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Daniel Radcliffe will always be remembered as The Boy Who Lived, but his career since Harry Potter proves he’s far more than a one-role wonder. In this video, we explore how Radcliffe escaped the shadow of Harry Potter's Wizarding World and embraced the wonderfully weird side of Hollywood. From mainstream magic to indie madness, Daniel Radcliffe’s career is a masterclass in reinvention.
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Blimey, Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your mom and dad learned it all
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Long more. You're a wizard, Harry. This was Daniel Radcliffe, but it's not who he is anymore
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If our adventures with time turners have taught us anything, it's that you can't live in the past
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And Radcliffe understands this better than most. It's more than liquid luck that has kept him relevant for over 20 years
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For half that time, he was synonymous with a little boy wizard who lived under the stairs
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Today, his proudest achievement is playing a corpse with a gas problem. So how and why did Radcliffe manage to go from a star of a multi-billion dollar franchise to
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this? They drug me and they drilled these out of my hands, like right through my..
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I think I need some antiseptic or something. They're all red and sore
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And why does it work so well? Everyone is familiar with the Harry Potter franchise. Though it's
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fallen out of critical favor in the last few years, there's no denying the impact it had on
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generations of book readers and movie viewers. Whether you're a diehard Potterhead, a casual
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consumer, or a staunch hater, you've seen these faces before. Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Daniel
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Radcliffe became world-famous stars practically overnight when they were cast as the leads in the
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2001 movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. They would spend the next
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decade of their lives wrapped up in the wizarding world and will likely spend the rest of their
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lives struggling against the real world, which sees them as Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Escaping
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out from under the crushing weight of stardom at such a young age isn't easy. In a fortunate twist
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of fate, the core cast of the Harry Potter movie franchise managed to emerge mostly unscathed
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Grint has committed himself to the small screen with roles in TV shows like Snatch and Servant
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while otherwise preferring to stay out of the spotlight to raise his family. Watson was appointed
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UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2014, spends a great deal of time on humanitarian efforts
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and has appeared in several high-profile films. Radcliffe is also well known for his humanitarian
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efforts, but when it comes to his work, well, 300 to fixer broken urine purifier? Yeah, the urine
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purifier is broken There something special about the trajectory of Daniel Radcliffe as an actor something unhinged During a GQ interview in October of 2022 he had this to say about his work outside of the Harry Potter films
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Early on, I wanted to, you know, try and get a reputation for being someone who wanted to try lots of different stuff
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Obviously, you want to be known as an actor who's just in lots of different stuff rather than just a character
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a specific character. Radcliffe recognized that if he wanted to distance himself
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from his most recognizable role, he'd have to take on a variety of projects
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that brought him as far away from wizards and wands as possible
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First came Equus, a Broadway and West End stage show in which the then 17-year-old actor performed totally nude
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Of course, there's a lot more to Equus than that. The play deals with several dark and complex themes
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including religious trauma, sexual repression, and the pain associated with coming of age
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Radcliffe, for his part, received high praise for his leading role. Still, when Equus went into previews in February of 2007
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hadn't even hit theaters yet
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It was difficult for the general public to separate the growing Radcliffe from the young boy who lived
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Even today, his time on stage is largely remembered as that time Harry Potter got naked, at least for the masses
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The industry, however, was taking note for an entirely different reason. According to Radcliffe..
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I have had directors say to me since that even if they didn't see it at the time
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that was knowing that that had happened kind of put me on their radar as somebody that
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was obviously willing to, you know, try stuff. Some, like Kill Your Darling's director John Krakidis, wanted their shot at reinventing
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the image of a child star. Clearly, his plan to diversify his portfolio worked out
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Now, we know how Radcliffe's odd career got its jumpstart, but we still don't know why
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Being willing to try new things and reinvent yourself doesn't necessarily equate to being
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willing to run down the street in your underwear with guns attached to your hands
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No, no, no, these are just my hands. You're fine. You're fine. I'm not going to do anything
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else to you. I'm sorry. That's a level of chaos many actors aren't willing to put themselves
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through, especially actors with such a monstrously popular franchise in their rearview mirror and
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more money than they know what to do with Now why would someone like Daniel Radcliffe choose these types of projects and risk his reputation as a child star success story Wouldn it be easier to rest on his laurels and insert himself into some Oscar movie every few years
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Of course, Radcliffe did rack up some more serious credits before he got weird, literally
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You're all just a bunch of normals. Okay, I'm the weird one. I am the weird one
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He tried his hand at a war drama with 2007's My Boy Jack, and his first movie after wrapping the Harry Potter franchise
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was 2013's The Woman in Black, a grim haunted house-style horror movie
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From there, Radcliffe moved on to biopics, rom-coms, fantastical horror comedies, and every subgenre he could get his hands on
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But his interests always seemed to lean into the dark and strange
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which led him to his first real breakout into the outlandish. In 2016, Radcliffe played Manny, the corpse opposite Paul Dano in Swiss Army Man
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He has since gone on record to say, That was truly one of the best experiences I've ever had
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and probably the film that I'm proudest of. Which is quite a statement considering his filmography
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You might not think a movie full of fart jokes and gross-out humor would be something to be particularly proud of
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but there's a surprising amount of heart at the center of Swiss Army Man. Some of that obviously comes from the Daniels
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who served as both the writers and directors. But credit must be given to Dano and Radcliffe's stellar performances
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in the face of such ludicrous material. It's not easy to play a corpse, or to play off of one
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Yet Radcliffe delivers his lines with a naive earnestness that keeps the tone exactly where it should be
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And maybe all it'll take is one person to just be OK with that, and then the whole world
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will be dancing and singing and farting, and everyone will feel a little bit less alone
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And Dano responds with a gentle energy that makes the ending genuinely tear-jerking
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By his own humble admission, Daniel Radcliffe wasn't exactly pulling out award-worthy performances
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in any of the Harry Potter movies. Moreover, he's made it clear that he's essentially
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been learning on the job ever since. He takes inspiration from the more accomplished actors
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he works with and tries to apply the lessons he learns to future projects
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Swiss Army Man was the culmination of years of this practice, and it really cemented Radcliffe as a kind of offbeat wild card While he still finds himself in the occasional blockbuster and lends his voice to a few hyper TV shows Radcliffe really excels in the unusual
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Both 2019's Guns Akembou and 2022's Weird The Al Yankovic Story are equal parts fever dream
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and film, and Radcliffe is right at home in that kind of bizarre environment. His current focus
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the anthology TV series Miracle Workers, has put his wackier tendencies to good use
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Radcliffe has made it clear on multiple occasions that he gravitates towards roles he's never done
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before. With every new season of Miracle Workers, he gets to work out a new character
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each one more off the wall than the last, and he gets to do it with one of his biggest influences
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Steve Buscemi. Radcliffe has called out both Buscemi and Harrison Ford as two actors he's
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tried to model his career after. Like them, he wants to be an actor that can do it all
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Herein lies the true answer for why Daniel Radcliffe has decided to go down this weird
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and winding career path, and also why we've grown to love him for it
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Radcliffe doesn't throw himself into projects just to shake off any attempts at typecasting
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or pigeonholing. There's a lot more to his choices than that. First, he chooses scripts that are genuinely interesting to him
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His naturally eccentric tastes have expanded his repertoire into vastly diverse territory
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with horror, thrills, action, comedy, and heart. He also seeks out unique challenges in order to prove to himself that he isn't one note
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That humble approach to acting has left him grounded and open to improving
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which he's certainly done over the years. And through it all, he has never taken himself too seriously
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Is there still a large collection of people who look at him and see the kid with the lightning-shaped scar
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Absolutely. But his actions and attitude since 2007 have ensured the longevity of his career outside of Potter
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You're not going to get rid of me that easy. As long as he continues to make similar decisions
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Daniel Radcliffe will likely remain in the hearts and minds of audiences for decades to come
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No love potion or magic charm should be required. The spell he has cast is one of creative instinct, hard work, and humility
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So if there's one lesson to be taken from his career, it's that nobody is above playing a farting corpse
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Not even Harry Potter
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