By Christina Radish
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Daniel Radcliffe at the premiere of December Boys held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, Calif. on September 6, 2007. |
In his first non-Harry Potter role, since starting the hugely successful franchise, Daniel Radcliffe is starring in Warner Independent’s December Boys, a film about four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, the story follows the boys as they are sent to visit the seaside one summer.
While there, the boys meet a young couple unable to have children, who would make the perfect parents. Soon, Spark (Christian Byers), Misty (Lee Cormie) and Spit (James Fraser) begin to compete to be the most adoptable, as the eldest of the boys, Maps (Radcliffe), finds himself drawn to Lucy (Teresa Palmer), a beautiful girl from down the coast. Their deep bond eventually overcomes the rivalries, forever sealing the strong ties that bind the December boys as they learn the real meaning behind friendship, family and love.
The 18-year-old mega-star spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about filming his first love scene, and how playing a wizard has changed his life.
MediaBlvd Magazine> Are you surprised that people are so surprised to see you in a small independent film?
Daniel Radcliffe> I’m not surprised by it. I don’t understand it, but it is sort of to be expected, I suppose. It was like that with Equus, when I got to take my clothes off. Everybody was like, “Oh my God. I can’t believe he’s doing that.” To me, that was ridiculous, but I sort of expected it would happen. The same thing applies here. It is only natural that I should go out and do other things. I don’t know if people are surprised that I’m doing it. They are just possibly more interested than they would be if I hadn’t been involved in the Harry Potter franchise.
MediaBlvd> What attracted you to this character?
Daniel> I think everyone can associate with Maps, in some way, male or female, especially with all the heartbreak, and things like that. The thing I didn’t necessarily connect with so much, but that moved me, was Maps’ overwhelming desire to be needed by somebody, which he just doesn’t have. These boys need him, for the first half of the film, but then, suddenly, they meet this guy, Fearless, who is tougher, older and rides a motorbike, and they are suddenly enamored by him. So, they all leave Maps and go to Fearless and, again, Maps is left, once more, with no one needing him. He needs to be needed.
MediaBlvd> Did you feel like you had to be strategic in what film you chose to do? Since you’re undoubtedly sent a lot of scripts, did you intentionally decide to make a small movie instead of another really big movie?
Daniel> If the big movie had presented me with loads of challenges and other experiences, then I would have done it. I wasn’t just saying, “I have to do an indie movie next because that will show them . . .”
MediaBlvd> That you have street cred?
Daniel> Yeah, exactly. But, it just so happened that this was the best script I read. Yes, it was for an indie movie, but if I hadn’t believed in this script I wouldn’t have done anything. I really wanted to do something in between Harry Potter 4 and 5, but if a script hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have done anything. It was very important that I didn’t just do something for the sake of doing it.
MediaBlvd> Are you rebellious like Maps?
Daniel> I don’t see maps as being rebellious. I see him as being bored and having nothing else to do. People have asked, “Who do you think is more rebellious, Harry or Maps?” I absolutely think Harry is because Harry rails against things more, where Maps really has nothing to rail against.
MediaBlvd> What about you, personally?
Daniel> Maybe I’m rebelling against what people think I would be doing, but it is not a conscious thing. I’m making my own choices and, if some people feel that is slightly unorthodox, that’s their issue more than mine. But, it doesn’t bother me.
MediaBlvd> What music did you listen to, so that you could get into character?
Daniel> I actually still have the playlist on my iPod. I recall a lot of Elliot Smith on there, and a lot of William Mason. It was troubled guitar-wielding men, mainly. And, a lot of Nirvana, Radiohead, Nine Black Alps, and stuff like that. It was a fairly dark CD, but it helped. Music, for me, is one of the most helpful things, to get you into a scene. If I’m starting from scratch, then music is the main thing I will go to first.
MediaBlvd> Do you listen to that kind of music, normally?
Daniel> I often listen to stuff like that -- Radiohead, particularly. But, this CD was exclusively bands like that. I listen to a lot of guitar music, but it is not all quite that furious.
MediaBlvd> How did you get the three other young actors, that were so in awe of you being Harry Potter, to forget that and relate to you as this character?
Daniel> In terms of the kids, they were almost totally unphased by me. If they were intimidated, they hid it bloody well. That was never really an issue. They were a really good bunch of kids, and I really loved working with them. They are very cool people. James Fraser, who plays Spit, is essentially me at age 12, so I am very fond of James.
MediaBlvd> With the Harry Potter movies, Catholics and Protestants said that all the wizardry was heretic, but December Boys also has a strong Catholic mythology. How do you feel about the movie’s strong Catholic message?
Daniel> I’m not religious at all. I play a Catholic boy who grows up in a Catholic orphanage, so there are obviously going to be a lot of Catholic themes. If I’m playing a Jewish boy, we would be celebrating New Year now. So, it just varies, depending on what the part is. It didn’t really make any particular difference to me. Even though I’m not religious, I didn’t object to it.
MediaBlvd> Are you agnostic, then?
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Daniel Radcliffe & Teresa Palmer at the premiere of December Boys held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, Calif. on September 6, 2007. |
Daniel> I’m sort of along those lines, definitely. I’m confused, I suppose. The person who has been my tutor for about seven or eight years, an d who has been amazing for me, is Catholic, so it was really good to talk to her. She grew up in Malta, so she had a very Catholic upbringing. It was really good to talk to her about Catholicism and about how, if you’re faith is shaken or you do something that feels natural, it might contradict what your faith says you do. She was just telling me about how Maps would feel about what he’s doing, based on his background, which was very helpful. I wouldn’t say this film has a Catholic message. If this film has a message, it’s very much that family doesn’t necessarily mean blood relations, it’s who you trust and love. They make up your family. For me, that is the message. It is not particularly Catholic.
MediaBlvd> Playing an orphan again, did you get any inspiration from Harry Potter for this role?
Daniel> I totally left Harry out of the equation, when I was playing Maps. They are both orphans, but they are totally different people. It wasn’t about using what I know of Harry to portray Maps, at all. And, in terms of Maps’ background, I have always assumed that Maps was told he was left. I always assumed that his parents were alive and had not wanted him, or at least that that was what he’d been told.
MediaBlvd> What was it like to film your first love scene?
Daniel> We started filming at 11 o’clock in the morning, on December 23rd, and we finished at 4:15 am on Christmas Eve. it was a very long day, and we filmed the sex scene at about 8 o’clock that night. I was nervous, definitely. Being the first love scene that I had ever done, it was not exactly imposing, but I was aware and going “Oh, God, what do I do? What don’t I do?” Luckily, Theresa was very good at helping me to just chill out and have a lot of fun with it. That’s what it is about.
MediaBlvd> Was that really you mooning the camera in December Boys, or was it a double?
Daniel> That’s me. That’s the genuine Radcliffe ass.
MediaBlvd> Where were you when you read the final Harry Potter book, and what was your experience as you read it?
Daniel> I’m not going to take this into too pretentious a route, but there’s a quote from Chekhov, when he wrote to the woman who was the final love of his life, who he later married and, I think, died with, and he said, “Hello, the last page of my life.” That seemed very appropriate to me, reading this book, because Harry has been such a part of my life. I’ve been with him through all my teen years and, when I started reading it, it was like, “Wow, this is the last time I will take a journey with this character.” It was quite a special moment. And, actually, while reading the final chapters, I was listening to Sigur Ros, which was very appropriate. God, I’d love them to do a song for one of the films. They’d be absolutely fantastic.
MediaBlvd> What did you think of it?
Daniel> In terms of the ending of the book, I was thrilled. Has anybody not read the seventh book – okay, cool, I was very, very pleased because I basically get the best of both worlds, because I get the scene of my demise and also I get to live on after that, which is any actors’ dream, you get to die and then you get more screen time, it’s fantastic.
MediaBlvd> Did you go straight to the Epilogue when you read it, to see what happened to your character?
Daniel> No, I didn’t go straight to the epilogue. That’s what my grandmother does.
MediaBlvd> As you were reading, were you thinking, “Oh, my God, this book is amazing, it’s going to be such a good movie”?
Daniel> I was thinking, “How are we going to make it into a movie?” It’s going to be tough, but that’s why someone cleverer than me adapts them. If we get it right, which I’m confident we will, it should be amazing.
MediaBlvd> A lot of people read the books in one or two days. Did you feel you needed to read it quickly, so someone didn’t spoil it for you?Daniel> Weirdly, I didn’t. I was at a cricket match, when it came out, so I didn’t really start reading it properly. I read the first 30 pages one night, and then said, “I’m not going to pick it up again until I’ve got proper time to really have a go at this book.” And, actually, no one spoiled the ending for me. I thought they would. I thought someone was going to shout out what happened. But, the brilliant thing about it is that she sort of made it spoiler proof because, even if someone does say what state Harry ends up in, you don’t know the half of it, which is pretty impressive. When I finally did get to read it, I did read it in about a day and a half, just because I couldn’t put it down.
MediaBlvd> Have they adapted Half-Blood Prince (book 6) well?
Daniel> Obviously, things have been taken out, but everything that drives the story forward is very much in place.
MediaBlvd> And you’re doing a play, right after you finish Half-Blood Prince?
Daniel> There’s a little gap, so hopefully I can find another film to make. That would be really cool. But, if not, I might actually rest.
MediaBlvd> A lot of people thought Alfonso Cuaron did such an amazing job with the third Harry Potter film, and he’s talked about how he’d be willing to come back to the franchise. Would you like to have him back for book seven?
Daniel> I loved working with Alfonso, so I don’t want this to be misinterpreted, in the slightest, but I really love working with David Yates. Who knows if he’ll do book seven. But, to be honest, it’s really nice to have new directors come on board. Book seven is a long way off. I don’t know if David is willing to do it. But, I would love to work with Alfonso again, in the future. I just don’t know if Potter will be the place where that happens.
MediaBlvd> You’re okay with Yates coming back for book seven?
Daniel> If he wanted to, yeah, totally.
