With Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince about to hit multiplex screens, Daniel Radcliffe, the franchise’s leading man, reveals how he and his cinematic alter-ago are learning to deal with locking lips, dating and the magic of young love.
In
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince — the sixth big screen adaptation of author J.K. Rowling’s bestselling book series about a young wizard-in-training — Harry (the now 19-year-old Daniel Radcliffe) and his magical BFFs, Hermione Granger (actress Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (actor Rupert Grint), have more to fear from their very own raging hormones than they do from the dark, evil forces trying to destroy the three of them and their beloved Hogwarts school.
The polite, British-born Radcliffe (who turns twenty later this month) admits he finds it cute and charming that the young wizard he’s portrayed since 2001’s
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a genius at conjuring magical spells but is downright clueless when it comes to trying to figure out the opposite sex. “I think it’s kind of a wonderful thing in the film,” Radcliffe says of Potter’s romantic relationship in
Half Blood Prince. “I especially find it very endearing with Harry, the fact that he’s this kind of very, very acclaimed wizard and he’s crap with women. I think it’s a wonderful, rather endearing quality that he has. I think this film does address basically two types of teenage relationships. One, which is mine and Bonnie’s (Wright, as Ginny Weasley) which is that kind of teenage thing where you’re just in love and it’s pure and innocent, and it’s all that matters in your life when you’re fourteen or fifteen and you fall in love. And then there’s the other kind, which is kind of much more carnal and energetic — one we’re all lucky enough to have.”
Like all young lovers, Harry and Ginny steal away to share a few romantic lip-locks. And, while Radcliffe is an old pro at onscreen kissing, he cringes when discussing his more intimate scenes with Wright in
Half Blood Prince. “I saw the film again a couple nights ago at the premiere and I really watched it,” he recalls during a Big Apple press outing. “And, my God, my lips are like the lips of a horse, distending away independently away from my face, trying to encompass the lower half of hers. So I apologize to Bonnie.”
2009 Warner Bros.Ent.
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
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When it comes to Radcliffe’s own romantic liaisons, he reveals that he’s never had to worry about someone wanting to date him simply because he’s a celebrity. “Fortunately, I don't think that’s ever been the case,” he admits. So, how does a hunky young superstar (who appeared completely nude in the Broadway and London productions of
Equus) survive in the world of young dating without the aid of magical spells like his onscreen alter-ego Harry Potter? “You know, I’m not really doing the dating thing,” he confesses. “I don’t feel like I’m in the world of dating. I don’t feel like a young twentysomething that has that sort of life. I’m working. I’m happy to be working. It’s not a bad case that I don’t have time to have a girlfriend. I do.
“It’s just like everyone else, I suppose,” continues Radcliffe, dressed in jeans and blue shirt. “It’s weird, you know, because people sometimes ask, ‘Does being Harry Potter help you get girls? I was nine before I did Harry Potter, so I don't know what it’s like to get girls without having been. So I don't know. How have you all found it?”
2009 Warner Bros.Ent.
Bonnie Wright & Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
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During the middle of a short production break from shooting
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II — the final film of the franchise — Radcliffe reveals he’s cognizant of the fact that his days of playing the young wizard will soon be coming to a close — just not this very moment. “For me, it hadn’t until this week,” he says of the realization. “Everybody seems to be telling me that it’s almost over. I was actually kind of getting along quite nicely until people said, ‘Well, so, your dream’s coming to an end.’ To be honest, I think I speak for all of us when I say, we’ve got a year left on Seven (
Deathly Hallows). It’s a long way to go. We’ve got to do lots of publicity and meet up with reporters twice more. So there’s a long way to go, to be honest for us, so I don't think we’re…I’m not contemplating the end too much, too soon.”
