From Fantasy land

I had never done a contemporary project that was set in the world we are in. Potter was in its own fantasy world and everything else I’ve done have been period films, so I wanted to play somebody contemporary for a long time.

What did playing Wallace allow you to explore?

This is the first time I’ve ever played a character that’s quite close to myself, not in terms of the decisions he makes or the way he goes about things, but just in terms of his sense of humour and his speed of thought.
I used to worry that playing myself, or that not playing somebody that different from myself, would make people think of Harry Potter. And then I realised I hadn’t been playing myself at all in Harry Potter. I was playing a very different, much sterner character than what I am. So I think I let a bit of that embarrassment go, and it definitely made it easier.

You received criticism for your on-screen performances early in your Potter career. Did that fuel your determination?

With each film, I wanted to prove my detractors wrong, those who said I couldn’t do it. If you can talk in a deprecating manner about a 12-year-old boy, then, I want to make you pay for that, I want to embarrass you by my success. I’m not somebody who makes a fuss about stuff or gets particularly angry, but I do have a mean competitive streak, that is manifested in this manner.

What genre would you like to take on?

I’ve always thought sci-fi looks really fun, just because of the set. And if it’s a good and clever sci-fi movie, with an interesting take on the future, then I’d be up for that. I would just like to be on a spaceship set.

How do you deal with the celebrity spotlight?

You don’t. The only way to navigate it sanely is to pay as little attention to it as possible. It’s weird that people take photographs of you, it’s weird that anyone would care that you went to the shops. They always have to write some headline, like “Daniel Radcliffe and girlfriend go for a stroll to the shops,” because that makes a story. Otherwise it’s just someone taking photographs of you on the street, and if there isn’t a headline, that’s all it amounts to.

You’ve been acting for 15 years now. Would you ever step away from it all?

There’s a chance, but I love what I do so much that I don’t think I could ever imagine doing anything else. I can’t imagine if somebody told me tomorrow, “You’re never going to be stepping on a film set again.” I genuinely don’t know what I’d do. I couldn’t imagine my life without acting.