Daniel Radcliffe on football and “What If”
In a couple of new interviews Daniel Radcliffe discusses football and his new romantic comedy What If. We recently posted an interview with Daniel about his feelings as he comes to the end of his Broadway run, and in this new interview with Vulture, Daniel talks about his upcoming film.
On his rather modern character in What If, Daniel said,
It was very different playing just a modern character as well. It was fantastic just to be in modern clothes. It sounds weird, but you do so much period stuff growing up in England that it’s lovely. Also, the dialogue is all stuff and situations I understand. When I’m 11 or 12 and having to be devoured by a gigantic plant called the Devil’s Snare, I don’t know what that would be like in real life! It’s nice to do films now where I can draw on my own life.
On choosing the script Daniel said,
I got two scripts around the same time; one was this, and one was another film, which I have to say was a fantastic script but very similar to this. I think this one had a more satisfying story arc, and the truth is, when you get a script like this, it’s a very easy decision to become a part of it. There’s an image people have of actors reading tons of scripts, and they do, but a lot of them are very average. So when you find something special, you jump on it because there’s going to be another ten people who want to play the same part.
He further said,
It undercuts a lot of the tropes you find in movies like this. In romantic comedies, all the problems of love are solved by love and by doing great acts of romance, like my character’s trip to Ireland. In real life, flying to Ireland is a mental, extreme thing to do, and Zoe’s character calls him on that.
In the interview, Daniel also discusses his love of football and how he would make it appeal to a non-football fan:
I would say it’s the most all-around athletic sport in terms of speed, hand-eye coordination, and strategy. The quarterback position amazes me, to go into every game having memorized 30 or so plays and knowing what they’re all called.
Daniel also admits another surprising obsession that he has:
Eminem. I’m obsessed with him. His last album was the most-played thing on my iPod. Some of his lyrics are about football as well. My favorite line on the new Eminem album was ‘Stomping them like Ndamukong / I’m rushing like a Urkanian LaDainian Tomlinson.’ So I found a way of combining my obsessions, which is even better.
Read the full interview here.
In another interview, this one with MTV, Daniel revealed just how much he knows about football:
The challenge: could Radcliffe name each starting quarterback for every NFL team?
‘Try me,’ Radcliffe said.
With a list in hand, Horowitz fired off team after team to Radcliffe, with Radcliffe quickly and emphatically answering correctly. He even named every quarterback for the Browns last season, which would probably be hard for most Cleveland fans to do.
‘Oh, cool, so you’re asking me starting and backups, that’s fine,’ Radcliffe joked.
Even with backups, Radcliffe was unfazed, even providing Petyon Manning’s backup, Brock Osweiler, causing Josh to tell him, ‘You truly are an American ’cause you’re showing off.’
Read the full interview here!
What If is due to be released next month.
What do you think of Daniel’s football knowledge? Are you excited to see What If?
