British actor Daniel Radcliffe is all set to go up against the ‘four horsemen’ in his upcoming film Now You See Me 2, the sequel to the 2013 hit. Daniel, who has been busy juggling his commitments between movies and the stage, talks about the role, why he took up the character, what he’s working on and a lot more.
What made you take up Now You See Me 2?
I’ve never really worked in a movie where I’ve played a real antagonist. It feels very nice to be a sort of a British bad guy. Also, it’s a very interesting character and I think it has such an amazing group of actors who all bring something different to the table. It’s a fun movie. I read the script and I thought, “Yeah, I have not done a film like this.”
How was it to work with Micheal Caine?
There are very few actors who do what he does and I know people considerably younger than him who don’t have half the energy or enthusiasm that he does. His general attitude about everything is something that I aspire to have.
You seem to have broken out of the Potter mould. From going nude onstage in Equus and growing horns in Horns to playing a corpse in Swiss Army Man, you’ve done a variety of roles. And now this is your first villain. Was that the big draw?
Totally. Also because it has such an amazing cast. But being a Brit, I feel that playing the bad guy is a rite of passage.
Were you influenced by any classic villains? Or any real-life villains?
Not villains. But just a bunch of posh private school boys that I knew at school. They were sort of petulant and angry kids who had daddy issues. I’m drawing on a couple of those.
You’ve also got Swiss Army Man coming out soon, which generated a lot of buzz at Sundance. The trailer for the film had you farting a lot, so we’ve got to ask you, is any of that real?
No. One of Paul Dano’s (his co-star) is though. Our directors (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) said to everybody, “If you have any farts, you can go over to our sound mixer and he will record them and we will put them in the film and you will get a credit.” And I think only two people contributed and Paul was one of them.
