On Tuesday evening, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe took to Reddit to connect with fans in the internet-honoured way: an Ask Me Anything (AMA) webchat. The 25-year-old actor was polite and funny, but he also gave away loads of information about growing up on a film set and being mistaken for Elijah Wood.
Here is what we learned:
1. Radcliffe would like to work with Jennifer Lawrence
When asked who he would like to work with, Radcliffe said : "George Clooney... Jennifer Lawrence... I just think they'd be really cool, Paul Rudd, I met him and was like "You're awesome!" I just want to work with people you can get on with, and you have a good rapport with, and those are definitely some of them."
Perhaps Katniss Everdeen and Harry Potter could exist in a realm outside fan fiction after all. Radcliffe also said he would like to work with filmmakers including Coen brothers, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan.
2. Russell Brand is his new best friend
As part of a conversation about what he enjoys watching on YouTube, Radcliffe revealed : "Normally I immediately distrust actors as soon as they are talking about politics, because I think it's quite self-serving, but [Brand]'s very sincere, and I really got on with him when I met him."
3. Alan Rickman was a bit like a real-life Severus Snape...
...as Radcliffe's intimidating but ultimately kind mentor – Just without the fake allegiance to the Dark Arts. Radcliffe posted : "The first few years I was genuinely quite intimidated by Alan [...] but as I grew up, I realised he was one of the kindest and most supportive members of that cast to me.
"Alan has cut short holidays to come and see me in plays, and take me out for dinner afterwards to talk to me about stuff, I think when he realised how serious I was about wanting to be an actor, and he knew what a particular world the Potter set was to grow up in - he just really wanted to help us all and has been very helpful to me, certainly."
Writing about pranks pulled on set, Radcliffe disclosed that in the third Harry Potter film: "There's a shot of all the kids sleeping in the Great Hall, and the camera starts very wide, and comes in so that it's an inch from my face, a very long developing set. Alan Rickman decided he would plant one of those fart machines in my sleeping bag, and they waited until the camera had come in for this huge DRAMATIC developing shot, and then unleashed this tremendous noise in the great hall.
I immediately thought: 'This is one of the other kids f---ing around, and we were going to get in trouble.'
But as it turns out, it was one of the members of Britain's acting royalty."
4. This is his favorite internet meme:
When asked by one knowing user, "How do you feel about being compared to Daniel Boringcliffe?", Radcliffe replied : "I've been shown that meme by a few friends, and obviously there are quite a few Harry Potter related memes and I have to say that one really made me laugh! It made me enjoy my name way more than I ever have before. So obviously Daniel Radcliffe beats Daniel Boringcliffe 100% of the time."
Radcliffe was then very polite, and thanked "whomever made that particular meme, because it really is very good."
5. Even as a child, Radcliffe respected Richard Harris's way with the ladies
Radcliffe pays his respects to the late Professor Dumbledore actor : "He was just such a sweet man... Relentlessly charming with women, I think I'm pretty sure I saw him flirting with female journalists at press conferences, I remember being a young child in awe of it..."
6. WWF taught him how to do an American accent
Among sitcoms such as Frasier and the influence of director Chris Columbus, Radcliffe attributes his American accent to giving his wrestling action figures American accents when he was used to play with them as a child.
7. Radcliffe wasn't allowed to put his name into the Goblet of Fire
The actor didn't seize the opportunity to put his own name into the selection cup for the lethal wizarding games, not out of fear, but because his handwriting was too poor : "I think that by that point, they had figured out my handwriting was so bad that they would never let it be seen in the film. So I'm pretty sure one of the props guys wrote 'Harry Potter' neatly on a piece of paper for me to put in."
8. Nobody has ever asked him what Horcrux he would use
Because why would Harry Potter ever indulge in such dark magic?! Regardless, Radcliffe has his answer well thought out : "I would put it inside an album on the iPod, so you'd have to open that album. So I somehow want it to be connected to a particular album that means something, like Ziggy Stardust. So that's how I'd want to do that."
9. He listened to heavy metal to prepare for his role in the new horror film Horns
In particular, Metallica and Megadeth, as Radcliffe's makeup artists/horn applicators "were both big metal heads".
10. He has never been approached for Game of Thrones
But would "totally would side with the Starks, though, because their symbol is a wolf."
11. Radcliffe is philosophical about sharks
He would like to be a shark, but in particular : "Maybe a Hammerhead because they are more social. Because I like the power of being a shark, but i don't like the isolation of a Great White's life."
Deep.
12. He likes toast
This is why AMAs can be brilliant.
