Harry Potter movie star Daniel Radcliffe has said he disagrees with former Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, who recently praised his performance in the Wizarding World films.
On the upside, however, Radcliffe told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he no longer feels “cringe” when watching his performance as a child actor — something he previously did while rewatching the movies as a teenager.
For context, Garfield recently revealed to Hits Radio that he had only just watched the Harry Potter movies for the first time, and noted that Radcliffe was “really good” in them. Garfield’s praise was then put to Radcliffe, who responded that the actor was “fantastic,” before saying: “I disagree with him about my performance in Potter, but that’s really nice.”
“I have more time now for me in the early films,” Radcliffe continued. “When I was 18 I would cringe watching the earlier films. Now I think the earlier films are sweet, and I cringe when watching myself when I was 18 or 19. And I assume those dates will keep changing as to what I find palatable about my own work.”
Asked to rank the eight Harry Potter movies, Radcliffe picked the series’ final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, as his favorite, with Goblet of Fire in second place. Half-Blood Prince was ranked bottom, though Radcliffe said this was for his own “stuff” and not for the film itself.
Separately, Radcliffe has also spoken warmly of the new actor set to take on the title role in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. Radcliffe wrote to 11-year-old Dominic McLaughlin last year to wish him luck for the start of the show’s mammoth production, which is set to continue for much of the next decade.
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“I just see those pictures of him and all the other kids and I just want to hug them,” Radcliffe said at the time. “They just seem so young. I do look at them and I go, ‘Oh, it’s crazy that I was doing that at that age.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet, and I hope they’re having a great time.”
HBO is set to debut its first episodes of the Harry Potter series this Christmas, with the season then continuing into early 2027. Writing is now underway on the series’ second season, and a recent major set leak gave fans a detailed look at the new Diagon Alley, while HBO has admitted the company is spending big on the show, and making a level of financial investment it normally wouldn’t make.
Image credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
