Daniel Radcliffe has weighed in on the ranking of the Harry Potter film adaptations, admitting he was surprised by some of his own preferences.
The British actor, 36, played the lead role in eight film adaptations of JK Rowling’s best-selling book series, between 2001 and 2011.
During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Radcliffe was presented with bracketed choices between pairs of Harry Potter films, which were then whittled down to an overall winner: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part Two, a film he described as “my favourite of all of them”.
Radcliffe explained that he has “more time now for me in the early films”, which included the inaugural adaptation Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and the followup Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
He explained that when he was still 18 years old, he “would cringe watching the earlier films”.
“Now I think the early films are sweet, and now I cringe watching myself when I was 18 or 19,” he explained.
He ranked the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, lowest of all, stating: “Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. That’s my own stuff. That’s not the film.”
Radcliffe has previously spoken about the 2009 film being the point when his struggles with alcoholism worsened. The actor began abusing alcohol while still a teenager, and has now been sober since 2010.
“There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me,” he told GQ in 2011 that his problem began during his time on Half-Blood Prince.
He also voted out the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in the first bracket, despite that film’s status among many Potter fans and critics as the de facto high point of the franchise.
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“I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know that’s how everyone else feels, but I love the stuff I got to do on the fourth movie,” he said, opting instead for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Goblet of Fire ultimately ended up finishing his ranking in second place, behind the final film, with Radcliffe admitting: “I’m fascinated. I don’t think I knew that Goblet of Fire would have been my second-favorite film. Although it would have survived if the bracket were different. It would have gone a different way.”
Since completing his work on the Harry Potter franchise, Radcliffe has gone on to deliver acclaimed performances in films such as Swiss Army Man (2016) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).
For his role in the recent Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Radcliffe was awarded a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
