Daniel - Equus New Interview

The The Telegraph has a new interview with Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Griffiths, Will Kemp and Jenny Agutter

Maiming a horse is a far cry from riding a hippogriff, isn't it?

Completely. There came a point on the third Potter film when I thought, acting is what I want to do. I thought it would be a bad idea to wait till the Potter films were all finished to do something else. There are certain people who will be more than happy to see you in any other role you like, and there will be some who will never, ever see you as anything other than Harry Potter. Once you've accepted that, it's fine - you just do whatever you like. With this, they can say I'm good or terrible but the one thing they can't say is I haven't challenged myself.

The play argues that if you scratch the surface of any domestic environment, you will find abnormality and dysfunction. Is that your experience?

I know a few people that are very much like Alan, in that they are quick to anger. I recognise bits of myself in Alan, absolutely, and I think when young people come to see the play they will see themselves in him. I've got a great image of somebody who came to see the play when they were 16 and saw themselves as Alan, and then coming to see it again and seeing themselves as Dysart.
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Alan's trouble is more visible because he hasn't got the vocabulary or social skills to disguise it.

The play is an extreme portrayal of teenage isolation. How do young actors avoid the psychological fall-out of early stardom?

It's me and the boy who was in The 400 Blows and Truffaut's other Antoine Doinel films. I've been lucky enough to have a direct route laid out for me.

Physically, it's a hugely demanding first stage role for a 17-year-old actor.

William: Dan is up for anything. We do a lot of things together - running around with him on my shoulders. I'm grateful that he's in fantastic nick, plus he's actually quite light.

Dan: Eight and a half stone.

Towards the end of the play, Alan and a stable girl have a love scene that goes badly wrong. The scene is, in all senses of the word, revealing, in that it involves nudity. How do you approach it?

I didn't look at the nudity and go, oh great. But it's the same as doing a role with an accent or a particular affectation. You look at the character first. Lots of the actors that I've admired have at one stage or another taken their kit off. It's a rite of passage. That iconic scene is the physical and emotional climax of the play. So if I do that with pants on, it would be crap.