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Daniel Radcliffe is dallying on his lunch break from a Broadway rehearsal, but he's not concerned about being late. “I'm literally the only person in this play,” says the actor, 36, on a phone call from Manhattan's Theater District. “They can't start without me.”
It's the third day of rehearsals for Every Brilliant Thingbeginning Feb. 21, a one-man show that sees Radcliffe's character create a list of reasons life is worth living in an effort to help his suicidal mother. The performance requires some audience participation, which Radcliffe calls “very much outside of my comfort zone.” Not that he minds. “Not really knowing what's going to happen,” he says, “that's always a very enticing prospect for me.”
At the same time, Radcliffe is starring in a very different project: the NBC sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkinswhere he plays a filmmaker trying to rehabilitate a disgraced football star, played by Tracy Morgan. “I'm naturally pessimistic about a lot of things, so I never want to lean too much into unbridled optimism,” Radcliffe says, “but it would be awesome if this show can go for a few years. It would make me very happy.”
In an interview for Rolling Stone's Last Word column, Radcliffe discusses his career highlights, transitioning from drama to comedy, monster trucks, and more.
What's it been like working with Tracy Morgan on The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins?
Tracy, he's one of the funniest people on the planet. Every day, you're going to hear him say five of the craziest things you've ever heard a human being say. And also he's incredibly generous and capable of having very emotional conversations as well. So he's a real pleasure to work with. We're very different, but the thing we overlap on is that we both really, really love our job and feel very lucky to be able to do it.
I'm going to a Knicks game with him. I've never been to a basketball game, and I'm also aware that Tracy's, like, the mayor of MSG. It's going to be an interesting experience.
You've described Every Brilliant Thingwhere your character makes a list of reasons to live, as “a very funny play about depression.” What would be on your list?
Most of mine at the moment would probably be about my son — all the bizarre pronunciations he has for things. I took him to [the the live monster-truck show] Monster Jam, and there's a truck that's a unicorn, and it shoots confetti out of its horn. The truck is called Sparkle Smash, if you're interested. I heard him telling that story later, and he referred to the confetti as “spaghetti.” Also, his godfather gave him a little toy-car model of a Lamborghini, which he remembered as “zucchini.” So there's any number of just incredibly sweet things that he says.
I'd also say the music of Joanna Newsom or Tom Lehrer. I could make a list of a thousand brilliant things that were just records. And there's one in the show that I love, which is “Waking up late with someone you love.” That is a brilliant thing in life.
You've been performing in Broadway productions for over two decades now. Do you still get nervous onstage?
Oh, my God, absolutely. There's a myth that actors don't get nervous. Maybe some don't, but honestly, if I was backstage with somebody before a first show or preview and I was like, “Are you nervous?” and they said no, I would immediately distrust them or think that they were either lying or about to screw up. A little bit of nerves is healthy — you're walking out on stage in front of 900 people.
There's always the first moment when the rubber meets the road, when you do it with a new show for the first time, that's both terrifying and thrilling. As the show goes on, you get more and more used to doing it. But when I was doing Merrily [We Roll Along]I was pretty nervous every time, just before I did “Franklin Shepherd Inc.” There was never a time when I was like, “Ahhh, yeah, this is chill and easy!”
What did it mean to you to win a Tony for Merrily We Roll Along?
It was amazing. It was very special to win it as part of that show. And it was a truly great night. I don't drink anymore, so I'm not a person who parties till 6 am very often, but I did that night, and it was awesome. There was a moment in the night where we were at this hotel and somebody was playing “New York, New York” on the piano, and [my co-star] Jonathan [Groff, who also won a Tony that night] was singing along. I was just like, “What is life? This is so impossibly perfect and lovely.”
You played “Weird Al” Yankovic in the 2022 biopic about him. Did you learn anything in particular from him?
You just take lessons from Al in the way that he lives. The acceptance of and leaning into his own weirdness — the things that brought him joy and made him laugh led to a career of immense variety and longevity and an incredible amount of joy put out into the world — I think anyone can take inspiration from.
While you first found fame in a dramatic role, you keep surprising audiences with lighter parts. Was that an active decision for you?
It was sort of inevitable. The stuff I got obsessed with in my teenage years, very little of it was big, intense movies. I was watching half-hour comedies. 30 Rock. The Office, both the English and American versions. And then in the UK, there was a show called The Day Today, which is where the character of Alan Partridge came from. If you were to witness a conversation between me and Matthew Lewis [who played Neville Longbottom] from the Harry Potter films when we were, like, 16, I'd say 50 percent of what was coming out of our mouths was us repeating Alan Partridge bits, which was very irritating for everyone around us.
At this point in your career, are you at peace with the fact that no matter what you do, you'll probably always be known as Harry Potter?
Oh, my God, yes. I have always been fairly fine with it. I don't need people to forget that I did that in order to enjoy stuff I'm doing now. In fact, it often leads people to seek me out in other things. Coming out of Potter, I was probably more stressed about it. The first time I did a musical, I went into rehearsal rooms like, “Fuck, everyone thinks, 'What's this movie kid doing here, and is he going to be any good?'” It's nice to not walk in feeling those things anymore.
Did you see the SNL “Heated Wizardry” skit?
I did, yes. Weirdly, I had met Finn Wolfhard a few weeks before, randomly, and we chatted for a bit. And then he texted me the day before it aired, being like, “Hey, just so you know, we're doing a Harry Potter sketch.” I haven't seen Heated Rivalryalthough I am very aware — my girlfriend is a huge fan. I'm sure there are jokes I was missing, but it was very funny and sweet. I'm always happy to see other versions of that. It makes me laugh.
You've been with your partner, actress Erin Darke, for over a decade. What's the key to a healthy long-term relationship?
We're really good at having big conversations and not shying away from them. In prior relationships, I'd just be like, “What if I don't have [the talk]?” Erin's always been really good at making me talk about my feelings more than I'm naturally inclined to do, as a vaguely repressed Englishman.
And I've always loved her brain. Her perspective on the world is something I really treasure. She has a way of cutting through issues and seeing what's important. I think you often love qualities that you wish you had yourself, and I definitely don't have that one. I guess that's not really advice as much as it's just a thing I love about her.
What are the best and worst parts of success?
If you're successful, you get to keep doing more of the thing that you like. People keep giving you opportunities. The worst, I mean, that is a pretty sprawling conversation. The hardest part is figuring out what everyone else might consider success for you versus what you view as success for yourself. Especially if you get famous young. I was very much in a position where I was like, “OK, I've been in the most commercially successful thing that I will ever be in, so that can't be the boundary for what success is now. It has to be things that are actually fulfilling.”
What's the best advice you've ever gotten?
Something my dad said has always stuck with me. “When you're meeting people, just get your hand out first.” I'll go into a room full of a lot of people and will feel a deep need to shake everybody's hand. As a kid, I was so aware of the stereotype around child stars. I was like, “Man, everyone thinks I'm going to be a dick everywhere I go. I just have to try and prove as quickly as possible to somebody that I'm not.” It's a way to show that you're not an asshole.
Do you remember the best concert you've ever been to?
I went to the Reading Festival in [when I was] 16, and Arctic Monkeys were playing in a tent. They were halfway up the bill of the smallest tent of the festival because they were not yet famous, except they were. The album [2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not] wasn't out, but if you were illegally downloading music, which, I'm sorry, I did, you could have listened to the whole thing. Watching this band right on the cusp of becoming massive, where they were in a tent that was probably for a few thousand people, and there were probably like 10,000 people trying to cram in there, that was really cool.
What's the most indulgent purchase you've ever made?
Oh man. Jesus. This is a question for Tracy Morgan. He has a glass that was on the Titanic. Went to a shark tank. He's a better man for this.
You're not on social media. Do you ever feel like you're missing out?
Literally never [laughs]. I was just in our rehearsal room, and everyone was having a conversation about bricks or apps that keep them off their phone. I go on the internet. I'm not note online, but I'm not on Instagram. I'm not on any of the Twitter versions that exist. I don't know how anyone does it. Honestly, it seems so stressful. I'm stressed enough. I don't think that would do wonders for my mental health. I'm sure this is going to be the thing that when my son is older [will] make him think of me as unspeakably old and decrepit. But yeah, I can't do it.
How has being a dad changed you?
I'm an emotional wreck, in the best way. I cry a lot more. I see him being incredibly joyful, and it just transforms you. It's the first time I've watched someone laugh so much that it has made me cry. How beautiful it is to see somebody just rolling around having the time of their life.
How do you want to be remembered?
I'll try to affect the lives of the people around me while I'm here. Beyond that, I don't worry about that.
