--- description: The 'Harry Potter' star showed up at a screening of his new movie 'What If' title: Watch Daniel Radcliffe Fans Freak Out When He Surprises Them After a Movie Screening image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3001f5a94f570ca0/69869d461eebf73cf9372039/daniel-radcliffe-harry-potter.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Daniel Radcliffe Fans Freak Out When He Surprises Them After a Movie Screening by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2014 9:41 PM CUT  Daniel Radcliffe in Toronto promoting his movie What if? on July 23, 2014. Daniel Radcliffe in Toronto promoting his movie What if? on July 23, 2014.Chris So—Toronto Star/Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2014 9:41 PM CUT In what he called “a cunning and hopefully joyful act of deception,” Daniel Radcliffe decided to surprise fans following a screening of his new movie, _What If._ These viewers _think_ they’re gathering to do short interviews about their reactions to the film. But really, they’re being gathered so they can just completely freak out when the actor walks up behind them for this hilarious clip[ from BuzzFeed Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV--POoMuEc "undefined"). Naturally, reactions include a lot of squealing, gasping and yelling, “Oh my god.” After they calm down a bit, most people ask for hugs, which Radcliffe gamely hands out like they’re Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. He says he “feels kind of bad doing this to so many people” but like, c’mon Harry Potter, you know you love it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3113124/daniel-radcliffe-surprises-fans-at-movie-theater-screening/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3113124/daniel-radcliffe-surprises-fans-at-movie-theater-screening/"},"headline":"Watch Daniel Radcliffe Fans Freak Out When He Surprises Them After a Movie Screening","datePublished":"2014-08-14T21:41:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:28.420Z","description":"You'd think they just saw a dementor or something","url":"https://time.com/3113124/daniel-radcliffe-surprises-fans-at-movie-theater-screening/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Harry Potter","celebrity","buzzfeed","daniel radcliffe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3001f5a94f570ca0/69869d461eebf73cf9372039/daniel-radcliffe-harry-potter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3001f5a94f570ca0/69869d461eebf73cf9372039/daniel-radcliffe-harry-potter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Daniel Radcliffe","caption":"Daniel Radcliffe","creditText":"Chris So—Toronto Star/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3113124/daniel-radcliffe-surprises-fans-at-movie-theater-screening/","name":"Watch Daniel Radcliffe Fans Freak Out When He Surprises Them After a Movie Screening"}}]}] ```