Daniel Radcliffe Has Acting 'Chops,' Says Co-Star Gary Oldman

The elder actor admires Radcliffe's plan to work beyond 'Harry Potter.'
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
Photo: Warner Bros.

Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman share a special sort of bond, one forged during the filming of 2004's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and then revisited during the more recent "Deathly Hallows" shoot.

"He's always somebody who — just from being around, I don't know whether it is from some kind of quite pure and childish desire to want to impress him or out of the fact that he just gets something out of me — having him around for some reason on the fifth film was such an amazing thing for me as an actor, and hopefully he'll have that effect again," Radcliffe told us back in the summer of 2009.

And, in turn, the impression Radcliffe left on Oldman lasts to this day and had the elder actor expressing his admiration for the boy wizard when he spoke to MTV News while promoting "Red Riding Hood."

"As the books have got darker and as the books have got more complex, he's in a different league," Oldman said. "Who would have known that Emma [Watson], Rupert [Grint] and Daniel, at 11, would have had the chops to take it through to the end?'

Yet Oldman's respect for Radcliffe extends beyond the "Potter" universe and to his other acting pursuits, like a risky stage play that required him to appear in the nude. "I don't know many 17, 18-year-olds that would have done 'Equus.' And he's now singing and dancing on Broadway. He pops up out of these holes. And he's got f----you money, so he can do what he wants. And [he's] dedicated, takes it very seriously and works very hard."

Oldman said that Radcliffe's turn in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," which officially opens on Broadway in late March, is all part of a plan to challenge himself and successfully vie for roles with other actors on a level, non-"Potter"-assisted playing field.

"When I heard that he was doing the dancing, going into training, he said, 'Look, I am not going to rest on my laurels and come out and think I'm going to get stuff because I was Harry Potter,' " Oldman said. " 'Once "Harry Potter" finishes, I'm in the arena with all those other actors who are going up for the job, who can dance and who can sing, and I have to compete with them.' "

Check out everything we've got on "Red Riding Hood."

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