At last, Daniel Radcliffe has shared his rankings of the Harry Potter films. So which does he consider the best, and the best of his performances?
Like any actor involved in a major franchise, Daniel Radcliffe has been asked plenty of times what his favorite Harry Potter films are. Of course, it’s a bigger deal than most for Radcliffe, given he was thrust into stardom as the Boy Who Lived in 1999 at the age of 9 and grew up in those films.
Over the years, Radcliffe has confessed he’s not comfortable rewatching his movies, especially the Potter films. But talking to Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Radcliffe revealed “I have more time now for me in the early films.”
This led Horowitz to set up a bracket pairing the eight movies in order, with the idea that Radcliffe would pick one after another to rank them. But of course, Radcliffe couldn’t wait as he blurted that The Deathly Hallows Part 2 was “my favorite of all of them.”
That may have taken some of the anticipation out of things, but Radcliffe did have intriguing observations on the other films in the saga. When discussing The Order of the Phoenix versus The Half-Blood Prince, he said, "Order of Phoenix far and away. Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. That's my own stuff. That's not the film."
That hints that Radcliffe doesn’t look back on Half-Blood Prince as fondly as the other films. It was more of a “placeholder” film before the two-part Deathly Hallows and fans often cite it as a weaker installment in the overall saga. Perhaps it’s not surprising Radcliffe agrees with them.
It finally came down to Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows Part 2, with Radcliffe saying, "I'm fascinated. I wouldn't have said now if if we — interesting. I don't think I knew that Goblet of Fire would have been my second-favorite film. Although it would have survived if the bracket were different. It would have gone a different way."
He praised Chamber of Secrets "because I love the basilisk” and asked fans to forgive him for choosing Goblet of Fire over the widely praised Prisoner of Azkaban. "I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know that's how everyone else feels, but I love the stuff I got to do on the fourth movie.”
So, for the record, Radcliffe’s rankings of the Potter films are:
- Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Goblet of Fire
- Order of the Phoenix
- Prisoner of Azkaban
- Chamber of Secrets
- Sorcerer's Stone
- Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Half-Blood Prince
It’s a fascinating look at how Radcliffe views the movies. Some of his opinions are shaped by his performance, others by his overall experience making them or the time period. It’s little surprise he picked the final movie as his favorite for the warm farewell to his castmates and the character, yet it's interesting how he puts the generally loved Prisoner of Azkaban in the middle of the pack. Still, it’s fascinating to see what Harry Potter himself cites as his favorites of the saga!
The Harry Potter movies streaming on HBO Max.
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