A new Harry Potter saga is around the corner, and Daniel Radcliffe is still doing what he loves.
Think back to when you were 11 years old. You were likely in Year 7, having to complete tedious schoolwork during the day and being sent to bed early in the evening. Yet looking back at it now, you probably remember it fondly. No responsibilities, no work pressure, just a simple existence in which you could quietly discover what it means to live. Now imagine Daniel Radcliffe, at that age, suddenly becoming a global celebrity through the Harry Potter films. How do you move on from that?
Many of us grew up alongside the Harry Potter cast. While we related the characters portrayed in the films, and were nurtured by the fantasy world they created, the child actors in them bore the burden of keeping up that illusion. And on top of that, that of near universal fame.
Daniel Radcliffe, as the protagonist, shouldered this perhaps most of all. The London born actor has often spoken about his struggle with celebrity status, like in this Guardian interview. He was followed everywhere by paparazzi, and couldn’t go out with his friends like a normal person without drawing crowds of fans.
When such an overwhelming change happens, it’s deeply disorienting. At 11, you don’t really even fully know who you are. Your identity is in great part shaped by your interactions, but how can a healthy identity form when you are bombarded by the universal attention of strangers? And when even that fades, as everything does, how do you move on?
There is another element in this. Daniel Radcliffe is not Harry Potter. It should be obvious. But to countless worldwide, especially kids, the two were indistinguishable. No wonder the actor has spoken at length about his struggles with identity.
As he grew up, the volume of attention he got continued to impair his social life, and not all of it was positive. He describes people often cracking jokes, or even wanting to start fights with him. This led him to becoming deeply self-concious in his late teens.
“If you start dancing, you think everyone’s going to say, look at Harry Potter, dancing like a twat.”
The years approaching adulthood are those in which Daniel Radcliffe, rather understandably, acted out. He has often been described as being off the rails in this period; there are stories of him showing up drunk on set.
He also claims that he regrets speaking out at the time about his struggles, as that only intensified attention. Sometimes, if you want to move on, you have to do so quietly.
When Harry Potter ended, the actor didn’t move onto another blockbuster role. Rather, he took a step back and focused on smaller projects that intrigued him artistically. This meant theatre and stage work, as well as indie films.
In these, he displayed remarkable range, and proved to himself that he was more than Harry Potter. He started his theatre career with the bright Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, only to move on to the dark and character driven The Cripple of Inishmaan.
Daniel Radcliffe’s name became associated with character acting, scarcely ever being listed as the protagonist. An indie film from the period in which he co-starred is Swiss Army Man, which is absurd, hilarious, and, upon watching it, quintessentially millennial.
You have probably experienced this. When you really want to move on, that same desire can become an obstacle. Think of when you are dealing with heartbreak, or even when you occasionally stutter. What is remarkable about Radcliffe is that he understood perfectly that you can’t move on with avoidance. He decided to pursue what he enjoyed for its own sake.
“There’s nothing more exciting to me when I read a script than originality. That’s all it’s governed by; there’s no master plan to distance myself from Potter with every role.”
He has also learned to accept that his eight films playing the iconic wizard will always be an important part of his career, and that people will always bring them up. This also reflects a really important lesson for when you want to move on: you cannot help old memories or events re-emerging, either within yourself or through the words of others. But you can change your relationship to them.
“It would be like… Paul McCartney might have gone on to do a lot of other things, but people are always going to want to talk about the Beatles. It’s just a fact of your life, so you can’t get annoyed by it or resent it.”
And he is correct, because it will be strange, at first at least, to watch Harry Potter played by anyone but Daniel Radcliffe.
Because Daniel Radcliffe’s story reflects how moving on is a quiet affair. It’s often not glamorous, and it certainly cannot be forced. It simply involves going on and doing what you love, while living with both the good and bad about the past.
Check out our other blogs on celebrities getting un-stuck, like Ronnie O’ Sullivan or Frank Bruno.
