Daniel Radcliffe Writes About 6 Things Rom-Coms Get Wrong

Can men and women be just friends? Daniel Radcliffe, in his new film What If, plays a guy who is in love with his best friend but who already has a boyfriend. The actor talks to AskMen about his new movie and what he thinks most romantic comedies get wrong about real-life love.

From the horror of The Woman in Black to being unafraid to get nude on stage for Equus to the new trailer for dark thriller Horns — Daniel Radcliffe has an eclectic assortment of roles under his belt. Perhaps his most surprising role then is his latest: where he plays, erm, a pretty regular guy. Romantic comedy What If sees Radcliffe star as Wallace, a guy in love his best friend . . . who happens to already have a boyfriend. It asks, can men and women be just friends? Full of realistic dialogue and believably likable characters, this isn't your average rom-com: "It's a very simple story in some ways it's very effective emotionally," says Radcliffe. Here, he reveals for AskMen the things most orthodox comedies get wrong about real relationships.

There's no preferred way of meeting somebody
Every relationship starts differently. There's no set way or preferred way of meeting somebody. People I've gone out with have generally been people I've got to know on set, but the amount of time on set varies so even for me, I don't know that there's particular way that is best or an amount of time that you should be friends first for.

In real life, love is not an excuse for sociopathic behavior
One thing in the film that I really think reflects Elan our writer's feelings on the subject is where Wallace says love is like an all-purpose excuse for selfish behavior a lot of the time. I think that's something you see a lot in films: where people fall in love and so they turn into a sociopath. They use that as an excuse to start lying and not have responsibility to other people in their lives, all in the name of love. I think it's nice to have a film where it's a real situation, and it doesn't feel like a foregone conclusion, like it does in most romantic comedies.

The other guy in the picture is not always evil
Personally, I think the biggest difference from the more orthodox romantic comedies is actually Rafe Spall's character, Ben. Normally that character, the boyfriend of the girl (who the main character is in love with), he's usually a really unpleasant character and almost like a cliché in terms of how aggressive and unpleasant a character he is. In this film it makes it a much harder and more real choice for Zoe (who plays love interest Chantry), because it's not like she's got a character on one side who is good to her and one on the other who doesn't treat her well. Her boyfriend is successful; he's a great guy and they have a great relationship. That makes her ultimate decision to choose between him and me much harder.

Want to know the other three things movies get wrong about love? Read the rest of the story on AskMen. Source: What If Movie

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