OMEN
09-13-2007, 09:12 PM
He is the face of Harry Potter, he's got millions in the bank, and he's loved by teenage fans around the world, but Daniel Radcliffe says he'd give it all up to play cricket for England.
Visiting Australia this week, the 18-year-old was forthcoming and enthusiastic about his role in the small-budget South Australian flick December Boys.
But get him started on cricket and Radcliffe talks animatedly for five minutes, barely stopping for breath.
"I'm obsessive. Totally," he admits.
"I've got a premiere in three hours. I'll come home from that, go straight to bed, and I'll be setting my alarm to wake me up at 3am in the morning so I can watch the first game of the Twenty20 World Cup.
"It will be so depressing because England pioneered the Twenty20 format of the game, and now we're going to go out there and find the rest of the world is better than us at it."
The Harry Potter star spent his 18th birthday at Lord's, the home of cricket, and readily admits he would love nothing more than to be a professional cricketer.
"Absolutely. Totally would. Absolutely," he says, playing with a cricket ball constantly throughout the interview.
"I'm still convinced that one day I'll get a call and it will be from Vaughn and he'll say, I'm at Lord's, we need you."
Until that day comes, though, Radcliffe's also pretty happy with this acting caper.
Radcliffe returns to work next week on the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, after a break of almost a year.
While some may think such a high-profile role could lead to typecasting, Radcliffe says playing the world's best loved wizard has allowed him freedom in his career.
"That's the great thing about Harry Potter, it allows me to not rely on the money thing anymore," he says.
"I'd never say I only want to do indie (films) or I want to make money now, I want to do a blockbuster. It's not about that to me and I'm in a very lucky position where it doesn't have to be about that.
"Lets face it, Harry Potter will, for at least the foreseeable future, will keep my profile relatively high as it is, so it's nice to be able to branch out and do something that's totally different."
Having been one of the world's most famous faces since the age of 11, when he starred in the first Harry Potter film, Radcliffe knows he will be recognised wherever he goes.
"Somebody said to me, 'Is there anywhere you can go in the world and not be recognised?' And I said, 'No, but I'm sure I'll move there when I find it,"' he said.
"I did MTV in New York the other day, and a girl in the audience turned around and said 'Hi, I'm from Kuwait, you're really big in Kuwait."'
Despite his fame and fortune, you won't see Radcliffe splashed across the gossip pages tumbling out of a nightclub at three in the morning.
He's amused that people are surprised by that.
"I have a drink, of course I do, every 18-year-old does – every 12-year-old does in England," he laughs.
"I think it's a matter of where you choose to do it.
"Half the people that complain about being spotted coming out of clubs drunk – you're causing it because you know that those places you go to are massive paparazzi hang-outs. Just don't go to those places.
"I go to gigs and really the only photographers you'll find at gigs are the ones who are there to photograph the band.
"I think you just have to be clever, and you have to try and wrongfoot the people that expect you to go wrong."
While he's not one to exploit his fame, Radcliffe does enjoy using it for good at times.
He made one Australian girl's dream come true when he said hello to her on national television during his visit.
"To be honest I probably wouldn't have normally, but she was really persistent and that kind of persistence needs to be rewarded," he says.
"There's a great thing on Everybody Loves Raymond, a really poignant moment when he talks about having a baseball that's been autographed.
"'Cause I never got the autograph thing, I never got why we were so obsessed by them. . . and I am, I've got cricket bats and stuff like that.
"And there's a moment in the show where he says, 'At that moment that player wrote my name, best wishes from whoever, and at that moment he was thinking of me.'
"And so if I can do that either by my terrible handwriting or by mentioning a girl's name on Rove, then she knows that at that moment she was part of my life in some weird way, which is quite a cool thing to be able to do."
AAP
Visiting Australia this week, the 18-year-old was forthcoming and enthusiastic about his role in the small-budget South Australian flick December Boys.
But get him started on cricket and Radcliffe talks animatedly for five minutes, barely stopping for breath.
"I'm obsessive. Totally," he admits.
"I've got a premiere in three hours. I'll come home from that, go straight to bed, and I'll be setting my alarm to wake me up at 3am in the morning so I can watch the first game of the Twenty20 World Cup.
"It will be so depressing because England pioneered the Twenty20 format of the game, and now we're going to go out there and find the rest of the world is better than us at it."
The Harry Potter star spent his 18th birthday at Lord's, the home of cricket, and readily admits he would love nothing more than to be a professional cricketer.
"Absolutely. Totally would. Absolutely," he says, playing with a cricket ball constantly throughout the interview.
"I'm still convinced that one day I'll get a call and it will be from Vaughn and he'll say, I'm at Lord's, we need you."
Until that day comes, though, Radcliffe's also pretty happy with this acting caper.
Radcliffe returns to work next week on the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, after a break of almost a year.
While some may think such a high-profile role could lead to typecasting, Radcliffe says playing the world's best loved wizard has allowed him freedom in his career.
"That's the great thing about Harry Potter, it allows me to not rely on the money thing anymore," he says.
"I'd never say I only want to do indie (films) or I want to make money now, I want to do a blockbuster. It's not about that to me and I'm in a very lucky position where it doesn't have to be about that.
"Lets face it, Harry Potter will, for at least the foreseeable future, will keep my profile relatively high as it is, so it's nice to be able to branch out and do something that's totally different."
Having been one of the world's most famous faces since the age of 11, when he starred in the first Harry Potter film, Radcliffe knows he will be recognised wherever he goes.
"Somebody said to me, 'Is there anywhere you can go in the world and not be recognised?' And I said, 'No, but I'm sure I'll move there when I find it,"' he said.
"I did MTV in New York the other day, and a girl in the audience turned around and said 'Hi, I'm from Kuwait, you're really big in Kuwait."'
Despite his fame and fortune, you won't see Radcliffe splashed across the gossip pages tumbling out of a nightclub at three in the morning.
He's amused that people are surprised by that.
"I have a drink, of course I do, every 18-year-old does – every 12-year-old does in England," he laughs.
"I think it's a matter of where you choose to do it.
"Half the people that complain about being spotted coming out of clubs drunk – you're causing it because you know that those places you go to are massive paparazzi hang-outs. Just don't go to those places.
"I go to gigs and really the only photographers you'll find at gigs are the ones who are there to photograph the band.
"I think you just have to be clever, and you have to try and wrongfoot the people that expect you to go wrong."
While he's not one to exploit his fame, Radcliffe does enjoy using it for good at times.
He made one Australian girl's dream come true when he said hello to her on national television during his visit.
"To be honest I probably wouldn't have normally, but she was really persistent and that kind of persistence needs to be rewarded," he says.
"There's a great thing on Everybody Loves Raymond, a really poignant moment when he talks about having a baseball that's been autographed.
"'Cause I never got the autograph thing, I never got why we were so obsessed by them. . . and I am, I've got cricket bats and stuff like that.
"And there's a moment in the show where he says, 'At that moment that player wrote my name, best wishes from whoever, and at that moment he was thinking of me.'
"And so if I can do that either by my terrible handwriting or by mentioning a girl's name on Rove, then she knows that at that moment she was part of my life in some weird way, which is quite a cool thing to be able to do."
AAP