Gossip Teen

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince opens in theaters on July 15th and the cast is doing lots and lots of interviews to promote the sixth installment of the series. Daniel Radcliffe recently did this interview with the Los Angeles Times and while taking the journalist on a walk thru the magnificent sets in England, he shared some interesting stories about the many talented actors he has been fortunate enough to work with thru the years:

Several generations of the best from British and Irish stage and cinema have passed through the franchise, such as Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and the late Richard Harris, and Radcliffe tried to learn something from each of them.

Asked for an example, he points out that Richard Griffiths, who plays Harry’s sour uncle, was raised by deaf parents and, attuned to nonverbal expression, approaches his work with a more internal strategy than most actors. He first learns what his character is thinking in each scene as opposed to what he is saying.

Griffiths also once advised Radcliffe to never let the camera catch him when he wasn’t thinking because the void would be read in his eyes; the veteran prefaced that counsel by saying it was told to him by Lee Marvin, who heard it from Spencer Tracy.

“Just think,” Radcliffe said, “how many young people get access to that sort of advice and that sort of history?”

Gary Oldman is another legendary talent that Radcliffe has been fortunate enough to spend time with and learn from. The duo share a passion for music and Oldman helped Dan become a better bass guitar player. Radcliffe also mentioned some of his favorite bands: The Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines.

I really enjoy watching Daniel as he grows as an actor and look forward to what he will do after HP. It must be a huge challenge for him to walk away from the character that we have all come to know him as, and he identifies with a bit. Radcliffe along with his co-stars, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will be everywhere in the next few weeks as the sixth movie opens and I for one, can’t wait to see more of them.