Sorry, Internet Speculators, But The Reason Daniel Radcliffe Got Ripped Was Not So He Could Play Wolverine

As the star of one of the most absurdly popular movie franchises in movie history, Daniel Radcliffe is used to being the subject of out-there internet speculation. (Unless he hates all of it. Maybe he does.) Here’s one: He got buff so he could take over the role of Wolverine from Hugh Jackman. Is it true Well, judge for yourself.

The Harry Potter alum (who’s not interested in more of that, thank you very much) sat down for a lie detector test for Vanity Fair, during which he was grilled by his current Merrily We Roll Along castmates Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. In a bit teased out by Entertainment Weekly, at one point Mendez asked him if he was the one who started said rumor. He denied it, which doubled as him denying he wanted to play the X-Men’s angriest mutant.

“So you just buff for no reason” Mendez shot back.

“Yes,” Radcliffe replied, laughing. “I got buff because I am obsessive, and I want to… You’ve seen my parents, they’re like insane fitness people. So that’s just been passed on.” He added, “But no Wolverine. Flattered. But no.”

At no point does the test expert chime in to say Radcliffe is lying.

Where did this rumor come from It began when he showed off some muscles during an underwear scene from Season 4 of his Steve Buscemi show Miracle Workers.

Elsewhere in the interrogation, Radcliffe is asked about the weirdest stories he’s encountered about himself. He has quite the list:

“That I had the [UK Special Air Service] walk my dogs. That I had special beer brewed for myself by monks in a monastery in Belgium. That I used to get my assistant to hold my scripts in the mirror so I could read it while I was having makeup done — even though that doesn’t make f*cking sense because I wouldn’t be able to read mirror writing. There’s a long list.”

You can watch Radcliffe trying not to get caught lying in the video below. The revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along is currently running on Broadway.