THE MOVIE ADDA

MoviesOnline caught up today with Daniel Radcliffe at the Los Angeles Press Day for his new film, "December Boys,” which opens September 14^th. (See our full interview later this week.) He also talked to us about his personal experience reading the final Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” as well getting ready to shoot "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment of the Harry Potter franchise which begins filming in less than two weeks. Daniel, who recently celebrated his 18^th birthday, is a fabulous guy and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us:

MoviesOnline: Did you go straight to the epilogue when the new Harry Potter book came out?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I did indeed. No, I didn’t go straight to the epilogue, that’s what my grandmother does.

MoviesOnline: What did you think of the final Harry Potter book?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: In terms of the ending of the book, I was thrilled. Has anybody not read the seventh book? – [SPOILER ALERT] Okay, cool, I was very, very pleased because I basically get the best of both worlds, because I get the scene of my demise and also I get to live on after that, which is any actors’ dream, you get to die and then you get more screen time, it’s fantastic.

MoviesOnline: Are you filming now?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I start ‘6’ in 10 days.

MoviesOnline: Any special preparations, special ITunes list?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Not yet, but I’m sure I will before we start filming.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about where you were reading the book and what you were experiencing as you were reading it?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Totally. There’s a quote, I’m not going to take this too pretentious, there’s a quote from Chekhov when he wrote to the woman who was the final love of his life, who he later married and I think died with, not that she died but he was with her when he died, and he addresses a letter to her and he says, ‘Hello, the last page of my life.’ Which seemed very appropriate to me reading this book, because he has been such a part of my life now. I’ve been with him through all my teen years, and you were suddenly aware that – I started reading it, it was wow, this is the last time I will take a journey with this character, and it was quite a special moment, and actually while reading the final chapters I was listening to Sigur Ros which was very, very appropriate actually, it really, really was, God I’d love them to do a song for one of the films, they’d be absolutely fantastic.

MoviesOnline: Were you thinking about it as you were reading it, oh my God this book is amazing, it’s going to be such a good movie?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I was thinking, how are we going to make it into a movie? It’s going to be tough, but that’s why someone cleverer than me adapts them. I think if we get it right, which I’m confident we will, it should be amazing.

MoviesOnline: Have you read the script for Half-Blood Prince yet?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Yeah, yeah, yeah

MoviesOnline: Have they adapted that book well, they have to cut them down so much?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: They have to. Obviously things have been taken out, but everything that drives the story forward is very much in place.

MoviesOnline: And you’re doing a play right after you finish Half-Blood Prince?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: There’s a little gap and hopefully if I can find another film to make then that would be really cool, but if not, yeah I might actually rest.

MoviesOnline: A lot of people read the book in one or two days, did you feel you needed to read it quickly so someone didn’t spoil it for you?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Weirdly I didn’t. I was at a cricket match when it came out, so I didn’t really start reading it properly. I read the first 30 pages one night, and then said, ‘Right, I’m not going to pick it up again until I’ve got proper time to really have a go at this.’ And actually no one spoiled the ending for me, I thought they would. I thought someone was going to shout it out what happened. But the brilliant thing about it actually – she sort of made it spoiler proof, because even though if someone does say what state Harry ends up in, you don’t know the half of it which is pretty impressive. When I finally did get to read it, I did read it in about a day and a half just because I didn’t put it down.

MoviesOnline: A lot of people thought Alfonso Cuaron did such an amazing job on Harry Potter 3, and he’s talked about he’d be willing to come back to the franchise, would you like to have him back for book 7?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: It’s a very interesting question. I loved working with Alfonso, so I don’t want this to be misinterpreted in the slightest, but I really love working with David Yates. Who knows if he’ll do book 7? But also I think, to be honest, it’s really nice to have new directors come on board. Who know, it’s a long way off, book 7. It depends if David is willing to do it. I don’t know if he will be. It’s a long way off so I don’t know at the moment. But I would love to work with him (Alfonso) again in the future, I don’t know if Potter will be the place where that happens.

MoviesOnline: You’re okay with Yates coming back for book 7?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: If he wanted to, yeah totally.

MoviesOnline: Did you have a good 18^th birthday party?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: I had a fabulous 18^th birthday party, thank you very much.

MoviesOnline: We didn’t hear anything about it.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: Good.

MoviesOnline: Do you have any great summer memories?

DANIEL RADCLIFFE: This summer was pretty good, because I got to go to Lord’s (Cricket stadium in London) for my birthday.

Daniel Radcliffe will be seen next in "December Boys” which opens in theaters on September 14^th. Look for our full interview with him from today’s press day later this week.