When Harry Met...
Harry Borden looks back on photographing actor Daniel Radcliffe at a pivotal moment as he made the transition from child star to adult actor
The massive success of the Harry Potter movies catapulted their star, Daniel Radcliffe, to international fame at the age of 12. Most child actors struggle to establish themselves in adult roles and Radcliffe was in great danger of his career ending with the franchise.
To avoid this fate, in February 2007 Radcliffe made the bold move of starring in the revival of Peter Shaffer’s controversial play Equus at London’s Gielgud Theatre. It was a particularly brave choice, because he was playing the character of a disturbed teenager who had a psycho-sexual obsession with mutilating horses and the role required him to appear naked on stage for a full ten minutes. At the time, he was just 17, so it was a high jeopardy move that could have been seen as taking a step too far.
A month before the play opened, I was commissioned to shoot his portrait for a feature in the Observer magazine. From the outset, as the shoot was all about promoting his role in Equus, it was arranged that it would involve some pictures of him with his shirt off. Sex does sell, and this rather strange and esoteric play needed all the publicity it could get. I don’t normally shoot people with their clothes off, but as Radcliffe knew what was being asked of him, I didn’t particularly have a problem with it.
The shoot took place at the now-defunct Jasmine Studios in Shepherd’s Bush, west London. It was a terrific little complex of small studios with great daylight and I had photographed quite a few celebrities there previously. Also present at the shoot were Radcliffe’s publicist and my assistant, Chris Owens.
Radcliffe was clearly a nice and well-brought-up young man. Given that his life had been irrevocably changed by the huge juggernaut that was Harry Potter, he seemed very down-to-earth and well-adjusted.
However, I was a man in my 40s who had never seen any of the Harry Potter films and beyond the initial pleasantries I was struggling to maintain a conversation with him. Luckily, Chris was in his early 20s and chatted easily to him about the bands they liked, which really helped make a convivial atmosphere. I don’t normally encourage my assistants to talk to the subject too much, but on this occasion, Chris saved my bacon.
We started off with some straightforward portraits. I was shooting with my Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and a 50mm lens, and lit him with a ba
