Paste magazine interview

Another interview regarding regarding Daniel as executive producer on Circus Kid. The documentary film is available exclusively on Sundance Now (US).

What led Daniel to become involved with Circus Kid:

“Lorenzo did,” he said. “We met in 2007 when we were doing Equus. Lorenzo had this show, about growing up in the circus, about his dad.” (The documentary contains some remarkable footage of Pisoni’s show Humor Abuse, where he details what it was like to have a perfectionist clown for a father.)

The documentary concept was something he very much wanted to support:

“[There was] to some extent financial support, but what my [main] role really was more of a sounding board, moral support, that sort of thing.”

The rest of the interview:
Taste magazine's Amy Glynn and Daniel about The Pickles:

“The Pickles were hometown stuff for me,”
“but I think they’re probably underrated or not well enough understood in terms of how they changed the circus arts.”

“Yeah, it was a big thing for them not to use animals, for example,” Radcliffe agreed. “That’s a huge departure. I know many zoos have serious and important conservation missions and everything, but at this point it’s really hard for me to enjoy them.”

“The non-use of animals by the Pickles was interesting for lots of reasons,” Amy added, “but it eliminated the exoticizing distraction and left the humans to be the animals on display. Which produced a really keen focus on the clowning and gave it a much deeper metaphorical meaning.”

“Absolutely,” Radcliffe said. “Clowns aren’t having the best time of it right now, and I think it’s important to emphasize that what they do is really kind of amazing. What Lorenzo did with this film was incredibly brave. Don’t we all want to, not exactly confront necessarily, but to get answers from our parents about why things were the way they were. And I don’t mean brave because you’re going to get some devastating answer. Quite the opposite. Laying yourself bare to the fact that you can’t ever get the closure you think you want. It just won’t happen.”

“Even if your parents don’t spend their lives in clown makeup.” “You have to be willing to be very vulnerable to do comedy, or clowning,” Radcliffe noted. “That’s what’s beautiful about it, and something I think Lorenzo is amazing with.”

source: pastemagazine.com