We are, sometimes, our own worst critics. That may just be the case for Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who was recently quoted as saying he hates his performance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Despite the support he's received from J.K. Rowling over his portrayal of the boy wizard in eight Harry Potter films, Radcliffe is willing to say that Half-Blood Prince wasn't his finest performance.
The comments made come from an interview Daniel Radcliffe did with Daily Mail, which includes some interesting thoughts on his decision to take the stage naked when he was 17 for Equus, and eventually his opinions of his performances in the Harry Potter films. Radcliffe admitted he's not a fan of watching himself on film, but he makes himself do it. "And that's why it's hard to watch a film like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Radcliffe says. "Because I'm just not very good in it. I hate it." He elaborates on that, stating:
"My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn't come across. My best film is the fifth one because I can see a progression."
Radcliffe's performance in Half-Blood Prince doesn't particularly stand out to me as one-note, but I have to agree there was real progress in his performance in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, particularly at the end in the scenes that took place at the Ministry of Magic. There were some dramatic and emotional moments in that sequence of events that really demonstrated Radcliffe's acting growth. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the film that followed, and it sounds like Radcliffe isn't thrilled with how he performed.
As for his thoughts on whether or not Harry should've ended up with Hermione -- a topic that came up somewhat recently when J.K. Rowling did an interview with Emma Watson and the scenario was addressed -- Racliffe says he's glad the story ended the way it did. "If Harry and Hermione had ended up together, it would have been too conventional and it's far better to be unorthodox."
Daniel Radcliffe has tackled some interesting projects since the Harry Potter film franchise wrapped up in 2011. That includes The Woman in Black, Kill Your Darlings and Alexandre Aja's feature adaptation of Joe Hill's Horns, which is due out this Fall and will offer us a demonstration of Radcliffe's ability to do an American accent -- sample it in the trailer here. He also starred alongside Jon Hamm in A Young Doctor's Notebook. Next year, we'll see him play the role of Igor in Frankenstein.
