Daniel Radcliffe was recently a guest on the A24 Podcast (via Screen Rant) where he admitted that the reason why he stayed on as Harry Potter for so long was that he didn’t want to go to school.
“My mom and dad asked me between every film, basically, ‘Are you still enjoying it, and do you want to go back?’ I was always like, ‘Yes. I hate school,’” Radcliffe said.
We can’t really blame Daniel Radcliffe for wanting an excuse to stay out of school and it’s hilarious that he claims it’s the only reason why he chose to play Harry Potter for so long. Still, we’re glad that Radcliffe played the character so well in those films.
Daniel Radcliffe auditioned for the role in 2000 and first played the Boy Who Lived in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He would reprise the role in seven sequels ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - Part 2 in 2011. Radcliffe was 12 when he was cast in the role and he was 22 by the time the eighth film was released.
Although he is best known as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe went on to work on numerous movies that were very different from the franchise that made him famous. His notable (and quirky) projects included Guns Akimbo, Swiss Army Man, and Victor Frankenstein.