Jenna's interview with Daniel Radcliffe

Jenna from danradcliffe.com interviewed Daniel this Summer about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, December Boys and more. Below a selection of questions.

What was it like – first romantic sequence?

It was very strange... luckily Teresa Palmer, who’s playing opposite me in that, she has actually done kissing scenes before and stuff, and she was sort of quite cool with that and would say “oh, no, no, it’s nothing to worry about”. I was quite nervous. It is very strange, but you don’t really think about it. It actually becomes like any other scene really. You sort of just… go in and you kiss… but it’s a weird kind of kiss. It just feels different from when you actually kiss someone because it’s just… because everyone’s watching and it’s quite clinical. You’ll stand with your faces like a centimeter apart and then the camera crew will tell you, “Can you move your head a little to the left”. They position you, so it is quite clinically done. It’s not in the least bit exciting or romantic like it is in real life at all as you might expect it to be. So you just sort of get in there and do it… and it was fun in the end. Me and Teresa ended up getting quite hysterical. We just sort of started laughing.

OOTP

Have you gotten to your heated, temper scenes yet?

No..no there is one scene where I do...I get to break a lot of things. It's very...with any luck it should be very, very powerful. I will actually film the scene in Dumbledore's office where he talks about Sirius and how Dumbledore's responsible for Sirius' death indirectly. We do that next Monday. I am really looking forward to that. I think it is one of the strongest scenes in the book and so I'm looking forward to doing it. And also, it's plot stuff which you need to explain what happened. It is more practical, not an emotionally-driven scene.

Most interesting scenes filmed so far...

I think anything with Umbridge. They are great because Imelda Staunton is just brilliant. She is absolutely perfect. Not only is she a brilliant actress, she is a nice and charming person to be around because she is so funny and kind and generous-spirited. She is really helpful with stuff when you're acting with her. She is very good with advice and general encouragement. Her and Gary Oldman are my two favorite people I have ever worked with.

How do you feel Harry copes with all of the tragedies he must endure in this installment?

Generally I think he copes very badly, but I think what I admire about the way he copes is he tries to cope with it on his own. He doesn't make his problems other people's problems. He just sits there and actually tries to work it out on his own. The only person he sort of really, really reaches out to is Sirius. He usually reaches out to Dumbledore, but Dumbledore is being aloof this year, which is another thing to add to his frustration.

I think he didn't deal with it very well, but I think I still have a little admiration for the way he tries to deal with it on his own...and that's a really fun and interesting part of the film...Harry trying to work his problems out, and actually having no one there to really reach out to and actually understand what he's been through.

Extras
How it all started.

"They saw me on the Jonathan Ross show and said, 'Hey, he’d be great.' And so they contacted my agent and it all sort of went from there. I agreed to do it because I was such a fan of Ricky Gervais and the series of Extras. I agreed before I had seen a script or anything. I knew the vague outline for it, but I hadn’t actually seen the dialogue and stuff. I remember I was in Australia and my dad and I had to talk to him about it because he wanted to just chat with me about it. I called him and we chatted for half an hour about the episode. It was a really great moment for me to talk to him. A couple of months later we were sent the script. It was great - and it was very, very funny. I filmed it a couple of weeks ago."

Ok, so what is this episode about, and what is the deal with the scout's uniform?

"I play a very, very warped version of myself in a scouts uniform," Daniel laughs, "because obviously they couldn’t do references to Harry Potter for legal reasons, so they had to put me in a scouts uniform. They couldn’t have me in a school outfit or anything. The scouts uniform looks absolutely ridiculous and very, very funny. I play this very obnoxious teenage boy who endlessly flirts with everybody he sees. It should be very, very funny, but there is this whole other story in the episode, which I think is also very funny."

Dan really enjoyed portraying this character. The episode took a total of two days to film.

"Oh it was great fun because it is something that is so removed from myself. It was such a departure, and a major departure from Harry. It was just really, really good fun. We wrapped at about 4 o’clock each day. We worked unbelievably fast and it was just really, really good fun. We had a good laugh and it was all really light-hearted. Joking around is what we basically did for two days. It was fantastic." I don't know about you guys, but I think he had a really, really great time filming this! *wink*

This show is not for everyone however. According to Daniel's father, it is not suitable for anyone younger than sixteen. So - parents beware. What about those who do watch it? What will Harry Potter fans think? Well - I asked Daniel this question and he said,

"If they like Ricky Gervais’ humor then they’ll like the episode, if they don’t then they won’t. Hopefully if they don’t like the episode then the next Harry Potter film will make up for it." Nothing wrong with a little humor, I always say - It's what keeps the mundane and tragic a little less in-your-face.