Daniel Radcliffe on “Miracle Workers” and Future Projects
Daniel Radcliffe’s new sitcom, Miracle Workers, makes its television debut tomorrow night, and the first episode is already available to stream. In preparation for the show’s premiere, Radcliffe sat down for an interview to discuss his role on the show and his upcoming work.
Miracle Workers takes place in what Radcliffe calls a “secular idea of heaven,” in which Steve Buscemi (Fargo, The Death of Stalin) plays a disinterested God. Radcliffe plays Craig, a low-level angel in charge of answering prayers whose world is turned upside-down when Eliza (Geraldine Viswanathan from the 2018 comedy Blockers) shows up with new ideas on how to change the way heaven runs:
When Eliza comes in, completely psyched to be there, she’s excited to be in a department where she can do great big, grand, sweeping gestures that help all of mankind, or thousands of people over time at least. That initially is terrifying to my character. [Series creator] Simon Rich’s analogy for the series is in part it’s like a sports movie, where a lot of the drama comes from who is and who is not joining the team and the teams learning from each other.
Radcliffe also acted as a producer on the show, helping develop the project from the very beginning:
While I was on set on this, I was definitely very much just an actor, but in terms of preproduction, I was definitely involved in a little bit of the development of it over time, in casting and that sort of thing. It was nice to be on that side of things and get a sense of what that process is, but I definitely don’t think it’s going to be my main focus, certainly for some time, if ever. I do want to at some point direct, and I’d love to write more than I would be interested in producing.
Due to his success from the Harry Potter movies, Radcliffe has the freedom to pick and choose the roles he takes, often working on more indie or theater projects. He’s grateful to just work on projects he enjoys and finds interesting:
I would say I’m in a very rare position that I can just do stuff that I respond to, so that is it, really; that’s all the criteria. I like to try and keep it as varied as I can because where I have the most fun doing my job is jumping from project to project that are as different as they can be. I respond to really good writing. I love Simon’s work as an author and I think the script to this show was amazing, so as a first priority, I tend to go after writing that I love. I like to do things like Miracle Workers or Swiss Army Man that have a sense of being different and are original. If I don’t feel like I’ve seen something quite like it before, that’s always an added bonus.
Selecting these unique projects also gives him a wider range as an actor, working on everything from theater to TV to film to voice acting. These styles of acting are all different, but Radcliffe has adapted to them all:
I grew up on film sets, so film sets are always going to be a place that I just love being, and I really do. It doesn’t matter which, just being on a set of some kind, but I’m very, very fortunate to have been able to work in theater as much as I have. I think it’s made me a better actor, to be honest. Doing stage work, I feel whenever I finish something, I always feel like I’m better equipped to go into the next film I do because I’ve just done something onstage.
No matter the project, we’ll always enjoy seeing Daniel Radcliffe’s work. Miracle Workers premieres February 13 at 10:30 p.m. on TBS. Check out the first episode now, and watch out for his next projects: Guns Akimbo and Playmobil: The Movie.
