The rabidness of Harry Potter fans is no secret — at his film premieres, Daniel Radcliffe’s been known to elicit tween screams loud enough to give the Jonas Brothers earaches. But that doesn’t mean he thinks they should act irresponsibly: “There was a girl today, and she’s been around for a couple of weeks, and she’s a lovely girl called Anna, and I met her outside the theater a couple times,†he told us at the opening of Equus on Broadway last night. “And one time she said, ‘Could you sign my wrist, please?’ And I said fine, and she said, ‘Because I’m thinking of getting it tattooed.’†He paused. “Anna, if you read this, I really urge you not to get the tattoo. I’m very flattered, and it’s been lovely to meet you, and I’m sure I will again. But I wouldn’t advise a tattoo. Because one day, she might not like me as much as she does now, and then that day, the tattoo will become a regret, and I don’t want to have be that, to represent that, in her life.â€
Even so, Radcliffe says he’s enjoying his fan mail (“We had a couple of strange things sent to us … a couple of very odd masks, and plastic limbs for Halloween — they sent them for Halloween, but they were months earlyâ€) — most of it, anyway. “[Equus director] Thea [Sharrock] got some funny letters,†he told us. “She got some very peculiar letters from men who had a very, very profound connection with the character of Alan, shall we say. [Laughs] And really associated with some of the things he does in the play. So that was slightly like, oh, okay, right, I didn’t realize we were reaching out to everybody.â€