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May 2004
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban: An Interview with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson

By Wilson Morales

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban: An Interview with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson

Sequels have a way of changing actors. For one thing, depending on the time frame, their appearance is different. Another thing is maturity. For Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, playing Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, they certainly have faced and experienced many things in the years that have followed the first Harry Potter film. Back again for the third time in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", Daniel and Emma spoke about the changes they have faced.


How have you changed since the last Harry Potter film?

Emma: We've just been getting older and maturing.

Daniel: I think we probably have changed as actors as well but I'm not conscious of myself changing.


Do you notice more attention from the opposite sex now that you are maturing?

Daniel: I don't have a girlfriend, no. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm sure both of us have noticed members of the opposite sex because we're now fourteen. We're just now going through what every person goes through (at that age). I'm not complaining about the extra attention. At the MTV studios (in New York) there was a girl outside who was wearing just a Harry Potter towel with a sign, saying 'Nothing comes between me and Harry Potter!'


Adolescence is hard enough, but you have to do it in the public eye?

Daniel: I'm kind of just going through what every other teenager goes through except with posters. It's not as different as people would expect I don't think.

Emma: There was a rather awkward hug with myself and Ron (Rupert Grint). On the exterior Hermoine and Ron spend the whole film just arguing because Ron is convinced that Hermoine's cat has eaten his pet rat. But I think it's a cover up really they have a bit of a soft spot for each other and it's a classic love hate relationship to tease the ones you like.


How are you dealing with teenage angst?

Daniel: Hormones are interesting things. I listen to a lot of rock music which I think does help to let off a lot of steam, definitely.

Emma: Daniel and I both have very supportive families. I'm trying to do exactly what I do before I even started the film. Between films I always go back to school, I see all my friends, I play sport and I go to normal teenage parties. All of my money is locked away in a bank until I'm twenty-five and I'm never going to see it until then! I have good friends and family who keep my feet on the ground and keep it real.


Daniel, your character is exploring some intense darker moments. How did you tap into those feelings?

Daniel: Harry being a teenager has the same feelings as every other teenager basically, but because of his past I think he feels feelings of anger or loneliness stronger. I obviously am feeling the same things as him so I basically just exaggerated what I was feeling and listened to music to get me in the right state of mind for filming. One of the scenes was with the Dementors (the flying reaper-like characters who come to suck out the soul of Sirius Black to take him back to prison) and me and Sirius (Gary Oldman) by the lake. I have my soul sucked out and I did this stupid thing where I forgot to breathe properly and I hyper-ventilated and almost fainted.


How did you handle Richard Harris' death and the replacement of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?

Daniel: It was awful. I have what I think is the kind of supreme, amazing honor of being able to say that I was in the last scene that he ever shot. I don't think Richard is the kind of guy who would've wanted us to mourn over him. He would've wanted us to be happy and just remember him for all the times he made us smile and just laugh.

Emma: Obviously it's very hard to follow on for Richard Harris. He was a perfect Dumbledore. Michael (Gambone) did a really great job instead of trying to make himself look exactly like Richard Harris or try and copy him, he did his own thing with it and he's put a different spin on it. He's a more mischievous Dumbledore.


What was it like working with Gary Oldman?

Daniel: I watched ninety percent of Gary Oldman's films and I just have so much respect for him as an actor. He's one of the greatest of his generation. It was a complete inspiration to work with him. He's actually the nicest guy as well. He gave me a bass lesson and he's a really great bass player. It was so amazing for us to be working in the same room.

Emma: Dan almost bit my head off when I said at the beginning when he said, 'Gary Oldman has been cast as Sirius Black.' I said, 'who?' Now I know that is the most terrible thing that I could possible say ever! Even though I didn't know him, he's great.


Do you find that you are missing out on your normal lives now that you are committed to the next Harry Potter film?

Daniel: I do better at school when I'm on set, quite a lot better. I still see all my friends all the time so for me I don't think I've lost anything.


Emma, in the film your character Hermoine Granger gets to teach the obnoxious Malfoy a lesson by punching him in the nose. How much fun was that?

Emma: (laughs) I loved it. I loved every single second of it. Girl power, it was great! I would've done it for a whole week but we got in a couple of takes. I wanted to do it again! It was fantastic. It is a great moment. It was cool. ) I hope I've done justice to her character because it's my favorite book and it's such a great part for her in the third book.


Since you are committed to the next film what will you do as you get older than Harry in real life?

Daniel: We are getting older than the characters because there was a longer gap between the third and fourth. I'm now fourteen and go to fifteen in a couple of months. I am getting older than Harry but we are taking it one film at a time. If they don't want me to do it after five, we'll have to see then I suppose.


What are your future ambitions? Do you have any political ambitions?

Daniel: God help the nation I'm a politician for! I really enjoy and love acting. I think it's something I would like go on and do but there's loads of stuff I'm interested in well mainly music and writing. I'd love to maybe form a band (whether I actually have the organizational skills to get me and some other guys together), but that would be amazing. I'd love to make a record but whether that will happen or not films are something I'd love to carry on doing.

Emma: My ambitions couldn't have even dreamed of the scale and the greatness that Harry Potter is so I feel really lucky about that. There are so many different aspects of the film world that I might end up doing. I'm just going to go with the flow and see what happens. I'd like to do some stage work because I love to sing and dance and I love the adrenaline rush that you get when you're right there on stage with an audience responding to you.


Did you fulfill any fantasies of meeting somebody famous?

Daniel: I got to meet some of my favorite actors like Gary Oldman, I actually got to work with him, who I've always loved since I've started acting.

Emma: Someone I was dying to work with was Emma Thompson who got cast as the part of Professor Trelawney (the quirky spiritualist in the film) because I love her. She did a really great job. She is hilarious. I had really good fun with her because she was very creative and very involving with me. It was really flattering for her to involve me like that.

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