Daniel Radcliffe Interview, December Boys

MoviesOnline sat down this week with Daniel Radcliffe at the Los Angeles press day for his new film, "December Boys,” a coming-of-age drama directed by Rod Hardy based on the classic Michael Noonan novel. Filmed on location in South Australia, the film tells the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. As the boys watch younger kids get adopted by loving families, they begin to realize that as they get older their turn may never come. When the convent sends the boys to visit the seaside one summer, they finally have something to look forward to.

While at the seaside, the boys meet a young couple unable to have children, who would make the perfect parents. The eldest of the boys, Maps (Radcliffe), finds himself drawn to Lucy (Teresa Palmer), a beautiful girl from down the coast. Competing to be the most adoptable, the rest of the boys, Sparks (Christian Byers), Misty (Lee Cormie), and Spit (James Fraser) severely test their friendships as long gestating feelings of rejection explode to the surface. The bonds of friendship eventually overcome the rivalries, sealing forever the strong ties that bind the December boys as they learn the real meaning behind friendship, family and love.

Daniel Radcliffe first appeared on British television in December 1999 when he played the young David Copperfield in BBC television's highly acclaimed production of "David Copperfield”. The drama which was directed by Simon Curtis, also starred Dame Maggie Smith who appears alongside him now as Professor McGonagall .

Prior to filming the first ”Harry Potter” feature, he made his feature film debut as Jamie Lee Curtis' and Geoffrey Rush's on-screen son in John Boorman's "The Tailor of Panama.” In November and December of 2002 he was also the ‘Surprise Guest’ at several performances of the Olivier Award-winning comedy The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh, at Wyndhams Theatre in London’s West End.

Playing the role of young Harry Potter has won Daniel worldwide acclaim and the Variety Club of Great Britain’s Best Newcomer Award, presented in February 2002. In April 2002, he was also honored with the prestigious David Di Donatello Award presented by Italy’s Ente David Di Donatello - for his superb portrayal of Harry and for his contribution to the future of cinema. And most recently, in March 2006, the UK’s leading film magazine Empire honored Daniel and his co-stars with the Outstanding Contribution Award for their continued highly-acclaimed portrayal of the world’s most-loved teenager.

Directly after filming "December Boys,” Radcliffe once again reprised the role of Harry Potter in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” his fifth film in the blockbuster "Harry Potter” series. Earlier this year, he played opposite Richard Griffiths in Equus at the Gielgud Theatre in London. His amazing performance on stage was met with standing ovations and enthusiastic reviews. Daniel begins filming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” later this month.

Daniel Radcliffe is a very talented actor and a super nice guy and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new film, "The December Boys” and his personal reaction to reading the final installment of the Harry Potter book franchise, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”:

Q: With the Harry Potter movies, Catholics and Protestants said the wizarding was heretical, but the December Boys has a strong Catholic message. How do you feel about that?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I’m not religious at all. To be honest, I play a Catholic boy who grows up in a Catholic orphanage so there are obviously going to be a lot of Catholic themes. I mean, if I’m playing a Jewish boy, now we would be celebrating New Year. So it just varies to what the part is. It didn’t really make any particular difference to me. Even though I’m not religious, I didn’t object to it.

Q: Are you agnostic?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I’m sort of along those lines I think yeah definitely. I’m sort of confused I suppose. The person who has been my tutor for about seven or eight years has been amazing for me. She’s Catholic so it was really, really good to talk to her. She grew up in Malta and so it was a very Catholic upbringing. It was really good to talk to her actually about Catholicism and about how it can, if your faith is shaken or you do something that feels natural, it might contradict what your faith says you do. She was just telling me about how Maps would feel about what he’s doing based on his background, which was very helpful.

Q: They seem to make some fun of the nuns.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I wouldn’t read this film as being about a Catholic message. If this film has a message, it’s very much that family doesn’t necessarily mean blood relations and it is whoever you trust and love. They make up your family. That for me is the message. It is not particularly Catholic.

Q: Do you think audiences might be surprised to see you in this because they’re not used to you playing other types of roles?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I know what you mean, but I’m not surprised by it. I don’t understand it, but it is sort of to be expected I think. It was like with Equus when I got to take my clothes off everybody was a bit like, "Oh my God. I can’t believe he’s doing that.” Now to me that was ridiculous, but I sort of expected that it would happen so it is sort of the same thing a bit here. It is only natural that I should go off and do other things. I don’t know if people are surprised that I’m doing it. They are just possibly more interested than they would be if I hadn’t been involved in the Harry Potter franchise.

Q: When you chose this film, did you think strategically "Okay, I’m not going to make another really big movie. I want to make this small little movie just to demonstrate another side of my acting”?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: If the big movie had presented me with loads of challenges and other experiences, then I would have done it. I wasn’t just saying "I have to do an indie movie next because that will show that I have...”

Q: That you have credibility?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Yeah, exactly. But it just so happened that this was the best script I read and it was for an indie movie so I wanted to do something. But then again if I hadn’t believed in this script, I wouldn’t have done anything. I really wanted to do something in between Harry Potters 4 and 5, but if a script hadn’t come along it was very important that I didn’t just do something for the sake of doing it, you know?

Q: Are you rebellious like Maps?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: That is what’s interesting. I don’t see Maps as being rebellious. I see him as being bored and having nothing else to do. That’s the thing. People were saying "Who do you think is more rebellious, Harry or Maps?” I absolutely think Harry is, because Harry rails against things more, whereas Maps really has not got anything to rail against except his own person.

Q: What about you? For example, the theater role you were talking about is so different.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Maybe I’m rebelling against what people think I would be doing, but it is not a conscious thing. I’m just making my own choices and if some people feel that is slightly unorthodox, then that’s their issue more than mine really. It doesn’t bother me.

Q: You are not the guy who would be drinking a beer and stealing a cig and stealing a beer?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I don’t know. I’ve never been in a situation where I had to steal a beer. [laughs]. Maybe I would. I don’t know.

Q: Rod told us that you listened to certain types of music to try and get in to this character. Can you tell us what bands you chose?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Actually I still have it on my iPod on my playlist. I recall there was a lot of Elliot Smith on there, a lot of William Mason. It was troubled guitar wielding men mainly. And a lot of Nirvana, Radio Head, Nine Black Alps and stuff like that. It was a fairly dark CD, but it helped. Music for me is one of the most helpful things that can get you into a scene and if I’m starting from scratch, then music is mainly the thing I will go to first.

Q: Is this a lot different from the music you would normally listen to?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: No, not at all. I would often listen to stuff like that. Radio Head particularly I love, but this CD was exclusively bands like that. I listen to a lot of mainly guitar music, but it is not all quite that furious.

Q: What attracted you to this character specifically and where did you take your inspiration?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: It think everyone can sort of associate with Maps in some way, male or female, about all the heart break things, and things like that. And also the thing I didn’t necessarily connect with so much, but that really moved me -- when I said I didn’t connect with, I mean it doesn’t apply to me quite so much -- but with Maps I was really moved by his overwhelming desire to be needed by somebody, which he just doesn’t have. These boys need him for the first half of the film, but then suddenly they meet this guy Fearless who is cooler, tougher, older and rides a motorbike and they are suddenly enamored by him. So they all leave him and go to Fearless and again Maps once more is left with no one needing him. I think he feels he needs to be needed.

Q: Rod told us that the last day of shooting was Christmas morning and you shot your first love scene and everybody was quite nervous. How did you feel?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: We started filming up there at 11 o’clock in the morning of December 23^rd and we finished at 4:15 a.m. on Christmas Eve. So it was a very long day and we filmed the sex scene probably at about 8 o’clock that night so I wasn’t too tired yet [laughs] luckily, but I was nervous. Definitely. Being the first love scene that I had ever done it was not exactly imposing but you were aware and you were thinking, "Oh God, what do I do? What don’t I do?” So just stuff like that really and luckily Teresa was very, very good at helping me to just chill out and just have a laugh for it, that’s what it was about.

Q: We don’t really know what happened with Maps’ parents, did you get your inspiration from another orphan you’ve played, Harry Potter?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I totally left Harry out of the equation when I was playing Maps. They are both orphans, but they are totally different people. If you said that just by playing one orphan you can play another one that would mean that all orphans would basically have to be the same character and that’s not the case, so it wasn’t about using what I know of Harry to portray Maps at all. And in terms of what you were saying about Maps background, I have always assumed that Maps was or at least Maps had been told he was left. I always assumed that his parents were alive and had not wanted him or I assumed that’s what he had been told.

Q: How did you get the three kids that were so in awe of you being Harry Potter to forget that and relate to you as the character in the film?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: In terms of the kids they were almost totally unphased by me or if they were intimidated, they hid it bloody well. That was never really an issue. They were a really good bunch of kids and I really, really loved working with them. They are very cool people. James Frasier who plays Spit is essentially me age 12 so I am very fond of James. By the way, in terms of me age 12, it’s James rather than his character just to clarify.

Q: Was that really you mooning the camera in December Boys or was it a double?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: That’s me, that’s the genuine Radcliffe ass.

Q: Did you go straight to the epilogue when you read the last Harry Potter book?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I did indeed. No, I didn’t go straight to the epilogue, that’s what my grandmother does.

[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT]

Q: I was wondering what you thought of the final Harry Potter book and what your reaction was, because when we interviewed you for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, you didn’t know yet what the ending was?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: In terms of the ending of the book, I was thrilled. Has anybody not read the seventh book? Okay, cool, I was very, very pleased because I basically get the best of both worlds, because I get the scene of my demise and also I get to live on after that, which is any actor’s dream. You get to die and then you have more screen time. It’s fantastic.

Q: Can you talk about where you were reading the book and what you were experiencing as you were reading it?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Totally. There’s a quote, I’m not going to take this into too pretentious a route through this next bit but there’s a quote from Chekhov when he wrote to the woman who was the final love of his life, who he later married and I think died with, not that she died but he was with her when he died, and he addresses a letter to her and he says, "Hello, the last page of my life.” Which seemed very appropriate to me reading this book, because he has been such a part of my life now. I’ve been with him through all my teen years, and you were suddenly aware that – I started reading it, it was wow, this is the last time I will take a journey with this character, and it was quite a special moment, and actually while reading the final chapters I was listening to Sigur Ros which was very, very appropriate actually. It really, really was. God, I’d love them to do a song for one of the films. They’d be absolutely fantastic.

Q: As you were reading it, were you thinking "oh my God this book is so amazing, it’s going to be such a good movie”?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I was thinking, how are we going to make it into a movie? It’s going to be tough, but that’s why someone cleverer than me adapts them. I think if we get it right, which I’m confident we will, it should be amazing.

Q: A lot of people read the book in one or two days, did you feel you needed to read it quickly so someone didn’t spoil it for you?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Weirdly I didn’t. I was at a cricket match when it came out, so I didn’t really start reading it properly. I read the first 30 pages one night, and then said, "Right, I’m not going to pick it up again until I’ve got proper time to really have a go at this book.” And actually no one spoiled the ending for me, I thought they would. I thought someone was going to shout it out what happened. But the brilliant thing about it actually – she sort of made it spoiler proof, because even though if someone does say what state Harry ends up in, you don’t know the half of it which is pretty impressive. When I finally did get to read it, I did read it in about a day and a half just because I didn’t put it down.

Q: Have you read the script for Half-Blood Prince yet?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Yeah, yeah, yeah

Q: Have they adapted that book well, because they cut them down so much?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: They have to. Obviously things have been taken out, but everything that drives the story forward is very much in place.

Q: Are you filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince now?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I start ‘6’ in 10 days.

Q: Are you doing any special preparations or do you have an iTunes list?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Not yet, but I’m sure I will before we start filming.

Q: And you’re doing a play right after you finish Half-Blood Prince?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: There’s a little gap and hopefully if I can find another film to make, then that would be really cool, but if not, then yeah I might actually rest.

Q: A lot of people thought Alfonso Cuaron did such an amazing job with book 3, and he’s talked about he’d be willing to come back to the franchise, would you like to have him back for book 7?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: It’s a very interesting question. I loved working with Alfonso, so I don’t want this to be misinterpreted in the slightest, but I really love working with David Yates. Who knows if he’ll do book 7. But also I think to be honest it’s really nice to have new directors come on board. Who know, it’s a long way off, book 7, it depends if David is willing to do it. I don’t know if he will be. It’s a long way off so I don’t know at the moment. But I would love to work with him (Alfonso) again in the future, I don’t know if Potter will be the place where that happens.

Q: You’re okay with Yates coming back for book 7.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: If he wanted to, yeah totally.

Q: Did you have a good 18^th birthday party?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I had fabulous 18^th birthday party, thank you very much.

Q: We didn’t hear anything about it.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Good.

[Laughter]

Q: Do you have any great summer memories?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: This summer was pretty good, because I got to go to Lords (Cricket stadium in London) for my birthday.

"December Boys” opens in theaters on September 14^th.