Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment in the acclaimed blockbuster series, is darker and more brooding in many ways than the previous entries. It’s the Empire Strikes Back of the Potter franchise, an emotional roller coaster of joy, tragedy and emotion. The threats from Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters may be getting stronger and closer, and the Hogwarts School may not be the sanctuary it once was, but that does not stop Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley from falling in love, grappling with their hormones and experiencing heartbreak. So what if the world might be coming to an end? That first kiss can be just as explosive an experience for a teenager.
Fandango caught up with the three stars of the Potter series in New York to get their thoughts on their latest film and their characters’ newfound romantic entanglements.
Q: What did you learn most about your characters in this film?
Emma Watson: I think in the [other] films you see quite a strong and empowered Hermione. She’s the brains behind the operation in guiding the guys around. I think in this one you see a very different Hermione – she’s much more fragile and vulnerable and emotional. She’s experiencing her first heartache. I think she’s very confused about Ron and how upset she is when he kisses someone else. It was a challenge for me to play this much more emotional, vulnerable person. It was fun to do a lot more comedy with Rupert, which was great, so I had a lot of fun doing this one.
Rupert Grint: I like to think that this is Ron’s best year at Hogwarts. He gets a girlfriend and joins the Quidditch team for the first time. I really enjoyed it.
Daniel Radcliffe: The big change for Harry this year is his relationship with Dumbledore. Previously it’s always been very much teacher and student, and this year Dumbledore changes into being a general. Harry becomes a foot soldier and is happy to be so. In the other movies Harry talks about getting Voldemort but never really does anything towards it, whereas this year he is planning and trying to do something towards the ultimate destruction of Voldemort.
Q: In the movie Ron has this stalker girlfriend because of his sudden celebrity. Have you dated people who are more interested in who you are onscreen rather than yourselves?
Daniel: Fortunately I don’t think that’s the case for many of us. I don’t think any of us –
Emma [joking]: I’m dating my stalker. I can be very demanding, and he’s really into me. So it works.
Daniel: That’s probably the best way to deal with them. If you just confront them with it, then they often go off.
Daniel: Rupert, are you or are you not dating a stalker?
Rupert: I’m not, no, but it sounds quite good really.
Q: Now that you’re almost done filming the last book, is it sinking in that this experience is truly ending?
Daniel: For me it hadn’t until this week, when everybody seems to be telling me that it’s almost over. I was actually getting along quite nicely until people said, “Well, so your dream’s coming to an end.” To be honest, we’ve got a year left on [part] seven, and then we’ve got to do lots of publicity, so there’s a long way to go, to be honest. I don’t think we’re contemplating the end too much too soon.
Emma: Aside from that, we don’t feel as if Harry Potter is ever really going to die because it is so big and so loved. We have a theme park coming out in 2010, and I think kids are going to keep reading the books and new generations of kids are going to keep watching the films. I don’t really feel like it’s ever really going to go away. I think it’s got longevity.
Q: How did you balance the light comedy and heavy drama? Puppy love for teenagers can feel like life and death, while the threat from Voldemort and the Death Eaters really is life and death.
Emma: [The comedy] was light relief for all of us because for kids’ books they’re pretty dark, pretty heavy and serious. And I think it actually heightens the pathos [at the end of the film].
Rupert: I think this is one of the funniest ones. I think Jim Broadbent was hilarious in it, and Jessie Cave as well, who plays my girlfriend. I really enjoyed it.
Daniel: For my money, in terms of the comedy, this is Rupert’s finest hour. He’s absolutely brilliant in it. He reveals himself to be a fantastic practitioner of physical comedy. He balances the dramatic side wonderfully, but the scene on the broomstick in Quidditch is like something out of Buster Keaton.
Q: The kids can control magic but not their emotions and hormones. How did you reconcile those two principles for this film and moving forward?
Daniel: I find it particularly endearing with Harry that he’s this acclaimed wizard and he’s crap with women. This film demonstrates basically two types of teenage relationships: one, which is mine and Emma’s and Ginny’s, which is that kind of teenage thing when you’re just in love and it’s pure and innocent and all that matters in your life; and the other kind, which is much more carnal and energetic, which is the one Rupert was lucky enough to have.
Emma: Hermione is such a control freak. She wants to control everything about her life – her destiny, her work, everything – and then suddenly she just falls apart and is a wreck because she can’t control what she feels. I think in her head, if she could have chosen who she would have fallen in love with, it certainly wouldn’t have been Ron. She would have chosen someone much more serious and smarter and more suited to her, but you can’t help who you fall in love with.
Q: Daniel, how did you get into character for the scene when Harry is drugged on Professor Slughorn’s special potion?
Daniel: To be honest I just let the more manic side of myself that I suppress for 23 hours of every day loose for a while on set and became an uncontrollable, vaguely irritating but vaguely amusing person that I keep hidden. I just let him out and went mad for a few days. It was great fun and a side to the character that hasn’t been seen before.
Emma: I think drugged Harry is closer to Dan than [sober] Harry.
Daniel: You’re probably right. If you spent a proper amount of time with me, you would probably wonder if I was on drugs. I’m not, but incredibly hyperactive and manic. I can be quiet, but [when I was] at the premiere in England the other night, I was like this beast that had been unleashed onto the red carpet.
Q: Daniel, what was it like shooting the underwater scene this time?
Daniel: It was quite easy going in comparison to what I did on [part] four, when I was underwater for about 41 hours over the course of a month. I only did two days of filming underwater [this time]. It was one of the coolest moments of my career, bursting through the surface of the water, being surrounded by this circle of fire, real fire, and looking up and seeing [actor] Michael Gambon there like God or Moses, swirling fire around his head. It was one of those moments where I knew – no matter how many films I do – that I will never [experience] that scene or anything like it ever again.
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