After ten years and eight films of witchcraft and wizardry, you'd think Daniel Radcliffe would have had his fill of franchise pictures. But the Harry Potter star obviously still thinks of them fondly, as he's given the newbies from Star Wars: The Force Awakens some valuable advice: have fun!
During the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Radcliffe gave ET a couple of minutes of his time to discuss the occasion at hand. He also had some words of wisdom for Daisy Ridley and John Boyega – the young up-and-comers starring in the latest Star Wars film, and they're just as upbeat as you'd expect from the rather jovial actor. His advice is as follows:
Just enjoy it! There's some weird thing that I think people feel about franchises, where they're like, 'You do that so you can do other cool work.’ -- franchises are fun! You get to do stuff in franchises that you don't get to do when you're doing little indie movies. You get to do stunt sequences and crazy action stuff. It’s a lot of fun!
In a franchise driven world, there have been a few actors that have gone on record as stating that working in a regular series of films is more than a little exhausting. So naturally, if Daniel Radcliffe were to have said that the Harry Potter films had ruined him for franchises, we probably wouldn't have batted an eye. With the eight film series taking up the first decade of his career, Radcliffe has had extensive work with green screens, harnesses, and switching back and forth from more dramatic projects to the world of Hogwarts. And yet, if you asked him to be in another franchise, he sounds like he'd be game.
Which is probably why he looks like he's having so much fun in the new trailers and advertisements for Victor Frankenstein, though part of that could be his comedic chemistry with fellow franchise vet / all around fun guy James McAvoy. With his new monster movie marking a return back to the world of special effects and mythical creatures, Daniel Radcliffe still has the taste for the fantastic in his career appetite. Which is a good example of how not all who embark upon the epic quest of seeing a role out until its natural end turn against the experience by time it's over.
From the looks of Daisy Ridley and John Boyega's response to the trailers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it doesn't look like the wonder of franchise work has worn off for them just yet. Of course, with a film as highly anticipated as that one, the luster may wear off if the reviews are too savage, or if the following films are even rougher experiences. Still, if we were to make a wager on their thoughts of the whole Star Wars experience by time the final installment in the new trilogy was released, we'd say that Ridley and Boyega will be grinning ear to ear, thanking Daniel Radcliffe for the good advice.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18th, with Victor Frankenstein dropping before it on November 25th.
