This is an Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe Appreciation Post

I’m not here to talk about J.K. Rowling, for once. I don’t wish to regurgitate her latest screeds of transphobic hate, the only thing she seems interested in talking about these days. I’ve written enough about my contempt for her, her supporters, and the Harry Potter fans who keep giving her money. The only impressive quality she possesses is her ability to sink to lower and lower depths with her bigotry (and that’s saying something given that she’s recently been engaging in full-on Holocaust denialism.)

It’s no real shock that, following a faulty and deeply damaging report into ‘concerns’ about trans kids in the UK, Rowling has gone on a one-woman faux-victory tour where she has bragged about how she’ll never forgive actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for not kissing the ring and agreeing with her abhorrent hatred of a vulnerable minority in our society. I’ve no desire to dissect everything wrong with Rowling once more. I do it more regularly than I have hot dinners. No, what I want to do today is give my appreciation to two cool people who grew up under baffling and potentially nightmarish circumstances and emerged as decent human beings who seem to truly care about others.

Emma Watson was barely a pre-teen when she was cast as Hermione, the bushy-haired nerd of the group who cared as much about injustice and hard work as she did her friends. She spent her entire adolescence being ogled by grown men who bragged about how they were waiting oh-so-patiently for her to turn 16/18 so that they could openly leer over her. We’re the same age so I have sharp memories of her being objectified by the tabloids and shamed for doing things that normal British teens do, like have a beer with friends or get a cool new haircut. While she was undoubtedly the weakest actress of the main cast, she kept working, but moreover, she decided to throw her sizeable clout behind public feminist causes. Not too shabby for someone who was barely in their 20s at the time.

HeForShe was flawed from the get-go, an example of a decent idea diluted into something ineffectual and corporate-minded, but you couldn’t deny Watson’s own enthusiasm. It’s easy for us internet dwellers to talk about how mainstream rich white lady feminism doesn’t do enough and isn’t even designed to. We’re not wrong on that. But Watson wasn’t Sheryl Sandberg, and as a young woman in a sexist business who threw the weight of her name behind a desire for tangible systemic change, there was much to admire. As she’s stepped away from acting (she hasn’t been seen in a film since 2019’s Little Women), she’s focused on various charitable and social justice causes: environmental change, Black Lives Matter, equal pay, sexual harassment in the workplace, and sustainable fashion, to name but a few. She’s also expressed her support for trans rights on numerous occasions. In terms of someone fully putting their money where their mouth is, Watson is doing the work.

Radcliffe might have the platonic ideal of a post-child star acting career. He made more money than he’ll ever be able to spend in his lifetime (unless he picks up a cocaine and Scientology habit real quick), he has no need to adhere to industry trends to remain relevant, and he can work with whoever he wants. Moreover, he’s genuinely eager to improve as an actor, both on screen and stage. Radcliffe was acting long before he became a boy wizard, although he was never seen as a prodigy or unique talent in the way that, for example, a young River Phoenix and Jodie Foster were. He grew up on screen and you could see his craft improving. By the fourth film, he’s a real actor. When he could have been resting on his laurels, he went to the West End to star in Equus. After Potter, he moulded himself into a triple threat to do the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He also poked fun at himself with referential appearances on BoJack Horseman and Now You See Me 2.

It’s genuinely exciting to see which projects Radcliffe chooses. A lot of his work doesn’t get wide cinematic releases nowadays but then you see him in something random and remember what a delightful presence he is. It helps that he’s honed his comedic talents in fascinating ways, most notably when he played Weird Al Yankovic in the biopic parody Weird. It’s not just that he was playing everyone’s favourite parody musician: It’s that the was playing an egotistical actor playing Weird Al in a piss-take of self-serious biopics that aim for prestige over truth. He earned that Emmy nomination fair and square.