Daniel Radcliffe has weighed in on the great Harry Potter ranking debate, and he’s not afraid to go against the grain.

The 36-year-old actor, who played the boy wizard across all eight films from 2001 to 2011, appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz and was challenged to rank the franchise he knows better than almost anyone. 

He admitted upfront that he hasn’t actually watched the films in quite some time, and that his relationship with his own performances shifts over time. 

“When I was 18, I would cringe watching the earlier films. Now, I think the early films are sweet and now I cringe watching myself when I was 18 or 19,” he said. 

“But I assume that those dates will just keep changing as to what I find palatable of my own work.”

When it came to the early instalments, he gave the edge to Chamber of Secrets over Sorcerer’s Stone, purely on the strength of one creature. 

“I would take Chamber of Secrets out of those two ’cause I love the Basilisk,” he explained.

His most eyebrow-raising call came when comparing Goblet of Fire with the widely beloved Prisoner of Azkaban, which many fans and critics consider the artistic high point of the series. 

Radcliffe went the other way. 

“I know everyone wants me to say Azkaban. I know that’s how everyone else feels, but I love the stuff I got to do on the fourth movie; it was awesome. So I’ll say Goblet of Fire.”

At the top of his personal ranking sits Deathly Hallows Part 2, the emotional finale of the series, a choice that feels fitting given the weight of what that film represented for everyone involved.

At the bottom? 

Half-Blood Prince. And he was quick to take responsibility for that verdict. “Half-Blood Prince is probably the bottom of the bracket for me. And that’s my own stuff. That’s not the film.”

Jaclyn Smith has revealed she passed on the chance to play a Bond girl in the 1979 film Moonraker, and the reason comes down to her Houston roots and a sense of loyalty that proved stronger than any Hollywood opportunity.

The Charlie’s Angels star, 80, made the disclosure at PaleyFest’s Charlie’s Angels 50th anniversary reunion, explaining that she was under contract at the time and felt honour-bound to see it through. 

“I had a contract [for Charlie’s Angels] and, you know, Houston upbringing, you follow your contract,” she said. 

“And Aaron [Spelling] was the first to invite me to the party, so I was honoring my contract.” 

The role of Dr Holly Goodhead in the Roger Moore Bond film ultimately went to Lois Chiles.

Smith said she harbours no regrets. “I think it wasn’t meant to be. I think things happen for a reason, I really do, so I have no complaints.”

She also revealed that Moonraker was not the only major role that slipped through her fingers. 

She was at one point considered for Beetlejuice, though she admitted she simply did not connect with the script. 

“You read a script, and it doesn’t always ring true to you, and it’s about what you can bring to it,” she said. 

The film’s female leads went to Catherine O’Hara, Geena Davis and a young Winona Ryder. Her husband, she noted with a laugh, has never quite forgiven her for that one.

There was also a near-miss with 9½ Weeks, which she and John Travolta were at one stage set to make together. 

“But I wasn’t really right for that one either,” she said. “So, that was Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke. You know, it happens.”

Looking back across a career that included the full run of Charlie’s Angels, the acclaimed TV movie Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and recurring roles on CSI, Becker and All American, Smith was philosophical. 

“I think, certainly, I look at my life as what’s meant to be will be, and it’s been a good journey. It’s really been a good journey.”

She also shared a revealing glimpse into how little faith the network originally had in Charlie’s Angels, despite its extraordinary ratings. 

The pilot aired as a two-part movie and went through the roof, and the network’s response was to air it again to see if it was a fluke. 

It wasn’t. 

“They just thought these women in men’s roles, this is not going to work,” Smith recalled. They didn’t even commission a full season. It took a sustained run in the top ten before they finally accepted what they had.

Ryan Reynolds has spoken out in passionate defence of his wife Blake Lively as their high-profile legal battle with Justin Baldoni continues to play out in public, pushing back on reports that the lawsuit has damaged her standing in Hollywood.

The Deadpool star, 49, told Willie Geist during a live taping of Sunday Sitdown that he has never felt prouder of anyone. 

“I’ve just never in my life been more proud of someone with that level of integrity that brings that with them and carries that with them in everything that they do,” he said. 

When asked how the couple are coping with the fallout, Reynolds was measured but firm. 

“People have no idea what’s really going on, you know? You really see kind of the illusion behind so much of this stuff, you know? Digital life versus real life.”

His comments came in direct response to a wave of negative press surrounding Lively, 38, including a report in the Daily Mail in which an anonymous Disney executive claimed the lawsuit had “ruined her in Hollywood,” adding that she “had a reputation for being difficult.” 

The same report suggested Reynolds and Lively were considering relocating to the UK so she could rebuild her profile there.

Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation stemming from their time on the set of It Ends With Us. 

Baldoni, 42, denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit, which was thrown out in June. 

Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed ten of Lively’s thirteen claims, including the sexual harassment allegations, on legal and technical grounds, though her retaliation case is proceeding to trial on 18 May.

Lively addressed the ruling on Instagram, making clear she had not wanted to litigate but felt she had no choice. 

“The last thing I wanted in my life was a lawsuit, but I brought this case because of the pervasive RETALIATION I faced, and continued to, for privately and professionally asking for a safe working environment for myself and others,” she wrote.

With settlement talks having broken down, the two sides are now on course for a courtroom showdown next month.