Chris Heath has a new profile in the Atlantic of the actor Daniel Radcliffe, titled “How Daniel Radcliffe Outran Harry Potter.”
Heath writes that Radcliffe “knew some things were immutable” — namely, his never-ending association with the franchise. One thing the actor does not seem to know is immutable, however, is sex. For several years, the actor has been crosswise with J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, over the transgender debate.
When Heath raised this point, Radcliffe said:
“It makes me really sad, ultimately,” he says, “because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.”
Later, the actor says of the author:
“Obviously Harry Potter would not have happened without her, so nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person. But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”
True, Radcliffe does not have to think and speak in perfect conformity with Rowling and is free to openly disagree with her on this (or any other) issue.
To Rowling, Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who also rose to fame in the Harry Potter movies, are “celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights.”
I’m sure that makes her “really sad” as well.