Daniel Radcliffe's Development as an Actor

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Readers of Harry Potter envision "their" Harry in their own imaginations. When they started watching the films, that image may or may not have changed based on young actor, Daniel Radcliffe's portrayal of the boy wizard. Over time, as the character has matured, so has Mr. Radcliffe both as a young man and as an actor. In this thread, let's discuss Daniel Radcliffe's development in acting. What do you think of his earlier performances in the role compared to more recent incarnations? Has his work become more nuanced as he has grown older? Do you think he knows Harry Potter better than anyone else on the planet, besides Ms. Rowling? Does he do a good job or a less than good job translating Harry's personality, fears, struggles, and triumphs to the screen?

[Psychee]

I have enjoyed Daniel Radcliffe in the role, but as of his last film he still had room to improve acting-wise. It will be interesting to see how much improvement he has made between that one and the new one.

He always did a good job at exposition, at looking confused, or happy, or trusting. The area he was not good in, though, was anger and tears / sadness. I think that part has been a challenge for him because he's just such a happy kid.

The one scene I usually cringe at is that scene where he has just found out that Sirius was his godfather and that he had sold his parents out. He was wearing his invisibility cloak and "crying", and then Hermione took it off of him. Well, the tears sounded super fake and the rage seemed very fake and ill-timed. There's a thing that young boys do to fake anger-- I think they try to grit their teeth -- and it just doesn't work -- there is always a bit of smile left behind the eyes. But I know he was young and this was a very hard scene so I cut him a break and ignore it as best I can.

This next movie, though, is going to require a great deal of that dark emotion and I hope he mastered this challenge... otherwise, it will be very hard to ignore since there is just so much of it in the story... maybe the extra testosterone of his age will help? Turning anger on and off might be easier...

Message Edited by Psychee on 06-30-2007 02:59 PM

[manga_anime_lo…]

i agree with Psychee he did have a hard time in the third movie with finding out about sirius. hopefully he will improve on that area in the movie but hes a GREAT actor in practicly everything else i can think of. But it is kind of hard for male actors to actually 'cry' on film. i know some of them can but thats why they are good actors. he might not have really any sad thoughts in his life to spark the tears but he mightve been able to if he was a 'little' more into his character. that helps too. but i think he definitly needs to work on that and hopefully he wont dissapoint us [which is very hard to do to me when it comes to him *wink*] but i think hes a great actor. but theres still a little room for improvement

[Kileyanne]

I think that Daniel Radcliffe is a great actor but I also agree that there is some room for improvement. I have always wanted to be in a movie no matter what part I got. Currently, I have recieved the role of Marty in the musical "Grease". The performance will be in a month or too and I am so excited. I have never really been in an actual play/musical before so if anyone has any pointers please feel free to post or send a PM. Thanx for your help.
- Kileyanne

[Tigerlils13]

I personally believe that Daniel Radcilffe is a rather good actor and that the script is the bad part.
Radcliffe was much more 'Harry-like' in the first 2 movies- the movies that were more like their book counterparts than not. The last two movies were less like thier book counterparts and suffered for it. The actual action parts in both movies were severly cut and much less enjoyable. Unless I am mistaken, the graveyard scene in the movie takes about 5 minutes. The book has about three chpaters that spands all of Tommy boy's rebirth and whatnot and the movie lacks it's richness.
In other words I beleive that radcliffe has done as well as he possibly could have with the perameters that he has been given... which are terrible and lacking in all areas.

Oh, and to Kileyanne- CONGRADULATIONS!!! My school ver recently put on Grease. As a sophmore, I was incredibly lucky to recieve the part of Patty Simcox and played the role proudly
I recomend practising your songs atleast once a day and memorising your lines as soon as possible to allow time to get your staging down. carry a scirpt around just bogs you down and ruins your movements
To get into your character, I would write down a series of question (atleast 20). these questions should be like as follows: What's your favorite color? Favorite icecream flavor? Where do you go to school? Who's your best friend? Who are your parents? Who's your favorite singer? Who's your favorite radio show host? *hint hintVince Fontaine*
Keep in mind that you are in the 50s. Do your research on the era.
If you need anyother tips just ask or look it up on the net!
Goodluck!

[Proper-T]

Hmm, I never tend to blame tha actors because if you weren't good enough for the role, I'd like to think you wouldn't have gotten it... so I tend to wonder what was in the script? The Sirius scene is always the most talked about point of Dan's acting, but PoA as a movie was terrible to me, I thought he faired much better at the end of GoF when bringing back Cedric, much more emotional...

And another thing, I would rather see him in a non Harry Potter related role to gage his acting. I didn't see Equius (sp?) but most reviews weren't all that great so I don't know (not that I care for reviews, mind you)...

So I guess I'll have to wait until September for his movie Decmber Boys, and then judge him. Just like after I saw Driving Lessons with Rupert Grint I felt loads better about his capabilities as an actor. By the way I reccomend that if you haven't seen it...

[no1fobfan]

I totally also agree with Pyschee over there. Daniel Radcliffe has definitely improved over the past five years as an actor. But you know that he's just a boy, of a mere 17 going on 18 to be exact. Don't put so much pressure on him. (I'm not saying that to JUST Pyschee, I mean everybody who says that he's too much of THIS and too much of THAT.) J.K. Rowling herself said she thought this movie was the best yet, no flaws. You can't argue with the author herself, now can you? Besides, Daniel has really been the perfect Harry Potter, and you couldn't have picked a better one. Daniel was only 12 when he was first picked to do the part, so you can't expect a great deal of acting, even though he did an astonishing part. The only person you CAN expect from is Dakota Fanning, whom I must say I'm preferably not a huge fan of watching her. It's just an opinion.

Overall, I believe that Daniel Radcliffe has done an extraordinary job at playing Harry Potter and I'm sure that this film will be better than ever.

I'd also like to point out that Daniel had once said, in an interview, that he enjoyed working with Imelda (Staunton) and Gary (Oldman) on screen. So, from many people, including myself, I've heard that they believe working with great and experienced actors brings out the best of them and makes them work even harder to act better. Since Daniel is with Imelda and Gary and they're on the screen with him so much, Daniel is sure to look great in this one.

Picture it like this: Some actors feel a little embarrassed to go all out, so to speak, but when they're with an actor or actress who isn't embarrassed to go all out, they think: "Hey, well this guy doesn't seem embarrassed, so if he's doing it, then why can't I do it, too?" That's how it makes me feel, but it's hard to put into words.

[manga_anime_lo…]

I saw HP5 last night at the first showing and he got a little better from the last movie. there's still room for improvement but hes getting better.

[lrdieter]

I think he was good as a kid and has gotten better as the movies progressed. I think sometimes he struggles with certain emotions or scenes but hey, he's got a heck of a character to live up to! Playing Harry can't be easy. I think this last movie his acting was very good. When I read the book and Sirius died and Harry realized that it was Bellatrix I could literally feel his rage! and Daniel Radcliff portrayed that in the movie! The emotion was there and I could see the pain and anger in his eyes. So if for no other reason than that I think he does a hell of a job.

[lrdieter]

Oh and by the way...I forget who said it but I agree Rupert Grint in Driving Lessons was great!

Message Edited by lrdieter on 07-12-2007 02:36 PM

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Were any of you able to catch any of Daniel Radcliffe's television interviews this week for the promotion of _The Order of the Phoenix_? I thought it was interesting how he kept mentioning his friendship with Gary Oldman ("Sirius Black"). Presently, he said Oldman provides an example to him of the career he'd like to follow in acting--doing all kinds of roles in all kinds of media. If they have become closer off-screen, I think that may have translated to what, in my view, looked to be a closer relationship between Harry and Sirius on-screen in this latest movie. Daniel even said that it makes it easier to play a scene with a character you're supposed to care about when the actors really do care about each other off-screen as well. Interesting. Am I the only person who sees some similarities between Daniel's career and Harry's story? I see him getting "braver" in the challenging roles he's taking on, for example. He seemed to indicate that Oldman was a big influence on him in deciding to do _Equus_.

~ConnieK, 8 days

[dayrenm]

---

ConnieK wrote:
Readers of Harry Potter envision "their" Harry in their own imaginations. When they started watching the films, that image may or may not have changed based on young actor, Daniel Radcliffe's portrayal of the boy wizard. Over time, as the character has matured, so has Mr. Radcliffe both as a young man and as an actor. In this thread, let's discuss Daniel Radcliffe's development in acting. What do you think of his earlier performances in the role compared to more recent incarnations? Has his work become more nuanced as he has grown older? Do you think he knows Harry Potter better than anyone else on the planet, besides Ms. Rowling? Does he do a good job or a less than good job translating Harry's personality, fears, struggles, and triumphs to the screen?

---

Definetly, Dan was a perfect image of what I saw while reading SS, I believe that his screen play was great to begin with but obviously as he matures and grows more accustomed to the film industry that will protray in the films and we have seen so far. Not only Dan, we see this with Emma and Rupe as well, and the rest of the kids even Bonnie. I do believe that Dan knows Harry as well as JKR, the kids do such a great job in the films I believe because they too have been fans of the series, they know the script as well as we do, and they enjoy bringing the books to life. That's what makes the films so interesting to watch, (just my opinion).

[Proper-T]

Connie I don't know if there's a link for it, but I get Entertaiment Weekly in the mail, and they interview Dan. The very first part of the article tells about a break in shooting where Dan is listening to Garry and Jason (Luicius) talk amongst themselves naughtily. And then Gary tells Dan that you'll need to shave. And Dan says 'what, down there?' and Gary says 'Especially down there' I couldn't help but laugh.

Ok found it, after all:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046055,00.html

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ConnieK wrote:
Were any of you able to catch any of Daniel Radcliffe's television interviews this week for the promotion of _The Order of the Phoenix_? I thought it was interesting how he kept mentioning his friendship with Gary Oldman ("Sirius Black"). Presently, he said Oldman provides an example to him of the career he'd like to follow in acting--doing all kinds of roles in all kinds of media. If they have become closer off-screen, I think that may have translated to what, in my view, looked to be a closer relationship between Harry and Sirius on-screen in this latest movie. Daniel even said that it makes it easier to play a scene with a character you're supposed to care about when the actors really do care about each other off-screen as well. Interesting. Am I the only person who sees some similarities between Daniel's career and Harry's story? I see him getting "braver" in the challenging roles he's taking on, for example. He seemed to indicate that Oldman was a big influence on him in deciding to do _Equus_.

~ConnieK, 8 days

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[ConnieAnnKirk]

Eww, Proper-T! Funny; DR said in an interview that his best friend is a 41-year-old man named Will who has worked on all of the movies. He must be certainly getting an education from all of these older guys, eh?

~ConnieK, 2 days

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Proper-T wrote:
Connie I don't know if there's a link for it, but I get Entertaiment Weekly in the mail, and they interview Dan. The very first part of the article tells about a break in shooting where Dan is listening to Garry and Jason (Luicius) talk amongst themselves naughtily. And then Gary tells Dan that you'll need to shave. And Dan says 'what, down there?' and Gary says 'Especially down there' I couldn't help but laugh.

Ok found it, after all:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046055,00.html

---

[Proper-T]

If that tid bit between Jason and Gary was any clue, I'd say that we should expect to see DR doing a lot more 'that's defintely not Harry' roles, lol.

You know what else you have to consider as well? They're a lot less lax about things over there too... there are certain things you can say and see on tv over there and people won't bat an eye, but here in the US, they'd flip out.

I'm trying to think of an article from anywhere, where I've seen people talk like they're talking in EW and it didn't cause a ruckus somehow... I mean imagine if you heard an American star talking like that... there'd be protest groups... with signs, lol.

---

ConnieK wrote:
Eww, Proper-T! Funny; DR said in an interview that his best friend is a 41-year-old man named Will who has worked on all of the movies. He must be certainly getting an education from all of these older guys, eh?

~ConnieK, 2 days

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Proper-T wrote:
Connie I don't know if there's a link for it, but I get Entertaiment Weekly in the mail, and they interview Dan. The very first part of the article tells about a break in shooting where Dan is listening to Garry and Jason (Luicius) talk amongst themselves naughtily. And then Gary tells Dan that you'll need to shave. And Dan says 'what, down there?' and Gary says 'Especially down there' I couldn't help but laugh.

Ok found it, after all:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046055,00.html

---

---

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Oh, yes; very different over there without our Puritan roots to make them feel guilty! Sounds like these guys will definitely help the young actor get worldly a bit more quickly. You know; maybe they saw a sheltered young actor who deserved a chance for a career after giving so much of his childhood and himself for the Harry Potter movies and have decided to help rough him up a bit to help him get other roles and just generally get along more easily in the world? Maybe it's kind of an Order of the Phoenix type thing to help the young lad. Well, what do *we* know about any of this, anyway? I did think DR seemed much more comfortable in interviews over here this time promoting the films. Much more quick to joke and with more of an intuition for where to joke around. Much more self-assured in general. Do you think his acting has improved? He has worked hard for so many years--it would be so great for him if by the time they got to the 7th movie, he was able to just give this awesome performance that let everyone see a real artist finally coming into his own, you know? I'm not sure if the 7th part of the story will allow him to do that, but it would be a great ending to this long role.

I'm one of those audience members who is grateful to the actors who will be in all 7 movies, especially Daniel, Emma, and Rupert, and their families. They gave the world a lot of entertainment for many years while basically giving up so much of themselves. You don't get that time back, and I feel like they have given their childhoods, almost, to their audience. I think that's why I was so glad to see them have the "cementing" ceremony at Grauman's. I thought they deserved it because what they have done is so unusual (especially playing the same characters for so long--I know there have been many other child actors who have worked all while growing up). They are all around the same age as my younger son (esp. Daniel), so maybe that affects how I see them, but I hope they all get good advice as they move forward in their lives and careers.

~ConnieK, 1 day!!!

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Proper-T wrote:
If that tid bit between Jason and Gary was any clue, I'd say that we should expect to see DR doing a lot more 'that's defintely not Harry' roles, lol.

You know what else you have to consider as well? They're a lot less lax about things over there too... there are certain things you can say and see on tv over there and people won't bat an eye, but here in the US, they'd flip out.

I'm trying to think of an article from anywhere, where I've seen people talk like they're talking in EW and it didn't cause a ruckus somehow... I mean imagine if you heard an American star talking like that... there'd be protest groups... with signs, lol.

---

ConnieK wrote:
Eww, Proper-T! Funny; DR said in an interview that his best friend is a 41-year-old man named Will who has worked on all of the movies. He must be certainly getting an education from all of these older guys, eh?

~ConnieK, 2 days

---

Proper-T wrote:
Connie I don't know if there's a link for it, but I get Entertaiment Weekly in the mail, and they interview Dan. The very first part of the article tells about a break in shooting where Dan is listening to Garry and Jason (Luicius) talk amongst themselves naughtily. And then Gary tells Dan that you'll need to shave. And Dan says 'what, down there?' and Gary says 'Especially down there' I couldn't help but laugh.

Ok found it, after all:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046055,00.html

---

---

---

Message Edited by ConnieK on 07-19-2007 08:19 AM

[Proper-T]

Yes I thought his interviews are better too. Still sounding young, but defintely showing that he's about to be 18 in less than a week's time. I hope that by the time the 7th movie is done, he hasn't decided to become to adult though. You know how it is sometimes when young actors start trying to prove their older. The movie was done already when he did Equus, and he picked a role that most teenagers wouldn't even fathom doing.

I do think he's become a better actor. But I still don't think I can judge it until I see him in a non Potter role. So I'm all set to see his movie December's Boys in September when it comes out. I've seen trailers already, and it looks like he'll be excellent in that as well. I know I definitely saw Rupert as a better actor after seeing Driving Lessons.

And I'm grateful (and terribly happy) as well, that so far at least the Trio is going to do all seven movies. I mean how many people can say that? And really the same goes for all the actors, should they do it. The Harry Potter movies have gotten some of Britain's best talent to work in the cast, and I can't help but see that be a plus for the actors.

I know it's far away, but wouldn't you give anything to be at the last cast party for the DH movie? Especially if Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, the Dursley's (can't remember names) and the Weasley's (too many) were all there... you know people who were there from day one?? The picture's from the two events would probably make everyone teary eyed.

---

ConnieK wrote:
Oh, yes; very different over there without our Puritan roots to make them feel guilty! Sounds like these guys will definitely help the young actor get worldly a bit more quickly. You know; maybe they saw a sheltered young actor who deserved a chance for a career after giving so much of his childhood and himself for the Harry Potter movies and have decided to help rough him up a bit to help him get other roles and just generally get along more easily in the world? Maybe it's kind of an Order of the Phoenix type thing to help the young lad. Well, what do *we* know about any of this, anyway? I did think DR seemed much more comfortable in interviews over here this time promoting the films. Much more quick to joke and with more of an intuition for where to joke around. Much more self-assured in general. Do you think his acting has improved? He has worked hard for so many years--it would be so great for him if by the time they got to the 7th movie, he was able to just give this awesome performance that let everyone see a real artist finally coming into his own, you know? I'm not sure if the 7th part of the story will allow him to do that, but it would be a great ending to this long role.

I'm one of those audience members who is grateful to the actors who will be in all 7 movies, especially Daniel, Emma, and Rupert, and their families. They gave the world a lot of entertainment for many years while basically giving up so much of themselves. You don't get that time back, and I feel like they have given their childhoods, almost, to their audience. I think that's why I was so glad to see them have the "cementing" ceremony at Grauman's. I thought they deserved it because what they have done is so unusual (especially playing the same characters for so long--I know there have been many other child actors who have worked all while growing up). They are all around the same age as my younger son (esp. Daniel), so maybe that affects how I see them, but I hope they all get good advice as they move forward in their lives and careers.

~ConnieK, 1 day!!!

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Oh, yes; that seems like that would be quite a cast party!

~ConnieK, 24.5 hours!

[halfscripts]

I think Dan's ability to apply emotion to his performances has greatly improved- as someone said, in POA it seemed rather forced, but his reaction to Cedric's death in GOF was much more realistic. And then there was the Sirius death scene in OOTP where there was very few dry eyes left in the theatre. He doesn't have much time to master the adolescent rage/grief thing that is prominant in the 6th and then DEFINITELY in the 7th book. I imagine that the majority of the 7th film will be very difficult to do just because it demands such a large range of emotion and such stated grief from Harry's character. Time will tell!