Daniel Radcliffe says the Harry Potter franchise gave him something most actors never get: the freedom to choose what came next. In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz, the 36-year-old said the films left him with enough money and autonomy to try different work without worrying about every role as a career-defining decision.
“If you’ve had that kind of a start in your career, now you are free to have fun,” Radcliffe said, adding, “Do whatever the f*** you want.” He said that kind of financial security and career freedom is not a permanent condition, but for now it lets him work from a place of choice instead of survival.
Radcliffe began acting at age 10 in the 1999 mini-series David Copperfield, playing the young version of the title character before breaking through with the Harry Potter films. Since then he has built a wide-ranging resume in film, television and Broadway, with credits including December Boy, The Woman in Black and Now You See Me 2. He also won his first Tony Award for playing Charley Kringas in the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, and he is currently portraying Arthur Tobin in the NBC sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
The picture he drew was not one of a child star coasting on early success, but of an actor using that success to keep taking risks. Harry Potter, in his telling, was the engine behind both his long-term financial security and the ability to move across mediums without being forced into the same kind of pressures that shape most careers. That flexibility, he said, should be used while it lasts.
“That’s not a position that any of us will be in forever, but it is really, you know, while you’re in it, just make hay while the sun shines,” he said. For Radcliffe, the answer to what Harry Potter gave him is simple: enough freedom to treat the rest of his career as something he gets to build, not just endure.
