British Jewish actor Daniel Radcliffe is incredibly skilled. As a child and teenager, he brought magical life to the boy who lived in the “Harry Potter” film series. He displayed his talent on the stage, portraying horse-obsessed Alan Strang in “Equus” on the West End and Broadway and the ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch in the musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
But as it turns out, there’s one skill Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t have: He can’t order bagels and lox like a New Yorker.
In a recent interview for Vanity Fair, Radcliffe was strapped into a lie detector test and asked questions by his castmates Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez from “Merrily We Roll Along” on Broadway. Early in the interview, Jonathan asks Dan a question which immediately makes him grimace.
“Can you do a decent New York accent?”
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“Give me something to say,” Radcliffe responds, adding, “This is going to be bad.”
“Go down to the deli and pick up some bagels and lox,” Jonathan offers.
As predicted, it doesn’t go well. Dan tries to demand bagels and lox with gusto, but his accent ends up sounding more generically American (with his British accent peaking out slightly at the end) than that of a seasoned New Yorker.
“I can do better,” Dan evaluates. “Give me time with a dialect coach. If anyone needs me to do this for work, I can,” he jokes, prompting Jonathan and Lindsay to explode with laughter.
Ultimately, we at The Nosher don’t care whether or not Daniel Radcliffe can pronounce “bagels and lox” like a New Yorker. We just hope that when he’s in the city, he enjoys bagels and lox like a New Yorker: fresh with a schmear of cream cheese, a juicy tomato slice and some salty capers. Just like his Jewish ancestors intended.
