Gossip Teen

Gaining acceptance in roles other than as Harry Potter is something that is clearly on Daniel Radcliffe’s mind at the moment. The just turned 21 year old has spent a decade as one of the most recognized literary-turned-big-screen wizards in the world wide phenomenon created by author J.K. Rowling and brought to film by Warner Bros. Feeling adrift after filming ended, the talented actor is keeping busy to ward off getting the blues:

“Working is how I will best get through a very weird time,” Radcliffe said. “I know it’s the most constructive thing I can do because otherwise I’d be moping around and being a bit like, ‘Oh, I miss everyone … ’ So I’m quite pleased to go on to the next thing and the next challenge.”

Thankfully for Radcliffe, he has a lot of great projects lined up for quite a while. A return to the stage for the Broadway revival of the musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying is his first theater gig post HP.

He is also signed on for three flicks: a gothic Victorian horror/suspense film The Woman In Black; a modern version of the classic All Quiet on the Western Front and The Journey Is The Destination - the story of Dan Eldon, the young British photojournalist who was killed in Mogadishu covering the civil war and devastating famine of Somalia in 1993.

Radcliffe has signed on to a diverse set of material that should transition him into older roles and keep him from being typecast. I am particularly interested in the Eldon movie. It is an amazing story of a young man who was just reaching his potential when his life was cut short.

I absolutely enjoy everything in the Harry Potter universe, but I hope to see more of Radcliffe and his talented costars Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright and Tom Felton in the future.

The expectations for The Runaways movie premiering at the Sundance Film Festival next Sunday (January 24th) is very high. The movie stars Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, two teenagers in the 70′s who formed the all girl rock group that is still influential to this day.

Fanning’s portrayal of Currie is gaining lots of buzz – the young girl everyone watched as a child will take a bite out of adult stardom with this performance and solidify her transition away from kiddie parts and into the realm that many younger actors find elusive.

“I’m just portraying what was going on with [Cherie] when she was my age,” Fanning said. “I want to continue to act for my whole life. Eventually, everyone will have to let me grow up, somehow, some way. I’m just trying to let that happen as naturally as I can.”

She and Stewart have a great friendship thanks in part to this film (and of course, the Twilight films) and Fanning says that will show on screen. The make-out scene between the two characters will definitely get lots of ink.

What do you think? Ready to see Fanning and Stewart together? Or are you going to miss this all together and wait for Eclipse in June?

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.