Ever since the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” in 2011 Daniel Radcliffe has done a sterling job of distancing himself from the beloved character by embracing an array of eclectic roles.
This has included the poet Allen Ginsberg in “Kill Your Darlings,” Igor in “Victor Frankenstein,” a corpse in “Swiss Army Man,” an undercover FBI agent that infiltrates white supremacists in “Imperium,” and now in “Jungle” he plays a stranded Israeli trying to survive in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
One part of “Jungle” that feels particularly pertinent to Daniel Radcliffe’s plight occurs when his character Yossi Ghinsberg remarks that he once had it all but has since embraced the randomness of life. During my recent discussion with Radcliffe I asked the actor whether this line resonated, not just because of his time as Harry Potter but because of the choices he has made since.
“The assumption everyone makes, and it’s not entirely wrong, is that you get typecast or thought of in a certain way. But the reality is that you get presented with opportunities, and then you can make a choice about whether you remain typecast or not. There was stuff that I could have done straight after ‘Harry Potter’ that wouldn’t have been a departure from the kind of roles that I’d been doing. But when I was approached about playing Allen Ginsberg in ‘Kill Your Darlings’ I thought, ‘Yes, that’s the kind of thing I don’t think anybody would be expecting, but I also think I can relate to the part and do it’.”
The 28-year-old then went on to thank the directors that have offered him his recent array of roles, insisting that they were brave to try and “reinvent” him.
“I think that for every director out there that thinks you’re typecast there’s another that’s excited by the opportunity of being the one to reinvent you or give you a new image. That’s also an exciting idea for directors, and I’ve been really lucky that people have given me no shortage of cool, weird roles in the last few years.”
You can check out Daniel Radcliffe’s latest big-screen adventure when “Jungle” is released in theaters and On Demand / Digital HD on Friday, Oct 20.
