In a new
interview, actor Daniel Radcliffe spoke about
Half-Blood Prince, including his disappointment about the lack of darkness in the sixth film, and the humorous romantic scenes. He goes into detail about preparing for
Deathly Hallows, especially the final battle at the end. The article also features a new photo of Dan taken by Dennys Ilic, which can be seen
here:
Dan mentions how much he loves filming the darker elements of the
Harry Potter series:
Quote:
"My favourite stuff is always the dark stuff," he says. "When I read scripts for the first time that's what I always lean towards and it's what I want to see included - even more so in Harry Potter movies, because we need the films to appeal to adult audiences. In fact one of the things I was disappointed about with the sixth Harry Potter movie was that there wasn't so much of that element."
"There's loads of darkness and not many laughs there, so David said it was best to give the audience as much comedy as we can while we can. There are huge opportunities for comedy in the sixth film and we use all of them, even though my natural inclination is not towards that. I love watching comedy but doing it is something else."
He voices his relief that a two-part
Deathly Hallows allows for more of the story to be told, and the fact that less scenes will be cut:
Quote:
"I'm very happy that the seventh book is being made as two films," notes Radcliffe, "because I was worried they would have to cut important scenes. For example in the fourth film you could cut out the house elf sub-plot and it doesn't affect the main story in any way. In the second film they cut out the Nearly Headless Nick Death Day Party. In fact that whole character has fallen by the wayside. The problem with doing that with the final book is that there is nothing that doesn't relate to the main story or drive it forward. There's not much you could cut. So we've given ourselves the room and opportunity to do it justice."
Dan talks about Micheal Gambon (Dumbledore), and their professional relationship throughout
Half-Blood Prince:
Quote:
"I've always loved working with Mike, but I'd never had any big, in-depth scenes with him. It was exciting, knowing we were going to get a good run at those scenes. For the first four months it was just me and him, which was great. Actually when the rest of the cast finally came along, I thought, 'I don't like this'. I'd gotten so used to it being just me and Mike, who by the way is one of the best actors I've ever worked with, and probably the least professional. Which makes him an absolute joy to be around.
"He takes nothing seriously, is always having a laugh, yet somehow seems to turn it on the moment the cameras start rolling. Because of our lengthy time together it meant we had the chance to build up a great relationship off camera and hopefully that translated on to the screen."
Dan explains how he had to help co-star Bonnie Wright with their kiss scene, given how much on-screen and stage experience he has had with doing it in the past:
Quote:
"By the time I made this film I'd done a nude scene on stage and a few kissing scenes, so I was totally blase," he says. "Poor Bonnie was very nervous. I hadn't factored that in. I'd taken it for granted that she'd be fine too. She'd never had to do that so I had to be calming with her and she did very well. Then of course you have Rupert and the carnal delights of his relationship with Lavender, which is very entertaining," he laughs.
On how much he and Harry do and don't have in common, Dan states:
Quote:
"I'm probably more comfortable with my own company than Harry is," he admits. "I'm kind of okay to be alone and don't mind it. I've grown up with the support network of my parents, so I don't feel I'm ever properly on my own. There are people I can always talk to and Harry doesn't have that. That's why he feeds so much off the energy of his friends. When he's alone and having to face up to his own isolation it's even more terrifying for him."
"I find it very easy playing Harry when he's dealing with the attention he gets. I can relate to that, more than I can to death or being an orphan, because I have no experience of either of those. Though I've played an orphan three times now."
UPDATE: A high-resolution scan of Dan's photo can be seen
here:
Dan Radcliffe talks Harry, Half-Blood Prince & Deathly Hallows (UPDATED) 
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