Daniel Radcliffe Wanted to Crawl in a Fetal Position When Gary Oldman Screamed at Him on ‘Harry Potter’ Set

Daniel Radcliffe had the opportunity to collaborate with quite a few veteran actors working on Harry Potter. Gary Oldman was one of the many seasoned stars that Radcliffe felt lucky acting alongside with.

But there was a moment when Oldman’s intensity caused a frightening reaction from Radcliffe.

What Gary Oldman thought about Daniel Radcliffe as an actor

Oldman being a part of the Harry Potter franchise had a huge impact on Radcliffe. Not only because Radcliffe admired the Oscar-winner, but because of how Oldman’s presence would influence Radcliffe’s own acting. Playing Sirius Black, Oldman unconsciously motivated Radcliffe to push his performances to greater heights.

“He’s always somebody who — just from being around, I don’t know whether it is from some kind of quite pure and childish desire to want to impress him or out of the fact that he just gets something out of me — having him around for some reason on the fifth film was such an amazing thing for me as an actor, and hopefully he’ll have that effect again,” Radcliffe once said in an interview with MTV News.

As for Oldman, The Professional star was impressed with how Radcliffe and his co-stars improved as the series went on.

“As the books have got darker and as the books have got more complex, he’s in a different league,” Oldman said. “Who would have known that Emma [Watson], Rupert [Grint] and Daniel, at 11, would have had the chops to take it through to the end?”

But Oldman was also surprised with Radcliffe’s career choices even beyond Harry Potter.

“I don’t know many 17, 18-year-olds that would have done Equus. And he’s now singing and dancing on Broadway. He pops up out of these holes. And he’s got f*** you money, so he can do what he wants. And [he’s] dedicated, takes it very seriously and works very hard,” Oldman said.

Daniel Radcliffe wanted to curl into a fetal position when Gary Oldman Screamed at Him on ‘Harry Potter’ set

Radcliffe and Oldman had a powerful moment on the Harry Potter set in preparation for a scene. Radcliffe’s Harry Potter character experiences more tragedy as the movies mature enough to explore darker material. Because of this, Radcliffe found himself needing to convey some heavy emotions through Harry that he never had before. Which proved to be a challenge for the young actor.

“It’s kind of hard to find that level when you’re 15,” he said in a separate MTV News interview.

Oldman would step in to demonstrate for Radcliffe how to tap into the raw emotions needed for Harry Potter’s more extreme scenes. Oldman’s lessons, however, might have been too much for Radcliffe to handle at one point.

“[Gary Oldman] came up to me and said, ‘Do you mind if we get a bit intense?’ And then he came towards me. I thought he was going to hold me, but he shook me and screamed at me! So hard that when he let me go, I almost fell. I wanted to go crawl up in a fetal position,” Radcliffe said.

But the terror was only temporary, and Radcliffe discovered Oldman’s intensity was actually very effective.

“And then he said, ‘Throw your head back and scream.’ And it worked,” Radcliffe said.

Daniel Radcliffe hates his performance in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’

When it comes to his acting, Radcliffe could sometimes be his own worst critic. This was the case when Radcliffe looked back on his performance in Half-Blood Prince. He felt the movie offered one of his worst displays of acting, as he believed he’d become too comfortable in his role. However, his favorite film was also one that Oldman had a substantial role in.

“My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn’t come across. My best film is the fifth one because I can see a progression,” Radcliffe once told Daily Mail.