OK, so, Dan Radcliffe, as you may know, was the featured guest in the latest installment of the New York Times interview series 'TimesTalks'. I was lucky enough to be able to attend - and I mean lucky! Apparently this one sold out faster than any other!
Dan looked & sounded the same up-close as he does on TV & in print interviews - always somewhat flustered, like he can't believe all this is happening, but nevertheless very articulate, respectful, humble, and eager to please.
Unfortunately the interviewer was really sub-par. She didn't seem to have all her facts straight, and none of her questions were at all insightful...in fact, several of the people in the audience asked better questions!
Photos and any kind of recording devices were prohibited (though, honestly, I doubt my recorder would have picked up much anyway) so I did my best to scribble down things I thought were cute, interesting, etc. [DISCLAIMER: I did my best to write down specific quotes, but I won't swear they're 100% accurate! At the very least, though, I got the sentiment & as many actual words as possible!] They're fairly disconnected, so I'm just gonna go with bullets here.
I know it looks like a tl;dr thing, but I swear each of the 3974 bullets is nice & succinct!
• He recalled listening to a lot of stuff from musicals in the car with his parents when he was young, especially Chicago. He said this was perhaps not the best thing for him to be constantly listening to at the age of 8.
• On taking on the challenge of Equus: "If I was gonna screw up, I couldn't screw up with better people!"
• After about 2 questions, Dan poured his water into the glass provided while the interviewer asked something else. When he finished, he stumbled a bit and had to ask her to repeat the question - he hadn't been listening because he was trying not to spill the water! (adorable!) [this got a big laugh]
• While trying to recall which HP was filming while he was preparing for the first run of Equus, he admitted that all the Harry Potter movies just blur together for him. Also on the subject of prepping for Equus, he said he asked Michael Gambon for advice; Gambon said to just learn all his lines in rehearsal! He also mentioned that, after spending so much time running lines, by the first performance he knew not only his own lines but everyone else's as well!
• On the subject of the difference between filming movies & doing the play, in mentioning how physically demanding the show was, he seemed very uncomfortable with any implication that he was complaining. He expressed several times that, while doing 2+ hours straight was draining, he doesn't want people to think he did something harder than people who put in 12-hour days.
• After a brief mention (I think by him) of the nudity, he said "It's 7 minutes at the end of the play!", then quickly added "Don't come just for that!"
• While talking about his age then, he pondered whether Americans thought it odd because, while he was over the age of consent in the UK, he wasn't in the US. He exclaimed "I'm 19 now though!" When reminded he still couldn't drink in this country, he looked somewhat comedically forlorn and picked up his glass of water. This was another bit that got big laughs.
• I don't remember the context, but at one point he said, in a funny & self-effacing way, "In England we like to live up to our national stereotype of being more reserved."
• He talked about the bond between stage actors being different from the relationship he has with his HP castmembers, mainly that they become so tapped into one another while performing that they know the instant someone's forgotten their lines. He said you can see in someone's eyes the difference between a pause, and panic.
• Told a story about Will Kemp missing the step up onto the block (with Dan on his shoulders) during one performance, said he was “laughing out of pure terror.” [someone tell me if I got the conext wrong on this one; that’s my best guess] After mentioning some hiccups in the play, he quickly reassures us “It’s not some ramshackle production!”
• When asked about the delaying of the HBP movie (the audience booed at this), he insisted the movie was great, and that he didn’t know anything about the rescheduling until the day before it was announced. He emphasized that he just didn’t want people thinking it was somehow his fault!
• The interviewer announced they would be showing a clip of OotP (which according to her, would be out on DVD soon (yeah, I sensed the audience wanted to throw things). I got the feeling it was going to be HBP but had to be changed. Dan did a funny trying to find the screen (which was above & slightly behind him) - lots of laughs.
• Asked how the tone of HBP was different from OotP, he referenced Arctic Monkeys, saying in the places where it’s dark, it’s darker, and in the lighter stuff, it’s lighter.
• He had trouble recalling a specifc funny moment from the filming of HBP. The only one he could think of was how he stood behind the camera intent on making Rupert laugh when it came time for Ron’s kiss with Lavender. He assured us that there were, in fact, lots of other, funnier things that went on.
• On whether there might be less interest in the DH movie because people know how it’s going to end: “They knew the boat was going down in Titanic!” [another huge laugh]
• Asked about how the reception of the play might be different in the US: “There are a LOT more people in this country who are in therapy!” He added that England’s reaction to such problems would be “You’re depressed? Walk it off!” [and again with the laughs]
• On a scene with Gary Oldman where he purposely…did something I can’t remember to elicit a reaction…”I was one moment away from going into a fetal position!”
• One of the audience questions was what his top 5 bands would be to perform at a concert, and he immediately responded, “Everyone should sit down, this could take a while!” His first answers were (hope I heard these right) The Alex Harvey Band, The Libertines, and The Pixies. Then he paused for a while before asking “Can they be dead?” (getting a huge laugh). Another pause and he added, “I don’t know why I asked that, I didn’t have anyone in mind!” His final 2 were Sex Pistols and Joanna Newsome (hope I got that right!)
• Asked what he did and didn’t like about New York, he said he’s amazed by the noise, mainly because they always seem to be doing construction. “You look away, you look back, and there’s a building!” He called Barnes & Noble “amazing.”
• Mentioned the cast had been out to some stables and were taught how to groom the horses properly, which apparently they hadn’t known before. He said the Broadway run would be “much more accurate” in that respect.
• Said his role models are Gary Oldman, Stephen Fry (whom he called “the thing that makes England brilliant.”), his parents, his friend Will (the costumer I think?), and "a lot of Cricketers [we (the audience)] wouldn’t know."
• Someone from dr.com prefaced her question by saying how much she loved the choreography in the scene where Alan blinds the horses. Dan immediately said “don’t get too attached” to that.
• If he could do any theater roles, he’d like to play Puck (big applause from the audience) and Bobby from the musical Company.
• On reading, his favorites are The Old Man and the Sea (he was shocked the other kids all hated it), as well as stuff by Hunter S Thompson, Zola, [a poet I missed], Keats, and Frost.
• Said he misses working with Gary Oldman “very dramatically!” He later told us (quite enthusiastically) we should start a petition to make sure he comes back for the forest scene in DH. ETA: He said he was more looking forward to the forest scene than the actual battle, and the audience went wild!
• He mentioned going to see A Chorus Line, and how he was taken aback that they were excited to meet him. He recommended it, then, remembering it’s now closed, told us (quite wittily) “It’s over and you missed it!” (in a really funny, taunting way)
• I was hoping we’d avoid it, but of course, the second-to-last question was about his Dyspraxia. He said something about “the number of messages I’ve gotten in the last 48 hours from very good friends saying, ‘So, you can’t tie your shoelaces?!’” He laughed about it, though, and pointed out he was indeed wearing shoes without laces! ETA: Said he does things to improve his hand-eye coordination, including gymnastics(!) on the HP set, and card tricks.
• The last question was about his religious background. He mentioned his mother was Jewish, his father Protestant, but that they weren’t religious, really, so he wasn’t brought up with religion. He added, “I wasn’t brought up in a moral cesspit!”
Other stuff I scribbled in the (imaginary) margins: HP was originally going to be filmed in L.A., and they wanted Dan to sign on for 6 films at the beginning; he's fascinated by WWI, and thinks it's the most important war of the 20th century because the machinery, etc. introduced in those battles led the way for all others to come; got asked whether he had heard any Wizard Rock (he's only heard of it); he apologized several times when someone in the audience asked a question to which he couldn't really provide a good answer; did a fair bit of facial scratching, and the reaching-behind-the-neck thing, as well as some tapping on his knee (I know some of you look for this!).
At the end he signed some autographs for the people in the very front.
There were some, err, overly enthusiastic types, but for the most part everyone was very well-behaved. Overall, it was really enjoyable...I just wish they'd gotten a better interviewer!
Edited 5:40pm 8/20 to add things I'm remembering. ETAs in italics
Link here if you want, just please don't steal any of my (really crappy) summaries!