From IESB:
Divested of his clothes, not to mention the lightning scar on his forehead, this is Harry Potter a million miles from Hogwarts.
Between filming the fifth and sixth Potter movies, 17-year-old Daniel Radcliffe is appearing on the West End stage in a revival of Peter Shaffer's controversial play Equus.
He plays troubled stablehand Alan Strang and is involved in a lengthy nude sex scene with former Holby City actress Joanna Christie.
Radcliffe was clearly keen to impress with his physique, pumping up his slender frame in the gym for seven hours a week.
But whether his young fans will be impressed by his transition from Hermione Granger's boy wizard friend to hunky sex symbol remains to be seen.
Websites were receiving e-mails from parents worried about Radcliffe's appearance in the play, which will be open to children despite its explicit adult content.
One said: 'We as parents feel Daniel should not appear nude. Our nine-year-old son looks up to him as a role model. We are very disappointed and will avoid the future movies he makes.'
Another wrote: 'I am curious as to how and why his parents said this was okay.'
The play opens at the Gielgud Theatre on February 27 and has already attracted advance bookings worth 1 million [in British currency].
Radcliffe has been rehearsing his nude scene for a week with his female co-star and although he was 'a little hesitant and shy' at first, he had overcome his embarrassment, said producer David Pugh.
He added: 'Equus is on the school syllabus and I would never stipulate what age people should be to see it.'
Radcliffe's spokesman Vanessa Davies said: 'Daniel does not want to step away from Harry Potter but he does want to show he is an rounded actor capable of very different and diverse roles.
'He has tremendous support from Harry Potter fans.'
Equus opened in the West End in 1973 to huge controversy. It was followed in 1977 by a movie version in which Peter Firth played Alan and Jenny Agutter played his girlfriend Jill, both appearing full frontally nude.
Miss Agutter also features in the 2007 version - as a judge with her clothes on.
Admittedly, I have never have had any real interest in either the Potter books or films (and I don't plan to have any interest any time soon), that said though, I was amazed at the the amount of uproar this story has generated over the last 24 hours...Thus--I felt compelled to comment.
Why is this such big news now? I say this because I remember reading about this career move of Radcliffe's sometime ago. It's old news folks. To illustrate my point, I found this AP story dated October 22nd 2006 It's also been reported by multiple sources that Radcliffe ran the idea past Rowling and Potter film distributor Warner Bros. so that everyone was on the same page--Back then no one seemed to bat an eye...Publish a few provocative publicity stills from the play and people are surprised?
Of the controversial role Radcliffe told Newsweek Magazine:
"Part of me wants to shake up people's perception of me, just shove me in a blender," he told the magazine in an exclusive interview on the set of the fifth Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
"It's a really challenging play, and if I can pull it off we don't know if I can yet I hope people will stop and think, 'Maybe he can do something other than Harry,'" he said
This is another one of those "parental control" issues I talk about from time to time. It rests with the parents and guardians of kids to explain that Radcliffe is not playing Harry on stage and the difference between the two roles. If some choose to no longer support his career over this that is their choice. If anyone had reason to object it would have been Daniel's family and they obviously did not. I doubt this play appearance will affect the Potter brand all that much when it's all over... The series is just far too popular for that to happen.
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