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Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter audition is simply adorable, but the actor's still embarrassed by it

The clip dating back to 2001 has been making the rounds on the internet. 

Clarisse Loughrey
Friday 04 December 2015 15:56 GMT
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Daniel Radcliffe starring as Harry Potter in the first film instalment of the series
Daniel Radcliffe starring as Harry Potter in the first film instalment of the series

A 2001 clip of Daniel Radcliffe's audition for his role in the Harry Potter series has surfaced on YouTube.

The video features a giggling Radcliffe performing a scene in which Harry and Hagrid watch a hatching dragon's egg, putting on show that relatable charm that made him internationally famous. That's followed by a more sober scene on the death of the boy wizard's parents, and a chance to try on those iconic round lensed glasses.

Radcliffe himself was sent a link to the video, to the perfectly understandable reaction of "Oh shit! OK..."; he's never been a fan of watching his own movies, explaining to the Times that it comes from too many rushes and screenings, "at a stage when you hate your face anyway, and anything it does it repllent to you."

It's kind of hard not to empathise with Radcliffe here. It's essentially equivalent to a relative posting one of your elaborate childhood karaoke/dance routines to Facebook; except, in this case, your relative is Facebook friends with the entire internet. Little 9 year-old you would have spent way more time working on that Mariah Carey key change if you'd known half the planet was going to be privy to it.

It's also unlikely Radcliffe had any clue how much his life was about to change in that moment, so it does make for a kind of fascinating glimpse into a pre-fame actor doing his thing. 

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