I’m starting to find Daniel Radcliffe cuter and cuter. He’s always seemed like a sweet enough boy, but reading this interview in Parade just made me like him more. He uses words like “pedantic” and makes a comparison to himself and George Clooney. He also describes himself as “an old man in a young man’s body” - which is sort of sweetly endearing, and probably true. The best part is when the soon-to-be 20-year-old talks about how he doesn’t care for girls his own age - he says that all of his serious flings have been with girls in their twenties. My guess is that when Daniel gets to his twenties, he’ll starting dating girls even older - that’s when I’ll strike!

Daniel gave this interview to promote the soon-to-be released Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but he ends up talking a lot of his turn on the stage in Equus, where Daniel played “an unbalanced stable boy with a religious and sexual fascination with horses.” He was naked. And he looked pretty good too:

“From the moment I walked onstage [performing in Equus], I could hear them talking and getting very excited,” Radcliffe recalls, shaking his head. “Then they started talking to me: ‘Dan! Dan! Look over here, Dan!’ ” He pauses. “I’m not somebody who particularly gets angry about stuff like that. In my professional life, I rarely get angry at all. And yet, I came offstage seeing blood. I was so furious!”

But not at this point. Significantly, Radcliffe’s smooth cheeks show a haze of dark whiskers. Gossip columns have linked him with a succession of slightly older actresses, and he doesn’t deny his taste in women: “Girls my own age are not really an option,” he tells me. “I find, generally speaking, they have to be entertained more than older girls do. So most of the girls I have had serious things with are generally sort of in their 20s.”

So was Equus his declaration of independence?

“I didn’t set out to shock people. I set out to do something different from Potter. If I had wanted to shock people,” Radcliffe says, “I would have played, you know, a gay drug dealer. But, equally, you have to tread a very fine line. If, say, my next film was another fantasy film, everyone would just go, ‘Well, he’s not stretching himself.’ Then, if I played some drug dealer, everyone would turn around and go, ‘Oh, this smacks of desperation to stop being typecast.’ ”

Still, he hasn’t cut the cord just yet. Radcliffe is—as might be expected—extremely respectful of the Potter story, its creator J.K. Rowling, and all that the franchise has done for him. “I’ve had a happy and very healthy, really enjoyable childhood, and a fantastically interesting one,” he says. “I genuinely think I am a better person for having done these films than I possibly would have been had I not.”

Not to mention a much richer one. His salary for the most recent Potter picture was a reported $25 million; overall, he’s said to be worth at least twice that. He’s been declared England’s richest teenager.

“I think it’s amazing,” Radcliffe says. “I have been very, very fortunate. But I’m not going to spend it on flashy cars or particular extravagances. What it does in terms of my career, which is how I like to look at it—it gives me the thing that George Clooney has, where he can go off and do a big-budget movie like Ocean’s Eleven, make a lot of money for it, and then go and do stuff that won’t pay as much. It gives you room to maneuver, basically. It means I can relax, and I think that’s the best thing it can do. It’s one thing in my life that I am incredibly fortunate not to have to worry about. Money will never be the focus for me. That’s not how I’ve been brought up.”

And what about the prospect of—gulp—turning 20 next month?

“I’ve noticed I make noises when I get up and sit down now,” Radcliffe says in all seriousness. “I mean, my knees are rotten bad—I refused to wear knee pads too many times when I was doing stunts, and I just clobbered them up a bit. I am an old man in a young man’s body.”

[From Parade]

See, he didn’t really compare himself to Clooney, he just sort of said that he and Clooney both do the big studio films to make money, so they can work on their little projects. That being said, Daniel’s stage turn in Equus was a huge deal, and I bet the theatre made buckets of money on the production. It would be really cool if Daniel continued to challenge himself and our image of him in such interesting, artistic ways. I’m just thankful he’s not already some drug-and-drink soaked wanker who lives inside the hottest clubs. Not my Daniel!

Photos are from Parade.com, where they have many more.

Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Helena Bonham Carter were photographed on the set of the second-to-last Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, in Wales. Producers made the decision to stretch out the seventh and final book in the wildly popular series into two films for maximum profitability.

It’s been nearly two years since the last Harry Potter film was out and I can’t wait for the new one. The sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is out this summer and has a release date of July 7 in the USA, July 7 in the UK and July 15-16 around the world.

From these photos it looks like Helena Bonham Carter is in costume, but she dresses so eccentrically daily it’s hard to tell except for the fact that she has on her character’s teeth. She plays evil witch Bellatrix Lestrange.

There are also plenty of photos on from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. These might contain potential spoilers, so don’t open these thumbnails or look too hard if you haven’t read the books and don’t want to spoil it.

Thanks to Fame Pictures and All Movie Photo for these photos. The new photos on set are the last ones here toward the bottom. All other photos are from the next movie coming up, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Forbes has released its list of Hollywood’s Most Valuable Young Stars. The list came out as part of Forbes’ recent Star Currency Survey, which evaluated star power of 1,400 actors in Hollywood. The choices, meant to give a cross-section of Hollywood, was sent to 157 people working in all parts of the movie industry, who evaluated actors based on certain factors.

Criteria used were:
-The amount of financing that flows to a project is significantly determined by the individual actor’s presence in a film.
-The individual actor’s presence in a film guarantees theatrical distribution.
-The individual actor’s presence significantly drives the film’s theatrical box-office performance.
-If the individual actor’s involvement is essential in securing rights deals for revenue streams, including DVD, pay/free TV, video-on-demand and online/downloading/streaming (when applicable), as well as a project’s ultimate financial performance in those areas.
-If the individual actor can attract audiences in any film genre.
-If the individual actor can attract other top-line talent based on his or her involvement in a film.
-If the individual actor is popular among most demographic groups.
-Whether media exposure the individual actor receives (positive or negative) enhances his or her ability to attract financing and audiences to a project.

[from Forbes]

The survey participants then ranked each actor based on these questions. The young Hollywood list was extracted from this survey and had the criteria that the actor be 19 or younger on February 10, 2009. Most of the young thespians on the list are actors who have potential staying power: Abigail Breslin, Daniel Radcliffe, and Dakota Fanning, for example. Miley Cyrus also makes the list not necessarily because of her potential for an adult career, but because she has yet to go wrong with her project choices, and continues to bring in the dough. Here’s the list:

1. Daniel Radcliffe (age 19)
2. Miley Cyrus (age 16)
3. Dakota Fanning (age 15)
4. Abigail Breslin (age 12)
5. Hayden Panettiere (age 19)
6. Emma Watson (age 18)
7. Freddie Highmore (age 17)
8. Keke Palmer (age 15)
9. Emma Roberts (age 18)
10. Anton Yelchin (age 19)

Most of these are not surprising, except for Anton Yelchin, who has been doing projects for a while but hasn’t made a celebrity name for himself yet. He’ll be starring in Terminator and Star Trek this summer. The article about the young Hollywood list makes a good point that’s worth quoting: “In the past, someone like a Shirley Temple was limited,” says [producer Rick] Alvarez. “She was playing herself, and she was the cute little girl with the patent-leather shoes and the curly hair. How do you go from that to playing Cleopatra or Mary, Queen of Scots?” I can see Abigail Breslin, Dakota Fanning, and Freddie Highmore going on to do just that - if they decide to keep going. Fanning, for one, was recently in the movie Hounddog, which included a rape scene that was too graphic for many audiences. Can you imagine Shirley Temple doing something like that? As for the rest of the actors on the list, it will be interesting to see how many of these names we see in Forbes’ Most Valuable Hollywood Stars in a few years. I’ll bet that Miley’s name will be nowhere near it.

The excitement hasn’t ended yet for the new first daughters, Sasha and Malia Obama. “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe personally offered to take the girls on a private tour of the set of Hogwarts, the fictional magic academy where Harry and his friends have their many adventures.

On Tuesday Barack Obama becomes our new president. We happen to be seeing each other in a very American week. Does it make you feel overly British to be here right now, or less so?

[Daniel Radcliffe:] I feel privileged to be here for Obama’s inauguration. But I do tend to go doubly British when I am away from home. I have picked up certain phrases while here in America that I plan to eradicate as soon as I get back home.

Examples?

“I know—right?” That phrase and its little rhythm there is very American and not really used in England. I’ve started saying that and people are picking up on it when they come over. But getting back to Mr. Obama. I am so proud and happy for this country. He is everything the rest of the world liked about America and now likes again. He is both Martin Luther King and JFK. He is a pioneer. He is a symbol of progress which is what we dig about this country. What you love about England is all the old buildings and such. The traditions. I love that, too. But this is what we want from you.

And may I? I’d like to take this opportunity to issue a public invitation to the Obamas that if their daughters would like a private tour of the Harry Potter set, I would be honored to be their personal tour guide.

[From the Daily Beast]

The girls have already hung out with Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, and are reportedly big fans of the Harry Potter series of books. Barack Obama is said to have read the series with the girls throughout the campaign. How lucky are these kids? My daughters are going to be so jealous when they hear about this.

Here’s Sasha and Malia with their parents handing out food at a food bank in November. Image thanks to Newscom. Header of Daniel Radcliffe signing autographs in August. Image thanks to Fame.

In an interview with OK!, Emma Watson may have proven herself a rare starlet who is both unassuming and skeptical of her fame. Watson, 18, whose most famous role to date is as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has told OK! magazine that she’s not quite sure about the whole movie star thing and wants to go to college in the US next fall.  One of her biggest concerns is that she is able maintain the normal lifestyle that her non-celebrity friends take for granted:

The 18-year-old admits she is unsure about life on the big screen and wants to be more like her friends.

She said: “If they’re going to the cinema, I go to the cinema. I try to live a regular life but it’s not always easy.”

Emma, who lives at home in Oxford with her mother and younger brother, admits she isn’t swayed by her movie-making millions.

She added: “Why would someone my age need this much money? Let’s face it, I don’t have any use for it.”

[from OK!]

This is an incredibly refreshing thing for a young star to say.  In comparison we have Miley Cyrus, who was disappointed that she didn’t get the car she wanted for her birthday.  Watson seems like she has a good head on her shoulders, which may be partially due to the fact that being a movie star isn’t her main goal in life.  In the OK! article, she goes on to say that she comes “from a background of lawyers and academics. We didn’t watch films in our household.”  Not sure if that’s completely believable, but it makes the point that she wasn’t raised to idolize Hollywood.  In an earlier interview, Watson expressed a similar dilemma between an acting career and higher education:

“I’m not a woman yet, but I’m not a girl any more. [Film companies] say, ‘Oh, in a couple of years you’ll be perfect for this.’ I’ll be like, yeah, but I want to be studying English then, so it’s going to be quite tough to choose between the two.”

[from TimesOnline]

Though filming the Harry Potter series has undoubtedly taken up a lot of her time, Watson has only done two other film projects: The Tale of Despereaux and Ballet Shoes.  Daniel Radcliffe, on the other hand, has done  four films and a play on two continents.  She seems more interested in her studies than in pursuing an acting career after the Harry Potter series ends, and it will be interesting to see if she chooses to go back to film after she gets a degree.

Emma Watson is shown at The Tale Of Despereaux premiere in LA on 12/7/08. Credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures

In his role in the Broadway play “Equus,” Daniel Radcliffe has earned just as much attention for his nudity as for his acting. Okay that’s being nice – the vast majority of the attention is about his nakedness. I don’t think I’ve ever read a thing about the play where that wasn’t at least mentioned. Radcliffe recently discussed the experience of sharing his privates with an audience, and it sounds about as uncomfortably as you’d expect.

The role, which Daniel first played on the London stage, requires him to get naked during a long and crucial scene–something the 19-year-old naturally admits was not easy to get used to. “It’s never going to be the most comfortable thing to be naked in front of people on stage,” Radcliffe told James Lipton on Bravo’s Inside the Actor’s Studio. “Personally, not my thing. For some people it’s great! But not for me.”

To help ease his apprehension, Radcliffe says he trained for 18 months, worked with a vocal coach and made sure his body was in tip-top shape. “I got kind of fit because I knew I’d be appearing naked,” he says, explaining, “The play was there to do. Someone had to do it. If you take the job, you take everything that comes with it.”

And does that “everything” include embarrassing arousals on stage? “A friend asked me once, ‘Are you worried about getting an erection on stage?’” Radcliffe recalls. “I said, ‘no, that would be great!’ Rather the opposite takes place actually.”

[From OK! Magazine]

The way Radcliffe says that last part is really funny. You can see a video clip of the exchange between him and James Lipton here. He also talks about what he calls the “David effect,” referring to Michelangelo’s famous marble statue – and his equally famous genitalia.

The statue is of King David when he decided to battle Goliath – and as Radcliffe notes, it’s a stressful moment, “which is why his parts aren’t looking the best that day – that’s pretty much what happens to me on stage.” I can’t imagine anything more mortifying that being naked on stage – that’s most people’s eternal nightmare. But it sounds like Daniel has a pretty realistic attitude about it, and takes the whole thing in stride. Which is really all you can do.

Here’s Daniel Radcliffe at the opening night after-party for the Broadway revival of ‘Equus’ held at Pier 60 in Manhattan on September 25th. Header is from rehearsals earlier that day. Images thanks to WENN.

Daniel Radcliffe is smart. He knows that his sweet gig as Harry Potter isn’t going to last forever. So the young actor is making sure people know that he can do a lot more than wave a wand and mutter a few magic words. Fresh from rehearsals for his leading role in the stage drama Equus, which he began in London and is now reprising on Broadway, Radcliffe’s latest interview with Details magazine reveals a business-savvy, determined young actor who is ready to take on more adult roles once the Harry Potter film series ends.

There’s only one thing the boy wizard wants now that he’s all grown up—to play a drag queen.

“I think part of me would love to play a drag queen. Just because it would be an excuse to wear loads of eye make-up.”

Ah, yes, this would be the virile Dan Radcliffe, he of the bare-torso cover shots and professions of girl-craziness, the young man who appeared at last night’s Tony Awards still trailing tabloid buzz over his harrowing, occasionally naked performance in Equus, which was originally staged in London. Radcliffe plays Alan Strang, a self-flagellating, stable-boy mental case, a role that fans of him as a certain bespectacled boy wizard—whose presence looms over us even now in a sunny New York City park—might find unsettling.

Like any maturing child star, Daniel Radcliffe is carefully plotting his career after he leaves the role that made his name. Two things make his case unusual: (1) He may be the most eerily adult such actor since a post-“Taxi Driver Jodie Foster, and (2) that character happens to be the most popular literary hero since the invention of the printing press.

The seven Harry Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies. They have been translated into 67 languages. They’ve made their author, J.K. Rowling, the highest-earning novelist in history. And they’ve spawned the top-grossing film series of all time, which has earned Harry Potter’s cinematic representative a fortune the London Times this year estimated to be $39.7 million. Having just signed a contract for $50 million to see Harry Potter through to graduation, Radcliffe is tied with the ubiquitous Miley Cyrus on Forbes’ “Hollywood’s Top-Paid Tweens” list. Today he occupies a sphere of fame, wealth, and public imagining that approaches the supernatural. Escaping Harry Potter may be his biggest magic trick of all.

We first meet in the hotel lounge, a book-lined nook with Edwardian aspirations: Beaux Arts shelves, a carved-wood fireplace, tables for chess and backgammon. The vibe is somewhere between Kipling-era smoking room and Oxford-don study—an effect that’s amplified when Hogwarts’ own bursts in and takes a seat at the cribbage table. When Radcliffe marvels at the surfeit of ice in his glass, I counsel him to order booze neat—when he’s old enough.

“Well, I am old enough to drink,” he says with mock indignation. “But not in this country, apparently.” Ever since Equus added a kinky twist to the end of one of the most well-attended puberties of the decade, Radcliffe’s passage into adulthood has been the stuff of feverish speculation. For the record, Master Radcliffe does drink—in moderation and in private. Vodka and Diet Coke is his cocktail of choice, he says, “’cause I’m a pansy-ass civilian.” Also for the record, he celebrated reaching Britain’s age of consent, 16, almost three years ago, in the customary manner, with an older girlfriend. The age difference “wasn’t ridiculous,” he says. “But it would freak some people out.”

Maybe because he’s surrounded by people at least twice his age, Radcliffe tends to date older women. He’s currently single, although he explains that this is primarily due to time constraints. “Most of my friends have been girls, and I see how they are with their boyfriends and I think, I couldn’t do that,” he says. “I just don’t have the time.”

“Whenever I can I want to leave Harry there on the screen,” Radcliffe says. “I don’t want to bring him into my normal life.”

[From Details]

It sounds like Daniel is a lot more prepared to make the leap from child star to adult actor than many other kid celebs. He was smart and well-adjusted enough to realize that appearing nude in a respected stage play will help his career a lot more than leaking racy candid photos on the Internet, like some other certain teen stars we could name. The question remains, though: will he be able to appear in a film without people in the audience thinking, “hey, that’s Harry Potter!” It’s going to take some real talent to pull that off.

Daniel Radcliffe is shown on 8/19/08 in NY. Credit: Joseph Marzullo / WENN

Fox News is reporting that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is being delayed due to Daniel Radcliffe waving his magic wand around on Broadway. Warner Bros. has delayed the film’s release until June 2009 as Daniel Radcliffe will be appearing nude on stage in Equus in November, close to the original release date.

Warner Bros. has announced moving its sixth Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” from Nov. 21, 2008, to July 17, 2009. The reason? Officially, there is no reason, except that “a spot opened on the summer schedule.”

That’s not much of a reason. The real story? Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will be right in the middle of his sensational, highly publicized run on Broadway in the play, “Equus.” Radcliffe appears naked in the play, on stage, and has sex in it as well. That’s not the image Warner Bros. wants associated with bespectacled Harry, who remains chaste and virginal.

Indeed, posters for Equus are up all over New York, of Radcliffe’s naked torso superimposed on a horse’s head. This is not the sort of thing that’s taught at Hogwarts. For the movie to open on Nov. 21, Radcliffe would have to do publicity entailing answering questions about blinding horses and having sex with them vs. flying around and making potions.

Fox News

However, it seems to be that the makers of the new film might be trying to trade on the nude aspect of Daniel’s career, as he’ll be appearing without pants in the new film. This won’t be full-frontal, it’s a kids’ film.

The actor - who has starred as the teen wizard in five movies in the franchise based on the books by JK Rowling - admits he was unsure when he was told he would be appearing without trousers in a scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

He said: “At first I thought I had pants on. Apparently not!”

However, Daniel - who has stripped off in the stage production of Equus - insists he isn’t worried about his fans seeing him nude on screen, adding: “It’s all old hat now, really!”

Stuff.co.nz

So much for Fox’s theory.

Daniel Radcliffe is currently nude on the back of a horse in Vogue, and all over billboards, so it is possible that Daniel won’t be typecast as a wizard much longer, but rather as a horse mutilating psychopath. There’s probably an Oscar in that for him, but not as many merchandising opportunities.

Defamer suggests that the film has been delayed to try and emulate this summer’s success with The Dark Knight, but regardless of when it is released I’m sure it’s going to make money. The site also points out that Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix came out of the heels of his underage London run of Equus.

Photo and graphic credit: The Daily Telegraph
Daniel Radcliffe was supposedly looking for a hot Aussie girl, one in particular that he met at the Australian Film Industry awards. Two girls have come forward, claiming they met the boy wizard/millionaire, and producing photographs to prove it.

To be fair, I’d have to admit that both girls meet Daniel’s description of them as being ‘stunning’ in appearance.

The first girl is Cassi McKay, she’s a 20-year-old insurance worker and is heading to London. Not to meet Daniel, that’s just a coincidence. She’s been in a committed relationship for over two years.

“We said hello and had a quick chat and for the rest of the night, just because I was fascinated, we were sort of smiling and making eye contact,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe when he said he was looking for the girl.”

Although she is committed to her current relationship, Ms McKay said she would be keen to organise a second audience with Radcliffe while she was in the UK.

“I’ve told my boyfriend about him and I’d be keen to meet up,” she said.

Daily Telegraph

Cassi, who approached the newspaper herself and posed for photographs, says she hopes “people don’t think I want my 15 minutes of fame or anything”. Well, what are you looking for then, if you aren’t pursuing the boy wizard, or looking for some notoriety? Why come forward at all?

The second girl, who was actually photographed with Daniel and Cassi, is Savannah Blount, a 23-year-old sax player at the event.

Blount said she was charmed by the teen wizard and was happy to go on a date with him if the chance arose during one of her regular UK tours.

“He was quite lovely. He was very charming, very polite,” she told the Melbourne edition of MX. “Maybe if I was working over there or touring, you never know.”

Though not a Harry Potter fan, Blount is attracted to the $50 million dollar man.

“Handsome? Yes, yes - and very short. I’m more for the taller type of guy.

“I’ve got a lovely boyfriend who is quite concerned - no, he thinks it’s funny.”

Daily Telegraph

But what does Daniel’s publicist have to say about all this?

“(Radcliffe’s comments) were meant in jest, but sadly been blown out of all proportion,” Radcliffe’s London-based representative, Vanessa Davies, told New York’s Daily News newspaper.

Daily Telegraph

I love it when I’m right, and it doesn’t happen very often. It seems that I was correct about Daniel Radcliffe’s mystery Australian girl – he was having on the reporters at the Daily Telegraph.

At any rate, you can vote on which girl Daniel should choose, as if it’s all a matter of an online poll. The current lady in the lead for Harry Potter is Cassi with 38% of the vote. Personally I, along with 26% of voters, think that he should give both crazies a miss.

If you are, like me, a sucker for a love story (I even think TomKat are kind of sweet) then this is really nice. Daniel Radcliffe, who’s been buzzing around Australia doing some films, fell in love at an awards ceremony. Be prepared for a slightly corny tale – they met eyes across a crowded room, but never introduced themselves.

The actor, who has often spoken about not being able to find a girlfriend, has revealed his love of “brilliant” Australian women - and one in particular that he met backstage during an AFI awards ceremony.

“There was one girl there, oh my god, she had these eyes that just looked at me like she wanted to pounce on me,” Radcliffe said yesterday. “She stared at me the whole night and I was going to get her number and then I couldn’t find her.

“I must have walked around that party for an hour trying to look for this girl, like some sad pathetic dweeb but it would have been so worth it.”

When asked if The Daily Telegraph could help find her, Radcliffe blushed and regretfully shook his head.

“I don’t know, I don’t know her name, I can’t remember her name. It was one of those things but she was stunning,” he said.

Daily Telegraph

Now the media in Australia is trying to identify Daniel’s mystery girl – which shouldn’t be too hard, because I think only a few hundred people attend the Australian Film Industry Awards (where the couple locked eyes) and not many of them would be close to Daniel’s age. Unless he likes older women, but since he calls her a ‘girl’ I’m guessing she’s closer to 20 than 50.

Actually, I’m not sure if Daniel is having the reporters on in this interview – earlier this month he confirmed to TV Guide magazine that he is still dating his Equus co-star Laura O’Toole.

I’m really hoping that he’s just having the Daily Telegraph on with his ‘mystery woman’, and that a heap of girls come out of the woodwork claiming to be Daniel’s lost love. Then they can make a Bachelor-style reality show.

Daniel Radcliffe is shown at the National Movie Awards on 9/28/07, thanks to PRPhotos. Credit: Solarpix.com