Daniel Radcliffe Once Shared How Michael Fassbender Guided His Career After ‘Harry Potter’
Daniel Radcliffe used many actors as inspiration for how to sustain a film career after his Harry Potter series. Michael Fassbender was one of those stars that guided Radcliffe in an interesting way.
Daniel Radcliffe wanted to show his range as an actor after ‘Harry Potter’
Radcliffe didn’t set out to distance himself from the Harry Potter franchise after its conclusion. But at the time, he wanted to choose different kinds of movies than the ones he’d been in to exercise his acting abilities. Overtime, however, Radcliffe became less interested with proving his worth as an actor, and more interested in telling intriguing stories.
“Directly after Potter, it was a real concern of mine [to show my versatility as an actor], but now, I think it’s just a part of how I pick roles,” he once said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t want to repeat myself, because that’s not fun for me, but not because it’s a part of any huge grand plan to continue to distance myself from Potter.”
Radcliffe explained why his film choices have had such variety over the years, from horror movies to comedies. He was building the kind of career that actors he admired had.
“Steve Buscemi is actually an amazing example of somebody who, if you look at his film roles, he’s been in everything from Fargo to almost every movie Adam Sandler has ever made, and big action movies like Armageddon and Con Air. He’s just got an incredibly eclectic, varied resume, and I think that’s a sign of a really exciting career,” he said.
Daniel Radcliffe once shared how Michael Fassbender guided his post-’Harry Potter’ career
Radcliffe asserted that very little planning went into the kinds of roles he chose after his Harry Potter obligations. His passion for a project was always Radcliffe’s highest priority when making a decision. He also realized he couldn’t base his choices on what his fans might have expected to see him in at the time.
“What my fan base wants me to do is not the most effective way of forging a career, or certainly not the most honest way of doing it. You got to remember that I did Equus and that was a pretty big deal,” Radcliffe once told The Associated Press (via CTV News).
There was one actor, however, that Radcliffe looked to when choosing certain jobs. Shame star Michael Fassbender unknowingly mentored the young actor’s post-Potter career.
“I developed it with James Watkins who directed The Woman In Black, and we call it the Fassbender test,” Radcliffe once explained to The Guardian. “If you’re ever being asked to do anything, you just ask yourself a question: ‘Would Michael Fassbender do it?’”
Radcliffe felt it was a test that wouldn’t only benefit him, but other actors as well.
“This referred to a moment when I was being asked to do something a bit more corporate than I’d ever done before, and it came down to the Fassbender test, and we thought he wouldn’t do it. It’s a pretty good test for a lot of young actors,” he added.
Daniel Radcliffe has no regrets over his film career
Radcliffe has starred in quite a few hits after his work in Harry Potter. Just recently, his feature Weird: The Al Yankovic Story has attracted rave reviews from both critics and audiences. Although he might have had a few misses too, Radcliffe confided that he’s more than satisfied with his career trajectory.
“If a regret is something I wish I didn’t do or that if I could go back and change it, I would… Then I don’t really have any regrets. Everything I’ve done has at the very least been something I’ve learned something very valuable from,” he once told The Talk. “I wouldn’t change anything. I have to say — and I’m sure, now that I’ve said this, something I’ve turned down will go on to win massive awards — but over the years, I’ve been right about the scripts I’ve turned down… So far so good.”
