Seven years ago, three British schoolkids started a journey that has now encompassed five movies and a worldwide box office approaching $4 billion US. If you think hard, you may come up with their real names -- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. But your brain wants you to say Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
For all that, these three now-teenagers have the same relaxed attitude with each other that interviewers remember from their first round of interviews after the debut film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. They have a tendency to inspire each other to hysterics, particularly Watson, who'll laugh at anything that comes out of the mouth of either Grint or Radcliffe. For instance, ask what they do with all their money (Radcliffe, the second richest teenager in Britain after Prince Harry, made a reported $14 mil for the latest instalment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Radcliffe, who turns 18 on July 23, says he spends some of his on art, while Watson, 17, allows that she just bought a laptop and is considering buying a car. "Recently I got an ice cream van, which is really cool," 18-year-old Grint says, matter-of-factly at a news conference at London's famed Claridge's Hotel promoting Order of the Phoenix. There's a second of silence, as the media soaks in what he's said.
"When he says 'ice cream van,' it's not just, like, the shell of an ice cream van," Watson pipes in, laughing excitedly. "It's got ice cream, sweets, like, pumpin'. I saw it!
" This is apparently news to Radcliffe, who shakes his head and laughs too. "Brilliant!" he says.
For all the laughs, though, the subject of death pervades this news conference. Nine days after this week's release of Order of the Phoenix, author J.K.
Rowling releases Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and ostensibly the last book about the adventures of a famous young wizard bound in an extricable death curse with a monstrous "death eater" named Lord Voldemort. To put a fine point on the finale, Rowling has hinted that a key character will die (as has been the case in each of the past three books). The consensus that it will be Harry himself is so strong that bookies have stopped taking bets on the title character being killed.
All of which has little immediate effect on the lives of Radcliffe, Watson and Grint. They are, after all, contracted to the movies, the last of which is scheduled to be released in 2010. But it does set a date on when they can say goodbye to the characters that have defined their lives.
" 'Growing up with the characters' is a question that gets asked in different ways a lot," Radcliffe says. "I think people want us to say, 'Yes, we couldn't live without them!' And while they've been amazing, I don't think they've actually influenced us.
" Watson on the other hand says, "sometimes I feel I barely have to act because I feel so close to my character and know her so well. My job isn't too hard, really." And when talk gets to who will get killed off, again it's Radcliffe who tries to seem bloodless about it.
"I did say at one point I would like Harry to die, because that's a completed ending. And of course the headlines were 'Radcliffe wants Harry dead.' Awful.
But if you consider the prophesy that was made about him and Voldemort, one of them's gotta go. But that's based on absolutely nothing." Informed of the closure placed on bets on Harry, Radcliffe laughs nervously and says, "That's interesting, the public must really love me.
" "I'm convinced (Hermione's) going to make it. As for Grint, he says, "I wouldn't really mind (Ron dying) if it was a really cool scene." For Potter fans, The Order of the Phoenix is known as the "angry Harry" book.
(Although Radcliffe calls it the one "where Harry becomes Henry V"). It's the book where Harry gets it from all sides -- from a wizarding newspaper that "debunks" his claim of Voldemort's return, and from a sadistic new Hogwarts professor named Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) who wants to make an example of Harry and all would-be young shite-disturbers. Against this backdrop, Harry flaunts a ban on wizardry at Hogwarts and teaches his classmates how to go to war wielding their magic.
Rowling said a lot of people had problems with the fifth book," Radcliffe says. "They didn't like Harry's anger in it. And she said, 'Then you haven't understood the four books previous to it, because if you did, then you would see he has a right to be this angry.
' " No one can know what it's like to be him. He's world famous, considering all of that, it's a job that he isn't screwed up or completely gone off the rails." Similarly, no one can know what it's like to be the three most recognized teens in the world with every move under a magnifying glass.
There was the fuss made over Radcliffe's theatrical debut, in the play Equus, which featured a nude scene. And a few months ago, Watson hesitated signing on to the last two movies (Harry Potter The Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows), inviting sarcastic comment from Britain's tabloid papers. "I didn't sign the contract immediately because I needed some time to figure out the logistics of making two more Harry Potter films with my school timetable," says Watson, the only one of the three who hasn't pursued a movie career outside of Potter.
"I really want to go to university and I didn't want to give either one up. has been extremely supportive in helping figure out ways to do that. They've given me Monday mornings off so I can go to school and see my teachers and pick up my work.
They've given me a box every Friday, which I can fill with work and give to my teachers to be marked. I found it quite frustrating and upsetting all the insinuations that were made about why I was holding off. But I just had to figure out a way to make it work for me.
"We have really strong families around us," Watson goes on. "That's what keeps all three of us sane. Having a strong base and strong identities outside of the film.
We have stronger identities than just what people write about us in the press. We can laugh about it. Some of it's frustrating, some of it's annoying, some of it's freaky.
But, adds Radcliffe, "you have to laugh at it (celebrityhood). It's bizarre, but we have loads of opportunity as well. Seven years ago, three British schoolkids started a journey that has now encompassed five movies and a worldwide box office approaching $4 billion US.
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