Harry Potter’s Radcliffe Makes Nice To 11-Year-Old Reporter

In case you didn’t already have a parent crush on British actor Daniel Radcliffe AKA Harry Potter, here’s a story that will make you fall head over heels.

Out doing press for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the movie’s biggest star was faced with a room full of reporters whom he promptly ignored in favor of an eleven-year-old girl repping Scholastic News.

New York Magazine has the text of the entire back-and-forth, and you can read Danielle Azzolina’s carefully-crafted piece at Scholastic’s own site, but we had to share a few highlights:

Radcliffe (to other reporters): “One moment, one moment. I will come back to you. [Locks eyes with Scholastic News girl] Hello!”

Girl: “Hey. I’m Danielle from Scholastic News.”

Radcliffe: “Hello, Danielle! Pleasure to meet you.”

Danielle: “This is an HONOUR to interview you.”

Radcliffe: “Oh, thank you. You’re very sweet. Thank you.”

Danielle: “I’ve seen the first and second movies and read the first and second book and they are SO good. Especially the movies. I loved them, the movies!”

Radcliffe: “Thank you very much. You’re very, very kind. They get even better than that, though, so when you get time or when your parents think you’re old enough, you must watch the rest. They’re very cool.”

Danielle got down to professional business and asked Potter-related questions, and Radcliffe gave up his professional answers. But I liked this little bit of news as much because of how on-message he was how gracious he was to the girl. He treated her LIKE a professional, affording her a slightly better crack at him than the other reporters in the bunch but still respecting the spot well-earned (again, check out her well-written article) to act as a reporter for Scholastic.

And when other reporters tried to butt in, he put the focus back on the girl, making it clear he understands his fan base and respects it – which I wish I could say about more stars of kiddie fare. Take, for example, a Jonas Brothers concert my neighbor took her daughter to last summer – the boys showed up several hours late, putting their start time well past the bedtimes of most of the kids in the audience. Then they played for less than forty-five minutes, leaving a host of disappointed kids. So much for honouring your fans.

Did this make you like Daniel Radcliffe a little more? Or were you already happy for Harry?

By the way – check out more of the kid-as-reporter interviews on Scholastic’s Kid Press page.

Image: Scholastic