The Harry Potter series of films needs little introduction. As the marketing hype begins in earnest for the July release of the final instalment of the most successful movie franchise in history, one question is what’s next for Daniel Radcliffe?
After ten years and seven films grossing a combined worldwide box-office income of more than $6.5 billion (with the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II forecast to be the single most successful film of them all), Radcliffe is Harry Potter to the world.
A young Daniel Radcliffe
As an 11-year-old, Radcliffe was cast in one of the most coveted roles of recent times: J.K. Rowling’s books were already a publishing phenomenon. But it was not Radcliffe’s first foray into acting, having appeared, at the age of 10, as the young David Copperfield in a BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. He was also cast in The Tailor of Panama opposite Pierce Brosnan, a film released only a few months before Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first in the series.
The rest, as they say, is history in what became a multi-billion dollar franchise, with box office, DVD and Blu-Ray sales as well as associated merchandise.
But all good things must come to an end and life after Hogwarts among the Muggles looms. Like all schoolkids, Harry Potter now needs to make his own way in life as a young adult.
The immediate future (and a little of the immediate past)
Not that Daniel Radcliffe has cocooned himself in all things Harry Potter. His performance in the BBC First World War drama My Boy Jack in 2007 was well-received by critics: the independent Australian film, December Boys, about four orphan boys growing up in the 1960s, less so.
In an attempt to lose the good boy Harry Potter tag, Radcliffe also starred, controversially, in the London stage revival of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. Playing an emotionally disturbed stable boy, Radcliffe, at 17, appeared naked and symbolically blinded six horses. The subsequent Broadway transfer at the end of 2008 earned him the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play. Furthering his stage career, Daniel Radcliffe is currently starring in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Al Hirschfeld Theater in New York.
But, for a young man who has been part of our collective consciousness for a decade, it’s his future on the big screen that is, arguably, of most interest.
And we should not have to wait too long. Currently scheduled to open in late 2011/early 2012, The Woman in Black is a chiller of a ghost story and an adaptation of Susan Hill’s play that has been running in London for more than 20 years.
Set in late 19th century England, Radcliffe plays, for the first time, an older character – 25-year-old Arthur Kipps, a father of two young children, who is sent to settle a deceased client's affairs in a small rural town, stumbling upon the titular haunted presence in the process.
Screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick Ass, The Debt, X-Men: First Class) has adapted the script for film, with veterans of the screen Ciarán Hinds (Munich, There Will Be Blood) and Oscar-nominee Janet McTeer (Tumbleweed, Albert Nobbs) starring alongside Radcliffe.
The New York Times reported back in December 2007 that Radcliffe had agreed to portray the killed British photojournalist Dan Eldon in an upcoming biopic entitled The Journey is the Destination. But since the announcement, there have been only confused reports about the film, which was due to be shot in Kenya. Even now, it’s not clear whether Radcliffe is still attached to the feature.
But more recent news has shown Radcliffe to star in the updated version of the 1930 Oscar-winning war classic, All Quiet on the Western Front and, in the last month, it’s been announced he will take the lead in The Amateur Photographer directed by Christopher Monger (writer of HBO’s Temple Grandin). Neither have been confirmed or gone into production, so things can readily change.
But Daniel Radcliffe intends to not become a child star known only for Harry Potter. As he told MTV recently, he wants to work with Christopher Nolan and the Coen Brothers. No mean ambition for the 21-year-old focussing on transforming and expanding his image.
Sources:
- Nadine Saad, 'Post-Potter, Daniel Radcliffe isn't looking to be the next Harry Potter' LA Times
- Josh Wigler, 'The Woman In Black': Daniel Radcliffe's Upcoming Horror Film Is 'A Very Big Step', moviesblog.mtv.com
- Ryan Love, 'Daniel Radcliffe wants to work with Nolan, Coens' Digital Spy
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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