The David Letterman Show

Transcript

David Letterman: ...Will you please welcome the young and talented Daniel Radcliffe.  Daniel...

DL: Welcome to the show!

Daniel Radcliffe: Thank you.

DL: Congratulations, this is very exciting for an actor to be in a big movie like this that's just about to open up.  You must be thrilled, are you?

DR: Yeah. I’m really, really excited.

DL: And is this your first visit to New York City?

DR: Yeah.

DL: What do you think? Great, isn’t it?

DR: Amazing… it’s so much cooler than London.

[laughter]

DL: Have you had the chance to look around and sight-see and stuff like that?

DR: Um, I went to the Empire State Building. We went up to the 86th floor, which was amazing. [pauses] I went to FAO Schwartz, which was cool. [laughter]

DL: Did you go in there and go nuts and buy a lot of stuff?

DR: I bought a big magic set. [laughter]

DL: Yeah, that’s pretty— because yeah, that makes perfect sense. Sure.

DL: Earlier, you were on MTV, the Carson Daly thing, Total Request Live, what was that like? What did they have you doing there?

DR: Um, well, you know they've got the  glass windows—as opposed to brick windows—[laughter]

DL: ... those brick windows.  They're hard to clean!

DR: Well, I looked...  Carson Daly said to me “Look outside.” So I went up and there was this girl with a huge plaque saying “Nothing can come between me and Harry Potter.”

DL: Wow.

DR: And she was wearing nothing but a towel.

[laughter]

DR: And she came over and she was alright, and she was really cool.

DL: He’s like one of the Beatles, isn’t he, Paul?

Paul: Yeah.  Hi, good to see ya!

DL: OK, now tell me a little bit about being an actor and a kid and how that works. Have you been an actor all your life? How did you start being an actor? And how is it like being a kid as an actor? [laughter]

DR: My first thing I ever did was "David Copperfield" and that was so much fun and then...

DL: This was a movie, a TV show or...

DR: TV show for the BBC.  And then I did "Tailor of Panama", which was a very cool film but I haven't actually seen it yet. [laughter]

DL: And when did you meet George and Ringo?

[laughter]

DL: They started in Liverpool, right?  [laughter] How did you get the Harry Potter gig?

DR: Luck, I guess. 

DL: Really?

DR: Basically, I went to theater one night and David Heyman, the producer, and Steve Kloves, the screenwriter, were in the row in front of us, and I noticed David Heyman kept kind of turning round to me.   So I really didn't know who he was so it was a bit strange but my dad knew David from work and he recognized him.  And in the break David came over and he was introduced to me and he was really very cool.  And then the next day we got a phone call saying “Would Dan like to come out and meet with David?”  Just to meet, not to audition.   So yeah and then after that, we got another call to audition.

DL: And you got the part.  And did you just go nuts when you found out you got the part? I mean, everybody has anticipated this film for quite a while and everybody knows that it's gonna be an enormous thing. So as a kid, you just must have been over the moon…

DR: I kinda … I was in the bath. And I just sat there [pretends to look shocked] kinda like that and it was just … and then I just started to cry.  I was so happy.

DL: Same thing happened when I got this show. [laughter]  Let's take a look at a little bit of the movie, alright?  And have you read all of the Harry Potter books and stuff?

DR: I love them.

DL: Alright, you know what we're gonna see here?

DR: I think it's the bit with the three-headed dog.

DL: Three headed dog.  OK, Daniel Radcliffe, here we go, the three-headed dog.

(shows clip of the trio meeting Fluffy behind the locked door on the third floor)

DL: Three headed dog, ladies and gentlemen.  It was nice to meet you!  Good luck and I hope you have a lovely long career.  Daniel Radcliffe, ladies and gentlemen!