Harry Potter Director David Yates Admires Daniel Radcliffe's Choices Post-Deathly Hallows - Exclusive
Without question, the trio of young stars that led the "Harry Potter" franchise have gone on to very successful careers after the films wrapped up with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" in 2011. While his co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have no doubt spread their creative wings post-"Deathly Hallows," perhaps no cast member has taken bigger career risks than Harry Potter himself — Daniel Radcliffe — with an array of offbeat roles in the independent film realm. From playing famed beat poet Allen Ginsberg in "Kill Your Darlings" and the communicative corpse in "Swiss Army Man" to his turns as an unwilling death match participant in "Guns Akimbo" and a demonic monster in "Horns," Radcliffe has shown there are no limits to his portrayals after playing Potter.
Given his high-profile showbiz stature, Radcliffe's career choices haven't gone without notice by his fellow industry colleagues, including the actor's former director David Yates, who helmed the last four "Harry Potter" films beginning with "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" in 2007.
"Dan is fearless, and I've admired what he's been doing. He'll dive into any number of different roles to redefine himself," Yates said during an exclusive interview with Looper to discuss his new big pharma drama, "Pain Hustlers." "It's admirable that he keeps trucking, and he's done particularly well recently. So all strength to Dan, and I hope he keeps going. I'm sure he will."
Yates sings high praises of Radcliffe's Weird
While Daniel Radcliffe has also spent a fair amount of time on stage — currently, he's starring on Broadway in "Merrily We Roll Along" — and has occasionally appeared in mainstream films like "Now You See Me 2" and "The Lost City," he clearly still revels in taking on projects out of the ordinary. On television, the actor has taken part in such comedies as the series "Miracle Workers" and the movie "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story."
A film that parodies the career of legendary music parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic, Radcliffe's turn in the title role in the comedic biopic has earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Better yet, Radcliffe's turn as "The Weird One" has earned high praise from his longtime "Harry Potter" film director.
"It's brilliant," David Yates said.
Discussing "Weird" with Looper in an exclusive interview, Radcliffe explained his rationale for taking on the wide array of roles since the "Harry Potter" film series ended in 2011. While he has no clear explanation of why he's made the choices he's made in the past dozen years, he knows for certain that he has to have fun on projects he gets involved in.
"I don't know if [what I'm doing] fits neatly into a 'This is the type of film [I want to do]' or 'This is how this fits with everything else,'" Radcliffe explained. "But there's a general spirit of, 'I think I'd be really bored in a lot of movies where people just stand around and talk to each other.' It's a movie, and it's fun to do stuff that's crazy as well."
Yates' film "Pain Hustlers" begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on October 27.