Dan Radcliffe on Seeing ‘Cursed Child’ and Starring in ‘Now You See Me 2’

Inquirer.net recently sat down to talk to Daniel Radcliffe about Cursed Child, magic and his acting career thus far. Dan recently starred in Swiss Army Man and Victor Frankenstein, and will soon be appearing as Walter Mabry in Now You See Me 2.

Mabry is a wealthy, magical entrepreneur who has captured the Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan) – you can catch glimpses of his character in the movie’s trailer (below).

On whether or not he’ll be likely to see Cursed Child:

“I don’t know if I would. Because I feel like me going to see that show, it might become more about the fact that I was there seeing that show that night than anything else.”

At which point the Inquirer hinted to him that he might just be able to sneak into the show, asking if he was keeping up with the show:

“Do you really think that’s possible (for me to sneak in) (laughs)? No, I haven’t been keeping tabs. But I know Jamie Parker is playing me (Harry), which I’m very happy about, because he’s a great actor.”

Dan also said that he doesn’t see Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint very much anymore (he’s working on his own TV comedy at the moment!), but did say that he saw him “at the beginning of the year, or the end of last year”.

On working with Michael Caine:

“Growing up in England… he is someone that you grow up being aware of as an institution. He’s everything that I want to be when I grow up as an actor.

When I first started working on “Potter,” there were crew members who have known Michael and had worked with him on various projects. To listen to them talk about Michael and the respect that they have for him, it made me, as a young actor, go, “God, I want to do that.”

When you work with him, he is utterly professional and also really good fun. He enjoys his job so much. I do love my job and I am thinking, if you aren’t having fun at work, you shouldn’t be there.

But watching Michael—I guess he is in his 80s by now—act at four o’clock in the morning in cold and dark England and still be there…

So many other actors would have been complaining and moaning. Michael is unflappable, and he’s still having a good time, telling stories, joking and laughing. He knows everyone’s name. It was a pleasure to be around him, to watch him work and to work with him. It was extraordinary.

Whenever I need a bit of a boost, I just go on Michael Caine’s IMDb page.”

On Swiss Army Man and its many complexities:

“I am not staying away from [romantic-comedy] roles. I think it’s more that it’s actually a lot harder to write something happy than it is to write something dark. There’s a lot of different versions of darkness that are very interesting. It’s harder to make happiness interesting onscreen for whatever reason.

“Swiss Army Man” sounds like a dark character because I’m playing a dead guy. The film does have its dark moments, but it’s got a lot of levity and joy. For me, that film is about joy. It isn’t a traditional rom-com, but it’s definitely got some lightness to it.”

Read the full interview over at Inquirer.net here, which includes more about his character in Now You See Me 2. Watch the latest trailer for the film below!