There are plenty of reasons to stay in a job you don’t like. The most obvious is the looming fear of homelessness, but for others, work offers an escape from things they hate. Take Daniel Radcliffe, for example; he used the Harry Potter movies to keep himself out of school (not that he hated making those films).
Yes, during a recent appearance on the A24 Podcast, the actor admitted it he stuck with the fantasy movies not because he loved the Harry Potter characters but because it meant he didn’t have to go learn about Henry Tudor or whatever nonsense they teach in Muggle schools.
“My mom and dad asked me between every film, basically, ‘Are you still enjoying it, and do you want to go back?'” he explained. “I was always like, ‘Yes. I hate school.'” To be honest, we’re sure Radcliffe’s being a little tongue-in-cheek. After all, the Potter movies made him a household name and ensured he got to work alongside some of the best actors in show business.
Radcliffe’s been very open in the past about how lucky he felt to be working alongside people like Gary Oldman. He even admitted to Stephen Colbert getting starstruck when he met the legendary actor.
“At the time, I wasn’t starstruck by any of those people,” he explained. “The first person I remember being starstruck by was Gary Oldman, ’cause that was the age when I was aware of who he was and his work and also getting more serious about acting myself so, yeah, before that when you meet someone as a nine-year-old it’s sort of hard to, like, gain starstruckness of them later on.”
If you love Harry Potter, check out our ranking of the best Harry Potter villains, or if you prefer your wizards in space, we have a Star Wars characters guide you’ll enjoy.