[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Daniel

Mon Mar 10 20:24:48 UTC 2003

Lynda wrote:

<snip>

>I'm not worried about Dan -- he looks so different with his hair different
>ways and no glasses, and he's obviously quite a talented actor, so I'm sure
>he'll be fine.  If I were the person in charge of Dan's career, and knew he
>wanted a *career* as an actor, I'd make sure he had other movie roles DURING
>the "Harry" years, even if smallish ones, to ensure the casting directors
>realize the kid can ACT, not just be Harry Potter.

Well, the person in charge of Dan's career is his agent and on-set 
chaperone: his dad. Radcliffe Senior is torn between developing Dan's 
career as an actor, maximising his chances of keeping his options as open 
as possible (i.e. doing well academically) because as has already been said 
in this thread, Dan doesn't yet know *what* he wants to do (which is 
perfectly normal), and allowing Dan to have as normal a teenagerhood (if 
that's a word) as possible. As I've said several times in the past, I don't 
envy him and wouldn't want to swap places with him (we're approximately the 
same age, although I don't have any kids - at least none that I know of).  :-)

Spending most of the year on one film set is enough upheaval to a normal 
life. Having to do the publicity and celebrity thing makes it even worse. 
Having all kinds of people trying to get to him for one reason or another 
(some honourable, some less so) is more than enough cause for sleepless 
nights.

To add making more movies into the mix might do his acting prospects some 
good, but what other effects would it have? Few would be to his advantage.

(I'm deliberately avoiding the issue of money - thankfully, the Radcliffes 
are more than comfortable already so they have a more realistic attitude 
towards making money from Dan's acting than, say, the Culkins.)

Sure, Dan might be able to do the odd cameo here and there, but anything 
beyond that would be counter-productive.

>  I don't know about the
>British education system, whether he could manage more film time with his
>schooling or not, but doing more than just Harry would be a good idea, career
>wise -- as long as he's enjoying the work and not being overwhelmed (and
>still has time to be a kid!).

Yeah well, that's the big issue. It's not the education system which could 
cause problems (the British system is probably one of the most flexible in 
the developed world) but the employment rules. There are all kinds of 
limitations on what he can and can't do, and when he can and can't do them. 
His school has allowed him time off, but there are strict limits on what he 
can do with that time, and it's unlikely that in such a high-profile 
situation, they would be prepared to bend the rules any more than they 
already have.

>I grant you, the O.W.L.-sounding system you Brits have described (our "trio"
>of actors have to take some kind of career-determining test in the next
>school year, right?) may not be as flexible as the American school system
>seems to be.

Actually, it's a lot *more* flexible. However, that flexibility comes at 
the price of time, and British kids are expected to spend their time being 
at school, not building careers. For each of the examples of successful 
academic careers for American child stars, there are probably 100 failures. 
The British system would consider those failures unacceptable.

This is a "philosophical" difference between our two cultures which has 
lots of ramifications, some of which are exemplified by the number of kids 
involved in the entertainment business in the USA. I'm not saying that it's 
necessarily right or wrong of itself, but it is very different.

As for exams, I'm not sure what year each of the kids is in at school 
(there's room for a certain amount of flexibility), but based on birth 
dates, I expect that Rupert (almost a year older than Dan) might be taking 
his GCSEs next summer (2004). However, by the end of this school year (July 
2003) he will have to decide what subjects he will be taking, and *that* is 
the big career-determining move. Dan has a full year at least before he 
needs to make those decisions.

<snip the rest>