Daniel Radcliffe has emphasized the big Harry Potter placement debate, and he is not afraid to go against the grain.
The 36-year-old actor, who played the boy wizard across all eight films from 2001 to 2011, appeared on Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz and was challenged to rank the franchise he knows better than almost anyone.
He admitted up front that he hasn’t actually seen the films in quite some time, and that his relationship with his own performances changes over time.
“When I was 18 I would cringe watching the earlier movies. Now I think the early movies are cute and now I cringe watching myself when I was 18 or 19,” he said.
“But I guess those dates will just keep changing in terms of what I find edible of my own work.”
When it came to the early installments, he gave the edge Chamber of Secrets over The Sorcerer’s Stonesolely on the strength of one creature.
“I would go Chamber of Secrets out of the two because I love the basilisk,” he explained.
His most eyebrow-raising call came when he compared Goblet of fire with the universally beloved Prisoner of Azkabanwhich many fans and critics consider the series’ artistic high point.
Radcliffe went the other way.
“I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know this is how everyone else feels, but I love the things I get to do on the fourth film; it was fantastic. So I’d say Goblet of Fire.”
At the top of his personal ranking sits Deathly Hallows Part 2, the emotional series finale, a choice that feels appropriate given the weight of what that film represented for everyone involved.
At the bottom?
The Half-Blood Prince. And he was quick to take responsibility for that judgment. “The Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. And these are my own things. It’s not the movie.”
