Lay Off, Will Ya?!

People really need to stop getting all angry and shit over Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) trying to expand his horizons. For those of you who haven't been following, or live under a rock, the young boy wizard (as he'd prefer not to be called) has a role in the play Equus in which his character has an erotic relationship with horses. He also happens to spend part of the play nude.

I was reading an article today, and some father wrote in to say that Master Radcliffe was once a role model for his son, but that he would no longer be going to see the Harry Potter films, or any other work starring Daniel, for that matter (damn that's a long sentence). Well, mister, I can tell you right now that if your boy wants it bad enough, he'll find a way to see the rest of the Harry Potter movies. You are also teaching him that to expand ones horizons is a bad thing. Mr Radcliffe is simply trying to become more than just the kid who played Harry Potter in like 8 movies. Can you really fault him for that?

Well, no, would be the answer. Because the REAL issue here is that Mr Radcliffe has a part that involves being nude on stage. Something most of you probably don't know, is that he is also only 17 years old. I'm positive that some sicko will attend the play if only for the chance to see the little soldier (not that it's little, or big for that matter).

I gotta say, Equus is a helluva play, and a very daring role. We had it done at McGill and it was very popular amongst the students. It's a challenging role, and requires the actor to contend with some pretty serious issues (love for horse, yes more than just that kind of love). In my opinion, Daniel is taking a chance to step out of the HP shadow and become an actor with more than just a passing likeness to a character from a book. He's trying to broaden his repertoire, and show that he can do more than just recite ridiculous-sounding spells while waving a wand.

Seriously, the boy has talent (that's debatable, I know) and we'd all like to see what else he can do. This is evidenced by our most recent child-actor-turned-serious-movie-mogul, Leonardo DiCaprio. He started out as this kid, who got the role of a lifetime as Jack Dawson on James Cameron's Titanic. And now look at him. He got nominated twice in the same category for the Golden Globes, essentially running against himself for an award!! He has outgrown the young, "look who cute I am" phase of his career, which actually prompted a withdrawal from the stage light to find projects that were worth doing.

Kudos to you, Mr Radcliffe for doing something beyond the typical child actor stereotype. And shame on all you parents for dismissing what could be the best move of his entire career, keeping in mind that it's HIS career for chrissakes.