Daniel Radcliffe Talks “Now You See Me 2”, Why He Might Not See “Cursed Child”

One of Daniel Radcliffe’s latest roles, in Now You See Me 2, sees him returning to a world of magic. As he explains in a new interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, however, he didn’t initially make the connection between the use of magic in both Now You See Me 2 and the Harry Potter series.

He says,

It was stupid of me because I didn’t even make that association, and no one is going to believe it when I say that. But I really didn’t see that when I read the script for ‘Now You See Me 2’—because the magic is so different from anything that is in ‘Potter,’ and characters are also very different.

In Now You See Me 2, Radcliffe’s character isn’t exactly the Boy Who Lived. As the Philippine Daily Inquirer writes,

Daniel portrays Walter Mabry, a wealthy but demented entrepreneur living in Macau who once loved magic and now, [sic] has kidnapped the Horsemen, played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan. Daniel and Lizzy are the newcomers in the sequel, which also sees the return of Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

Mentioning that one of the aspects of magic is “tricking a person into believing that they’re seeing something that wasn’t done,” the interviewer asks if Radcliffe himself has ever been duped, to which he replies,

I don’t think anyone has ever tried to scam me. There’s been a couple of weird instances in my life of somebody saying they were going to do something and then not doing it.

But nothing sort of dramatic where it was a betrayal.

Hinting at Radcliffe’s character’s relationship with his father in the film (played by actor Michael Caine), the interviewer asks if anything his own father has done has resonated with him:

Obviously, my relationship with my dad is much better than my characters’ relationships with their dads. My dad has been incredibly influential to me in countless ways.

He adds,

I remember one piece of advice that he gave me when I was very young, which I have always stuck to. I remember him just saying, ‘When you meet people, make sure you always get your hand out first to shake their hand.’

It’s just a matter of showing enthusiasm that you are meeting them. It’s manners.

On what it was like to work with Michael Caine, Radcliffe describes him as being “everything that I want to be when I grow up as an actor”:

When I first started working on “Potter,” there were crew members who have known Michael and had worked with him on various projects. To listen to them talk about Michael and the respect that they have for him, it made me, as a young actor, go, ‘God, I want to do that.’

[…]

It was a pleasure to be around him, to watch him work and to work with him. It was extraordinary.

With preview performances of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child beginning this month, fans might be surprised to hear that Radcliffe has no plans to see the play:

I don’t know if I would. Because I feel like me going to see that show… it might become more about the fact that I was there seeing that show that night than anything else.

Encouraged to “sneak in” by the interviewer, he laughs,

Do you really think that’s possible [for me to sneak in]? No, I haven’t been keeping tabs. But I know Jamie Parker is playing me [Harry], which I’m very happy about because he’s a great actor.

As for his own roles, Radcliffe says that he isn’t avoiding romantic comedies:

I am not staying away from those roles. I think it’s more that it’s actually a lot harder to write something happy than it is to write something dark. There’s a lot of different versions of darkness that are very interesting. It’s harder to make happiness interesting onscreen for whatever reason.

Swiss Army Man” sounds like a dark character because I’m playing a dead guy. The film does have its dark moments, but it’s got a lot of levity and joy. For me, that film is about joy. It isn’t a traditional rom-com, but it’s definitely got some lightness to it.

You can read the Philippine Daily Inquirer‘s full interview with Daniel Radcliffe here. Plus, be sure to enter our giveaway for a Now You See Me 2 movie prize pack!

Are you looking forward to seeing Now You See Me 2? Let us know in the comments below!