Rove Live

Transcript

(Many thanks to Stef for the transcript!)

Rove: My next guest plays one of the most popular characters in book and film.  You know who I'm talking about, it's the character Harry Potter.  He's currently in the country shooting a movie but he isn't doing any interviews while he's here so I caught up with him before he left London while he was still on the set of the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  It is out on the 24th of November in New Zealand and the 1st of December in Australia.  Here's a little bit of a look...

Clip of Harry first seeing the dragons.  Cut to footage of Rove in the studio and Dan on a big TV screen.

Rove [R]: How are you? You look very well?

Dan [D]: I am very well, thank you. How are you?

R: I am doing marvelously well. Now of course everybody knows Harry Potter, the books are a phenomenon as are the films. When you were first cast in the role of Harry Potter, the books were already incredibly well known around the world. were you already a fan of the books?

D: I had read the first two but I hadn’t read the other ones so I wasn’t obsessed. I had really liked them but I wasn’t like one of the people who had been swept away by the mad craze of it all. But then when I got the part and I started to read them again, I actually did slowly become one of the army of millions of people who are now obsessed with the books. So I now absolutely love them but before I had only read the first two.

R: And now - it must be strange for you - but you are actually Harry Potter. You are the one people look at when they think Harry. When the read him off the page they would invariably think of you. Is it hard for you to live a normal life, to just get out and just be Daniel Radcliffe?

D: Not really. I mean some people refuse to believe that I can possibly lead a normal life but that’s not sort of the case. I mean it’s sometimes wise if I go out to maybe wear a baseball cap cause otherwise it can get a little bit crazy. But I fon’t understand when actors sort of complain about getting recognised on the street cause you know, it’s not like people are throwing bricks at you (laughter from the audience) and things and being really horrible. When people come up to me and are being really nice, then you know, it’s great, it’s really complimentary.

R: Is it like Superman and Clark Kent (laughter) like if you take your glasses off, people won’t recognise you?

D: Well, you see the thing is, I thought that that would be the case cause I think that I look very different but evidently that’s not true and people still recognise me. But again, it’s not a big problem but I do think I look very different.

R: Not I’ll tell you what, you look a lot different from the very first movie - 11 years old when you did Philosopher’s Stone. Have you ever watched it back since?

D: I had the misfortune, by accident I was flicking through the channels on TV and they were playing it and I was so shocked by me! I was tiny and I had this squeaky voice and I thought there was something wrong with the television because I thought something was wrong with the sound on the TV or something! So I don’t think I’ll go back and watch it again or any of the others for sort of - once I go see the film at the premiere, I sort of then like that’s finished and I won’t watch that for like ten, twenty years or something.

R: I get freaked out when I switch on the TV and see me looking tiny with a squeaky voice (inaudible)

(D: laughs)

R: Haha, nice gag Daniel! No, of course for those people, now I’m sure a lot of people -

(D: still laughing hysterically at Rove’s lame albeit funny joke)

R: - have read the book for the Goblet of Fire but for those who haven’t, take us through the new movie.

D: Umm, ok, so in the new film we start off - and it’s a long time ago that I did it so I’m having to remind myself of it - but basically the film centres around the Triwizard Tournament which is when 3 magic schools - which is Beauxbatons Academy, Durmstrang and Hogwarts, which is the best one! - they all sort of get together and have this tournament and they have these three tasks in the tournament and Harry’s - normally they only have 3 contestants in this tournament but because it’s a Harry Potter movie, Harry is picked, naturally! (laughter) And so he enters and it’s about sort of the tasks that he faces and in the end, of course, he meets Voldemort and I think that that’s sort of the main bit of the entire film really, certainly for me.

R: Well I would’ve thought one of the main bits for you would’ve been very much like Harry, he was very daunted by this idea: there’s a big dance, a big end-of-year dance that all the schools have to partake in. Was it very nervous for you to have to learn how to dance?

D: Well, the thing is, both my parents were amazing dancers, championship winning dancers and I really wanted to sort of do them proud but I think those genes have skipped a generation cause I wasn’t very good! (laughter) But the thing is, I like to point out at this point that everyone else has had about two or three weeks rehearsals and I only had two days so I think I did very, very well, but no one else does! (laughter)

R:Of course, speaking of skills though, what about, much like Harry of course, the kids at Hogwarts - the hormones are kicking in! Harry’s starting to look at the ladies. What about you Daniel, what about your skills with the ladies? How are your skills with the ladies? (Rove uses a very eloquent hand gesture ass he says “ladies” each time and really lingers over the word!)

D: You love that word, don’t you?! (laughter)

R: Ladies!

D: You love the ladies! (laughter) No, they’re sort of marginally better than Harry’s skills, but not by, you know, I feel in playing the part of Harry I’m sort of standing up for every fourteen year old boy because at fourteen, nobody, no boy is good with girls. We all you know possibly think we’re being really smooth and stuff but we’re not! The girl’s probably standing there thinking “Who is this person and why is he talking to me?” (laughter) And so I think, playing Harry, I feel like I’m standing up for everybody cause I personally don’t have much better skills than Harry...with the ladies! (laughter)

R: With the movies themselves, how many Harry Potter films will you yourself and Rupert and Emma who play Ron and Hermione of course, how many more films will the three of you be part of?

D; Well, we’re definitely doing the fifth one which we start in February and you know, that’s incredibly exciting with the director of that’s a guy called David Yates who’s a British director and he’s really, really clever and it’s really exciting. But I mean, after that, who knows? I’m trying to take it one film at a time but as I was reading the sixth book there were moments where I was just sort of going ‘That would be really cool to be able to do.’ I’m not saying, like there’s some bits in the sixth book that I’d really love to be able to do but it all depends on loads of stuff. Ultimately, it comes down to whether I’m still enjoying it and I have been so far and I don’t see any reason why that should change.

R: Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us and enjoy your stay in Australia while you are here. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, November 24 in New Zealand, December 1st in Australia - Get excited everybody and please thank Daniel Radcliffe!

D: Thank you very, very much.