Over the years, Daniel Radcliffe has said things along the lines of “conceptually, we are the same,” while speaking about how he frequently gets mistaken for Elijah Wood, and he’s totally right. This latest quote came from an interview where the Harry Potter star opened up about how he’s amused by fans comparing the two. However, this time, he also explained why the Lord of the Rings star may have had reason to be a bit “annoyed” with the mix-ups when they were younger, and it’s totally understandable.
It makes sense why these two beloved actors are so connected in people’s minds. Along with kind of looking alike – which we’ll get into later – they also both played the lead roles in massive fantasy franchises that are among the best movies of the 2000s. Both the Harry Potter films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy began in 2001, they’re both based on wickedly popular fantastical novels, and they both star young guys with brown hair and blue eyes.
However, as Radcliffe pointed out in a Vanity Fair interview, he was 12 years old when he started playing The Boy Who Lived, and Wood was 20 at the beginning of Frodo’s journey. With that age difference in mind, the Swiss Army Man star explained why the Sin City actor had good reason to be annoyed with the mix-ups all those years ago:
No, [I don’t get annoyed]. I think it’s very funny. I imagine he would get annoyed that people mistook him for me once, because I was a 12-year-old child when he was playing Frodo, and that would have been annoying.
Considering how in 2001 Radcliffe was a pre-teen and Wood was an adult, it makes sense why the Harry Potter star said this. These days, when the two get confused it's just fun, but back then that kind of age difference was a lot more jarring, making the comparisons a little bit weirder.
Right before humorously explaining why his so-called look-alike might have been “annoyed” by people mixing them up back in the early 2000s, Radcliffe revealed why he thinks the two get confused so often. He said:
I think that me and Elijah Wood, the idea of us is the same. We are both short, pale, brown-haired actors with blue eyes. But we don’t actually look that much alike when we’re next to each other. But just like, conceptually, we are the same.
Overall, these two really seem to get a good laugh out of this whole situation – the Harry Potter star even said he loves it when people shout at him from moving cars. However, Wood and Radcliffe will tell fans the same thing when they get mixed up, which is a simple “no.” This was proven again when the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story star elaborated about how he’s been asked many times to sign photos of Wood. He’ll gladly do it, however, he’ll always sign "Daniel Radcliffe," and not pretend to be his fellow fantasy star.
While I’d say these two are more like cousins than twins when it comes to looks, there’s no denying that they really are “conceptually” similar. Along with having similar features, they’ve also had parallel career trajectories. Both were young stars in massive fantasy franchises, and these days they are among many child actors who have taken on some wild roles now that they’re all grown up.
They’re proving this point to be true right now, too. Radcliffe’s wild show Miracle Workers as well as Wood’s performance in the drama Yellowjackets both were part of the 2023 TV schedule. They’re also both continuing to take on fun and unexpected roles. At the moment, the LOTR star has two films in post-production, and his so-called doppelganger is in the midst of starring in the revival of Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway.
To go back and stream both of these iconic fantasy film franchises, and to see Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood in some seriously legendary roles, you can stream both the Harry Potter movies and Lord of the Rings films with a Max subscription.
