an eccentric, evil billionaire. And while many fans will always remember him as the young Hogwarts student, he has certainly worked hard to prove that Harry Potter is not his whole identity.
