As Daniel Radcliffe joins the ensemble cast of Now You See Me 2, he shares his experience of playing a villain for the first time
What made you sign on Now You See Me 2IJ
I’ve never really got a chance to play a part like this before — like a real antagonist. It is nice being a sort of the British Bad guy. I feel its like acting out of passage so I was very excited at the opportunity to get my hands on something like this. Its an incredibly fun character. But the cast was the best thing because they were this amazing group of actors all bringing such different things and they all have such interesting varied careers. I think seeing them all acting in one place was one of the most exciting things.
The movie does feel different from anything you’ve done.
Everything I have done so far are fun movies. I enjoyed the script and I was like, “Yeah, I have not done a film like this” — including Potter. Potter was huge, but it was huge in a different way. This is huge, slick and cool. And also with Jon Chu’s background, you knew that it was going to be visually just really energetic. So it was something different, definitely.
How was it to work with Micheal CaineIJ
You will only hear only wonderful things said about Michael Caine. There is only one reason for that — there are so few people of any age who can do what he does. The humor that he brings is just amazing. His energy and his general attitude is something I aspire to have.
You’ve made an art form of jumping out of whatever box we wanted to put you in over the years since Potter. From going nude in Equus, to growing horns in Horns and playing a corpse in Swiss Army Man. And now this is your first time as a villain. Was that the big drawIJ
Totally. There was the villain thing, there was also the fact that for a long time I’ve wanted to do a supporting role in a big ensemble cast. And I love the cast of this movie so much that I was like, “That would be amazing to be a part of that group.” Those were the boxes that I wanted to check. I had never done those things. And playing the bad guy, I feel that, as a Brit, is a rite of passage. Doing my first British bad guy was great.
When you hear of the phrase ‘British bad guy,’ it’s hard not think about send-ups of Bond villains, the moustache-twirlers, and whatnot. How did you make sure your character did not appear cartoonishIJ Especially considering the fact that he actually has a mustache...
Right. There were a couple moments originally in the script where I was like, ‘I think we’re laboring his Englishness a bit too much now.’ My thing with him was like, ‘Ok, he’s crazy, malicious and he’s got all these sorts of slightly sly intentions, where is that coming fromIJ How do we play that, how do we make it seem realIJ’ So ultimately I came to the conclusion that if Walter is somebody taking himself out of society and faking his own death, the likelihood is that he would be incredibly bored. Incredibly bored, and probably really lonely, and just wants friends.
My backstory on it was that he was not the cool kid in school. He was the dork everyone probably bullied all the time, and he desperately wanted to be one of the cool kids. He’s the kid who would pay people to come to his birthday party. And that’s essentially what he’s doing with The Four Horsemen. He has this lust for power and control and obviously this thing that he wants them to get will increase that. But more than that, I think he just wants them to like him, and wants to be impressive to them, but also wants to be their boss. He’s just a very confused, insecure guy.
Were you influenced by any classic villainsIJ Or any real-life villainsIJ
Not villains, just like a bunch of posh private school boys that I knew at school. They were sort of petulant, angry and had daddy issues. I’m drawing on a couple of them.
Who’s the best magician in the castIJ
The person who’s amazing, genuinely, in our film at all that stuff, is Dave Franco.