Daniel Radcliffe, Hogwarts and All

As many of you Harry Potter fans (and non-fans) may know, Daniel Radcliffe will play the lead role in the controversial play "Equus". The role requires Radcliffe to appear naked onstage. In the two publicity pictures for the play, Radcliffe poses shirtless (in one photo with a horse and in front of his topless female co-star in the other). As a result, many parents are having a fit...enraged that their children's idol could do such a thing. Some have even gone so far as to say that they won't be taking their kids to see any of the upcoming Harry Potter films if Daniel Radcliffe appears in them.

For all you pious parents, as Lamont Sanford would often say to Fred... will you stop it! These parents will probably be the 1st people in line the next time Daniel appears on the big screen as their children's favorite wizard! I applaud Daniel Radcliffe for taking the bold step and trying something totally different from Harry Potter. These parents who are all up in arms over his upcoming performance in Equus have to realize that Daniel Radcliffe is an actor...he is NOT Harry Potter!

The 5th movie in the Harry Potter series is in post production already. Since there will only be 7 books in the series, that means that the end of the movie franchise is fast approaching. All Daniel is doing is spreading his wings and laying the groundwork for his post HP career. It's similar to what Sean Connery had to do to distance himself from James Bond. Although to most people he will always be most identified as the definitive 007, James... I mean Sean, has done an excellent job of choosing a wide variety of roles before and after he parked his Aston Martin for the last time.

I believe that Daniel's bold move to appear in Equus will pay off in the long run. It's too bad that some of the parents don't realize that he has to eventually graduate from Hogwarts.