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The ups and downs of being Potter-film child stars
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-27 07:50
LONDON (Reuters) - Dodging paparazzi and juggling homework with filming are just some of the drawbacks of being a teenaged movie star, the young actors from the "Harry Potter" film series said. Daniel Radcliffe has played boy wizard Harry Potter since the start of the Warner Bros. franchise in 2001, and has signed up to the part until the series ends with the seventh film, slated for release in 2010. "The only things that can be troublesome -- there's a lesser degree of spontaneity in my life ... than there would be in other teenagers,"' Radcliffe said of his fame, while stressing that he loved the acting and filming itself. "If someone says, 'Do you want to come to this particular club?' it could be hard, because you couldn't just go. You'd have to find out what the place was like first," he added, referring to celebrity hangouts popular with photographers. The 17-year-old, a household name in Britain with personal wealth estimated at over 20 million pounds ($39.98 million), has turned to theater to develop his career, most recently in Peter Shaffer's "Equus," in which he played a troubled stable boy. "Every night I was coming out of the theater when I was doing 'Equus,' there would be paparazzi there," he told Reuters in a recent interview to promote "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth Potter film released next month. "So ... I would wear the same hat and the same jacket every single night on the way out, so that it all looked like photos from the same night. It was quite a good idea." He said his relationship with the media was generally good, although it could get harder when he turns 18 next month. "I just think I'm going to be more sort of fair game," he explained. STUDIES AND STUDIOS Co-star Emma Watson, who plays Harry's friend Hermione Granger at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has to juggle schoolwork with filming and publicity work for the movies, including interviews, press conferences and red-carpet events. "I love doing it, don't get me wrong, but there is a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility," the 17-year-old told Reuters. "I have a job as well as doing school. "Harry Potter is such a big franchise, it never really stops. It's kind of like a full-time job because even when you've made a film it's not over. It's never over." She agreed with Radcliffe that her fame restricted what she did as a teenager, although she worked hard to keep her professional and personal lives apart. "One of the things about being a teenager is you just do what you want and you let your hair down and you dye your hair funny colors and you experiment and you do crazy things. "I'm not really being able to do that in quite the same way that a lot of my friends are." Watson also wants to continue acting after the Potter series is over, but plans to go to college, probably in Britain, as one way of keeping her options open. "It's a really hard business to be in and I just get the sense that I always want to have something else to hold on to." Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, told a press conference last week that he had bought an ice cream van, which was an option for the future should his acting career fail. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" opens in theaters in July, and follows Potter and his magical pals as they rally a small group of followers to prepare for a battle against dark forces that Harry knows lies ahead. |
