Daniel Radcliffe: An Englishman in New York
NEW YORK — Daniel Radcliffe made his Broadway debut in 2008, in a revival of the stark drama Equus. He returned three years later in the musical comedy How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
For his third turn on the Main Stem, Radcliffe, 24, wanted to mix things up again; so he chose what he describes as "an incredibly sad, moving, affecting play that somehow makes you laugh all the way through it."
That would be Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, which is set to open Sunday at the Cort Theatre. The first entry in McDonagh's Aran Islands trilogy, which includes the celebrated The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Inishmaan was first produced in 1996, but has never before been staged on Broadway.
That it is finally arriving now is a testament both to Radcliffe's star power and the very favorable notices the production drew on the West End, where it premiered last June as part of a series presented by acclaimed director Michael Grandage (Frost/Nixon, Red, Jude Law's Hamlet). McDonagh, who is famously protective of his work — which includes The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara and The Pillowman, and the films In Bruges and Six Shooter — was among its admirers.
Four plays pondered
Grandage first met Radcliffe 10 years ago, when Radcliffe was 14. "We hadn't worked together, but he knew that theater was always something I had wanted to do," Radcliffe says. "So he kept in contact with my agent, and he asked if I wanted to be part of this season he was doing. I said, yes, absolutely."
Radcliffe then "found myself in the ridiculously lucky position of being sent four plays by Michael Grandage. I started reading The Cripple of Inishmaan, and by the third scene, I was like, 'This is it.' "
According to Grandage, it was actually Radcliffe who pointed him to Inishmaan, by suggesting that the director's series include "something from the Irish repertoire. That was the first indication I had that I was dealing with someone who was smart, well-read and had a far-reaching understanding of the theater."
Discussing the play in a midtown rehearsal studio, Radcliffe describes it as "an ensemble piece — don't let the fact that my face is on the poster fool you." He does portray the title role, Billy Claven, who is shunned and ridiculed by the denizens of his coastal town but nonetheless dreams big, especially when filmmakers show up hoping to capture life in the community. (McDonagh was inspired by the 1934 documentary Man of Aran.)
"People treat Billy horribly all the time, but his compassion and wit and intelligence are undiminished," Radcliffe says. "Despite the fact that he's been beaten down, he's able to reach out and be emotionally open."
Grandage was impressed by Radcliffe's "hunger to become a versatile actor, which I certainly believe him to be. Daniel grew up in front of us as Harry Potter; but what's fascinating to me is that the moment he was free of that, he started making fascinating and very diverse choices. He wants to constantly challenge himself."
In person, Radcliffe still comes across as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He is polite but effusive, littering his conversation with enthusiastic adjectives and adverbs. Asked whether he feels that he's cast off Potter's shadow, he responds, "I think more people definitely see me as Dan than Harry now, particularly in New York," because of his theater work — "which is very nice."
Radcliffe says he feels at home in the Big Apple, where he finds the overall vibe "more positive than in London." The Brits "like to revel in our grumpiness a bit, and you're not like that here."
"I've got friends here now — from doing shows, and filming as well. It's an amazing feeling to touch down in another country and not feel like a foreigner." His girlfriend, also an actor, is with him, "so she doesn't have to get on airplanes all the time for months, which is nice as well."
Though Radcliffe gave up alcohol a few years ago, "I still go to bars. I'll just meet friends there. There's a place I love where you can play table tennis. That's another lovely thing about New York — you can go out without drinking. In England, when you meet up with somebody, it's usually for a drink. Here you can just have coffee, and it's not weird."
'You can have a life'
And while doing eight shows a week requires discipline, he feels liberated in the sense that "at least you have most days free, so you can have a life. When I make a film, I tend to drop off the face of the Earth a little bit. My friends don't hear from me for weeks, which is terrible."
He's nonetheless slated to shoot another movie after Inishmaan completes its run: Tokyo Vice, adapted from Jake Adelstein's 2009 memoir. "I play an American journalist who becomes very involved, shall we say, with the Yakuza — the Japanese mafia. On one hand, it's a very smart and interesting look at Americans in other countries, but it's also a great, real-life thriller."
Radcliffe has already completed screenwriter Max Landis' new adaptation of Frankenstein, directed by Paul McGuigan, due next year. He plays the legendary lab assistant Igor, "which was a lot of fun. I had very long hair extensions, and was quite glad to have them taken out. It's a retelling of the story from Igor's point of view, about his relationship with Frankenstein. They start off very well-intentioned, but then Frankenstein's ego goes off the deep end, and he has to be pushed back to some sort of sanity."
Another project that Radcliffe has in the pipeline — perhaps not surprisingly, given his affection for a certain city — is a film titled Brooklyn Bridge, with a screenplay by Douglas McGrath (Bullets Over Broadway, Emma).
"It's one of the best scripts I've read," Radcliffe says, eyes widening again. "It's a wonderful history of how the bridge was built — an absolute love story to the city of New York, and to America in general. You know, there are hundreds of millions of people who cross that bridge every year and don't have any idea of the amazing story behind it."
Radcliffe hopes to get Bridge made "in the next couple of years, but you never know." His goals also include acting in a new play, "something I'm desperate to do, because it's something I've never done, and it's absolutely one of the quintessential experiences that actors should have at some point."
For now, of course, he is focused like a laser on making Inishmaan worthy of superlatives for its new audience.
"It's almost like London counts for nothing, unless we can make New York fantastic," he says. "Hopefully, we will."