Daniel Radcliffe steps further out of the shadow of Harry Potter in the new coming-of-age film, December Boys.

By Lawrence Ferber

In December Boys, Daniel Radcliffe sheds yet another layer of his innocent, all-ages, boyish Harry Potter image—and, in the process, his clothes. Although filmed prior to Radcliffe’s media-shaking full-frontal appearance in a London West End production of Equus earlier this year, the Australia-set December Boys sees Radcliffe once again bare some skin while portraying a character whose sexuality is integral to his personal journey. But controversy (and hot Internet photos) aside, these roles are earning critical kudos and establishing the 18-year-old Radcliffe as no one-trick pony, but a serious, talented and versatile young actor.

In December Boys, Radcliffe plays Maps, an adolescent orphan living in an Outback Catholic convent. Connected by their birthdays, which all fall during the month of December, Maps and his three preteen best friends, Spark (Christian Byers), Misty (Lee Cormie) and Spit (James Fraser), are sent away for a seaside summer holiday, where the boys encounter a young couple who may be in the market to adopt one of them. As the three younger boys attempt to win favor with the couple, the teenaged Maps concentrates on a first tentative romance and sexual awakening with an older, experienced girl, Lucy (Teresa Palmer). During the holiday’s course, the four boys learn tough and inspiring truths about life, death and what constitutes a family.

Based upon the novel by Michael Noonan, December Boys is in the Stand By Me vein according to the Australia-born director Ron Hardy. “It’s about kids growing up from an adult’s perspective in a way,” he shares. Although it’s been two years since the film’s production (which took place between the fourth and fifth Potter films), Radcliffe looks just as fresh-faced today: apple-red cheeks, short brown hair and an earthy dark-green polo shirt with maroon stripes down the shoulders and circling the arms. Sitting next to Hardy, he is clearly enthusiastic about discussing this non-Potter role, and what his recent non-Potter experiences have brought to him as an actor.

“What has Maps taught me about myself?” he muses. “The thing [Hardy and I] talked about a lot early on was the fact that I have got quite an enthusiasm for life and in some ways I‘m quite excitable in conversation. Maps is not that. He’s totally the opposite, really.”

Indeed, Maps spends a lot of time in silent contemplation, pondering his diminished prospects of being adopted. During the film’s course, Maps finds further heartbreak, but also new joys and sensations with Lucy, who exposes him to contemporary music, smoking and affection/sex.

So while Radcliffe has partaken of onscreen kisses, and an extensive onstage love scene in Equus, he hasn’t yet taken on a gay character or same-sex show of affection in any medium. Would he consider playing a gay character? “I’d never play a [gay] character just for the sake of playing a gay character,” he answers. “If the script was good and it was a good gay character, I don’t think that would bother me at all, really.”

So while we wait for a good gay script with a strong gay character to be delivered to Radcliffe, the talented young actor will flex his chops further as Rudyard Kipling’s son Jack in the just-wrapped TV film, My Boy Jack, and a planned Broadway mounting of Equus in 2008—many tickets for which will no doubt end up in gay fans’ hands. “If it happens I’ll be there and very, very excited,” he enthuses of the latter project. “And terrified obviously, but very, very excited!”