Daniel Radcliffe has captivated the audience with his over-the-top acting skills since he stepped into the movie business to become a star. The actor found early success and shot to global stardom when he landed his first breakout roles in the Harry Potter film series, one of the highest-grossing franchises in American cinema.
However, he wanted to quit acting, and he nearly turned down to play the titular protagonist in acclaimed British author J. K. Rowling’s series of eponymous novels. Casting director Janet Hirshenson once revealed how the actor landed a significant role in the lucrative adventure-packed fantasy series. She claimed that the casting process was not easy, and after the movie producer met Radcliffe’s father, he asked him to come auditioning for the role.
Janet Hirshenson Reveals How Daniel Radcliffe Landed the Role of Harry Potter
Daniel Radcliffe is one of the most talented stars who has several acting credits to his name. The actor has ruled the silver screen with his inescapable on-screen appearance and charismatic personality. However, despite his work across all genres of films, the actor has become synonymous with playing the title character in the Harry Potter franchise film series.
There is an intriguing anecdote behind the casting of him in the movie, as casting director Janet Hirshenson once revealed how producer David Heyman met his father, who is a renowned literary agent, Alan George Radcliffe, and asked Radcliffe to come for an audition while they were looking to cast a child star for the role. Hirshenson recalled telling HuffPost,
“When we sat down to look at the tests. There was another guy that we kind of liked, too. There were two. (Director) Chris Columbus right away liked Daniel, but there were a couple of people who went, ‘Hmm. That other kid’s interesting.’ So we thought, ‘Let’s all go to sleep on it. We’ll come back and look at this again.’ We went back and looked at Daniel again.”
She continued,
“The other kid was terrific and very vulnerable and very Harry-looking, but besides that, Harry was going to become a very powerful kid, too. And Daniel had both sides. He was very vulnerable, but the other kid ― it was like, he [was] not going to have the balls that Daniel has, to put it that way.”
Janet Hirshenson claimed that Daniel Radcliffe ultimately got the job and he was a perfect match for the role since he had blue color eyes, which was one of the major requirements for this part. She said they looked at other actors, but he eventually got the job.
Daniel Radcliffe Reveals His Experience Playing the Title Role
In a candid interview, Daniel Radcliffe revealed his experience playing the now-famous role of Harry Potter in the same-name film series. He said,
“I think, honestly, when I was on Harry Potter and dressed as a schoolboy, it didn’t feel like the coolest thing in the world at the time. It’s been, honestly, later that I’ve looked back and gone, ‘That was incredibly cool,’ and I do feel that now, for sure.”
In a previous interview, he shared that he enjoyed working on the epic film series with his co-stars,
“I’ve had such an amazing time on Potter, and it’s been such an extraordinary experience to work with…It’s actually the same group of people for 10 years. You develop such close bonds with so many people it feels odd that, although those bonds will still exist in the future, it feels very strange to not be going back to work with them next year.”
Daniel Radcliffe made his character debut in the series starting with the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and then reprised his role in the follow-up sequels.
All eight Harry Potter films are available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Huff Post
