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Daniel talks Daniel: A look at how Radcliffe has progressed over the ye

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Daniel talks Daniel: A look at how Radcliffe has progressed over the years
By DANIEL SPEIR Staff Writer dspeir@dallasnews.com
Published: 07 July 2011 03:05 PM

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When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone kicked off the Potter film franchise 10 years ago, Daniel Radcliffe was only 12 years old. He had made his film debu just nine months earlier in The Tailor of Panama, and before he knew it, he was thrust into the robes of a pre-teen wizard at the helm of a franchise quickly becoming a cult phenomenon.

When Radcliffe was shooting the first Potter, learning to defeat trolls and catch a golden snitch, this Daniel (me, of course) was 8 years old, learning where the hundredths decimal place was and how to identity an adjective. I ve grown up alongside Radcliffe for all these years, watching him progress from a child sensation to a full-blown actor and Broadway star.

And now, as the 21-year-old gears up for the July 15 release of Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I ve begun to wonder where all the time went. It feels like just yesterday watched a baby-faced, amateur wizard learn to ride his first broom, and now the facial hair-wearing warlock is battling the most evil force in the wizarding world. S in honor of the final movie, I ve decided to take a look at Radcliffe s progression as an actor throughout the years.

When filming of Sorcerer s Stone started back in October 2000, it was only Radcliffe s second time on an actual movie set (third if you count the 1999 made-for-T David Copperfield). He was small, inexperienced and adorably nervous. He managed to capture all of our hearts and, 15 minutes into the first film, had us sympathizing with him. He was also the reason why I always held my hand over objects and said up before I bent over to grab them instead, and why I immediately ran home after the movie and headed straight to my backyard for a proper-sized stick to act as a wand.

By the time Goblet of Fire, the fourth Potter installment, hit theaters in 2005, it was obvious that Radcliffe had become well versed at keeping the audience s sympathy while portraying a character he himself described as flawed, selfish and manipulative. Goblet of Fire was a turning point for the series, leading audience into a darker world than we d seen before. Harry s relationship with Ron and Hermione became strained, he was forced to compete in the Triwizard Tournament an ultimately witness the death of his friend, Edward Cull I mean, Cedric Diggory. All these things led to a performance by Radcliffe that required him to show off those acting chops and expose us to Harry s more conflicted side. 2009 s Order of the Phoenix is worth mentioning here (which is odd, because that movie is rarely worth mentioning under any imaginable circumstance) because introduced audiences to a much darker side of Harry, and made the similarities between he and Voldemort undeniably obvious. This movie best serves as an emotional bridge for the character Harry taking us from a troubled and confused child in Goblet of Fire to a fully-grown teenager aware of his faults and personality flaws. This emotional progression, which Radcliffe handles with impressive ease, has spanned across most of the films, with the starkest and most obvious transition occurring between Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince.

Last year s Deathly Hallows: Part 1 marked the beginning of the end for the screen character Harry Potter, but it also gave us one of the most humorous, comfortable and convincing Radcliffe performances we d seen so far. He made us laugh with the seven Potters scene, smile when he danced with Hermione shiver in our robes during his confrontation with Ron. He took us up and let us down, and did it with a skill and repose that only someone who s portrayed an icon character for half their lives could.

And while you may think that a child who spent most of his time growing up on movie sets (where it was perfectly acceptable to wave around wooden sticks and shout odd incantations at the top of your lungs) would be stunted and jaded in the real world, Radcliffe seems, for the most part, unaffected. And in spite of an alcohol problem he s recently admitted to (and claims to have overcome), he stills ranks as one of the most personable, genuine and humble actors around today

Aside from Harry Potter, Radcliffe has lent his talents to multiple projects. In 2007, he played Maps in the Warner Independent Pictures film December Boys starred as John Kipling in BBC s My Boy Jack . The play Equus opened on Broadway that same year with Radcliffe in the lead as Alan Strang, a controversial role for a 17 year old, as he was required to appear naked on stage for a 10-minute scene. Today, he s back on Broadway (fully clothed, mind you) in the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and can be seen in the supernatural thriller The Woman in Black , which hits theaters next year.

Is there future for Daniel Radcliffe as a big-name movie star? Who knows. But whatever he does and however he does it, he ll always be Harry Potter: the boy wh lived to me.
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1/23/12

Daniel talks Daniel: A look at how Radcliffe has progressed over the ye

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