What next for the young stars of Harry Potter?

26 July 2010

Gerard Wood

As the decade long filming of the Harry Potter saga draws to a close, it seems that not a week goes by without the announcement of some project or other that one of the young cast is newly involved with. For those of us who have enjoyed watching the children grow into young adults and go from strength to strength as actors, there’s some interest in seeing where the Harry Potter tidal wave will carry them. But what does a post-Potter future hold for these young actors? If it’s acting they decide to stick with, how difficult will it be for them to avoid the pitfalls of typecasting? Many of them, after all, have played the same character for more than half their life, and I suspect that many of us may now have some difficulty differentiating between the actor and the character they’ve portrayed for so long on screen.

For those like Hermione Granger who don’t appear to be pursuing an acting career with any serious intent, half a life passed in the company of Harry Potter will probably be nothing but an advantage as she pursues her real interests these days in fashion and further education.

Ok, that was a cheap trick, muddling actor Emma Watson with her Potter character Hermione Granger, but I think it goes to the heart of the challenge facing the young actors as they move on to other things, especially if they choose to stick with acting: in our mind's eye we may always see Harry, Ron and Hermione no matter what the actors decide to do with themselves. In Emma's case it doesn’t help that her high profile interest in fashion and education happen to mirror the interests of Hogwart’s increasingly fashion-conscious swot...

If it is going to be tough for them as actors to move on to other roles, perhaps Emma Watson has the right idea to leave acting behind (if that indeed is what she's doing) and take up something new. Time will tell.

Of course, several of the young actors are already beginning to find their way in a post-Potter world. Robert Pattinson’s meteoric rise to stardom in Twilight would make him the most successful of the cast alumni at the moment. But he is an exception to the rule: his character, the hapless wizard Cedric Diggory, only figured in one Potter movie, The Goblet of Fire, and was killed off before Pattinson ran the risk of being typecast. In fact it's not a Potter-legacy that Pattinson has to contend with: these days he's far better known as Twilight's pretty boy vampire Edward Cullen and all the signs are that it's that characterisation he's going to be struggling against for some time to come.

Now that filming of Deathly Hallows has entered post-production, other cast members are being freed up to pursue their acting careers. Rupert Grint (Ron Weasely) already has some very diverse non-Potter movies under his belt (Wild Target, Driving Lessons and yes, that charming movie about farting, Thunderpants) and has landed the lead in Eddie the Eagle, a comedy biopic about Britain's most famous ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards and his journey to Olympic fame. Grint’s comedic skills have been recognised by many and perhaps his path to acceptance in roles post-Ron will be through this different style of performance. 

For the record, rumours that Martin Scorcese described Grint as the new Leonardo DiCaprio have been scotched by the director who claims never even to have seen a Harry Potter movie.

Eddie the Eagle is due in 2011.

Last week it was announced that Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) had landed a role in Rupert Wyatt’s Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Apes. Details are sketchy but Felton will be playing to type in this at least: he will be the son of the movie’s villain, played by Brian Cox, “the villainous owner of a primate sanctuary who runs the facility without compassion for the animals that live there.” To be fair to Felton, he was acting before landing the role of Draco in Harry Potter and probably has more non-Potter projects under his belt than almost any other young cast member. Rise of the Apes is due out in June 2011.

It should come as no surprise that the most exciting opportunities appear to be landing at Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe’s feet, feet which have already trod the boards in London’s West End and New York’s Broadway in Peter Shaffer’s Equus. Radcliffe got mixed reviews but a grudging recognition from many of his detractors that he is indeed a serious actor. Theatre critic Peter Brown perfectly expresses the challenge facing Radcliffe (and fellow Potter cast members) however with his observation that as hard as one tries, it's incredibly difficult "not to see Harry Potter on stage, rather than simply an actor called Daniel Radcliffe.”

Film roles too have come Radcliffe's way, including December Boys and My Boy Jack, with more opportunities rolling in. It was recently announced that he would star as Paul Baumer in a remake of the 1930 Oscar winner, All Quiet on the Western Front. Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it tells the story of a young German soldier fighting in the trenches of France in World War I. Filming isn’t scheduled  to start until early 2012 as Radcliffe plans to return to Broadway to star in How to Succeed Without Really Trying next year.

Even so, it was revealed recently that there will be time for Radcliffe to work on one more film this year as he's landed the role of Arthur Kipps in Hammer Films' gothic thriller The Woman in Black. This is an adaptation of Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, which has already been adapted very successfully for the stage (in fact it’s been running in the West End since 1989). The screen adaptation has been handled by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, The Debt, Stardust) and the movie will be directed by James Watkins (Eden Lake).

The story, described by many as genuinely scary (or at least downright creepy), follows young solicitor Arthur Kipps who is sent to the remote market town of Crythin Gifford to deal with the papers of a deceased client, Mrs Drablow. Kipps has increasingly terrifying experiences in Eel Marsh House as the house gives up its secrets concerning the Woman in Black who haunts it and torments the inhabitants of the village.

Director James Watkins is enthusiastic to be working with Radcliffe of whom he’s said, “it was quite uncanny how closely our thoughts on the story mirrored each other: I can't wait to get down to work with him to fashion a compelling character and a classy ghost story that tugs at the heart and chills to the bone." Radcliffe too is eager to be working on the project, "I am incredibly excited to be part of The Woman in Black. Jane Goldman's script is beautifully written, both tender and terrifying in equal measure. It is thrilling to be working with James Watkins. From his brilliant work on Eden Lake and also having met him and heard his vision for the film, I know he will make a fantastic film."

There’s been a lot of chatter about filming The Woman in Black in 3D since the project was announced at Canne this year but fortunately it sounds like this unnecessary extravagance is on hold. Let's hope it stays that way.

Shooting on The Woman in Black is set to commence later this year.

Only time will tell whether Radcliffe's acting talent and our willing acceptance of him as anyone other than Harry Potter will carry him into a bright future without a lightening scar emblazoned forever on his forehead.

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