Daniel Radcliffe Is Laughing Harder Than Ever

Daniel Radcliffe’s resume lays out no shortage of dream career milestones: starring in the beloved Harry Potter films, portraying “Weird Al” Yankovic to widespread acclaim, and recently bringing home his first Tony Award for Merrily We Roll Along. But boarding NBC’s new mockumentary The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins proved there are more pinch-me moments to be had yet — like dinner at Tracy Morgan’s house.

“It’s really, really cool. There’s like 11 or 12 fish tanks of varying size full of crazy exotic fish and sharks,” Radcliffe tells Bustle. “He has sharks!”

His delight at the novelty is infectious. “He spends his money in a much more fun way than I do. Everything blurred in the background is basically the extent of it,” Radcliffe says, referencing his low-key Zoom environs. “Tracy’s got the right idea.”

Of course, there’s more than aquarium love here. On Reggie Dinkins, premiering Feb. 23, Radcliffe plays a director named Arthur Tobin, a role that was written for him. He’s enlisted to film a documentary about Morgan’s titular Reggie, a disgraced football player hoping to make a comeback. It soon becomes clear that Arthur has his own baggage to sort through, which paves the way for a hilarious back-and-forth between the two leads.

“A lot of the time you meet comedians, and then in real life, they’re very serious ... but Tracy is what you expect in the best way,” Radcliffe says of teaming up with the 30 Rock alum, noting that he’d sometimes arrive for rehearsal while blasting perfectly timed Phil Collins, just to make an entrance.

Radcliffe has said fun is front of mind when he chooses roles, and Reggie Dinkins is that — the pair’s comedic chemistry draws out new levels of absurdity in each other and an ensemble that includes Erika Alexander as Reggie’s ex-wife (and manager), Monica, and Bobby Moynihan as his live-in best friend, Rusty.

The 36-year-old actor (who also takes the Broadway stage in Every Brilliant Thing this month) may be known for his own blockbuster franchise, but at home, he’s got competition. After zeroing in on the Jurassic Park book behind me in our Zoom chat, Radcliffe says his partner, Erin Darke, is obsessed with the film, and it’s rubbed off on their nearly-3-year-old son, who can already name lots of dinosaurs.

“There’s a chance that he sees it younger than he probably should, because my girlfriend’s passion for it ... but I feel like a young boy’s love of both dinosaurs and bloodlust could mean that he was maybe OK to see it younger,” he says, laughing.

Below, Radcliffe opens up about Reggie Dinkins, blue-screen acting, and growing up in the spotlight.

I read that having fun is one of the driving factors that helps you decide which roles to take on. What excited you most about playing Arthur?

I’ve worked with co-creators Robert Carlock and Sam Means on the Kimmy Schmidt movie for Netflix years ago, and a bit more on Mulligan, the animated show we did for Netflix. Their work is always amazing, so when I got the script and I saw everyone’s names attached, it was such a foregone conclusion. They are very good at writing to my strengths, and obviously, posh, panicked Englishman is not a particular stretch for me.

Part of it is, as you say, how much fun am I going to have doing this — and would I enjoy watching this? And if people don’t think this is funny, then I have to completely reevaluate. To me, this is the funniest thing that I’ve ever been in. I was laughing so much reading the scripts.

Reggie obviously has this very specific, hilarious story about his career. As a young person who became a public figure very quickly, I was wondering if there were any parallels that you drew to your real life.

I was really lucky that I had a crazy youth, but it was also very structured, and there was tremendous continuity in the people around me the whole time. It can be a blessing and it can also really f*ck a person up. I got to meet a couple of the Strangers Things kids recently, and I was able to just hug them and be like, “You’re all doing so well. You seem nice. Well done!” It was really lovely.

Anytime I see somebody dealing with fame, I am both interested and deeply sympathetic and want to hug people. I remember when Chappell Roan was having that moment last year — there was something so beautiful about it. And it made me really sad as well. I don’t know her, so I don’t want to speak about her life. But watching somebody go from naught to 100 in a year, her rise was so crazy. And then her very sweet videos where she was like, “Hey, I might not want to take a photo...” It felt like somebody realizing that they had moved past a point of fame that they could never get back from.

Having worked in so many different genres and mediums, and now playing this director, is there any part of you that would like to direct some day?

I definitely would love to direct. Being in the middle of a film set and being asked to make a creative decision every second of the day seems like a really exciting thing to do. I think I would be kind of good at leading a set. I don’t think it’ll be any time in the next couple of years, but if I could make some moves toward doing that in the next five, I’d really like to.

The show is deeply steeped in pop culture. What are you watching, listening to, or getting obsessed with today?

I have not seen Heated Rivalry, which is basically the only pop culture thing that is happening right now. My partner is obsessed with it. She was finishing the series the other night, and the next morning I was like, “Did you finish it?” She was like, “I watched the finale twice, back to back.” So I’m gonna get into that at some point.

I loved the new Knives Out movie. I’m learning the lines for a play, so that’s starting to occupy every waking second I’m not doing something else. And honestly, my small child has recently become obsessed with 101 Dalmatians. That’s most of what my pop culture is now — animated 101 Dalmatians and the Disney Robin Hood are the two things he’s really into at the moment.

And hopefully, one day, Jurassic Park.

Oh, yeah. He really does not have a choice.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.