Daniel Radcliffe picks the greatest role of his career so far: “This is incredible writing”
Daniel Radcliffe might be known as the boy who lived, but his career has exponentially expanded since his formative childhood role, starring in some of the strangest independent films in contrast to once being the biggest blockbuster star of all time.
After his leading role in Harry Potter, Radcliffe took a complete 180-degree turn and decided to harness his talents in other ways, going on to win a Tony Award for his Broadway work and collaborating with some of the weirdest and most wonderful directors. However, despite playing everyone from the famous boy wizard to ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, there is one role that Radcliffe recalls most dearly, and might just be the most unexpected from his filmography.
Following the unprecedented success of Everything Everywhere All At Once, the A24 film that smashed global box office records for an independently produced project, many people began to re-examine the careers of the Daniels – the filmmaking duo who seemingly arose from nowhere after suddenly skyrocketing to fame. But before their mind-bending odyssey of past regrets and alternate realities, the Daniels first ventured into this genre of experimentally low-brow yet highly profound corner of cinema through their 2016 movie Swiss Army Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano.
The film follows a very depressed man who is stranded on a remote island, stumbling across a dead body, who gives him new purpose as he attempts to find his way back home. Radcliffe plays the titular dead body, a role that is more challenging than it sounds, as Radcliffe’s body is dragged around while he has to remain completely deadpan.
It’s a beautiful and hilarious story about the struggle to keep going when you have lost everything, with Dano’s character finding hope in the most unexpected of places after meeting a new friend who just happens to be dead. When discussing his creative choices thus far, Radcliffe said, “There’s sort of like a theme with Swiss Army Man and Weird [Al Yankovic] and the show Miracle Workers that I do, which is that they’re bizarre and sort of stupid and gross and weird, but also incredibly earnest and sweet and kind.”
Adding, “That’s really the tone I like to try and operate in, and with Swiss Army Man particularly, you know, you can only be as insane and stupid as the Daniels, who the directors are, if you are also as brilliantly intelligent and smart and insightful as they are.”
While it might be silly and crude in places, the Daniels manage to inject meaning into their endless stream of fart jokes, with Radcliffe attributing this to their enormous talent as writers, saying, “If the whole film had just been a farting corpse, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It’s a fun premise, but it’s not a movie. But, you know, watching how they turn it into something genuinely moving and funny and heartfelt, I wanted to be a part of this. This is incredible writing.”
It’s a testament to their creativity that they are able to imbue substance into the silliest of moments, creating a deeply moving story that will have you laughing and then suddenly hit you like a ton of bricks, which is certainly the trademark of the Daniels duo.
