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Daniel Radcliffe’s all grown up in ‘Horns,’ where his character’s accused of murdering his girlfriend. But how does the former Harry Potter star feel about the role?
Daniel Radcliffe’s shed Harry Potter completely from his career in Alexandre Aja’s Horns.
Horns is an adaption of Joe Hill’s dark fantasy of the same name, where Ignatius “Ig” Perrish’s on the hunt to discover his girlfriend’s killer when the cops believe he’s really the guilty party. Talk about a bad day to wake up.
And according to TIME, Ig’s horns “cause people to confess their deepest and darkest thoughts.” As far as punishment goes, that’s a pretty helpful and convenient one. Probably doesn’t really help Ig’s girlfriend (Juno Temple), though.
And the Equus star does see the beauty in people revealing their darkest secrets.
“The takeaway from this movie is that everyone has a dark side, and it’s okay to acknowledge it — depending on how you act on it. The healthy thing to do isn’t to pretend that the dark stuff within you isn’t there.”
When Ig “gives people permission to feel their darkest feelings and their darkest thoughts,” the potential killer ultimately offers those people unwittingly revealing dark secrets a “certain relief in being told that it’s okay to have those thoughts.”
In a society that’s big on accountability, sometimes the message shouldn’t be ‘this is wrong’; instead the message should be “whether he’s going to give into that, or whether he’s going to find a way of redeeming himself.”
Affecting an American accent for the role, Radcliffe claimed the constant stream of American media in England helped. “I’ve also been told by quite a few people that my American accent sounds very similar to Chris Columbus.”
Columbus directed the young star at the age of 11 in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and then the next year in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. “That makes a lot of sense to me — he was the first American I spent any length of time around. I owe it all to him.”
But Radcliffe can’t seem to leave snakes in the past, though.
“I would have a snake on me for a lot of the movie, and it would sometimes wrap itself around the horn and try and project itself off.” So not only does Parseltongue no longer work, but snakes are trying to jump off the man in a bid for freedom.
But does the 25-year-old see anything related to Potter in this?
Daniel Radcliffe talks wearing those Horns and the joy of snakes! http://t.co/JvdhltxWUs— Movie Fanatic (@moviefanatic) October 31, 2014
“I don’t think about any of this stuff that can be equated to Potter, like the talking to snakes. Being so close to Potter for so long, I can’t even see references to it in other places.”
And Halloween is a really enjoyable time. He “absolutely” costumes, but prefers “quite standard superheroes like Batman, Spider-Man.” Not a bad options with the latest reboots and cinematic universes opening up.
And he explained to IGN why dressing up is so much fun.
While “the weirdness of having to put a costume on to be unnoticed is not lost on” Frankenstein‘s soon-to-be Igor, he feels like Comic-Con lets actors enjoy their career when undercover. Like say when sporting a Spider-Man suit. “Everyone’s just there to celebrate whatever it is that they love and that’s kind of an amazing atmosphere for a place to have.”
So what does he want to see for Halloween 2015?
“I want people to be going around as Ig for Halloween next year. The horns and the leather jacket — I want that to be a Halloween favorite by this time next year.”
Trick or treat: Daniel Radcliffe has arrived in theaters! See #HornsMovie on Halloween night: http://t.co/UBfRLwyUQg pic.twitter.com/ZAcpkwyWxt— HORNS (@HORNS_film) October 31, 2014
The Hollywood Reporter summed up the movie by borrowing Joe Hill’s description of the film, “tragi-come-horror-dy.” Hill went on to explain what really motivates the horror genre.
“Horror is about empathy: finding characters that you love — which for me, is discovering their sense of humor, being able to laugh with them and at them — and then seeing them suffer the worst.”
So how does that fit in with Radcliffe’s view?
Though, the most revealing secret Daniel Radcliffe announced was the inability to handle horror movies. While starring in one! “I was a real wimp growing up.” And after “like two scenes” of The Exorcist, he “ f-cking sh-t myself, it was terrifying. I can’t really get into gore.”
But that doesn’t mean all horror is out.
#horns with #danielradcliffe snake is live he is live i am live now pic is live go see it tonight @horns_film pic.twitter.com/L0skvcF4QU— Peter Guber (@PeterGuber) November 1, 2014
“On the flipside, I like very shlocky B movies like the Sharknado films, any kind of Syfy original movie. Anything with “versus” in the title is a good bet for something I’ll enjoy.”
Hear that, SyFy? You’ve got a fan in Daniel Radcliffe. Pony up some money and let the man guest cameo in Sharknado 3. Or MechaShark vs Sharktopus. Come on. You know you’ve got the cash on hand. Pander hardcore.
Just make sure no Butterfingers are laying around the set.
“They are maybe America’s best contribution to chocolate. I’m high on Butterfingers at the moment.”
Maybe he can battle Vanilla Ice instead.