Daniel Radcliffe discusses the challenges of “Inishmaan” and new roles

As you will know from recent interviews, Daniel Radcliffe is currently starring in The Cripple of Inishmaan on Broadway, reprising a role that he has played before. The play opened last night (April 20) at the Cort Theater. Daniel has been busy promoting the play recently, and in a new interview with Newsday he has spoken more about the challenges of taking on the role.

Walking into a roomful of Irish actors to do a read-through of an Irish play was probably one of the more intimidating things I’ve done. The most challenging part is just getting inside his head — as with any character. Billy’s the smartest, wittiest, most compassionate person on the island, but he lives with a disability, so people dismiss him. In talking with friends of mine, some of whom live with a disability, the thing that came up again and again was how you are perceived.

He further says,

I have a friend, David — he was my stunt double on “Potter.” So he’s been one of my best friends since I was 11. He had a bad accident on one of the “Potter” films. I was here doing “Equus.” We can talk about anything. Dave is … loud, a bit cocky. And funny … but people look at him and see a wheelchair. The fact that I’m able-bodied and playing this is…

A privilege …?

It’s something you want to get right. I don’t want anyone to say, “Oh, that actor’s been lazy.”

Daniel also that he thought about visiting Inishmaan itself in Ireland but realised that “you don’t pop over to Inishmaan. It’s a plane and a ferry and a bus and a … it’s a journey.”

Going on, Daniel reveals more about his upcoming role in Frankenstein, as Igor:

It’s like Max Landis has sewn together the dead corpses of other Frankenstein films, books and mythologies to make this. Igor gets a backstory, which we’ve never seen before, and the relationship between him and Dr. Frankenstein is more level. A lot of it is just Victor going insane and me trying to drag him back from the edge. But yeah, it’s a really good dark adventure movie.

Daniel also refers to a new film coming out later this summer called What If?, which he describes as a “sweet, lovely romantic comedy.” Hopefully, we’ll learn more about this film soon!

You can read the full interview here.

Check out our new Daniel Radcliffe cast page, where you can catch up with other news relating to Daniel and find out more about The Cripple of Inishmaan. You can read our review of the play here and buy a collectible edition of an opening night playbill here.

Are you planning on seeing the show? Or have you already seen it? Let us know your thoughts!