Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling. Film editing is the only art that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms that preceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing), although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art"^[1] because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work.

On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent whole. A film editor is a person who practices film editing by assembling the footage. However, the job of an editor isn’t simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

With the advent of digital editing, film editors and their assistants have become responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. For instance, in past years, picture editors dealt only with just that—picture. Sound, music, and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the picture editor and director. However, digital systems have increasingly put these responsibilities on the picture editor. It is common, especially on lower budget films, for the assistant editors or even the editor to cut in music, mock up visual effects, and add sound effects or other sound replacements. These temporary elements are usually replaced with more refined final elements by the sound, music, and visual effects teams hired to complete the picture.

Film editing is an art that can be used in diverse ways. It can create sensually provocative montages; become a laboratory for experimental cinema; bring out the emotional truth in an actor's performance; create a point of view on otherwise obtuse events; guide the telling and pace of a story; create an illusion of danger where there is none; give emphasis to things that would not have otherwise been noted; and even create a vital subconscious emotional connection to the viewer, among many other possibilities.

Early experiments[link]

Edwin S. Porter is generally thought to be the American filmmaker who first put film editing to use. Porter worked as an electrician before joining the film laboratory of Thomas Alva Edison in the late 1890s. Early films by Thomas Edison (whose company invented a motion camera and projector) and others were short films that were one long, static, locked-down shot. Motion in the shot was all that was necessary to amuse an audience, so the first films simply showed activity such as traffic moving on a city street. There was no story and no editing. Each film ran as long as there was film in the camera. When Edison's motion picture studio wanted to increase the length of the short films, Edison came to Porter. Porter made the breakthrough film Life of an American Fireman in 1903. The film was among the first that had a plot, action, and even a closeup of a hand pulling a fire alarm.

Other films were to follow. Porter's ground-breaking film, The Great Train Robbery is still shown in film schools today as an example of early editing form. It was produced in 1903 and was one of the first examples of dynamic, action editing - piecing together scenes shot at different times and places and for emotional impact unavailable in a static long shot. Being one of the first film hyphenates (film director, editor and engineer) Porter also invented and utilized some of the very first (albeit primitive) special effects such as double exposures, miniatures and split-screens.

Porter discovered important aspects of motion picture language: that the screen image does not need to show a complete person from head to toe and that splicing together two shots creates in the viewer's mind a contextual relationship. These were the key discoveries that made all non-live or non live-on-videotape narrative motion pictures and television possible—that shots (in this case whole scenes since each shot is a complete scene) can be photographed at widely different locations over a period of time (hours, days or even months) and combined into a narrative whole.^[2] That is, The Great Train Robbery contains scenes shot on sets of a telegraph station, a railroad car interior, and a dance hall, with outdoor scenes at a railroad water tower, on the train itself, at a point along the track, and in the woods. But when the robbers leave the telegraph station interior (set) and emerge at the water tower, the audience believes they went immediately from one to the other. Or that when they climb on the train in one shot and enter the baggage car (a set) in the next, the audience believes they are on the same train.

Sometime around 1918, Russian director Lev Kuleshov did an experiment that proves this point. (See Kuleshov Experiment) He took an old film clip of a head shot of a noted Russian actor and intercut the shot with a shot of a bowl of soup, then with a child playing with a teddy bear, then with a shot an elderly woman in a casket. When he showed the film to people they praised the actor's acting—the hunger in his face when he saw the soup, the delight in the child, and the grief when looking at the dead woman.^[3] Of course, the shot of the actor was years before the other shots and he never "saw" any of the items. The simple act of juxtaposing the shots in a sequence made the relationship.

History of film editing technology[link]

The original editing machine: an upright Moviola.

Steenbeck film editing machine rollers

Before the widespread use of non-linear editing systems, the initial editing of all films was done with a positive copy of the film negative called a film workprint (cutting copy in UK) by physically cutting and pasting together pieces of film, using a splicer and threading the film on a machine with a viewer such as a Moviola, or "flatbed" machine such as a K.-E.-M. or Steenbeck. Today, most films are edited digitally (on systems such as Avid or Final Cut Pro) and bypass the film positive workprint altogether. In the past, the use of a film positive (not the original negative) allowed the editor to do as much experimenting as he or she wished, without the risk of damaging the original.

When the film workprint had been cut to a satisfactory state, it was then used to make an edit decision list (EDL). The negative cutter referred to this list while processing the negative, splitting the shots into rolls, which were then contact printed to produce the final film print or answer print. Today, production companies have the option of bypassing negative cutting altogether. With the advent of digital intermediate ("DI"), the physical negative does not necessarily need to be physically cut and hot spliced together; rather the negative is optically scanned into computer(s) and a cut list is conformed by a DI editor.

Post-production[link]

Editor's cut[link]

There are several editing stages and the editor's cut is the first. An editor's cut (sometimes referred to as the "Assembly edit" or "Rough cut") is normally the first pass of what the final film will be when it reaches picture lock. The film editor usually starts working while principal photography starts. Likely, prior to cutting, the editor and director will have seen and/or discussed "dailies" (raw footage shot each day) as shooting progresses. Screening dailies gives the editor a ballpark idea of the director's intentions. Because it is the first pass, the editor's cut might be longer than the final film. The editor continues to refine the cut while shooting continues, and often the entire editing process goes on for many months and sometimes more than a year, depending on the film.

Director's cut[link]

When shooting is finished, the director can then turn his full attention to collaborating with the editor and further refining the cut of the film. This is the time that is set aside where the film editor's first cut is molded to fit the director's vision. In the United States, under DGA rules, directors receive a minimum of ten weeks after completion of principal photography to prepare their first cut.

While collaborating on what is referred to as the "director's cut", the director and the editor go over the entire movie with a fine-tooth comb; scenes and shots are re-ordered, removed, shortened and otherwise tweaked. Often it is discovered that there are plot holes, missing shots or even missing segments which might require that new scenes be filmed. Because of this time working closely and collaborating – a period that is normally far longer, and far more intimately involved, than the entire production and filming – most directors and editors form a unique artistic bond.

Final cut[link]

Often after the director has had his chance to oversee a cut, the subsequent cuts are supervised by one or more producers, who represent the production company and/or movie studio. There have been several conflicts in the past between the director and the studio, sometimes leading to the use of the "Alan Smithee" credit signifying when a director no longer wants to be associated with the final release.

Continuity[link]

Continuity is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. For instance, if in one shot a beer glass is empty, it should not be full in the next shot. Live coverage of a sporting event would be an example of footage that is very continuous. Since the live operators are cutting from one live feed to another, the physical action of the shots matches very closely. Many people regard inconsistencies in continuity as mistakes, and often the editor is blamed. In film, however, continuity is very nearly last on a film editor's list of important things to maintain.

Technically, continuity is the responsibility of the script supervisor and film director, who are together responsible for preserving continuity and preventing errors from take to take and shot to shot. The script supervisor, who sits next to the director during shooting, keeps the physical continuity of the edit in mind as shots are set up. He is the editor's watchman. If shots are taken out of sequence, as is often the case, he will be alert to make sure that that beer glass is in the appropriate state. The editor utilizes the script supervisor's notes during post-production to log and keep track of the vast amounts of footage and takes that a director might shoot.

Methods of montage[link]

In motion picture terminology, a montage (from the French for "putting together" or "assembly") is a film editing technique.

There are at least three senses of the term:

1. In French film practice, "montage" has its literal French meaning (assembly, installation) and simply identifies editing.
2. In Soviet filmmaking of the 1920s, "montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone.
3. In classical Hollywood cinema, a "montage sequence" is a short segment in a film in which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.

Soviet montage[link]

Lev Kuleshov was among the very first to theorize about the relatively young medium of the cinema in the 1920s. For him, the unique essence of the cinema — that which could be duplicated in no other medium — is editing. He argues that editing a film is like constructing a building. Brick-by-brick (shot-by-shot) the building (film) is erected. His often-cited Kuleshov Experiment established that montage can lead the viewer to reach certain conclusions about the action in a film. Montage works because viewers infer meaning based on context.

Although, strictly speaking, U.S. film director D.W. Griffith was not part of the montage school, he was one of the early proponents of the power of editing — mastering cross-cutting to show parallel action in different locations, and codifying film grammar in other ways as well. Griffith's work in the teens was highly regarded by Kuleshov and other Soviet filmmakers and greatly influenced their understanding of editing.

Sergei Eisenstein was briefly a student of Kuleshov's, but the two parted ways because they had different ideas of montage. Eisenstein regarded montage as a dialectical means of creating meaning. By contrasting unrelated shots he tried to provoke associations in the viewer, which were induced by shocks.

Montage sequence[link]

A montage sequence consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense narrative. It is usually used to advance the story as a whole (often to suggest the passage of time), rather than to create symbolic meaning. In many cases, a song plays in the background to enhance the mood or reinforce the message being conveyed. One famous example of montage was seen in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, depicting the start of man's first development from apes to humans.

Continuity editing[link]

What became known as the popular 'classical Hollywood' style of editing was developed by early European and American directors, in particular D.W. Griffith in his films such as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. The classical style ensures temporal and spatial continuity as a way of advancing narrative, using such techniques as the 180 degree rule, Establishing shot, and Shot reverse shot.

Alternatives to continuity editing (non-traditional or experimental)[link]

Early Russian filmmakers such as Lev Kuleshov further explored and theorized about editing and its ideological nature. Sergei Eisenstein developed a system of editing that was unconcerned with the rules of the continuity system of classical Hollywood that he called Intellectual montage.

Alternatives to traditional editing were also the folly of early surrealist and dada filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel (director of the 1929 Un Chien Andalou) and René Clair (director of 1924's Entr'acte which starred famous dada artists Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray). Both filmmakers, Clair and Buñuel, experimented with editing techniques long before what is referred to as "MTV style" editing.

The French New Wave filmmakers such as Jean Luc Godard and François Truffaut and their American counterparts such as Andy Warhol and John Cassavetes also pushed the limits of editing technique during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. French New Wave films and the non-narrative films of the 1960s used a carefree editing style and did not conform to the traditional editing etiquette of Hollywood films. Like its dada and surrealist predecessors, French New Wave editing often drew attention to itself by its lack of continuity, its demystifying self-reflexive nature (reminding the audience that they were watching a film), and by the overt use of jump cuts or the insertion of material not often related to any narrative.

Editing techniques[link]

Vsevolod Pudovkin noted that the editing process is the one phase of production that is truly unique to motion pictures. Every other aspect of film making originated in a different medium than film (photography, art direction, writing, sound recording), but editing is the one process that is unique to film.^{[citation needed]} Kubrick was quoted as saying: "I love editing. I think I like it more than any other phase of film making. If I wanted to be frivolous, I might say that everything that precedes editing is merely a way of producing film to edit."^[4]

• Edward Dmytryk stipulates seven "rules of cutting" that a good editor should follow:^[5]
  • "Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason."
  • "Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short."^[6]
  • "Rule 3: Whenever possible cut 'in movement'."^[7]
  • "Rule 4: The 'fresh' is preferable to the 'stale'."^[8]
  • "Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action."^[9]
  • "Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper 'matches'."^[10]
  • "Rule 7: Substance first—then form."^[11]
• According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are (in order of importance, most important first, with notional percentage values.):
  • Emotion (51%) — Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
  • Story (23%) — Does the cut advance the story?
  • Rhythm (10%) — Does the cut occur "at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and 'right'" (Murch, 18)?
  • Eye-trace (7%) — Does the cut pay respect to "the location and movement of the audience's focus of interest within the frame" (Murch, 18)?
  • Two-dimensional plane of the screen (5%) — Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
  • Three-dimensional space of action (4%) — Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?

Murch assigned the notional percentage values to each of the criteria. "Emotion, at the top of the list, is the thing that you should try to preserve at all costs. If you find you have to sacrifice certain of those six things to make a cut, sacrifice your way up, item by item, from the bottom."-Murch

References[link]

Bibliography

Notes

Further reading

See also[link]

• 180 degree rule
• 30 degree rule
• A Roll (Footage)
• B Roll
• Cinematic techniques
• Clapperboard
• Compositing (Keying)
• Cut (transition), for the director's call Cut!
  • Axial cut
  • Cross-cutting
  • Fast cutting
  • Jump cut
  • Long take
  • Match cut
  • Slow cutting
• Cutaway
• Edit decision list (EDL)
• Film transition
  • Dissolve
  • L cut (split edit)
  • Wipe
• Filmmaking
• Kuleshov Effect
• List of film-related topics
• Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG)
• Motion picture terminology
• Moviola
• Re-edited film
• Scene
• Sequence
• Shot
  • Establishing shot
  • Insert
  • Master shot
  • Point of view shot
  • Shot reverse shot
• Video editing

Wikibooks[link]

• Mewa Film User's Guide
• Movie Making Manual

Wikiversity[link]

Wikiversity has learning materials about Film editing

• Portal:Filmmaking

External links[link]

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Film editing

=

• The Art of the Guillotine

Albert Brooks
Brooks at a Q&A following a screening of Drive, December 5, 2011
Born	Albert Lawrence Einstein (1947-07-22) July 22, 1947 (age 64) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director, writer
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Kimberly Shlain (1997–present)

Albert Lawrence Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein; July 22, 1947) is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987^[1] for his role in Broadcast News. His voice acting credits include Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo, recurring guest voices for the animated television series The Simpsons, including Russ Cargill in The Simpsons Movie.

Early life[link]

Brooks was born in Beverly Hills, California, the son of Thelma Leeds (née Goodman), a singer and actress, and Harry Einstein, a radio comedian who performed on Eddie Cantor's radio program and was known as Parkyakarkus.^[2] His brothers are comedic actor Bob Einstein, better known by his stage name "Super Dave Osborne," and Cliff Einstein, a partner and longtime chief creative officer at Los Angeles advertising agency Dailey & Associates. His half-brother was Charles Einstein (1926–2007), a writer for such television programs as Playhouse 90 and Lou Grant. Brooks is Jewish;^[3] his grandparents emigrated from Austria and Russia. He grew up among show business royalty in southern California, attending Beverly Hills High School with the likes of Richard Dreyfuss and Rob Reiner.^[4]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Brooks attended Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, but dropped out after one year to focus on his comedy career. He changed his surname from Einstein (to avoid confusion with the famous physicist) and began a comedy career that quickly made him a regular on variety and talk shows during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Brooks led a new generation of self-reflective baby-boomer comics appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His onstage persona, that of an egotistical, narcissistic, nervous comic, an ironic showbiz insider who punctured himself before an audience by disassembling his mastery of comedic stagecraft, influenced other '70s post-modern comedians, including Steve Martin, Martin Mull and Andy Kaufman.

After two successful comedy albums, Comedy Minus One (1973) and the Grammy Award-nominated A Star Is Bought (1975), Brooks left the stand-up circuit to try his hand as a filmmaker; his first film, The Famous Comedians School, was a satiric short that appeared on PBS and was an early example of the mockumentary sub-genre.

In 1975, he directed six short films for the first season of NBC's Saturday Night Live:

• October 11, 1975 episode (host: Lily Tomlin) – "The Impossible Truth"
• October 18, 1975 episode (host: Paul Simon) – failed Candid Camera stunts and home movies
• October 25, 1975 episode (host: Rob Reiner) – heart surgery
• November 8, 1975 episode (host: Candice Bergen) – upcoming season
• December 13, 1975 episode (host: Richard Pryor) – sick
• January 9, 1976 episode (host: Elliott Gould) - audience test screening

In 1976 he appeared in his first mainstream film role, in Martin Scorsese's landmark Taxi Driver; Scorsese allowed Brooks to improvise much of his dialogue. The role reflected Brooks's decision to move to Los Angeles to enter the film business. In an interview, Brooks mentioned a conversation he'd had with Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader, in which Schrader said that Brooks's character was the only one in the movie that he could not "understand" – a remark that Brooks found amusing, as the movie's antihero was a psychotic loner.

Brooks directed his first feature film, Real Life, in 1979. The film, in which Brooks obnoxiously films a typical suburban family in an effort to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize, was a sendup of PBS's An American Family documentary. It has also been viewed as foretelling the future emergence of reality television.^[5] Brooks also made a cameo appearance in the film Private Benjamin (1980), starring Goldie Hawn.

1980s–1990s[link]

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Brooks co-wrote (with longtime collaborator Monica Johnson), directed and starred in a series of well-received comedies, playing variants on his standard neurotic and self-obsessed character. These include 1981's Modern Romance, where Brooks played a film editor desperate to win back his ex-girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold). The film received a limited release and ultimately grossed under $3 million domestically,^[6] but was well received by critics, with one reviewer commenting that the film was "not Brooks at his best, but still amusing".^[7] His best-received film, Lost in America (1985), featured Brooks and Julie Hagerty as a couple who leave their yuppie lifestyle and drop out of society to live in a motor home as they have always dreamed of doing. They meet comic disappointment.

Brooks's Defending Your Life (1991) placed his lead character in the afterlife, put on trial to justify his human fears and thus determine his cosmic fate. Critics responded to the offbeat premise and the surprising chemistry between Brooks and Meryl Streep as his post-death love interest. His later efforts did not find large audiences, but still retained Brooks's touch as a filmmaker. He garnered positive reviews for Mother (1996), which starred Brooks as a middle-aged writer moving back home to resolve tensions between himself and his mother (Debbie Reynolds). 1999's The Muse featured Brooks as a down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter using the services of an authentic muse (Sharon Stone) for inspiration.

Brooks has appeared as a guest voice on The Simpsons five times during its run (always under the name A. Brooks), and is described as the best guest star in the show's history by IGN, particularly for his role as supervillain Hank Scorpio in the episode "You Only Move Twice".^[8]

Brooks also acted in other writers' and directors' films during the 1980s and 1990s. He had a cameo in the opening scene of Twilight Zone: The Movie, playing a driver whose passenger (Dan Aykroyd) has a shocking secret. In James L. Brooks's hit Broadcast News (1987), Albert Brooks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as an insecure, supremely ethical network TV reporter, who offers the rhetorical question, "Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive?" He also won positive notices for his role in 1998's Out of Sight, playing an untrustworthy banker and ex-convict.

2000s[link]

Brooks received positive reviews for his portrayal of a dying retail store owner who befriends disillusioned teen Leelee Sobieski in My First Mister (2001). Brooks continued his voiceover work in Disney and Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003), as the voice of "Marlin", one of the film's protagonists; Nemo is Brooks's largest grossing film to date.

In 2005, his film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World was dropped by Sony Pictures due to their desire to change the title. Warner Independent Pictures purchased the film and gave it a limited release in January 2006; the film received mixed reviews and a low box office gross. The movie goes back to the days of Brooks's Real Life, as Brooks once again plays himself, a filmmaker commissioned by the U.S. government to see what makes the Muslim people laugh, thus sending him on a tour of India and Pakistan.

In 2006 he appeared in the documentary film Wanderlust as David Howard from "Lost in America". The documentary included many other well known people. In 2007, he continued his long term collaboration with The Simpsons by voicing Russ Cargill, the central antagonist of The Simpsons Movie.

He has played Lenny Botwin, Nancy Botwin's estranged father-in-law, on Showtime's television series Weeds.^[9] St. Martin's Press published his first novel, 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America, on May 10, 2011.^[10]

In 2011, Brooks costarred as a vicious gangster heavy and the main antagonist in the motion picture Drive, alongside Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, a role that has been given much critical praise and positive reviews, with several critics proclaiming Brooks' performance as one of the film's best aspects. After receiving awards and nominations from several film festivals and critic groups, but not an Academy Award nomination, Brooks responded humorously on Twitter, "And to the Academy: ‘You don't like me. You really don't like me’."^[11][12]

Personal life[link]

Brooks married Kimberly Shlain, an artist he met through a mutual friend. The couple have two children, Jacob Eli and Claire Elizabeth.

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Albert Brooks at the Internet Movie Database
• Albert Brooks at AllRovi
• Albert Brooks on Twitter
• Interview: Albert Brooks: Comedy And Dystopia – On Point.

Daniel Radcliffe
Radcliffe at Make Believe On Broadway, 23 November 2011
Born	Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (1989-07-23) 23 July 1989 (age 22) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present

Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English film and stage actor who rose to prominence playing the title character in the Harry Potter film series.

Radcliffe made his acting debut at age ten in BBC One's 1999 television movie David Copperfield, followed by his film debut in 2001's The Tailor of Panama. At age eleven he was cast as the title character in the first Harry Potter film, and he starred in the series for ten years until the release of the eighth and final film in July 2011. He also began to branch out to stage acting in 2007, starring in the London and New York productions of the play Equus and in the 2011 Broadway revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In addition, he starred in 2007's December Boys and the 2012 hit horror film The Woman in Black. He will play beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 2013 indie film Kill Your Darlings.

Radcliffe has contributed to many charities, including Demelza House Children's Hospice and The Trevor Project. He has also made public service announcements for the latter. In 2011, he was awarded the Trevor Project's "Hero Award".

Early life and education[link]

Radcliffe was born on 23 July 1989 in West London, England,^[1] the only child of Alan George Radcliffe, a literary agent, and Marcia Jeannine Gresham (née Marcia Gresham Jacobson), a casting agent who was involved in several films for the BBC, including The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Walk Away And I Stumble.^[2][3] Radcliffe's mother is Jewish and a native of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex;^[3][4] his father, originally from Northern Ireland, is Protestant.^[5] He was raised without religion.^[6] Radcliffe first expressed a desire to act at the age of five,^[7] and in December 1999, aged ten, he made his acting debut in the BBC One's televised two-part adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield, portraying the title character as a young boy.^[8]

Radcliffe was educated at two independent schools for boys:^[9] at Sussex House School, a day school in Cadogan Square in Chelsea in London,^[10] followed by the City of London School,^[11] a day school on the North Bank of the River Thames in London's financial district, known as the City of London.

Following the release of the first Harry Potter movie, attending school became hard for Radcliffe, with some fellow pupils becoming hostile. Radcliffe said it was people just trying to "have a crack at the kid that plays Harry Potter" rather than jealousy.^[12] As his acting career began to consume his schedule, Radcliffe continued his education through on-set tutors. He admitted he was not very good at school, considered it useless, and found the work to be "really, really difficult";^[9] however, he did achieve A grades in the three A-levels that he sat in 2006, but then decided to take a break from education and did not go to college or university.^[13] Part of the reason was that he already knew he wanted to act and write, and that it would be difficult to have a normal college experience. "The paparazzi, they’d love it," he told Details magazine in 2007. "If there were any parties going on, they’d be tipped off as to where they were".^[12]

Career[link]

[edit] Harry Potter

Radcliffe at the July 2009 premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In 2000 producer David Heyman asked Radcliffe to audition for the role of Harry Potter for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the best-selling book by British author J. K. Rowling.^[14][15] Rowling had been searching for an unknown British actor to personify the character; however, Radcliffe's parents did not want him to audition for the role, as the contract required shooting all seven films in Los Angeles, California, and so they did not tell him.^[16] The movie's director Chris Columbus recalled thinking, "This is what I want. This is Harry Potter", after he saw a video of the young actor in David Copperfield.^[16] Eight months later, and after several auditions, Radcliffe was selected to play the part.^[17] Rowling also endorsed the selection saying, "I don't think Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry."^[18] Radcliffe's parents originally turned down the offer, as they had been told that it would involve six films shot in Los Angeles.^[19] Warner Bros. instead offered Radcliffe a two-movie contract with shooting in the UK though,^[16] when signing up, Radcliffe was unsure if he would do any more pictures.^[20]

The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) took place in 2001. The story follows Harry, a young boy who learns he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his education; gaining the help of friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) along the way. Radcliffe received a seven figure salary for the lead role, but asserted that the fee was "not that important" to him;^[21] his parents chose to invest the money for him.^[16] The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings, becoming the highest–grossing film of 2001. With a total of US$974 million in ticket sales, Philosopher's Stone stands as the second most commercially successful in the series behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final instalment.^[22] The adaptation was met with positive reviews and critics took notice of Radcliffe:^[23] "Radcliffe is the embodiment of every reader's imagination. It is wonderful to see a young hero who is so scholarly looking and filled with curiosity and who connects with very real emotions, from solemn intelligence and the delight of discovery to deep family longing," wrote Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle.^[24]

Handprints, footprints and wand prints of (from left to right) Watson, Radcliffe, Grint.

A year later Radcliffe starred in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers were positive about the lead actors' performances but had polarised opinions on the movie as a whole. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post labelled it "big, dull and empty".^[25] Observing that Radcliffe and his peers had matured, Los Angeles Times's staff writer Kenneth Turan believed the novel's magic could not be successfully duplicated in the film.^[26] Nonetheless, it still managed to earn US$878 million, taking the second spot of the highest-grossing 2002 films worldwide behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.^[27]

The 2004 release Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the third film in the series. While garnering the highest critical acclaim of the series at that point^[23] and grossing US$795.6 million worldwide, the film's performance at the box office ranks the lowest in the series.^[22] Radcliffe's performance was panned by New York Times journalist A. O. Scott, who wrote that Watson had to carry him with her performance.^[28] Next was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005. The film set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, as well as for a non-May opening weekend in the US and in the UK.^[29] The film eventually grossed US$896 million worldwide, and the film was the second-highest grossing Harry Potter film at that point.^[30] In a 2005 interview, Radcliffe singled out the humour as being a reason for the movie's creative success.^[31]

Despite the success of the previous three movies, the future of the franchise was put into question when all three lead actors were unsure about signing on to continue their roles for the final two episodes; however, by 2 March 2007 Radcliffe had signed for the final films, which put an end to weeks of press "speculation that he would be denied the role due to his involvement in Equus".^[32] Radcliffe reprised his role for the fifth time in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), which details Harry's return to Hogwarts after his encounter with Lord Voldemort in the previous film. It opened to positive responses from the press;^[23] IGN movie critic Steven Horn found Order of the Phoenix to be one of "those rare films that exceeds the source material"^[33] and Colin Bertram of New York's Daily News dubbed it the best movie in the series.^[34] Radcliffe stated that director David Yates and actress Imelda Staunton made Order of the Phoenix the "most fun" film in the series to work on.^[35] His performance earned several award nominations, and he received the 2008 National Movie Award for "Best Male Performance".^[36] As his fame and the series continued, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.^[37]

In July 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released, the series' sixth instalment. The film did considerably better than the previous movie, breaking the then-record for biggest midnight US showings with US$22.2 million at 3,000 theatres,^[38] and was the biggest ever Wednesday-opening in the UK, with US$7.6 million at 1,305 screens.^[39] Half-Blood Prince achieved a total of US$933 million ticket sales^[22] and was one of the most positively reviewed of the series among film critics, who praised the film's "emotionally satisfying" story, direction, cinematography, visuals and music.^[40][41][42] Radcliffe received nominations for "Best Male Performance" and "Global Superstar" at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.^[43]

Radcliffe, Watson and Grint at the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 premiere in London.

For financial and scripting reasons the last book was divided into two films, shot back to back,^[44][45] which drew criticism from the series' fanbase. Radcliffe defended the split, pointing out that it would have been impossible to properly adapt the final novel into a single film.^[46] He added that the last movie was going to be extremely fast-paced with a lot of action, while the first part would be far more sedate, focusing on character development; he added that, had they combined them, those things would not have made it to the final cut.^[47] Filming lasted for a year, concluding in June 2010 and on the last day of shooting, like most of the cast and crew, Radcliffe openly wept.^[48] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) was about Harry, Ron and Hermione leaving Hogwarts to track down Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, objects Voldemort has left part of his soul inside. The film was released in November and grossed over US$950 million.^[22] Its most lucrative territory was the UK, where it reportedly had the highest-grossing three-day opening in history; while its earnings of US$205 million, in 91 markets, made it the highest ever top-grossing non-US opening for a non-summer picture, and "the fourth-biggest-grossing international opening ever".^[49] The movie received mostly favourable reviews in the media.^[23]

The final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, was released worldwide starting on 13 July 2011 in Australia. The film concerns the battle against Voldemort's followers in Hogwarts, along with Harry's final climactic duel with Voldemort. Radcliffe, along with the film,^[23] was critically acclaimed: Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post asked, "Who could have predicted that Radcliffe, Grint and Watson would turn out to be good actors?";^[50] similarly, Rex Reed said: "Frankly, I’m sorry to see [Radcliffe] go";^[51] while Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers commented on Radcliffe: "Well played, sir."^[52] Among those who were less favourable, Roger Ebert said that Radcliffe, Grint and Watson were "upstaged by the supporting [actors]".^[53] The film broke several box office records, including biggest midnight release,^[54] biggest first-day opening,^[54] and biggest opening-weekend.^[55] Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is currently the third-highest grossing film in the world, and the highest-grossing non-James Cameron film, with more than US$1.3 billion worldwide.^[56] Radcliffe admitted that some people would never be able to separate him from the character, but also said he is "proud to be associated with this film series forever."^[57] Despite positive feelings about the movies, he has no interest in doing more Harry Potter films. After Rowling hinted about writing an eighth book, Radcliffe was asked if he would do another film to which he replied: "[It is] very doubtful. I think 10 years is a long time to spend with one character."^[58] Despite devoting so much time to the series, Radcliffe has asserted that he did not miss out on a childhood like other child actors: "I’ve been given a much better perspective on life by doing Potter."^[59]

2001–2009[link]

Radcliffe at December Boys premiere in 2007

Radcliffe made his film debut in The Tailor of Panama, an American 2001 film based on John le Carré's 1996 spy novel, and a moderate commercial success.^[22] In 2002 he made his stage debut as a celebrity guest in a West End theatre production of The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh—who also appeared with him in the second Harry Potter film.^[8][60] In 2007 he appeared in the film December Boys, an Australian family drama about four orphans that was shot in 2005 and released to theatres in mid-September 2007.^[61] Also in 2007, Radcliffe co-starred with Carey Mulligan in My Boy Jack, a television drama film shown on ITV on Remembrance Day. The film received mostly positive reviews,^[62] with several critics praising Radcliffe's performance as an 18-year-old who goes missing in action during a battle.^[63][64][65] Radcliffe stated, "For many people my age, the First World War is just a topic in a history book. But I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was."^[66]

Radcliffe in Theatre District, New York, 13 December 2008

At age 17, in a bid to show people he was not a kid any more,^[1] he performed onstage in Peter Shaffer's play Equus, which had not been revived since its first run in 1973, at the Gielgud Theatre.^[16] Radcliffe took on the lead role^[60] as Alan Strang, a stable boy who has an obsession with horses. Advance sales topped £1.7 million, and the role generated significant pre-opening media interest, as Radcliffe appeared in a nude scene.^[16][67] Equus opened on 27 February 2007 and ran until 9 June 2007.^[60] Radcliffe's performance received positive reviews^[68] as critics were impressed by the nuance and depth of his against-type role.^[69] Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph wrote that he "displays a dramatic power and an electrifying stage presence that marks a tremendous leap forward." He added: "I never thought I would find the diminutive (but perfectly formed) Radcliffe a sinister figure, but as Alan Strang ... there are moments when he seems genuinely scary in his rage and confusion."^[70] The production then transferred to Broadway in September 2008, with Radcliffe still in the lead role.^[71][72] Radcliffe stated he was nervous about repeating the role on Broadway because he considered American audiences more discerning than those in London.^[73] Radcliffe's performance was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[74]

2010–present[link]

After voicing a character in an episode of the animated television series The Simpsons in late 2010,^[75] Radcliffe debuted as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 2011 Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a role previously held by Broadway veterans Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick.^[76] Other cast members included John Larroquette, Rose Hemingway and Mary Faber.^[77] Both the actor and production received favourable reviews,^[78] with USA Today commenting: "Radcliffe ultimately succeeds not by overshadowing his fellow cast members, but by working in conscientious harmony with them – and having a blast in the process."^[79] Radcliffe's performance in the show earned him Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations.^[80][81][82] The production itself later received nine Tony Award nominations.^[83] Radcliffe left the show on 1 January 2012.^[84]

His first post-Harry Potter project was the 2012 horror film The Woman in Black, adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill. The film was released on 3 February 2012 in the United States and Canada, and was released on 10 February in the UK. Radcliffe portrays a man sent to deal with the legal matters of a mysterious woman who has just died, and soon after he begins to experience strange events and hauntings from the ghost of a woman dressed in black.^[85] He has said he was "incredibly excited" to be part of the film and described the script as "beautifully written".^[86] Radcliffe's godson Mischa, the son of Thea Sharrock, who co-directed the revival of Equus with Radcliffe, portrayed Arthur's son in the film.^[87] Variety has confirmed Radcliffe will star in the indie comedy The Amateur Photographer, a film adaptation of the book of the same name, directed by Christopher Monger. Set in 1970, it follows a man (Radcliffe) who discovers his calling after being drafted by the residents of a small English mill town to serve as a photographer for their most personal moments.^[88]

He is set to portray Allen Ginsberg in the upcoming thriller drama Kill Your Darlings, directed by John Krokidas.^[89][90]

Personal life[link]

In 2008, Radcliffe revealed that he suffers from a mild form of the neurological disorder dyspraxia. The motor skill disorder sometimes gets so bad that he has trouble doing simple activities, such as writing or tying his own shoelaces. "I was having a hard time at school, in terms of being crap at everything, with no discernible talent," Radcliffe commented.^[91] In August 2010, he stopped drinking alcohol after finding himself becoming too reliant on it.^[92]

In 2012, Radcliffe stated, "I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I’m English."^[6] He has also said, "I'm an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation",^[93] and that he is "very proud of being Jewish".^[94][95][96]

Radcliffe is a supporter of the Labour Party.^[97] Until 2012 Radcliffe had publicly supported the Liberal Democrats,^[98] and before the 2010 UK General Election Radcliffe endorsed Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader. In 2012, however, Radcliffe switched his allegiance to Labour, citing disappointment with the performance of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems in government, and approving of the Labour leader, Ed Miliband.^[99] At the age of sixteen, Radcliffe became the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in Britain's National Portrait Gallery (NPG). On 13 April 2006 his portrait, drawn by Stuart Pearson Wright, was unveiled as part of a new exhibition opening at the Royal National Theatre; it was then moved to the NPG where it resides.^[100]

He is a fan of underground^[101] and punk rock music,^[102][103] and is a keen follower of cricket, including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.^[104][105] Writing short stories and poetry is also a passion.^[106] In November 2007 Radcliffe published several poems under the pen name Jacob Gershon — a combination of his middle name and the Jewish version of his mother's maiden name Gresham — in Rubbish, an underground fashion magazine.^[96][106] He enjoys a close friendship with his fellow Harry Potter co-stars Tom Felton^[101] and Emma Watson,^[107] and is tight-knit with his family, whom he credits for keeping him grounded.^[108]

Radcliffe at the film premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in Alice Tully Center, New York City in November 2010.

Speaking out against homophobia, Radcliffe began filming public service announcements in 2009 for The Trevor Project, promoting awareness of gay teen suicide prevention.^[109][110] He first learned of the organisation while working on Equus on Broadway in 2008^[110] and has contributed financially to it.^[111] "I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it," he said in a 2010 interview. In the same interview, he spoke of the importance of public figures advocating for equal rights.^[110] Radcliffe considers his involvement to be one of the most important things in his career and,^[109] for his work for the organisation, he was given the "Hero Award" in 2011.^[109]

Radcliffe has supported various charities. He designed the Cu-Bed for Habitat's VIP Kids range (a cube made of eight smaller ones which can be made into a bed, chaise-longue or chair)^[112] with all the royalties from the sale of the bed going directly to his favourite charity, Demelza House Children's Hospice in Sittingbourne, Kent.^[113] Radcliffe has urged his fans to make donations, in lieu of Christmas presents to him, to the charity's Candle for Care program. In 2008 he was among several celebrities who donated their old glasses to an exhibit honouring victims of the Holocaust.^[114] During the Broadway run of Equus he auctioned off a pair of jeans he wore in the show for "thousands of dollars", as well as other items worn in the show, for the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS "a New York-based nonprofit HIV/AIDS grant-making organisation".^[115] He has also donated money to Get Connected UK, a London-based free confidential national helpline for troubled youth.^[116]

Sources disagree about Radcliffe's personal wealth; he was reported to have earned £1 million for the first Harry Potter film^[21] and around £15 million for the sixth.^[9] Radcliffe appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006, which estimated his personal fortune to be £14 million, making him one of the richest young people in the UK.^[117] In March 2009 he was ranked number one on the Forbes "Most Valuable Young Stars" list,^[118] and by April The Daily Telegraph measured his net worth at £30m, making him the 12th richest young person in the UK.^[119] Radcliffe was considered to be the richest teenager in England later that year.^[9] In February 2010 he was named the sixth highest paid Hollywood male star^[120] and placed at number five on Forbes's December list of Hollywood's highest-grossing actors^{[note 1]} with a revenue of US$780 million, mainly due to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released that year.^[121] Despite previous predictions that Radcliffe would have amassed £70m by the time the Harry Potter series concluded,^[119] the actor was reported to only have a wealth of £28.5 million in 2010. This still makes him richer than Princes William and Harry.^[122] Despite his wealth, Radcliffe has said he does not have expensive tastes and that his main expense is buying books: "I read a lot."^[123] He also stated that money would never be the focus of his life.^[9]

In January 2012, Radcliffe said he was in a relationship with production assistant Rosie Coker.^[124]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Theatre[link]

Awards[link]