Paul Dano Insisted On Actually Carrying Daniel Radcliffe Throughout Swiss Army Man
As the great piece of philosophy "Office Space" once pondered, what would you do if you got a million dollars and never had to work again? While a million dollars would hardly ensure you a safe retirement in 2022 thanks to inflation, the question itself still holds some value. If you didn't have to work a day in your life, what are you passionate enough about that you'd spend your time doing it?
After making more money than God in his eight "Harry Potter" movies, Daniel Radcliffe probably doesn't have many financial worries anymore. He no longer needs to work, but he does so for projects he's genuinely interested in and excited about. So, what is it that Radcliffe does, purely out of passion?
Luckily for all of us, it appears Radcliffe is a kind of a huge weirdo, as one of his most famous roles after "Harry Potter" was that of a farting corpse in Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's beautifully bizarre "Swiss Army Man."
"Swiss Army Man" follows Paul Dano as a man trapped on a deserted island who's just about ready to end it all before he discovers a corpse that's washed up on shore. Daniel Radcliffe plays the corpse. He discovers that the corpse's flatulence can propel it through water, and he decides to ride the corpse off the island. It then becomes a tale of Dano's attempt to return to civilization as he uses the corpse's various bodily functions for survival purposes.
It's a great piece of acting by Dano, who often has nobody to bounce off but the motionless Radcliffe. And according to a recent interview with Radcliffe, Dano didn't just carry the movie figuratively, but literally, as he insisted on actually lugging Radcliffe around while filming certain scenes.
A physical movie
In the GQ interview, Radcliffe talks about how impressed he was with Dano and his physical dedication to the role:
"I mean, Paul's just one of the most incredible actors I've ever worked with. He carries both the film and literally me throughout the movie. I'm the one getting to go in and just do a crazy weird performance. He gets to do that, but also has to be the engine of the film, and the beating heart of it, and yeah, I mean, he's incredible in that. And bless him, there were so many times when they had — they had made a dummy for him to carry around, and there was a lot of the time I think he just, like, wanted the weight of the real me. So, he genuinely is carrying me around a lot in that movie."
That sort of insistence on truly straining to schlep Radcliffe around is impressive on Dano's part, but Radcliffe certainly didn't envy him. In a 2016 Screen Rant interview, Radcliffe said he would not have wanted to switch roles with Dano. Despite his being carried around by Dano at multiple points, you can't say Radcliffe didn't do his share of physically tough acting in the movie, including doing his own stunt in the scene where Dano rides his farting body across the ocean.
"Swiss Army Man" is a thoroughly odd delight, and we should be thankful that amazing actors like Radcliffe and Dano were willing to take a chance on such a strange film by first-time directors. I'm excited to see what wild role Radcliffe takes on next, though it will be hard to best the flatulent corpse.