Daniel Radcliffe, Vol. V

26:30There's a list which I hand out cards which have a number and a thing on it. So number one is ice cream. And I give the card to somebody and I say, you know, when I shout one, you shout ice cream. And so there's probably, I'm going to say like 75 or 80 of them that we hand out. I probably account for 30, 35 of them being handed out. and then David and Laura, our associate directors, do the rest and we all kind of work together. And so that's the kind of the basic level of audience participation. There's another couple of fun jobs, like somebody gets to throw confetti and I stash a chocolate bar with somebody.

27:08There's bits and pieces like that. But then there are five people who play really significant characters in the show and we cast them out of the audience that night.

27:20Nobody plays those parts who thinks they're going to at the beginning of the night. that is always assigned to somebody who has no idea that they're going to be doing that when they come into the theatre that night. And it's great. And it's so much fun to do. It is very stressful beforehand, as you are finding people, and very often it does always seem to kind of come together in the last five minutes of every pre-show that we find, like, you know, we've been looking for a Mrs. Patterson or we've been looking for somebody to play my love interest. That's a uniquely awkward thing to have to find in the audience every night to, like, be approaching.

27:52I apologize to Josh, Josh got a panicked voice note from me because after he sat down with his wife in our show I approached them and I was like, hey, I haven't found anyone yet Would you mind like playing my love interest to his wife with Josh there? And I like, it's just a very awkward thing to ask people, even though I like I know Josh But like and I could tell his wife was kind of going like, oh, I don't really want to do this But I feel like I have to because like my husband has a work relationship with you And we didn't end up, we didn't end up using you guys that night and it was fine but I did, I feel really bad.

28:21Like there is parts of the show that are uniquely suited to me. And there are parts of the show that are uniquely like speak to the, the most socially awkward, anxious parts of my brain where every night, it sort of feels like you are, you're hosting 900 people every night and you kind of want to make sure that everyone goes away having had a really nice time. And I, um, I remember I said, I, I would be going back after each show going like, Oh my God, I said this to this person. Or I said that like, you know, I, One of the things I've learned is I am really bad at working out the relationship between two people sitting next to each other.

28:56Like the amount of people I've gone up to and been like, are you a couple? And they were like, we're mother and son. I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry. There's been, so there's been a lot of that. And I'll go home and I'll say to Erin, like, oh, I said this to this person. I mistook a mother for somebody's partner or, you know, I did. And then before we opened, I said to her, I was like, I think, just so you know, because I was coming home talking a lot about it every night, I said, I think after we open, I'm going to be a little bit more settled and a little bit calmer. And she just went, Dan, I've been going to parties with you for 14 years.

29:27This is, and this happens every time we get home. This is not going to change. And indeed, it has not. In terms of also, I mean, so that's one huge aspect of it, that it differentiates it. And you alluded to the other that this is a show about depression. It deals with suicide. It is also a joyous, very funny show that you must be reminded of. But I guess I'm curious, does making a show about depression, about suicide, about the subjects that we don't necessarily feel comfortable talking about, does it make it easier to talk about these things for you? Have you reconciled more of your own feelings about these subjects, living through it every night after night?

30:11I mean, honestly, there's something really beautiful about getting to do this show that, you know, there is catharsis in it for me and an audience every night. It's really, you know, and I am talking to people a lot at Stage Door about their experiences with it, or, you know, there's a couple of moments in the show itself where there's a moment where I talk about, the line is something along the lines of, I'll remember it tonight, I'll get it wrong now. But it's something along the lines of children of depressed parents can actually have a heightened reactivity to stress. I learned recently that growing up in a house with an emotionally unavailable or inconsistent parent can actually change the chemistry of the brain.

30:51And every night as I'm looking around, I can see somebody just like nodding. And it's the sweetest, and it's so sweet and sad. There's a line in a Mary Oliver poem called Wild Geese where she says, tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. And it does feel like there's this very real and honest exchange happening between me and not. And I do think the show is, it will affect you differently depending on what you are bringing into it and what your history with these issues are and what your experience of, if you haven't dealt with it yourself, but people in your life. I think there's a wide range of how this show might make you feel.

31:33but at best there is I think like genuine catharsis in it for audience members and and I also appreciate that like for some people the issues are so heavy that there shouldn't be jokes anywhere near them and I I completely sympathize with that point of view it's just not how I work I think and I think this play tries to tries to hold both of those things in a really beautiful balance like and it's also it's the you know the experience as I have talked to people about you know the the character in the show um his mother is is the person in his life who is most directly dealing with sort of um depression and suicide as an issue um and there is also things alluded to about that character that she's incredibly fun at times and there are great moments with her as well and that's something that as I've spoken to people particularly who people whose mothers who have a similar relationship with their mother, they've really enjoyed that part of the show, that it's appropriately sad at the moments when it should be sad, but there is also a recognition of it's not sad all the time.

32:41Like sometimes having a crazy parent is really fun. You know, like there are moments in when if particularly if that person is bipolar, you know, I'm using the word crazy, obviously very glibly, but there's like, there is moments when people, you know, it's just, it's complicated. And I think this show tries to sort of factor in all those sides of those relationships in a way that hopefully I think we do a pretty good job of. And in terms of like, as much as you're comfortable speaking on, I mean, you've spoken before about dealing with depression at times in your life, and we all have to certain degrees.

33:14None of us are immune to that. I mean, what have you felt, what have you found has helped you in the years since that you dealt with it in a more debilitating way? What's been your... Yeah, I mean, look, I've been very lucky. The people I've met in my life at the moments when I've met them, both in terms of, you know, I'm very, very... Like, I have quite long-term sort of sobriety from alcohol now, which is drugs and alcohol, which is wonderful. I'm very, very grateful for that. And, you know, I met people at key moments in that who influenced me in dealing with that. and also like I think there's something about one of the most moving parts of the show to me is that there's a moment when I'm talking about my love interest and I'm talking about how well they know me and there is something about being truly known and understood and seen by another human being that is you know it's why love exists I feel like you can't emphasize like how wonderful that is and so you know I met my partner Erin 14 years ago.

34:23I always add a year accidentally, so I think we're at 14. I want to say 15, which I think means it's 14. And we've been together for 14 years, and so she's obviously been a huge part of my happiness. And then having a child, I will say that there's a moment in the show where I talk about the idea of things getting better. and keep going because you never know, you know, let the future, I don't say this in the show, but like let the future prove you wrong about what you think it's going to be. And there's something, you know, I was, there have been moments in my life in my late teens and early twenties when I was really sad and didn't know and scared and didn't know what the future would hold for me or how I was going to look back on my life.

35:13And if I could have, you know I would never have believed then that I would be experiencing the happiness that I am now with my partner with my son and with my life in general and so I feel like there is something about being in a show which allows me to try and very directly say that to people that is the kind of like honest connection that you is I don't know you don't get to do that a lot as a as an actor in your work but also I don't know particularly as like a person that like people think of as famous like I know that sounds like a weird way of saying that but like I'm not famous to the people in my life like they are aware of it obviously but like they just know me and I think that there's something about the idea of being a famous person that puts a huge amount of distance between you and people and actually like half of the my energy that I'm expending in my relationships when I meet people is kind of breaking that distance down and I think that this show allows me to do that in a way that I've never experienced before and probably never will again.

36:16I mean, I think it's huge. It shouldn't be diminished how hugely powerful the stuff you just said was because I think for people listening, it's like, especially young people that are dealing with these issues, it's like, if Daniel Radcliffe dealt with this and I know timeline-wise, it was kind of like towards the end of Potter where things were kind of hitting the fan and having that degree of material success and to still feel isolated and lonely and uncertain about the future and then to come out on the other side of it is hugely impactful and hugely inspiring, I think, for everybody. Well, thank you.

36:49And I will say, I don't, you know, I think it's very easy to draw a line and probably many of you, not incorrectly, are in your head between that timeline and what was happening in my life, sort of publicly and what I was going through. And you're not wrong to do that, but also I don't know that it wouldn't have happened if I had never been cast in Harry Potter. Like there's definitely a world in which I'm dealing with some version of this in sort of any timeline. And so, yeah, I just wanted to add that. More Happy Say Confused coming up.

37:23Hey, Chicago. Class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast. So why wait to find your new fave footwear? Step into a local Crocs store and step into your new look. Try it. Style it. Make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up. It shows off. First day fits. Handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest Crock store today. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto.

38:05bundling just another way to save with the personal price plan prices are based on rating plans that vary by state coverage options are selected by the customer availability amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state on another note in terms of like the structure of the show we kind of alluded to this i mean the nature of the show is it's different every night it's hugely different i mean you're essentially improvising with like non-actors every night. Did you ever improvise a line on Harry Potter once? Was there anything? I don't think so. I mean, yeah, I don't know. Maybe.

38:45I think I would have always been too scared of screwing up a take. Because also we were shooting on film at the beginning and we really didn't want to... I probably would always have asked. I don't think I would ever have fully just made something up. I would have been asking Chris Columbus like, can I say this? And he'd be like, no, that's a bad idea. No, he wouldn't have been there. He was very generous, but I'm sure a lot of my 11 and 12-year-old ideas for lines, I would add, were not great. Let me just rewrite Steve Clovis' script over here. No, I don't... Yeah, no. I don't think... There's not been...

39:17And it's interesting, because there's some improvising in the show every night. Some of it's very, very structured. There's sort of a monologue with a few breaks for more improv-y sort of bits. But yeah, there was not... improvising has been a huge... I think I do still have reticence about doing it, even on the Tracy Morgan show, because I still don't want to... I want to get the take as scripted first, and I always feel like, oh, actors... I've been on sets where actors think they're really funny, and most of them are not as funny as writers. And so I've been on sets where actors are just amusing themselves with ad-libs, and the crew is just like, can we go home?

39:57like um so i i'm sort of always loathe to to be one of those guys in terms of so we alluded to this you you've you've done so much great work on stage and like it seems like you is it fair to say you like the rhythm of theater i mean it's conducive to your lifestyle you're a parent now i mean does it all kind of work together it's satisfying it works for the personal life yeah I mean I think it it is I guess and you know I love working in New York and it's lovely to be on Broadway and have the sort of you know be able to go home at the end of the night and particularly with my kid at the age he is now I think that's a really you know it's great I think there'll be a time when he's in real school where it's going to be really hard to do theatre because that's the place I would means we will not overlap on time and I will never see him but right now it's sort of great and I also think I have, theatre's been a huge thing for me in my career in terms of I have always gotten better as a result, like I've never left a theatrical experience like anything but having like learned a lot and become a slightly better actor for having done it and I think there's something about the adrenaline of it as well that is like ensures that you can't get too comfy and you are still challenging yourself and And I feel like most of the places that I've been able to find sort of the greatest challenges, certainly over the last few years, have been in theatre.

41:24Have you planned out your son's first film of yours? Will it be Swiss Army Man or Harry Potter? Which would be more traumatic. If I had a choice, it would be Swiss Army Man, probably. I mean, like, I don't know. Yeah, so we had this moment for the first time the other day. Right now, I'm just his dad, and he has no idea what I do. which is, oh, he's starting to because we, and first of all, you know your job is a little bit bullshit if you can't explain it to a kid. He understands what policemen and doctors and firemen do, but you act, you're like, well, we help tell stories, like the stories in your books, you know, but we sort of act them out.

41:59That's sort of what we've landed on as an explanation. But then he, so we were watching the Olympics, and obviously the Reggie Dinkins show is on the same network as the Olympics were on, is on NBC. and so it was advertised heavily during the Olympics. Apologies to everyone who had to watch a lot of the trailer. And I had left the room and apparently I popped up in the corner of the screen and my son just went, Dada! With like a tone of, I'm not crazy, right? And I had... Is everybody else seeing this? Yeah, and then actually what happened, it happened like a bunch of the kids in our building that was their first time seeing me pop up and stuff.

42:43So like our friend's daughter, who's like five, was just like, I saw you on TV. What were you doing there? Like, it was very, it was great. It was very funny. And I think, I don't know. Kind of a big deal, guys. I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't lead with that. I really, I let them, and you know, I think there's a world where, you know, my son watches the, like the HBO show of Harry Potter now instead of the films. And I'm also sort of happy with that. I, as much as I can do to just be his very uncool, unimpressive dad for as long as I can is the goal. He doesn't have a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

43:20I hope not. There's also, talk about serendipity, the weirdness of the world. Tom Felton is currently on Broadway. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I know he attended your show recently. I just talked to him for the podcast. he's so, you know, he speaks so well of you, I know vice versa. Very sweet, yeah. What's it like to, I don't know if you've been through Times Square and see a giant billboard of Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy on Broadway. What's that experience like for you? I mean, it's surreal, honestly. It is. It's so, I'm just, I'm genuinely just so happy for him to be doing it and to be having the experience that he's having on Broadway.

44:03Like, I love doing theater and I love that this has allowed him to do it. And also, I mean, he is, you know, there is definitely a double bill going on for people right now of Cursed Child and Every Brilliant Thing because I am signing every night. I'm signing stuff that, like, it's me and Tom are both on it. And there's something wonderful about, like, you know, we met as teenagers outside, you know, in Watford, outside London when we were, you know, younger than teenagers, you know, but we were, and then grew up doing all sorts of stuff that we shouldn't have been doing, but together, and friends.

44:40And then to now both be on Broadway at the same time is like, yeah, it's surreal and lovely. And I hope it, I know he's just extended, and I'm sure, but I hope this is like, I hope he wants to keep doing theater after this. I think he will because he's having a great time doing it. I was going to ask you this. You kind of answered it earlier. I was going to ask, did you ever read reviews back in the day when you were a kid? It sounds like you were shielded from that, thankfully. because that would have been... Yeah, no, I definitely, I didn't ever, yeah, certainly not when I was very, very young.

45:11You know, there was a moment when I was like 16 and logged onto the internet for the first time and like Googling yourself was an option, which I do not recommend. And, you know, that was bad. But like I, yeah, generally speaking, everybody in my life actually did a really great job of shielding me from them, but without making me feel like I was being shielded from anything. Like, you know, when the films would come out, my mum and dad would just go like, the reviews were good. You don't need to worry about them. They're good. You're fine. And I sort of still have that relationship now with either my dad or Erin, my partner.

45:48I will basically get them to read all of them and give me a pricey of how it's gone. Because good or bad, it affects you. And it does. If you ever want to curse an actor, tell them you like the way they said a particular line. They will never be able to say it that way again. Like anything good also can screw you up. Is there an example you can cite of someone saying? Somebody the other day, I don't mean to say this because actually one of our wonderful stage managers said it to me the other day. They were like, you said that line tonight in just the most perfect way and in my head I was like, damn.

46:23Goodbye to that perfect line reading. The good news is, I don't know if again you're following, maybe Aaron or someone else has told you, retroactively Andrew Garfield apparently just watched the Potter films and said how great you were in them all these years later hey cool thank you Andrew Garfield you're awesome he's awesome he's so fantastic that's really that's cool I disagree with him about my performance in Potter but that's really but that's really nice thank you you've had this conversation before you know but it's like I haven't more time now for me in the early films like when I was 18 I would cringe watching the earlier films now I think the early films are sweet and now I cringe watching myself when I was 18 or 19.

46:59And I assume that I will just keep, you know, those dates will just keep changing as to what I find palatable of my own work. Is there one sweet spot or the negative of a sweet spot that you're purposely avoiding? Like one age, one moment? I mean, I haven't seen any of them for so long. So all of them, I guess. This is kind of a cruel challenge for you. I do this with actors about their filmography. I kind of do the bracket system to use the sports analogy where I'll pit their own films against each other. Oh, great. I'm going to pit, since there happily are eight Harry Potter films. Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm gonna do this.

47:29Do an all Harry Potter bracket? Yeah, you ready for this? Okay, so Dan Radcliffe ranks... And is this my performance or the film? You can do however you want. How do you want to do this? Okay, let's do the film. Do the film, okay. Sorcerer's Stone versus Chamber of Secrets? I would take Chamber of Secrets, those two, because I love the Basilisk. Okay. Azkaban or Goblet of Fire? That's a tough... That's actually tough. I know, I know, I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know that's how everyone else feels, but I love the stuff I got to do on the fourth movie. It was awesome. I got to... Yeah, I would like...

48:07So I'll say Goblet of Fire. Order of Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince? Order of Phoenix. Far and away. Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. And that's my own stuff. That's not the film. I don't know what the system I'm using is here. I'm kind of going back and forth. Like I said, this is a therapy session. Deathly Howe is part one versus part two. Part 2? Part 2. Part 2 is my favorite of all of them. Okay, so we'll see. You're ruining it. Oh, sorry. Chamber of Secrets versus Goblet of Fire now. Goblet of Fire. Order of Phoenix versus Hallows Part 2? Hallows Part 2. And now, Goblet of Fire, definitely Hallows Part 2.

48:46Definitely Hallows Part 2. Wow. I'm fascinated. I wouldn't have said... Yeah, interesting. I don't think I knew that Goblet of Fire would have been my second favorite film. Although it would have survived if the bracket were different. It would have gone a different way. Okay, I see how this works. Yeah. What a journey that was for all of us. You alluded to this before. I want to give some love to this fantastic show. It is so damn funny. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. Guys, check this out if you haven't yet. On NBC, on Peacock. It's from the brilliant minds of 30 Rock, Robert Carlock, Sam Means, you and Tracy Morgan.

49:21Is that basically like the pitch? That was the entire pitch. Yes, that really was. Robert Carlock just said, we find the idea of you and Tracy together really funny. And we find the idea of Tracy referring to you constantly by your full name, Arthur Tobin, as really funny. And that was initially all I knew. And I read the pilot and I was like, and it was just, you know, it's one of their scripts. So the joke density is insane. There's stuff that I've only noticed on like, you know, I would be learning my lines and then it'd be like the fourth time looking at the scene. and I'll be like, oh, right, that's a joke.

49:54I've missed a joke on a headline of a paper or something. But yeah, it's just the best. It really is an unbelievably funny show. The joke writing on that show is so, so good. I am reticent to even plug my own stuff, but do watch it. You'll really like it. It's a really good time. Arthur Tobin's something of a pretentious director. Obviously, you've never worked with anyone like that. No inspiration for this? No, not directly. I've worked with yeah, no, I've been pretty lucky Arthur's not based on somebody, I think he's more based on just like pretentious English people that I've known but not necessarily directors or particular people that I've known in my life yeah, he's the when we were making the show we were kind of trying to figure out who is the analogous kind of version of Arthur and it sort of is Louis Theroux, like in terms of a person that's in their own documentaries in a way that features them.

50:50But I don't want to say that because Louis Theroux is great and Arthur's really annoying. I don't want to disparage him because he's fantastic. But in terms of an intellectual British documentary maker who also appears in his own stuff, he would be the comp, I guess. Who's got more idiosyncratic line readings? You think Tracy Morgan or Alan Rickman in your career working with him? Tracy Morgan. Alan is completely you know iconic and you can't do it everyone's got an Alan Rittman impression but no one can actually do it like he was amazing Tracy is otherworldly Tracy like there are line readings available to Tracy that just most actors could not make work in a million years and I still don't know how he does it a lot of the time like it really is you know the word But when you read it on the page, when I read, like, books are brain movies, which is a line in the show, I was like, I couldn't say that and make it sound like a real thing, but it just works coming out of Tracy's mouth.

51:55Like, he really is. What Tracy is and does, like, it can't be learned and it can't be taught. Like, it's just being naturally one of the funniest people on the planet. You also get to mix it up with none other than Megan Thee Stallion. Yes, yeah. In a pairing everyone saw coming. Was that on your bingo card? Was this something you manifested? It was not. Robert Carlock phoned me up and said, Hi, just so you know, how would you feel about Megan Thee Stallion being in episode 5 as Denise the Male? We'd just done the read through and it was like, oh, that's a really fun episode and a fun storyline.

52:33And then he was like, how do you feel about Megan Thee Stallion playing that part? and I was like, we should be so lucky. I mean, you know, most of the time, you have to be like a successful show and up and running for a couple of years before people that famous will come and do a guest star. So we were just, you know, overjoyed that she wanted to and she was fantastic and funny and yeah, we got her back for episode seven as well. Not that you have much time in your life, but what are you watching? Film, TV, anything you're obsessed with? The Comeback, new series of The Comeback. Incredible, amazing.

53:06What about Top Chef? Also incredible and amazing. Yes, thank you one person. What else? I am, we, not to give a plug to something that's obviously on the same network, but St. Dennis Medical, it's great. Just such a great, lovely comedy. It's awesome. What else? I'm sure, I mean obviously like, see all my cultural, I was about to say Stranger Things. I know it was months ago, but that's pretty much the only TV series that is not a half hour comedy that I have watched from beginning to end so I'm very proud that that was still recent and I can reference it. Were you watching it from the beginning?

53:44Did you catch up? No, I watched it from, I got into it very, very early on and it was just amazing. Yeah, I loved it. I think people are so, I know as always when anything finishes there's going to be discourse but I thought they landed the plane amazingly well like considering all the stuff they have set up over that time like yeah like amazing is 11 still alive is she out there um i mean yeah like we're kind of allowed to believe the nice version if we want to right so yeah for me that that watching those guys have to shut down rumors about another episode is the most tiring thing i'm tired for them i'm just like oh my god you poor guys um well you've secretly done another harry potter film right yeah that we just haven't released and yeah what else I mean most of my cultural diet now is just 101 Dalmatians on repeat with my son 101 Dalmatians we've just watched A Little Mermaid we're kind of going we're just doing some nice early Disney and it's just great Who's playing with Lego more you or your son?

54:52Choking hazards Josh he's not there yet So still for me it'll be I'll be doing more Lego than him for a couple of years, but I'm very excited for him to get into all that as well. Here's a random one. No segue. Where's the Swiss Army man dummy at this point? Do you have it? Great question. No, I don't know where that is. I'm going to assume it's either in the house of one or other of the Daniels or maybe A24's offices. I know the dummy did like a press tour. I would occasionally make appearances with my own dead mannequin on that press tour so maybe it's just like in a warehouse somewhere that A24 owns yeah did you ever I don't know if you ever had to given like your unusual trajectory did you ever have to audition along the way in the last like 20 years yeah how were you at auditioning pretty bad like I'm pretty nervous about it like I definitely I've only done it like a couple of I did obviously a bunch before Potter when I was a young kid actor I auditioned for Equilibrium, the Christian Bale movie.

55:59And in fact, if I had got that, I don't think I would have been able to do Potter. So that was lucky. We'd be doing the Equilibrium retrospective tonight. Yes, yes, yeah, absolutely, yeah. And yeah, I said that movie like everyone remembers it, like it's Christian Bale's main thing.

56:16And, but yeah, no, and I've auditioned for a couple of other things over the years. one was a musical that ended up not happening is that the only one? I haven't done a lot of it if I'm on, you know, I've been which is good because I did get so nervous doing that one but yeah, I definitely like, I don't mind it I always say like, if there's ever a barrier between me getting that and getting a job I love I would absolutely audition, like I don't have a thing about not doing it So yeah, who are like the short list of directors that's like, yeah, Chris Nolan, I will happily audition for. Yeah, I'll do dummy sides for Chris Nolan.

56:56Like, you know, I'll do some fake scenes written for something else. Yeah, I mean, there's loads. I mean, Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, all the Andersons. You know, there's obviously a list of many directors I would happily audition for. I mean, you've found so much success both in theater and especially television in recent years. I mean, you've done great film work throughout, but it seems like the film world now is a strange place, to say the least. I mean, you were in Lost City, which you were fun in, and Weird, which I love, the Weird Al movie was fantastic. He came to the show last night.

57:34Al has, bless it, since we've worked here, Al has seen everything I've ever done, every show I've ever done. He came last night to every brilliant thing. I did not make him participate. But yeah, he's just the best. I was going to say, actually, because I remember you said when we did the Merrily talk, you were one of the cast members who didn't like knowing who's in the audience. By virtue of this, you know who's in the audience. Yeah, I really know who's in the audience. I was trying to recruit a man to play a part on stage the other day and I looked to my right and Patti LuPone was sitting next to Susan Sarandon was sitting next to Jessica Lange.

58:02And I was like, oh, how cool and intimidating that you three ladies all hang out. But they were great and they came back afterwards. And yeah, we had Ian McKellen was in the other day and again it was like oh cool you're here great better be good and he again was lovely he got up and did the high fives I was so impressed honestly like Ian McKellen and Anna Wintour getting up and doing the high fives in that section of the show is an achievement I will take to my brain it was so cool and so yeah it is a negative knock on effect of the show that it's much harder to be unaware of people you admire being in the audience, but I'm getting better at it.

58:45So somehow I segwayed out of it, but the film side of things, are you finding, it's tougher for everybody, I feel like, finding rewarding material in films nowadays. What are you finding? I mean, definitely the two things that I've been the most excited about recently have been this play and then the TV show. And you don't get a TV show like this made unless you are Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. And there's a lot that this has going for it that most TV shows don't have. Yeah, I think it's a weird time in film. I am hopefully, you know, over the summer, going to shoot a film that I've been attached to for about three years, and it has...

59:23Oh, I probably can't say who's going to be in it with me, but it is somebody that this room would find particularly exciting. You're making it worse. I know, I know, I know. But it's something that I've been attached to for three years, and it's the most beautiful... It's called Trust the Man. It's written and directed by a guy called Will Graham. It is a beautiful story covering something in history that I don't think I know a lot about, which is about homosexuality in the military in the Vietnam era. And it's also kind of like an espionage drama along the lines of a film like The Lives of Others.

1:00:07and it's just extraordinary. It's the script I have loved the most in a long, long time and we have been pushing that rock up that hill to get it made for a long time and it looks like it's about to but that's going to be the culmination of three years working even longer on that on the part of the writer and the director. So yeah, it's a weird time but stuff still happens. You can still get stuff made if you try really hard. Not all the time and there's definitely other things that have fallen by the wayside over the years but I'm lucky to get any autonomy over any of this and hopefully be a part of these things.

1:00:44So yeah, I'm just going to keep going and trying to make weird shit. Please do. We're going to end with the happy second fuse profoundly random questions. I think you've answered some of these, but let's see what we got today. Dogs or cats? Dogs. She's trying to get me cancelled like Jesse Buckley. It wasn't my fault. I know. She went so hard. Off that question. Yeah. Yeah, okay, wow. It's a one-word answer. You could have just said it. That's really funny. What do you collect?

1:01:16Now, toy dinosaurs. Again, it's all just answers for a three-year-old. What do we collect? Wow. Books, I guess. Books, yeah. Do you have a favorite video game of all time? Probably Madden. or any of the, a lot of the EA Sports games would have been what I played the most growing up. I was always really bad at video games, which probably saved me from just becoming obsessed with them. Yeah. The EA Sports hockey game was always great because it was both hockey and sometimes boxing. Because you would throw the gloves to the ground and then just the controllers turned into the controls for a boxing game.

1:01:59It was awesome. The Dakota Johnson Memorial question, she asked me this, I ask everybody, would you rather have a mouthful of bees or one bee in your butt? Ooh.

1:02:12Like you've never thought about it, guys. They're all alive? No one's asked me that. Congrats. Because, like, one bee in your butt, dead. I don't know. That's probably fine. Like, a mouth... It'll probably die once it's there. Okay, bee in the butt. Okay. What's the consensus on that? It is be in the butt. Okay, right, good. 90 % be in the butt. Yeah. What's the wallpaper on your phone? My girlfriend on holiday with me on our baby moon before we had our son. Lovely. Who's the last actor you were mistaken for? Come on. Elijah Wood, every time. Every time from a car, from people shouting. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

1:02:53I did sign a copy of Lord of the Rings at Stage Door the other day. It was great. Yeah. I had Elijah on the podcast the other week. I have a message from Elijah Wood. Oh, no, really? Yeah. Let's play this. Hello, Daniel. Congratulations on the show. I'm sorry I can't be there tonight. I know you're a New York resident. I only just recently realized this, but you've been here for ages. Listen, as someone, we are two people that get mistaken for one another a lot. My thought is just this. why don't we just work together? I would love that. So I don't know what the idea is. I don't know if it's a buddy cop movie, if we just lean in.

1:03:40But anyway, all of this is to say, I hope you're well. Lots of love, my friend. Have a good night. Oh, bless him. That's the thing. It's so nice to be mistaken for someone so genuinely lovely and talented. And just like, it's a really, like, it's very nice. I mean, he's just the best, isn't he? I guess I have to shave the rest of this and just have a mustache now so that we're still twins. You're going to be playing Frodo again soon, I hear. Right, exactly. That's so exciting. I'm totally up for, yeah, buddy cop, or is it something where we're playing ourselves locked in some sort of fight to the death?

1:04:14There can be only one, like a Highlander situation. Yeah, I don't know what it is, but somebody, if anybody out there has pitches, get them to start writing that script. I guarantee someone will. You answered me this one once in a while, Let's see if it's the same answer. Worst note a director has ever given you? Oh, it would probably still be the same. It would be just like feel it. Just feel it without expressing like which emotion I should be feeling. Was tough. Yeah. And in the spirit of happy, sick, infused, an actor who always makes you happy. You see them on screen, you're in a better mood.

1:04:48Steve Pachemi. Yeah, just immediately. Movie that makes you sad.

1:04:55I I It's made me feel a lot of things But the wild robot As a new parent Don't do it Unless you want to feel those things But like the minute They establish the premise Of like Oh she's going to have to let it go It's like Oh my god This is Yeah The wild robot And a food that makes you confused You don't get it Jellied eels It's a thing that you If anyone if you're ever in the UK and somebody's like, oh, you want to try a jelly deal? Say no. It is the most, it's, I guess, like, you can be like, okay, I see why this was a delicacy in the Tudor era, but, like, it's really, like, somebody gave it to me, and the instructions they gave me were, you don't chew it, you suck all the jelly away until you get to the bone, then stop.

1:05:45Yeah, right, disgusting. We're disgusting people. And that was, yeah, so that was, and it's a very traditional old English thing, but you don't need to try it. Available at the concession stand at every brilliant thing. Yeah, absolutely. Cockles, Winkles, and Jelly Deals. They're all there. Well, before we wrap this up, I just want to say a quick thing. We've been talking for a thousand years since you were just a kid, and I, sadly, was still an adult. But I did the math. This is your fifth time on the podcast, and you know what happens when someone's on the podcast five times? No, I don't. Oh, what is this?

1:06:24You get a free hat. Hey! Awesome! Five-timers club, baby! Five-timers club, Daniel Radcliffe, happy, sad, confused. Wear it with pride. Thank you very much, I will do. Thank you for having me. Before we go, quick reminders, guys! Every brilliant thing, you still have time to see Dan on this. Mariska Hargitay is going to take over late May, but see Dan if you can, because he's unbelievable in this production. and make sure to check out The Fallen Rise of Reggie Dinkins on NBC and Peacock. It's fantastic. Give it up. Dan Radcliffe. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you.

1:07:01And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

1:07:19The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50 ,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you're DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals, free samples, zero pressure. Save up to 40 % when you buy two or more. Rules and restrictions apply.