Daniel Nude. Parents Angry.
In the course of a day or so Daniel Radcliffe has gone from the boy your parents would love to see you bring home, to the bad boy who has your dad polishing his rifle. Some parents are mad.
One of the publicity photos shows a topless and buffed Radcliffe being hugged by a naked woman. Another shows him leaning against bales of hay as he stares up at the topless woman. A third has him posing in front of a white horse…
“We as parents feel Daniel should not appear nude. Our nine-year-old son looks up to him as a role model…” one parent wrote.
Another said: “I am curious as to how and why his parents said this was okay.”
Daniel’s role in Equus is a difficult role for anyone to play, let alone a 17 year-old. Especially a 17 year-old who is such a prominent figure in the world of children and teenagers. (Begin my editorializing) But he is an actor.
More than that he’s an actor who approaches his acting as an art form. It’s important for parents, children and teens to acknowledge this…and be thankful he’s in a difficult role like this instead of doing a schlocky, raunchy movie like American Pie or Deuce Bigelow. In Equus Daniel is acting.
Which is worse, really: Daniel Radcliffe acting in a play in which he appears nude…or another teen idol, Britney Spears, flashing her goods (in her real life) for all the paparazzi (and the whole world) to see?
Daniel seems like a very well-adjusted, respectful 17 year-old. He’s not Paris Hilton. He’s not Britney Spears. He’s not any number of other questionably-moraled celebrities who teens follow, yet their parents never really get all worked up over. He’s an actor who loves what he does so much that he’s willing to take on a role that 99.9% of other actors couldn’t or wouldn’t play…either for fear of standing naked in front of a theater full of people, or for fear of what standing naked in front of a theater full of people would do to their image.
What’s really odd is everyone is upset by the thought of Daniel’s naked body…but there’s no outrage over the fact that his character stabs horses in the eye with a hoofpick. Why do parents get so worked up over a naked body, yet turn right around and let their children watch movies and television shows where people are brutally murdered? It makes absolutely no sense.
(End of my editorializing)
Well, with all that said, let’s end things with a statement from Daniel Radcliffe’s spokeswoman:
The young actor’s spokeswoman, Vanessa Davies, said: “Daniel does not want to step away from Harry Potter but he does want to show he is a rounded actor capable of very different and diverse roles.”
What remains to be seen, however, is what the reaction is when the play actually opens. When people see more than just a bare chest. And no doubt someone with a camera-phone will sneak a shot and post it on the internet.
…
January 31st, 2007 at 11:07 am
I wish him the best of luck, and even as a parent, find no harm in what he is doing. I hope he gets great reviews and I think it shows a lot of courage for him to make this move.
January 31st, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I don’t see what all the fuss is about, he’s an actor, actors act, that’s it. Harry Potter isn’t going to last forever and if Daniel can start to branch out so he’s not forever typecast, that’s his right and privilege. The nudity or publicity shots aren’t even obscene.
February 1st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
iam really proud of daniel for doing this.personally i dont really find the photos very shocking.i think he is really hot.he is a great actor and i think people should give him a chance.he cant be harry forever.i hope that in future he gets to play really good roles like this one.i will always be a fan.
February 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I guess it’s just b/c I’m American, you know, unmoralistic and supportive of sleazy pop stars, but I find it disgusting. Furthermore, Britney Spears shows herself to the paparazzi b/c she’s ACTING. She is not the type to just go around and show herself to strangers. However, showing herself to the press gives her publicity. And any publicity is good publicity. It’s the same thing. Both want publicity, both want to shake a “too good” stigma (what’s wrong with that anyway?), but only one way is considered “artistic”. And no, I don’t approve of her either.
February 3rd, 2007 at 10:42 am
Hello! Has anyone out there read or seen “Equus?” It’s a deep and dramatic story. As the parent of a teen who has grown up with “Harry Potter” and as a fan myself, I’m happy to see Daniel Radcliffe taking on such a serious and challenging role. I would have no problem with taking my 16-year-old to see the play.
February 17th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
You’re KIDDING right Debby? Personally, I find it offensive that you would make fun of Americans like that. I’m an American and have loathed people like Britney Spears since the 6th grade. And yes, I am 17 years old. I guess I’m confused as to what point you are trying to make in your comment, are you making fun of Americans because of people like Britney Spears, or that it is wrong for all high-profile people should not expose themselves even for art for arts sake?
I think it’s great that Dan is doing this. I have doubted his talent in playing Harry, but this proves to me that he is serious about his craft and I think that’s fabulous. It’s not as though he’s stripping in public, it’s a play. There are plenty of movies with nudity in them, and I’m sure that this play will be seen by far less people then the thousands of movies with nudity in them.
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Plenty of celebs have paraded around nude and no one got upset and many of them for movies no one in there right mind would call art. I think they forget Harry Potter is a character he is portryaing he’s not really him.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I really don’t see what the big deal is about him taking on this role. I’m personally really proud that he did. It’s practically the polar opposite of his Harry Potter role. Daniel Radcliffe is NOT Harry Potter. He’s Dan, and he’s an actor. Acting is acting. And if it involves dropping your pants onstage, so be it.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
truthfully i do not see the big problem. you are all saying hes nude. hes not you could probably see as much of him if you were going to a beach and he had swim trunks on. i meen come on. if you dont want your children to see his chest then dont let them look at the pics on the web sites.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:34 am
hello everyone
i really dont see what the big deal is,i personally think that daniel is really good looking, and if he wants to move on from the part of harry potter and becoe a young man, then let him, its his life an if thats what he wants to do, then i say good luck to him.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I think that daniel should be given a chance he can’t be Harry Potter foever hes growing up now he needs to express his acting and do more varieties. Such as this play he is expressing his acting technique in different forms and I will always always be a fan!! GO DANIEL!!xx
March 17th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Daniel was a role modle for tons of kids in my 7th grade class and still are and I think its just plain disgusting and dirty that he or his parents would agree to him doing those sceens! Im disgusted! And now he’s smoking where did the old Dan go??