Daniel Radcliffe On “Imperium”, “Game of Thrones” and More

Two new UK releases, The Swiss Army Man (released on September 30) and Imperium (released on September 23), mean that Daniel Radcliffe is currently doing rounds in the British press. He has chatted with BBC about Brexit and Trump fears, with Independent about his new films and Harry Potter, with Metro about his favorite Alan Rickman memory, and with Digital Spy about his wish to be killed on Game of Thrones.

In his interview with BBC, Radcliffe, who plays an FBI agent who infiltrates a right-wing extremist group in Imperium, shares his thoughts about Brexit and the campaign of Donald Trump. He states that he believes both the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign have made the Far Right “into a legitimate part of the political discussion”. He also mentions that while he was filming Imperium last year, he “couldn’t have anticipated any of these views expressed in the film being mainstream.”

Imperium is directed by Daniel Ragussis and alongside Radcliffe, it features Toni Collette and Sam Trammell, among others. The film was co-written by former FBI agent Mike German whose career was used as an inspiration for Radcliffe’s character.

Radcliffe, who “dipped into” Adolf Hitler’s autobiography while preparing for the film, expresses the hope that neo-Nazis would watch Imperium. He says:

“I don’t care if they do it as some kind of hate activity because I am Jewish, I feel that this is the kind of film they might watch because, while we don’t have an open mind about their ideas, we do have an open mind about white supremacists as people – if you watch the film, not everyone in there is a skinhead, they are not portrayed as monsters.”

 

In his interview with Independent, Radcliffe tells that what initially made him interested about Imperium was the script’s consistent characterization of the FBI agent Radcliffe plays. He also states that while the film’s main purpose was not to ignite political conversations, the ideas and thoughts it expresses have now moved into the political mainstream, which in turn has made the film “surprisingly and unpleasantly relevant”.

Both Imperium and The Swiss Army Man are quite a move from Radcliffe’s Harry Potter origins. Radcliffe says that while he doesn’t want people to forget about Harry Potter, he also doesn’t want to repeat himself in terms of what he did as Harry or in terms of his other previous roles.

Radcliffe talked exclusively with Metro about his favorite memory of his co-star Alan Rickman. Calling Rickman “one of the greatest actors I’ll ever work with”,  Radcliffe shares a cherished low-key moment with Rickman that took place after his West End play Equus in London.

“I went out with Alan and Rima [Horton], Richard Griffith and Heather [Gibson] which is now a very bizarre thing because both men have passed away. I’d always been quite intimidated by Alan, who I loved and who was always very generous with me, but I was still kind of scared of him. Suddenly I was out to dinner with him and I was watching him be funny, self-deprecating and vulnerable. It was lovely.

 

Finally, Radcliffe told Digital Spy that he would love to join the cast of HBO’s Game of Thrones for a while and then be killed off in brutal fashion. Radcliffe mentions that he has come across good TV pilots lately, but says that at the moment, he does not have the freedom to sign-up for a project that could be in production for several years. This is why a short stint on Game of Thrones, known for its multiple character deaths, seems ideal for Radcliffe, who says “If they want to just bring me in and f**king kill me, I would be so happy to do that.”

A very big thank you to Mugglenet for the great coverage of Radcliffe’s press tour.

Imperium was released in the UK on 23rd of September. The Swiss Army Man will hit UK cinemas on Friday 30th of September.