Although known for being magically kind to fans, Daniel Radcliffe isn't even the most easygoing Harry Potter cast member, the actor revealed during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Rupert Grint, a.k.a. Ron Weasley, is apparently so eager please it's landed him in unexpected places.
"I don't know the details of this at all, but Rupert ended up at someone's house one night just from continuing to say 'yes' to things," Radcliffe told Graham Norton and fellow guest James McAvoy.
"Then again, I feel bad saying this because I feel like someone's going to take advantage of that," Radcliffe continued. "And...he's going to be the new Manchurian Candidate or something," jokingly referencing the classic thriller about a brainwashed political assassin.
Radcliffe explained that he and his Harry Potter cast mates tend to be so notably nice precisely because of stereotypes about child actors gone wild.
"I think when you start acting at a young age, people expect you to be a total dick all the time, and that's kind of the expectation you always find yourself coming up against," Radcliffe said. "So, I think all my life, I've worked really hard to not be that and be as far away from that as possible."
The bigger challenge for Radcliffe has been distinguishing between thoughtfully catering to fans and allowing them to walk all over him.
"And that's sometimes meant you can be really rude to me, kind of, and I'll just be like 'Yeah, fine,'" he said, adding that his girlfriend has helped empower him to detect that type of rudeness and not feel pressured to accept it.
But Harry Potter isn't devoid of pet peeves. Guys in particular prefacing requests for autographs or selfies by stressing how much they aren't Hogwarts fanatics especially irks him.
"Say a nice thing," Radcliffe said, offering golden rule advice that applies well beyond red-carpet run-ins. "It's so easy."
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