Daniel Radcliffe is completely normal. This is always worth pointing out, because the young British actor has made it through his teenage years with barely a bump, an achievement indeed considering his turn at the centre of the world's biggest film franchise has meant that everything has been far from normal around him.
How has he done it? Well, to mark the arrival of the entire Potter franchise to the Sky Movies service, Daniel Radcliffe has sat down for a brand new, in-depth one hour interview in which he discusses his experiences of growing up on set, child stardom, handling the hype and media attention that came with the phenomenon, as well as life after Potter.
Daniel Radcliffe - proof that not all child stars can fall off the tracks
On Being Harry Potter
Whatever opportunities I get for the rest of my life; 99% of them you can trace back to the fact that I got this amazing job when I was 10. I still maintain that there is no place more fun for a boy than a film set: it's just great cause it's mad and there's lots of stuff to play with and climb on - I loved it; it was great. It's very hard when you are in the middle of something this big to fully appreciate - because it's always such a part of my life, that I don't notice when it takes over other people's lives for a few weeks of the year when the posters are everywhere and the films are coming out and it's a really big deal; there's all the pre-release hype going on.
On Handling The Hype
I just thought it was silly and funny - we had a great reaction to it as a family; anytime we saw a poster with me on it I would just stand in front of it and have a photo taken with it! Which is a really touristy kind of thing to do, I suppose. We didn't ever find it weird, I have always found it hilarious that I'm suddenly on posters. Just the other day somebody sent me a picture of their son standing with a life-size Lego version of myself and that stuff, still, is really funny. I mean it's bizarre but I've never found that odd or creepy, I've just always found it funny. If you start letting that stuff get to you then you're in the wrong job because there is a lot of it!
The 'Harry Potter' star's family made him see the funny side of fame
On Being A Teenager
When I was a teenager I was thinking "why can't I just go out like all my friends are? Why can't I just go to clubs?" And frankly, I have been to clubs since and they're not really my thing anyway I've discovered, which is quite lucky for me. A lot of my friends would be like "do you want to come here tonight?" and I was like "no, I'm getting up at 5.30am for work tomorrow, I can't."
The teenage social world is like a soap opera; I don't watch soap operas because I know if I miss a week's worth of episodes then I'll come back and the entire cast has changed or something - I cannot keep up with those storylines! And basically if you're out of the loop of a teenage social world for 11 months of a year, you can't just come back and walk back into it because everyone's changed so much so I did feel disconnected from people my own age, but I also felt lucky to be so connected to people older than me.
Because you know when you're a teenager you're all going through the same thing; you're all moaning and acting as if the problems that you're having now are the biggest problems you'll ever face in your life. I was on a film set with people who have all been through this stuff and could all turn around to me and say: "It's fine. In a year's time you will not even remember this girl. Or... That fight with your friend is so unimportant in the grand scheme of things."
'I'm a geek'
On Child Stardom
I was by no means a natural at this; what I've learned I've learned through application and hard work. This is something I was aware of from a very young age: If I can make it out the other side of this, and forge a career for myself for the next, however long, then any other child actor who comes after me will hopefully not have to deal with all those irritating questions because if me and Rupert and Emma can do it in the most successful franchise ever, then that puts the argument to bed. I really want to prove all the people wrong who assumed when I got the part that we wouldn't ever carry on beyond 'Potter'. I've already done stuff towards that; Equus, My Boy Jack, December Boys Woman In Black - these are the first steps in what is going to be a very long process.
On press scrutiny
Generally it' been amazing and fantastic and I wouldn't swap it for anything and, aside from all of the stuff that all teenagers go through; with girls and self-doubt - which doesn't really leave when you stop being a teenager, but there have been moments with the press where it has been quite tough and you do feel... there's an overwhelming sense of people waiting and wanting us to slip up. That is quite upsetting I suppose; that there are people in the world who are willing you to fall on your face because frankly, they don't care if you live or die - they just want to sell papers or be able to do some 'How It All Went Wrong' documentary.
Daniel Radcliffe used to read terrible things about himself on the internet
The worst thing I did - it's been well documented that I never read anything about myself in the papers or on the internet or anything but when I was 14, I did - I went on the internet and Googled myself and obviously there were a lot of people saying nice things but you don't see them, you only see the people who are just vile about you and that is just really, really strange - the assumption that they know me and that they have a right to talk about me that way; it's just so unbelievably arrogant of some people. So yeah, that I did find quite upsetting and that did affect me for a while, particularly as a teenager.
On Life After Potter
Somebody said to me after Potter are you not going to take a break? And I said no, I cannot afford to take a break: this is the time when the film world will be watching to see what we do next and we can't afford to be seen to be inactive: that fear of failure is something that will panic me a lot.
On Being A Film Star
It's bizarre when you meet people and they really do feel like they know you. I don't feel weird about that I just feel like "what a disappointment it must be when you meet me." I think people have an image of film stars that we're all very cool and I'm not - I am a geek. I'm obsessed with cricket, I'm happy in my own company, I'm not particularly what people want when they meet a movie star, which I'm quite happy about - I don't necessarily want to be that but I always just think - I've had experiences when I've met heroes of mine and it's been really disappointing, for whatever reason and I always worry when people meet me that they might go through a similar experience.
Experience the magic of all 8 Harry Potter movies on Sky Movies and watch Daniel Radcliffe: Being Harry Potter in full this Friday at 7pm on Sky Movies Showcase HD