Harry Potter is one of the most popular series of films of our generation. It is a cinematic event that we will show our children long after movies are projected straight into our brains, courtesy of Alexa. But when you’re a star of a film like this, especially when you’re a child star, the reputation you build is so powerful that the character’s name will follow you to your grave. After all, Mark Hamill is still playing Luke Skywalker. However, it seems that a lot of the Harry Potter actors are trying quite fervently to get out from under that weight of being permanently type-cast. And who can blame them? But while most of the big celebrities do seem to be getting steady work, their names from Hogwarts are still on everyone’s lips.

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Daniel Radcliffe, of course, has the biggest shadow following him. Even if it is a shadow we all love, for him, the curse of his scar may not have ended with the death of Voldemort. Recently, when asked if he would play a role in the upcoming film The Cursed Child, he said that he was not interested. And actually, he has had quite a respectable career after filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

In his latest film, The Lost City, he plays a villain. And while the Harry Potter question is still on every interviewer’s lips, Radcliffe seems to have put a comfortable and pleasant distance between himself and Hogwarts.

Daniel Radcliffe’s Other Work

     Sony Pictures Classics

Though he has been acting, Daniel Radcliffe hasn’t done anything as conventionally visible as The Lost City since the days of Harry Potter. After the films finished, a lot of his work consisted of parodies or snarky cameos in other peoples’ sitcoms. Some of you might remember his smiling likeness in BoJack Horseman. He also spent some time voicing the odd character on Robot Chicken.

He did not, however, restrict himself only to voice acting. There were other more serious roles. He did a National Theatre production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and co-starred in an amazing indie film called Swiss Army Man. However, he did play a dead body. It wasn’t really a measure of his talent. More just a use of his body, which is ironic because of how famous he is. Honestly, if there was ever a role to be had for satirizing your own celebrity, this was the one. And that’s probably the reason he took it. Really if you haven’t gotten a chance to see Swiss Army Man, Radcliffe should check it out.

He was cast as the poet Allen Ginsberg in a 2013 film called Kill Your Darlings, in which he shared the stage with such names as Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross, and Michael C. Hall. And Radcliffe is set to play ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in his upcoming biopic. He was also in Now You See Me 2, but we won’t talk about that.

Daniel Radcliffe in The Lost City

     Paramount Pictures

Daniel Radcliffe’s role as the villain in The Lost City was meant for him. The movie is designed to be a satirical knockoff of big Hollywood action flicks that were popular in the ’90s and mid-00s. The big names they have starring are definitely meant to be recognizable faces. Channing Tatum is really playing the audience’s idea of Channing Tatum more than he is his character. So Radcliffe should slide into this role very nicely.

In a short interview with Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of The Lost City, Radcliffe was asked if this role appealed to him so that he could set himself apart from Harry Potter. Radcliffe responded, “Not every part that I do is a reflection about how I feel about Potter,” which from an acting point of view is quite respectable. It displays an attitude of neutrality towards his early career instead of a positive or negative fixation on it. And means he’s looking to take this film for what it is instead of relating it to his old life. In referring to this attitude, he said, “maybe more when I was first leaving Potter, but right now I’m kind of just like, get to pick really fun stuff.” So it seems if anyone is holding the stigma over him, it’s us.

When asked if he had any qualms about playing the villain in The Lost City, he said, “I seem to be carving a niche for bratty billionaire children bad guys” and expressed some excitement at the possibility of playing villainous characters in the future. With the past behind him, could this be the enticing turning point Radcliffe is looking for in his career? When heroism is thrust upon you from birth, it must feel good to be bad.