11 July 2005
EXCLUSIVE: GROWTH SPELL
Harry Potter week: How movies' child stars became teen
idols
By John Hiscock
HE WAS just a geeky kid with a scarred forehead when he burst on to
our cinema screens four years ago.
Since then little Harry Potter has turned from a shy schoolboy into
a heroic young wizard who battles baddies and casts fabulous spells
in a series of fantastic adventures.
And in an exciting behind-the-scenes visit to the set of the latest
£65million blockbuster, it's evident the change in actor Daniel
Radcliffe has been just as dramatic.
From an 11-year-old newcomer who hoped his voice wouldn't break
before the end of filming, Daniel, now 15, has matured into a
dashing young heart-throb.
He is one of Britain's richest teenagers, with an estimated fortune
of £5.6million, and gets 1,000 fan letters a day.
Today the handsome young actor has taken time off from filming
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, the fourth film based on JK
Rowling's stories, to talk about growing up on screen.
"Because I'm growing up alongside Harry I've got to know him very
well," he says. "But I don't think I'm as like him as I was when I
started."
Daniel is a keen golfer, enjoys pizza with his mates, watching
football and listening to the Sex Pistols and the Stranglers.
And in November he starts filming his first film since Harry
Potter, playing an orphan in 1960s Australia in December Boys. "I
just love acting because it's the only thing I've really been good
at," he says. "I have more confidence when I'm acting than when I'm
doing anything at school, like writing and sports, which I've never
been particularly good at."
Harry's pals Ron Weasley, played by Rupert Grint, 16, and Hermione
Granger, played by Emma Watson, 14, have grown up too.
Bashful Emma likes Destiny's Child and playing tennis. She is
reading the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials and never
wears make-up except during filming.
"My parents are very careful that I cling on to normality, and when
filming is over I go back to school with all my normal friends and
do everything that I used to do," she says.
And Rupert, who has left school, says of his fame: "I had no idea
things would be this big, so it was a bit of a shock at first. But
you sort of get used to it and it seems normal after a while. I get
recognised occasionally but it's not too bad."
Like the others, he gets plenty of fan mail. "The most interesting
things are the gifts that people send me," he says. "I get quite a
lot of pyjamas. It's a bit weird."
Working with teenagers has its drawbacks, and filming the latest
movie, due for release in November, hit problems when the three
main stars suffered an outbreak of acne. Producers had to bring in
an expert to airbrush the spots from the final cut.
The sixth book, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, is out on
Saturday and movie bosses hope Daniel, Rupert and Emma will star in
the film version of that, too.
But for now they are focusing on the fourth Potter story, Goblet Of
Fire. It is darker, scarier and more magical than the first three.
It has a violent and emotional ending, with the death of one of the
characters and Harry has a face-to-face battle with Voldemort. Our
hero also has to overcome another big challenge - teenage
love.
Harry fixes his lovestruck eyes on a stunning young Oriental
student named Cho Chang, played by Scottish-born Katie Leung.
Daniel relishes his romantic new role.
"Harry is growing up and discovering girls and becoming a
teenager," he says. "He's also coming to terms with a lot of demons
he is being forced to face. He's a lot more vulnerable in this
film." Ron looks on jealously at the budding romance. He has his
eyes on Hermione - but she falls for a handsome international
Quidditch star.
"He finds it really hard to get a date and he has some embarrassing
situations when he asks girls out," says Rupert. "He's also really
miserable because he's jealous of Hermione." Emma smiles: "Hermione
is totally swept off her feet and that's nice. She doesn't know
what's happening to her."
The young actors are talking during a break in filming at Leavesden
Studios, a former Rolls-Royce aircraft factory in Hertfordshire.
The entire airfield has been converted into the world of Harry
Potter: the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room and dormitory,
Hagrid's Hut, the Clocktower Courtyard, Quidditch stadium and the
town of Hogsmead.
The area is so vast that everyone uses golf carts, scooters or
bicycles to get around.
One major addition to the set is a giant water tank - the biggest
in Europe. It was built for Harry's underwater fight with the
"mer-people" who take Ron hostage.
Daniel trained for seven months, starting off in his local swimming
pool with scuba tanks. "I learned to take the tank off and share
air and clear my goggles and things like that," he says. "So after
all that training I got the hang of it and I was pretty much ready
to dive."
He did so well that for Christmas the stunt department gave him a
diving log book containing a record of all the dives he did for the
film and the time he spent under water.
"It came to more than 41 hours, not counting the training, so I was
pretty pleased with that," he beams.
T HE movie's dragons, werewolves, gigantic spiders and other
magical creatures have all been created in a workshop on the
airfield, but there are also some new human faces.
Miranda Richardson plays nosy newspaper reporter Rita Skeeter, who
is determined to dig up the dirt on Harry. Ralph Fiennes is
Voldemort and Brendan Gleeson plays a new Hogwarts teacher, Mad-Eye
Moody.
There is a school dance at which the music is provided by the
wizard rock band Weird Sisters, consisting of Jarvis Cocker from
Pulp and Jonny Greenwood and Phil Selway from Radiohead. Cocker, a
Potter fan, wrote three of the songs for the film.
As an ever-changing cast of extras wait hours for the cameras to
roll, they fill in the time by doodling in notebooks - and some of
the girls' thoughts are X-rated.
"They tend to get carried away," laughs Tom Felton, 15, who plays
Draco Malfoy.
Like his co-stars, Felton has grown since the first film, Harry
Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. "The older he gets the more
threatening and dangerous he becomes," he says. "He's a physical
threat rather than being an annoyance."
Despite their growing pains, producer David Heyman expects Daniel,
Emma and Rupert to be in all the films based on the seven books JK
Rowling has promised to deliver, although their original contract
was for four.
"There may come a day when the kids make a decision that they want
to move on, but we haven't reached that point yet," he says.
"In the books the children continue to grow. So by the seventh book
they will be 17 or 18 and so will Daniel, Rupert and Emma."
The new book..5 days to go
EVERY day this week, I'll be bringing you up to date with the Harry
Potter saga, so you'll be raring to go when the sixth book is
published on Saturday. Today, the first book in the series, Harry
Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.
ORPHAN Harry Potter lives with his only surviving relatives, the
dreadful Dursleys, and leads a very miserable life.
One day a giant called Hagrid appears and tells Harry he's a wizard
and is to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
He boards the Hogwarts express on the secret platform 93/4 at
King's Cross and meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Hermione
is my favourite character because I think I'm just like her.
The trio step into a magic world with ghosts, strange creatures and
a game on broomsticks called Quidditch. Harry makes an enemy, Draco
Malfoy. At Hogwarts, the friends stumble across a trapdoor guarded
by a giant three-headed dog. He is protecting the Philosopher's
Stone, which can make you immortal. Someone is trying to steal
it.
Poor Harry learns that a dark wizard called Voldemort killed his
parents and tried to kill him when he was a baby. But he has lost a
lot of his powers and needs the stone to regain his strength.
The friends race against time to get to the stone first. It's
protected by spells and enchantments, but they manage to bypass
them. Harry is then faced with a final battle with Voldemort.
Protected by a charm from his mother, Harry wins the battle, gets
the stone and because of their bravery the friends win the school
cup for their house Gryffindor.
When filming's over I go back to normal life
- EMMA WATSON (HERMIONE)
THE Harry Potter films have grossed more than £1.35billion. Harry
Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets was the UK's fastest ever selling
DVD.
JK Rowling is the world's first billionaire author and, the richest
woman in Britain apart from the Queen. - mirror.co.uk
