DanielRadcliffe: August 2013

Daniel Radcliffe Time out London interview

A sleek car purrs up to the back of Time Out’s offices and the agent (blonde, on the phone) and the muscle (two big rippling men) shoulder their way out of it. It’s a standard showbiz entrance. Until Daniel Radcliffe appears behind them: jumpy, nervy, intense, apologetic, beaming, dwarfed by his minder and driver (he’s 5 ft 5), and sucking hard on the last inch of an untidily rolled gasper. There’s fame – and there’s Potter. Radcliffe has not only survived both, but grown up into one of the most unpretentious actors you could hope to meet: a lucid, bright 23-year-old with credible roles such as the horse-bothering Alan Strang, in stage debut ‘Equus’, already behind him. He’s an object lesson in how to survive the curse of being a child star: relationships conducted quietly out of the limelight; brief teenage flirtation with booze swiftly abandoned; rigorous focus on working with the very best people. That’s what brings him back to London: a physically and mentally demanding stage turn as ‘Cripple Billy’, a bullied Irish village boy in Martin McDonagh’s black comedy, ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’. Also coming soon are a couple of surprising film turns: as gay beat poet Allen Ginsberg in ‘Kill Your Darlings’ and as a guy who sprouts horns in, well, ‘Horns’. No horns today; Radcliffe is rumpled and grimy after eight hours chucking himself around in rehearsals. But he is still full of beans, talking at a mile-a-minute and jumping up to demonstrate how he twists his body to play the role. Ultimately, it’s his judgment as well as his enthusiasm that marks him out now, as more than the boy who lived through the Potter franchise, but the adult who’s outgrown it.

Famous at 11, multi-millionaire at 19. Why aren’t you a completely fucked up egomanic? ‘That’s the question. I had really good parents. And I got lucky and loved it. I’m always amazed at the way some actors’ behaviour is truly disgusting. That’s one thing that will never happen on one of my sets, if I ever direct. Life’s too short to work with arseholes. and I’ve been lucky enough not to have to.’ You stripped naked in ‘Equus’, your last London performance. Was that a version of teenage rebellion? ‘No. It was a statement of intent. Some people were always going to be salacious and focus on the nudity but the people that mattered sat up and said, “Okay, that play’s no joke, it’s a bold move, he wants to do something serious.”’ In your new indie movie about beatnik Allen Ginsberg, people are already talking about gay sex scenes rather than poetry… ‘I don’t care why people see the film. If they see it for the wrong reasons they’ll still see it and they might take something from it. I think it will be an ‘Equus’ moment for me when ‘Kill Your Darlings’ is released this autumn. And not just because I'm getting naked. It’s not full frontal, so you don’t have to worry about that! It’s a performance and film that I’m proud of.’

Now you’re back on the West End to play a lame Irish village boy who dreams of going to Hollywood. Why this role now? ‘This was a complete no-brainer. I read Martin McDonagh’s play and fell in love with it.’Your character, Billy, gets bullied by everyone. How's that? ‘I love getting beaten up. I encourage people to just hit me harder. There’s one fall where I take it on my arm and not only is it really fast and looks horrible, it also makes a really loud noise. I was taught how to fall by stuntsmen on Potter. For ages, in my lunch hours, I would just go round and choreograph fight scenes. For fun. So now I’m very good at being thrown around. I bounce, in the words of my friends.’ What impact does that Mark Rylance-style physical acting have on your body? When Rylance played Rooster Byron he even seemed to get shorter. ‘Fuck, I hope that doesn’t happen to me! My calves and lower back are really hurting but if I can get through rehearsals I won’t ever have to be in that position for longer than I am now. Though my arm’s going to look like this for a while (shows a huge lumpy bruise).’Why push yourself like this? ‘The stories I’m interested in are challenging ones and maybe that requires a little bit more of you. I love my job and I want to earn the right to do it every single day.’Are you a workaholic? ‘Yes, 100 percent. I don’t know when the last time was I had a holiday. I am now actively trying to develop other interests. I went rock climbing for the first time the other day. My idea of relaxation is not lying down by a beach. I have to move around, do stuff. Though I’m a massive quiz show person. I watch “Pointless”, followed by “The Chase” on ITVplus one, because they’re on at the same time, so you need plus one if you want both. And “University Challenge”.’Do you ever watch your own movies? ‘No, not at all. Never, ever rewatch them.’Does the fact that you’re liable to get papped stop you going out in London? ‘I stay in a lot. Going out’s not worth it. It’s not that I do get papped every time, but there are these moments. And going out has a certain level of anxiety around it. Most people are going to be lovely but there’s always one drunk guy who gets loud.’

Would you play Harry again if JK Rowling wrote a sequel in ten years' time? ‘Even if Jo did, which is unlikely, I’d take a LOT of talking round. I’ve done so much work to establish myself as something outside that series I’d be really hesitant to go back. I’m 23, which is too old to be running round in a schoolboy’s cape. I’d never totally close the door. But no more schoolboy stuff. A cameo as Harry's dad? That would be perfect!’Would you ever do another big franchise, like Potter? ‘Yes. Franchise mustn’t become a dirty word. If directors like JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon keep doing what they’re doing, it won’t be. I’d love to be part of one again. Maybe not leading it: a nice supporting role. “Star Wars” would be awesome. That’d be crazy cool.’ When Time Out last interviewed you a couple of years ago, you were living in Chelsea quite near to your parents. Do you still take your dirty washing home? ‘No, that has stopped! Sometimes they will come round and see me put something away and go: “Oh, very good! You’re learning how to do that now!” I’m taking better care of myself, generally. I’m cooking for myself a little more now. But I’ve never cooked for someone else. At least not yet.’

Your teenage years were exceptionally exposed – but many people find their 20s even more difficult. How are yours? ‘Your 20s are weird. You feel like you should be grown up but actually you’re not. They’re quite bewildering really. You’re constantly torn between that thing of, “I’m young!” And then, “I’m not!” There are certain expectations you have about your 20s when you’re a teenager and none of them really happen. You think everything’s going to be simpler but life gets more bloody complicated. I hope to be more settled. I want to direct before I'm 30. And finish writing something I’m proud of. I’ve just finished a screenplay, a very, very, very dark comedy. I’ve always loved the way Martin McDonagh writes. Economical, rhythmic. That’s the kind of writing I aspire to. And my screenplay’s got a fair amount of blood in it too. In that way I’m just ripping Martin off!’ Would you like to settle down and have kids? ‘I really want to have kids. I’ve grown up around lots of people who were having kids when I knew them, because a lot of them were a lot older than me. And I saw the wonderful change in them. A lot more tired, a lot more happy. I see that it gives you a sense of purpose that I only really get from work. I want that. And I’d like to get started on it before my thirties. I like the idea of being a youngish parent. So I’ve got energy to play football, even though they’ll be better than me by the time they’re four. I’d like to run around with them and do all sorts of stuff with them that I didn’t do when I was young.’ Would you be a pushy parent? ‘I’m definitely going to be one of those parents who pushes their kids into things. Not the film industry! But sport. I’d love my kids to be a boxer. Yeah! Cricket too. I will have to find a VERY tall wife if they’re going to be good at sports. You could be my size as a boxer, you’d just have to be a superfeatherweight or something.’ No regrets about not having that childstar meltdown and tattoos to show the kids? ‘Actually, I am planning to get a couple of tattoos. It’s going to sound really pretentious but there’s a Beckett quote I really like which I’m going to get tattooed on me. “Try again, fail again, fail better.” That’s what I’m about.’

Daniel Radcliffe interview to The Observer.com

Your latest role is in Martin McDonagh's play The Cripple of Inishmaan. What made you want to play Billy, the "cripple" of the title? Michael Grandage, the director, presented me with three or four plays, and as soon as I read Cripple there was no contest. I'm very much the tragic relief of this play: Billy has a few funny lines but a lot of the comedy comes out of people being incredibly cruel to my character. Which I'm very, very happy with. I've learned that I really enjoy stage violence. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my lunchtimes as a child choreographing fight scenes on Potter. So I'm quite good at it: the stunt department always said that I bounce. Billy dreams of escaping Inishmaan for the neighbouring island of Inishmore, where they are making a film – the real-life, 1934 Man of Aran. Did you feel any personal connection to the role? Billy's ambition to get away from the island is definitely one of the things I find really attractive. Somebody who's been so beaten down all his life can still say: "No, you're all wrong. I believe I can make something of myself." I absolutely don't relate to being beaten down my whole life – I had amazing opportunities at a young age – but there is still in many, many people's minds the notion that I'll never be able to escape Harry Potter. So my drive is to prove to people that I'm not a one-trick pony, basically. Drive is not something I'm lacking in. You're a fan of the band British Sea Power and in 2009 they did asoundtrack for Man of Aran. Did you see that version? Yeah, that's the only thing I knew about it: I'd watched maybe the first 10 minutes along with the album. I mentioned it to Michael in the hope that I might get to meet British Sea Power, bring them in to soundtrack it. Is it true that you want to have a tattoo of a British Sea Power lyric? Yes: "Bravery Already Exists". I want to get a tattoo on my forearm, something on my chest and maybe something on my back. There's various quotes I love. It sounds pretentious but there's something about the Beckett quote: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." But you don't have any tattoos yet? No, I've got to get a sustained series of jobs where I don't have to get naked. But I haven't hit one of them yet, for some reason. There was that first few years of my career when I was just doing Potter where there wasn't a huge amount of nudity. But since then it's been almost every job. Recently I had my gay sex scene in Kill Your Darlings, a skinny-dipping scene in The F Word and a straight sex scene in Horns. It's just been a year of it. From Equus onwards, you've picked some intrepid jobs. Do you need to be scared by a new project? In a way it's just bad luck. Everything that's really interesting to me happens to involve some massive, scary thing, like getting my dick out or learning to dance [How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway]. Perhaps it's having spent 10 years in what could be described as a comfort zone. Not to just throw these slightly cliched phrases at you, but there's a Henry Ford quote: "If you always do what you've always done, you will get what you've always got." What is it you like about the Beckett quote on failure? The Harry Potter films made billions and both the Woman in Black film and TV drama A Young Doctor's Notebook were hits… I know it wouldn't seem like I've had a lot of failure in my career but there are things that I regard as failures, when I look at certain performances and go, "That's not good enough." Are you going to say what those are? The sixth Harry Potter film – I don't like my performance in that film at all. There's stuff in The Woman in Black: I'm really glad it did well but I look at that film and there were probably six weeks between finishing Potter and starting that, so I hear the same voice and I see a very similar style of acting. Many people are surprised that you, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have turned out OK. Why is that? It does seem to amaze everyone: "Why aren't you fucked up?" It's great when you come in at that place of very low expectations because you'll always be a pleasant surprise. But it's so hard to pin down why we all turned out all right. You know, with my mum be a casting director and my dad a literary agent, I've heard a lot of round-the-dinner-table complaining about certain actors and their behaviour. So when you come to a film set with that in your head, you go, "Oh God, I don't want anyone to ever talk about me that way." You once said you watched a lot of parliament on TV. Do you still? Parliament less so nowadays but I watch tons of quiz shows and I'm a little bit of a Come Dine With Me obsessive. I'm always amazed because I'm a very unadventurous eater but why would you go on that show and seemingly eat nothing? They just go round to people's houses for a week going, "Ooh, I can't eat that." In what ways are you an unadventurous eater? This is one of the things I could never admit to while I was on Harry Potter but I'm very bad at fruit and vegetables. I basically have the diet of a 19th-century Irish navvy, apart from the litre of stout a day. It's meat and potatoes and bread and cheese: those are my four food groups. But at the moment I'm doing enough exercise, so it's fine. In your next film to be released, Kill Your Darlings, you're playing Allen Ginsberg. Where was that on the scale of terrifying? That was pretty fucking terrifying, I've got to say. Because of the gay sex scenes? No, no, no, just because of playing Ginsberg in a film about the Beats. Allen Ginsberg: American, Jewish, working class. Daniel Radcliffe: English, Jewish by the way but not really, upper class, and definitely looks a million miles away from Allen Ginsberg. When you start from that you think: "I can't just be good in this film. I have to be better than good for people to even actually give me the chance." But I think a lot of people are going to see it and see me in a very different way afterwards. Which is a good thing.

The Andrew Marr Show which aired today on BBC 1

Susan black well telephone interview with Daniel

Susan: Hey, Daniel! Dan: Hey, Susan! Susan: So, you’re headed back to the West End, rehearsing The Cripple of Inishmaan, preparing for a 12-week limited engagement as part of The Grandage Season. Here’s the question on everybody’s mind: Are you still sorting your own laundry these days? Dan: [laughing] Yes, that is what the world wants to know! Susan: I know! Dan: The truth is, I haven’t gotten much better at that. Susan: Oh, Daniel. Dan: I’ve gotten slightly better. But I think that the residual effect of the day we spent together was definitely less than you intended. Susan: [laughing] Remember that cashmere sweater of yours that you threw into the laundry hamper—the one that got shrunk in the wash by accident? Dan: I do! I’m wearing a T-shirt today that got shrunk by accident. It’s actually much better now. Susan: My god, man! When will you learn? Dan: I know. Susan: It’s a good thing you’re small, though. You at least have a better shot at fitting into it. Dan: I fit into everything I shrink, in fact. Susan: Well, your shrunken sweater ended up at my house, and I didn’t know what to do with it. I felt bad getting rid of it, but who really needs a tiny, boiled sweater. You’ll be pleased to know that I used it for crafts. I stitched up the openings, stuffed it and made a little cashmere Dan pillow out of it. It matches my decor perfectly! Dan: Really!!? Susan: Yes! So thank you for being laundry impaired, because I got a pillow out of the deal. Dan: That’s great! Susan: Right!? For so long, I was like, ‘What the F am I going to do with this tiny sweater?’ Dan: You could’ve just gone with my option and worn it as a hat, and started a new trend of hats with arms. Susan: Wait—I’m texting you a picture of it right now.

When we get off the phone, you have to text me back a picture you have on your phone. And no pressure, but it will be the photo that accompanies this article. But no pressure. Dan: Really? Susan: Yes! Now, then. Soon, I’m coming to see your play, The Cripple of Inishmaan. What should I expect? Dan: You should expect to laugh a great deal. It’s incredibly funny. The whole company is fantastic. The show is so bloody funny and so politically incorrect, but also a super-smart comedy. So, you’re going to laugh and laugh and laugh, and then, at the very end, we’re going to rip your heart out. Susan: Martin McDonagh writes some dark, funny shit. Dan: Yes, he does! We learned early on--there was one scene in the play that features a very drastic act of violence. And in the script, the stage direction says the scene goes to black before we actually see the act. But we turned around to Martin and said, "If we could do that violence effectively, would you prefer to see it?" And he nodded very emphatically! If you present Martin with two options, and one of them involves a good deal more blood and gore, he will go with that one. Susan: So, are you showing the act? Dan: We are, yeah! Susan: Oooh! I’m excited! And nervous! Dan: The thing is, this is actually one of Martin’s less violent plays. And yet, for two and a half hours, my character gets beaten up on stage, basically. Susan: The play is set in Inishmaan. Where the F is that? You’re good at geography right? Dan: Yes... Susan: Let's play an association game: Inishmaan is to Ireland, as "blank" is the to United States. Dan: Oooh—that’s a good question! Inishmaan is to Irelend as…hmmm…are there any island systems just off the coast of America that no one really goes to? I mean, it’s in the sea, it’s historically very poor, and the Aran islands are quite a patriarchal society. I suppose maybe you could say that the Aran Islands are to Ireland, as...I don’t know...Hawaii is to America? Susan: [laughing] Dan: But trust me... Both: This is not Hawaii! Susan: You’re playing the character known as Cripple Billy. How are you preparing for this role physically? Dan: Well, it’s never actually pinned down in the play what exactly the matter is with Billy. He’s introduced in the first scene: "Billy enters, one arm and leg crippled, shuffling." And then you hear in the play that it was a disability that was visible from birth. But really, you’re not given a huge amount of information. Susan: So you’re piecing together clues! Dan: Yes! So I’ve decided, based on what information you do get from the play, that cerebral palsy was a viable option for what Billy could have had. And so I’ve been working with a coach who has very mild cerebral palsy herself. And she was able to explain the mechanics of the condition to me, as well as teaching me how to walk and pick things up and move around, as if I’m heavily disabled on one side. It’s one of the odder skills I’ve had to learn. It has very few practical applications, besides doing a play. Susan: [laughing] Dan: There was one moment that was quite funny, actually. One night, I was walking to the shop around the corner from my house to get some food, and I thought, "There’s no one around—I’ll just walk like I’m Billy for a while." So, I put my hood up so no one would notice me, and I started walking down the road in Billy’s walk, and just as I get to the corner, and I’m about to go into the shop, I notice that a woman is behind me. And in my head I’m going, "Well, I can’t just stop and suddenly break into a normal walk as I walk into the shop, so I’m just going to wait for her to pass me before I go in." Otherwise, she’ll think, "Who's that weirdo, pretending to be disabled?" Then she went into the shop that I was headed into, so I had to wait for her to come out so that I could resume my normal walk and go into the shop. Yeah—so—that was my experience preparing for this part! Susan: We call that "Caught in a Lie." You were caught in a lie, Dan. Dan: I was caught in a lie! Susan: When my friends and I were freshman acting majors in college, we used to go to the mall and speak in fake British accents, and occasionally, you would get trapped in a conversation or situation and you’d have to sustain it way longer than you anticipated. Dan: I had a friend who went on holiday alone once, and she decided to make up a whole story about herself and her life, ‘cause wouldn’t that be fun? And she ended up, as this character, making friends with a group of people who just absolutely loved her. Then one of them was in her city, and they called her and said, "Hey, we have to meet up!" And she ended up saying to them, "I’ve got something to tell you…" She had put on a Southern accent, and in the conversation, as she was telling them, she started off with the Southern accent, and then as soon as she told them the news, she dropped it, like some big reveal! Susan: That sounds like the climax of Tootsie! She was in way too deep! Dan: She was in WAY too deep. Susan: Good for her for coming clean. I would have just maintained it until my death. That’s what you should have done at the store. Dan: Yeah, just carried on forever. Susan: So, you were last in the West End with Equus, back in 2007. How is this outing different for you? Besides 100% more pants. Dan: [laughing] I mean, Equus had some funny moments in it, but it was not a comedy. This absolutely is a comedy, so it’s nice making people laugh. And frankly, to be able to perform one of Martin’s scripts--we’re all in the rehearsal room looking at each other, saying, "How lucky are we?" There are so many people who would cut off their left arm to do The Cripple of Inishmaan—no pun intended. Susan Is there any chance the show might come to Broadway? Dan: It’s completely out of my hands, really. I obviously love working on Broadway, so it would be a thrill to take it there, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Susan: So, if people want to see it, they need to get over to London and see it this summer! Dan: Yes! Susan: You know, Billy’s an orphan. You play a lot of orphans. And you're a shortie. Any chance if you can’t come back in Cripple, that you'd come back to Broadway to star in Annie? Dan: [laughing] Susan: Great! It’s settled then! Thank you, Dan Radcliffe. I’ll be seeing you in a few weeks in The Cripple of Inishmaan! Don’t be nervous! Dan: And I’ll send you that photo! Susan: Yes!

Whats on stage .com interview

How have rehearsals been going? Well today is our first day of our fourth week. Which is ultimately a good sign because we just had a three day weekend which must mean we're doing something right. It's been a really nice day today because we ran the second act for the first time and it's all coming together. I think it's in a good place. Is it true that you turned up on the first day having learnt your lines? It is. That comes from when I did Equus and [director] Thea Sharrock told me to have learned it before I got into rehearsal. So that's what I‘ve done on every job since. Plus, Michael [Grandage] asked us all to be as off book as possible come the first day of rehearsal. I find it means that you don't worry about learning it over the next four weeks, which means you have much more time to be in the character rather than learning the script. But there was still a huge journey to go on to discover our characters, and the fact that Martin's writing is very precise and pacey. I've just come from watching a scene with Pat Shortt, whose a fantastic comic actor, and it's just an absolute joy to watch, despite the dark subject matter. Would you say the production generally is quite light in tone? We had Martin in the first week of rehearsal and we were asking him about points in the script where you can play it one of two ways. We could make it warmer, almost sentimental, or play it flat and brutal; and that is generally how Martin likes us to do it. So I'd say we're actually focusing on the darker aspects but I think the humour comes out more strongly this way; a lot of it is pretty cruel humour. It will be interesting who the audience go away liking or disliking, because they are all very complicated characters. Was the play familiar to you before you got involved? Not at all, though I'd heard of it because my Dad was a literary agent in the 90s and knew the play very well. So I knew its reputation from him but I didn't know much else. Michael [Grandage] sent me three or four plays to read and said, "Read them, come back and tell me what you think." And the one that stood out was The Cripple of Inishmaan. It was so funny and smart; I don't think it's an overstatement to call it a modern masterpiece. As soon as I read it, I just knew I wanted to do it. And, considering your Dad's Northern Irish heritage, was its setting an added appeal? I don't know if it was an added appeal but it made the material feel less alien. All those conversations between [characters] Kate and Eileen - I've seen relatives talk to each other in that same, rhythmic way. There was something familiar about characters that spoke to me. Even though it's a different vernacular and accent from where my Dad is from, my Irish connections made the idea of doing an Irish play less intimidating. My main concern was that Martin, when I came to the project, was all about the accents, and nobody is more paranoid about accents than me. But I do have a very good ear for them and I just kept thinking, ‘Well, even if you don't have it now, that accent is somewhere inside of you. It's going back a while but it's in there somewhere.' Then there's the factor of your character's disability. How specific is the script regarding what it constitutes? It's not very specific. I mean, it's specific about the fact that it's there but it's not particular about what it is. An early stage direction reads that [Billy] ‘comes in shuffling, with one arm and one leg.' So we know about his arm and leg and then other details are revealed in the play, such as that it was noticed at Billy's birth that something was wrong with him, so whatever he had it had to be something quite extreme. It was a case of piecing together the clues and finding a condition that could potentially be what Billy has. So what did you decide? After a lot of research I landed on cerebral palsy as being a viable option because there is a specific kind of cerebral palsy called Hemiplegia, which affects one side of the body and not the other. It's also a condition that can be apparent at birth. So then I had to learn about the mechanics of cerebral palsy and what that involves, why it affects the body the way that it does, and how people learn to live with it - they usually become incredibly skilful with their ‘good' side. I felt it was important to make his condition specific, rather than attempting some generalised ‘cripple' thing. To me, that is kind of offensive, to say, "Oh well I'll just do something a bit weird, without looking into at all." That's not doing justice to people who are disabled or to the character that Martin wrote. What did Martin make of your research? [laughs] He pretty much said "fine, you've done more work on it than me". Martin's very self-effacing about stuff like that. I don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I say that I have done more research into his potential disability than Martin has. But that's the thing, he doesn't need to, because he's written so much else and given me so much more information about Billy that I can go off and do a little bit of the work myself. Does the fact that Billy seeks escape through film resonate with you? It does, in that Billy is ambitious. He refuses to accept that his life is going to be what it is now, and I think that is why I respond to the character so much. Though any parallels are superficial because mine and Billy's experience with the film industry is very different. He gets chewed up and spat out by it and I just love it. But in terms of finding an escape and doing something that people think you can't do, or people think you're unconventional for, I can certainly relate to that. I'm fully aware there is not an abundant number five foot five leading men! I'm also the only celebrity of my height that I know of that gives his actual height when asked, and doesn't wear Cuban heels… Do you ever think about what path you would've taken if it wasn't for Harry Potter? If I hadn't played Harry Potter I find it hard to believe I would have become an actor. David Copperfield was my first job but I never really viewed it as something serious - it was more something to get me out of school. I think I would have ended up in the film industry in some aspect because of my parents both being in the industry and because I certainly wouldn't have achieved anything in the world of academia. We all accepted that. It is a big thing to ponder; in fact I was just thinking the other day about what would've happened had I not been in Harry Potter. In a way that's a theme in The Cripple of Inishmaan because it's about opportunities and missed opportunities. It's a game I play sometimes; imagining where I would be now. But I generally end up going ‘thank god I'm not there' [laughs]. There must be times when you crave anonymity Yes there are times when anonymity would be nice but that is pretty much the only thing that I miss out on. It can be testing at times but generally speaking I would much rather have my life the way it is now. Does being back in the West End prompt memories of working with Richard Griffiths on Equus? It does. He was extraordinary man, as everyone said when he passed. My experience of him was that he was encyclopedic in his knowledge of the world. And he was generous, both as an actor and a person. He delighted in passing his immense knowledge to you, but it was never done in a pretentious way, or to prove how much knowledge he had. It was always done in a way that was interesting. He wanted to share it with you. It's odd thinking of the world without Richard in it because I learned so much from him; sometimes I wonder what else I'm going to learn now that he is gone. It's very sad but one thing that stood out in his funeral when everyone spoke about him was just how happy he was. He could be "Eeyore-ish", but he was also one of the most contented people I have ever met. If I can have that said about me at my funeral I think I will have lived a very worthwhile life. Equus took you to Broadway, where you subsequently starred inHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. How was that experience? Doing a musical on Broadway is an experience I recommend to anybody who gets the opportunity to do it. It's very hard to define what makes it so brilliant but I think it has to do with it being the spiritual home of the musical. And there is also something especially satisfying about succeeding in New York as we did. People may have said "They succeeded because they had Dan Radcliffe and John Larroquette," but there are shows opening and closing all the time with famous actors and a name is not enough to keep a show on. It has to be good. It was a hard show and a new experience. I had never done comedy particularly and I certainly had never done comedy that broad. I had never done anything where you were encouraged to break the fourth wall and smile at the audience occasionally, which is scripted in How to Succeed. And I think that brought something out of me, having to find an inner confidence that I didn't necessarily have before. It was really life changing because you learn so much about yourself, especially when you do a run of eleven months, eight nights a week. I know there will be people reading this thinking, ‘a year is not a long time, people do shows for years and years', but when you do eight shows a week on a show that physical it takes its toll – my body was in rough shape by the end. Would you do a musical in the West End? Absolutely, if it was the right one I would love to do it. There was talk about How to Succeed coming to the West End after Broadway but at that point I had done it a year and my heart wouldn't have been in it at the time. But also I felt it was a very American-oriented show that might not have worked quite as well over here. And in terms of other theatre roles, what else in on your wish list? Would you play Hamlet for example? Yes I would. It's something any actor would want to do and it's very intimidating thinking about all those who have done it before you and all those I have seen do it. It's hard to imagine at the moment but it is also one of the greatest parts in all of literature so yes, I would jump at the chance. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadby Tom Stoppard is one of my favourite plays, and another Irish play that I absolutely love is Translations by Brian Friel. I'd also love to doWaiting for Godot, but I'll have to wait til I'm an old man.

BBC Radio 1'sThe Matt Edmondson Show

BBC Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman

irishtimes.com interview and article with Daniel radcliffe

‘It is almost a problem how much I love my job,” says Daniel Radcliffe. “I have been thinking I have to find some outside interests. I went rock-climbing a few weeks ago. I need to find other stuff that I enjoy, because I will never take a break.” Earlier he had bustled into a room in the building where he and other actors have been rehearsing Martin McDonagh’s play The Cripple of Inishmaan, which is soon to open in the West End of London. Radcliffe seems unaffected by fame, despite being famous globally for more than a decade for playing Harry Potter. He apologises profusely for being late, then matches a politeness and interest in the people around him with, apparently, a curious insecurity – or, at least, a realisation of the frailties of stardom. Nearly everything about the 23-year-old works at speed, and his enthusiasm for acting shows no sign of abating, 14 years since he was first noticed in a 1999 TV version ofDavid Copperfield. The opportunity to play the lead in The Cripple of Inishmaan was unbelievably fortunate, he says, following an offer from the theatre producer Michael Grandage to appear in any one of three or four plays given to him to read. “I read Cripple last because as soon as I saw Martin’s name on it I thought, I will probably want to do that one. And if I read that one first I won’t pay proper attention to the other plays. And as soon as I read it . . .” Radcliffe’s interest in McDonagh dates back to In Bruges, the playwright’s cult film from 2008 about two Irish hitmen, played by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, hiding in the Belgian city after a job goes wrong. It is one of his favourite films, “an obsession of mine for a period”, he says, his words tumbling out. “I loved that kind of dialogue, that kind of economical dialogue where there is a real joy taken in every character having their own rhythm. I think that is always a sign of great writing. “If you took the script for Cripple and covered up the names on the left you would still be able to work out who is talking every time, because every character is so distinct. I have always loved that.” Man of Aran Radcliffe plays Billy, a disabled 17-year-old living on Inis Meáin who desperately wants to escape his dull life by travelling to the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mór, to win a role in the 1934 film Man of Aran. An explanation for Billy’s disability is never given in the play. Radcliffe has chosen to play him as a man with cerebral palsy, helped by a coach who has the condition. “It has been amazing to learn from her the mechanics and what causes it. It is just another thing that I know about that I didn’t know about before. “Really, I don’t want to say how amazingly hard people’s lives are. I recommend that you watch [the documentary] Don’t Drop the Baby. It’s about a couple with cerebral palsy who are getting ready to have their second child. They want to have it by natural birth. That really showed me. Our perception is that their lives must be an incredible struggle all time, but actually it is just their life. They don’t particularly think about it on a day-to-day basis,” he says. “One of the things that was important for me to get across with Billy is that he is a 17-year-old boy, so there’s disability on one side, [but] it is important that his other side, a side that is incredibly strong and incredibly adept, also gets across. “Because that is what one notices: that people are so skilful at coming up with solutions. That is one of things that I have taken away from it,” says Radcliffe, who enthuses about the performance in rehearsals of Pat Shortt, who plays Johnnypateenmike. “I knew him from Father Ted. He is going to be amazing in this show. His work is brilliant, hysterical, inventive. I am very grateful for working with him.” Born to a Northern Irish father and a Jewish mother, Radcliffe grew up listening to stories of his father’s life in Banbridge, Co Down, before he left for England – “the music they listened to, the Troubles, everything”. “My dad, rather wonderfully, was the All-Ulster Latin-American dance champion when he was in his late teens, and when all his peers were joining the territorial army my dad was leaping about in a Strictly Come Dancing costume. “It is one of the things that I love about him,” he says, adding that his father’s accent was “beaten out of him” at drama schools in England. “It was just before having a regional accent was a boon to your career. He now sounds more middle class than I do.” Radcliffe enjoys both of his tribal identities. “It surprises people about me. When you say either of those things, people go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’ I take pride in it, but I wouldn’t be one of those annoying British people who say that they are Irish on St Patrick’s Day.” His Irish connections are strengthened by his regular appearances on the The Graham Norton Show, on BBC One. “He has created something very unusual. It is special. It is the one we all want to do. It is so relaxed, and not because there is booze on the table but because you are all out there together,” Radcliffe says. “He’s like a host in the true sense of the word. He is just like a host at a dinner party, making sure the conversation bounces along. He will take the piss, but he comes at you from such a good place.” Far from Hogwarts Even before the Harry Potter films ended, two years ago, Radcliffe seemed to choose roles that would take him as far from Hogwarts as possible – although, he says, “they weren’t chosen because one was a horror and the other was a historical drama. It was that the scripts were brilliant.” He is keen not to become another child actor to fall by the wayside. “None of us wanted to let that happen. I fell into something that I adored and that gave me a sense of identity and purpose and a sense of community. That is not the wrong word to use. “I want to work hard enough so that I can always be a part of it. One of the things that leads to people fizzling out or getting forgotten is when complacency or laziness sets in, rather than challenging themselves consistently.” Playing Potter was “an incredible stroke of luck”. The price is the nagging feeling that the world will never be convinced he earned his position. “I don’t want anybody to be able to say that of me. People say things like, ‘Potter will be the biggest thing that I will ever do.’ And that is absolutely true, but nor do I think that it is going to be the best work I ever do – and that absolutely satisfies me. “It is amazing how well Potter did, and how many people saw it, and that is fantastic, but it’s not the end goal. What I want to do at this point is get better and better as an actor and keep learning. And I think I am. “I never want to settle for where I am and go, ‘I’m happy with this, I can stop challenging myself, I have done it all.’ I don’t think that is my make-up.” This year Radcliffe will appear in a number of films, including Kill Your Darlings. It helps that he enjoys being on film sets. “I love working with film crews, and I love technicians. I got to work with some amazing crews on Potter, and I have been able to work with more since. “I was very worried about working in the US, because I had always heard that the crew are not allowed to talk to the actors and stuff like that. That’s completely untrue. There are some actors who won’t talk to the crew, so that is how those rumours get started. “For me there is no point doing it unless you are going to enjoy it. I don’t know how people go to work on film sets and come in grumpy every day, especially people who do my job.” What’s more, he says, he has never worked with a horrible director. “I am of the belief – I am not sure if I can swear in your newspaper – that life’s too short to work with a***holes.” The Cripple of Inishmaan is at the Noël Coward Theatre, London, from next Saturday until August 31st

Daniel on the Xfm Breakfast Show

BBC News interview at the Noël Coward theatre

Daniel visited the Capital FM London's breakfast show

Esquire magazine interview

Trying to be cool is bollocks. It leads to unhappiness. When I was 17/18 I worked really hard at being enigmatic, but now I’ve accepted I’m not that guy. I’m chatty and hyper. Talking about drinking on the set of Potter was a mistake. I thought if I could narrow the gap between the perception of me and the reality, the better things would be. Actually it just gave the media more to speculate with. Gary Oldman gave me some advice. He said: ‘Your name is your brand. Protect it’. I didn’t understand what that meant until recently. I didn’t just grow up on screen, I learned my trade on it too. I was surrounded by fantastic actors getting the best drama training anyone could have, but it was all caught on film. I’m very critical, even of the early stuff. The last year or so is the first time I’ve been proud of the work I’ve produced. I learn a lot from athletes. Someone said Mike Atherton’s greatest skill as a batsman was the ability to concentrate intently for a few seconds at a time, then totally relax. That’s a useful skill - conserving energy. Making the wrong choices is my bigger fear. But there’s no master plan. I just try and do what interests me. If I quit acting tomorrow, I’d become an archaeologist I love history and I love physical work. I think I could lead a very happy life digging things out of the ground. Every day I try and remind myself: work isn’t a given. You have to earn your right to be there every day. It’s very easy to get a few weeks into a play and go on autopilot, but the people in the audience at the end of the run have paid just as much as the people on the first night. They deserve just as much commitment and energy. Going to the gym is how I switch off. It’s not relaxing, exactly, but it makes me feel so much better. I like being in pain and sweating and working hard. The big embarrassment of my life is that my Dad is fitter than me.He’s 54 but in crazy shape. He’s a runner. I’m catching up with him though. Every day is a chance to improve. No matter what you’re doing. Hard work trumps everything, event talent. Look at Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback. He was picked 199th in the sixth round of the NFL draft, and went on to become one of the all time greats. You can have all the god-given ability on earth but if you don’t work at it, you won’t reach your potential. Success is living up to the goals you set yourself. Other people have said I’ll never do anything as successful as Harry Potter, and in a commercial sense they’re right. But how you feel about your own work is the real way to measure it.

I was at Richard Griffiths’s funeral recently. Everyone there talked about how happy and content he was, which was absolutely true. Someone saying the same thing about me at my funeral: that’s what real success would look like.