Daniel as Harry

[nancyaw2001 at yahoo.com]

Been lurking here, but I'm emerging from the shadows to add my two 
knuts' worth re. Daniel as Harry:
I agree completely that Harry isn't prone to showing much emotion and 
that is a reflection of the environment in which he was raised. I was 
raised in an environment very similar (verbal and emotional abuse) 
and, to this day, (I'll be 38 in January and I'm VERY HAPPY about 
it!) I don't show emotion much. Those sorts of lessons stay with you 
for a long time, and it's rarely that I feel safe enough with someone 
to show what I really feel. Look at Daniel's eyes, though, and you'll 
be able to tell what Harry really feels. 
Nice "meeting" all of you!

Nancy


--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., eleri at a... wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., genevieve373 at y... wrote:
> > > # Hurts to say this, but Dan Radcliffe is really not very good. 
> He 
> > > has the "stillness" which moviemakers seem to look for in child 
> > > actors, and which Harry needs, but otherwise he's a bit wooden. 
> > > Absolutely likeable, but not very interesting or revealing to 
> watch.
> > 
> > 
> > I agree that Daniel wasn't extrordinarily expressive all the 
time, 
> > but I think that is more the character than the actor.  I 
wouldn't 
> > expect a child who grew up psychologically abused to completely 
> come 
> > out of his shell all at once in a drastically different 
> environment.  
> > He used more expression at the appropriate times, and was stoic 
at 
> > other times...I guess this is just what I might expect from 
Harry.  
> 
> (Trying to play catch up here...)
> This is just the thing I was discussing with another mom who's had 
> experience with abused children. Daniel as Harry comes across just 
as 
> a child whose been abused for 11 years.
> Consider that Harry, every time he showed some emotion or 
expression, 
> was punished or degraded in some way for the entirety of his life, 
so 
> he learns to hide all emotion and expression. That sort of survival 
> reflex doesn't go away quickly or easily. Someone who's been in a 
> situation like that doean't act and react like a normal child, and 
> often comes across as stiff, unemotional and fake. 
> IIRC, there was an interview that said that Daniel had 
that "haunted" 
> look they wanted, that he could portray an abused child well. I 
think 
> that came across perfectly in the film (Although I do think it took 
> about a third of the film before any of the kids hit their stride.)
> 
> Eleri