Daniel Radcliffe is a great actor who will forever be remembered for proudly playing Harry Potter in eight movies of the franchise. The actor put in a lot of work to play the Boy Who Lived, experiencing wand breaks and partaking in intense action sequences in the process. It’s fair to wonder if any magical ingredient kept filming from being too stressful for him. Well, as it turns out, the Jewish star admitted that a non-Kosher delicacy got him through the final three movies.
During a segment for LADBible, Radcliffe was given the choice between the American Reuben sandwich and an English bacon sandwich. As Radcliffe hilariously refused to try the Reuben, he couldn’t help but continuously take bites of the crispy bacon sandwich in pure delight. And, despite the bacon sandwich not being so Kosher for Radcliffe, he got honest about how the British toastie got him through the final stretch of his Wizarding World stint:
For anybody wondering, ‘Aren’t you Jewish?’ Yes, and I’m bad at it. This was what fortified me for basically the last three Harry Potter films. I would come to work every day and have one, if not two, bacon sandwiches with just ketchup. And it’s truly, that was…what a great life.
Bacon sandwiches certainly are forbidden in Kosher food laws. Then again, so are Reuben sandwiches for traditionally mixing corned beef with Swiss cheese. However, I’m not going to judge, as Daniel Radcliffe wouldn’t be the only Jewish person to eat pork. I’ve got to admit that while I’m familiar with BLTs, I’ve never heard of the combo of bacon and ketchup. But, hey, if it helped the London native get through filming the last three Potter films, who are we to argue? Check out the full video down below:
I can understand why the Merrily We Row Along actor needed a guilty pleasure to get him through shooting the final Harry Potter movies. Radcliffe has spoken about “intense and so crazy” set days he experienced while shooting Half Blood Prince. At one point, he was underwater on a wire, only to come up for air being in the middle of a ring of fire. Talk about anxiety-inducing!
Those strenuous moments of production even predate the last three movies. In Goblet of Fire, Radcliffe also almost drowned filming the infamous Black Lake sequence, which includes his “craziest” stunt, where he free-fell 40 feet down off a roof. So, considering that Radcliffe gave so much to fans by fully committing himself to his role as Harry, I’d say the least we can do is not chastise him for enjoying some bacon now and then.
As a person of the Jewish faith myself, I’d definitely call Radcliffe something of a rebel though, in fairness, many of us have our guilty pleasures when it comes to food. When it comes to Radcliffe’s love of bacon, though, I don’t think I’ll ever forget this funny little piece of Potter lore.
Fans can revisit the magic that Daniel Radcliffe brought to the Harry Potter franchise, as all eight films are streamable with a Peacock subscription or an HBO Max subscription.