September 22nd, 2011
07:48 AM ET
Daniel Radcliffe on 'Star Wars' vs. 'Harry Potter'As the star of a wildly popular film franchise, you’d think Daniel Radcliffe would be well-versed in pop culture phenomenons. But as it turns out, Harry Potter himself hasn’t seen “Star Wars”! In an interview with Moviefone, Radcliffe reveals that he’s never seen the 1977 space opera. “Yeah, I know. It’s really bad,” he says of the gap in his film knowledge. The 22-year-old actor explains, “I saw 'The Phantom Menace,' and everyone's like, ‘You saw that one! You didn't see the originals?!’ I know! I was ten! I didn't know any better!”
But despite never having seen the films – of which Radcliffe says, “I'm sure they're amazing and incredible” – the actor does have a criticism. “I think there is a slightly more balanced split between the sexes in the fan base of 'Potter,'” Radcliffe postulates. “I associate 'Star Wars' as being a predominantly male thing. And I think 'Potter' is split more evenly.” He also notes that “because 'Potter' started out as a book, it's created a generation of literary nerds in a way that 'Star Wars' perhaps didn't.” Despite the differences, Radcliffe says he sees where the comparison comes from. “I do think of 'Potter' as being this generation's 'Star Wars,'" the actor says. "It's something that an entire generation has lost themselves in and it's a meticulously created, detailed world.” And Radcliffe loves the major thing that “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” have in common: nerds. “Nerds are the best things in the world,” he says, “I think of myself as a nerd.” And this nerd won’t be a “Star Wars” virgin for long – someone is getting him the new Blu-rays. “I know that I would love them because I'm a geek,” he says, “so I would definitely get into them.” |
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crazy
Star Wars is the best film in the world. I like Harry Potter, too. But Star Wars has something what Harry Potter hasn't...
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Harry Potter wins hands down to me. Maybe because it was a HUGE part of my childhood.... or maybe because HP is the reason I am a reader, whatever it is, Harry Potter wins in my book!!
The real mother of all decent SF films is "2001 A Space Odyssey," though the Star Wars series is probably the all time money maker.
Harry plopper is garbage.
Although I love Harry Potter and watched them all in theatre, there is NO comparison to Star Wars!!! SW is the mother of all sci-fi films!!!! And Mr. Radcliff, I would disagree on the predominantly male thing for SW! I am a woman and I know just as many women & men who love the Saga! So watch it already!!! (I am in no beliefs that he will read this, I just wanted to say it that's all) :p
Harry Potter is very entertaining, but Star Wars changed my life. I think thats the difference.
i think its pretty close but star wars just has to win because its to this point still going on in little animated series
"And this nerd won’t be a “Star Wars” virgin for long – someone is getting him the new Blu-rays."
But the Blu-rays are hacked up, re-created, re-edited, with the result being quite different than what we all watched when the Star Wars movies first were shown on screen. Kind-of like Radcliffe loosing his virginity to a blow-up doll (ie, it really doesn't count).
and this is news, why..........
Well, if anyone just saw Phantom Menace, they didn't really see Star Wars. Ask any tween these days and they haven't gone back and watched ANY of the classics that were out before they were born. They have no idea what black and white TV is, limited to the big 3 networks, no idea who Laurel & Hardy or the LIttle Rascals were, Bogey, or any of the littany of stars that made appearances on It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (virtually everybody but Don Rickles). They have no interest in anything but the here and now and what's next on their new Droid or IPad. I won't watch movies on a 2 inch screen.
He shouldn't bother by this point – if he didn't see Star Wars when he was 7, then he's going to see it for what it is: crass marketing, shoddy storytelling. Nostalgia doesn't make a movie good, guys.
I remember sitting in the theater watching those lines scroll back into space during the opening of the first Star Wars and realizing something very new was occurring. Never-before seen special effects, a deep sense of story with strong characters and moral opposition, and good story telling all wrapped up in an never before seen package.
Mr. Radcliff has seen the 10+ years later follow on of that original, but I would encourage him to watch (and anyone to re-watch) the original and keep in mind what was in theaters at the same time. That movie changed the what we demanded from fantasy/sci-fi movies and what we now get. The galaxy far far away vision and realization is the foundation for the harry potter world and all the virtues he can apply to it.
Not watching the original Star Wars= FAIL.
Daniel will be disappointed if he's getting the blurays... they're hack films by a hack director.
He should find the dvds of the originals... then he might be able to see where the magic compares!
Its sad I was about to comment that its because he isn't a geek but then he calls himself a nerd at the end.
Star Wars didn't create literary nerds? This dude is clueless. There's more than 300 books in the Star Wars saga!
No Dave, because the geeks bought books doesn't make them literary nerds. They just couldn't get enough of star wars before that. You're clueless, they were nerds before the books and they'll be nerds for life.
He hasn't seen the original Star Wars movies??? OMG pull your head out from under the rock. I hope he has at least heard of the Beatles!
Yes, you are getting old, the younger people weren't born 34 years ago when these things came out or earlier. Don't call them living under a rock, its just you getting old
We are all soon doomed to watch our youthful heroes selling depends undergarments, peddling Liberty Mutual Insurance, or schlepping their dated music on TV ads and infomercials.
God the blue rays... More "special editions" and "never before seen footage" and "all new scenes" and other crap. I swear, George Lucas is like a mad scientist. He will never be happy with Star Wars. That man will never be satisfied with the fact that he's made one of the greatest movie sagas of all time. He will never stop tinkering with trying to find ways to "make it better" and he's never going to stop messing it up. The movies were PERFECT in their original forms. #ProudOwnerOfTheOriginalStarWarsTrilogy
George Lucas is perfectly content with the movies. He just not content to let new ways of squeezing money out of them pass him by.
"The Phantom Menace"?? Oh, Dan, honey, use some of all that money you've got and buy yourself the original trilogy RIGHT. NOW. And watch the da mn thing.
And I havent seen any Harry Potter movies... How Ironic... And I manage a movie theater... maybe he hasnt seen Starwars because he doesnt want to... just like I have not wanted to see any Harry Potter films? Could it be that simple? lol
Maybe he hasnt made enough money from the Harry Potter films to buy the dvd's.
No comparison. The original Star Wars trilogy has the later one beat by a mile.
Quick! Now let's find a Star Wars actor who hasn't seen Harry Potter!
Star Wars started out in book form as well. I know, I was there. And I know just as many female Star Wars nerds as well. I think him growing up on a movie set probably kept him from knowing things.
Uh... Star Wars DID NOT start out as a book. It was conceived, developed, and released by George Lucas as a movie in 1977. Get your facts straight.
There was a novelized version of the Star Wars screenplay published in 1976 by, I believe, Ballentine, "written" by Lucas but actually written by Alan Dean Foster. But it was based on the movie, so the movie didn't come from the book per se. There were several differences since the movie hadn't finished filming when the book was written and published, but I don't remember there being anything major (although I think it said Luke and Leia were different ages, a pretty good trick when you're supposed to be twins!).
I doubt any of you fanboys, fangirls, fan-whatevers, have never seen "Troll." Yes, Troll is the ORIGINAL Harry Potter movie.
This is what I love about Radcliffe. He's so delightfully, oblivious. He's adorable, he don't need no stinking pop culture.
Some advice Daniel – watch parts IV, V and VI. Skip parts I, II, and III unless you want to ruin the whole trilogy for yourself. Actually – maybe you SHOULD see I, II and III, they serve as a lesson in How A Great Story Can Be Completely FUBAR.
BTW – I haven't seen any of the Harry Potter movies.
😉
"adorable"? He looks and acts like a semi-functional spastic.
OMG He's never seen Star Wars, that poor depraved boy/man, wuts his addy?
I'll burn him a copy...
STALKER ALERT! ......jk
The Star Wars universe is much more interesting than the movies themselves. I didn't actually like Star Wars until I played some of the games set in that universe. Then it really grew on me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJZsnK2nuW0
Ya neither have i
Is it that suprising? I mean, he's only been the busiest kid in the last decade. Where would he get time to sit down and watch 6 hours of star wars?
To go a little lighter....Go get the set on blu-ray. You got the cash Dan. 🙂
It must be a terribly slow news day if this is what CNN Entertainment is posting on here. You guys do know that R.E.M. disbanded, right?
Good. Lets hope Michael Stipe will jump from the tallest building.
Yeah, they've been reporting on that all day. Should every story be about that and nothing else?
This is the entertainment section.
R.E.M. isn't that important on the slowest news day. Besides, not that big of a surprise given Stipes advanced AIDS.
It always impresses me when people aren't afraid to show what incredible idiots they are, and embarrass themselves. Entertainment page,a lot of people consider this entertainment. Over at CNN, people were whining that the article on R.E.M had no business being on the entertainment page. Always complainers. Just shut up, and let the people who enjoy it, enjoy it. You don't like it, pretend you have a brain, and move on.
Oh, come on. Take it easy on him. It took my years to watch the original trilogy in it's entirety. Some are just late bloomers.
So... Star Wars Original Trilogy, the story of a boy whose parents were killed and so, when he discovered he had a hidden talent was mentored by an old "expert" who eventually dies at the hands of his enemies and the boy eventually learns to effectively use his "god given" powers to defeat the bad guys... along the way, we're introduced to comical and helpful sidekicks and a lot of fun and excitement!
Harry Potter... uh... same thing.
Hmmm, Harry Potter is lacking in the Han Solo department. Ron just doesn't have the same vibe. And Han got all the good lines anyway.
They share a common theme – the hero's journey – which has been around since humans could communicate. It resonates with pretty much everyone and therefore well-developed versions like Star Wars and Harry Potter become very popular.
Except The original Star Wars was the only one worth watching. Like most, they should have stopped there, sequels very rarely work, however in Potter in they did.
Hmmmmm.... Never saw Star Wars, eh? I guess that's a bit like me never having seen Ghostbusters. My husband was so shocked that I'd never seen it that he went out and bought the DVD and sat me down and had me watch it more than 20 years after it was released. Really don't think I was missing anything all those years, though I'm glad to have seen it. On the other hand, when Radcliffe DOES see the original 3 Star Wars movies, he's in for a treat.
He's a 22 male and hasn't seen Star Wars? He needs to turn in his penis now. His manhood is officially REVOKED!
Yeah cuz being a pimply faced virgin who watches a movie makes you a man right? LOL
That's for sure!
No but being a smooth faced non virgin makes you a man – yeah right!
star wars is the most over-rated movie ever made and the fans are pathetic.
In all honesty, the kid was too busy making millions and millions of dollars during his adolescence to watch many movies I'm sure. Chances are, women will be more impressed with his millions than whether or not he's seen movies that were made before he was born. When he gets around to watching them, he'll get to do it on a lush, expensive couch next to a hot chick and watch it on a state of the art home theatre system, I'm sure. He won't be watching it in his parents basement.
Whoops! Sounds like someone had their penis revoked and is still sensitive about it!
I don't think "manly" is that important to him. He seems like his next role will be in The Empire Strike Butt.
i think it'd be more manly for him to have intercourse with a human female, than to watch some space movie....
same your things on the point it Daniel Radcliffe in successi 'Heavenly body Wars' vs. 'Vex Potter' – The Marquee Blog – CNN.com
English, please.
Harry Vs. Star Wars! A few months back I compared the two franchises using my Six Sigma Black Belt skill set and came out with a definitive winner. It was close, but at the end you will see one series stands out. http://frankhughesjr.net/blog/2011/07/11/harry-potter-vs-star-wars-the-winner-is/
Check it out along with my other Harry Potter insights (including the casting of the 80's Harry Potter mini-series: Joan Collins as Bellatrix, Angela Landbury's musical numbe. Enjoy. http://frankhughesjr.net/blog/category/sevenharrys/
*headdesk*
You left out the most important part of your review... merchandising. Star Wars wins hands down and will never be matched by Harry Potter. After all Star Wars has even helped sell dog food. There are huge flaws you your influence of Six Sigma to break this down. Awards are great but never have Star Wars and Harry Potter competed for the same award at the same time but competed against different movies and actors. Also only awards for acting in the film could be considered not before or after. By that example you are saying Halle Berry was great as Cat-woman but note she got a Raspberry for that role. I find it ironic that you compare IMDB and “cheesiness” considering that a high IMDB would be due to low “cheesiness.” Also it can be noted that Harry Potter is not currently protected by the National Film Registry.
I hate Star Wars!! Not everyone likes star wars!! I love Harry Potter!! Iove Harry Potter though, and the books are better!!! My son and my brother are Star War fanatics!!!