Daniel Radcliffe stars in another movie based on a book. If you haven’t read Joe Hill’s Horns, it’s about Ig Parrish (Radcliffe), a young man accused of his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple)’s murder. Ig sprouts horns one day and finds they have the power to make people reveal their personal secrets. They also give him the power to provoke others into violence by manipulative suggestion. The film is directed by Alexandre Aja and opens Friday.
We got to speak with Radcliffe by phone about his latest literary adaptation and possibly cameoing in a future Potterverse film.
CraveOnline: I realized you’ve actually done a lot of films based on books. Not just the eight Harry Potter films, but even John Le Carre as a kid.
Daniel Radcliffe: Yeah, Tailor of Panama, David Copperfield and Woman in Black as well.
The Woman in Black, and December Boys was based on a book.
Yes, yes, it was. God, yes. Well done.
So as you became more active in choosing your own material, are you drawn to works based on literature?
It’s funny, not necessarily. I just think the film industry draws from the endless and wonderful pool of source material that is modern literature. I’m not particularly drawn to them. I think it’s lovely when you can work on something that’s based on a book because there’s other source material other than the script you can go into and delve deeper and that all helps building a character and things of that nature. Generally speaking, it’s not something I’m considering, nor is it something that I mind obviously. I like working on adaptations.
Are the books a resource to varying degrees?
Yes. I suppose they’re all a resource to the same degree because at the beginning, basically I look at them a lot at the beginning, during the time when we’re prepping for the film, not actually filming it, just in preproduction. I’ll read a lot then and then if there’s anything that hasn’t made it into the script that you feel really strongly about, that’s the time to say it. Then it’s sort of a speak now or forever hold your peace situation, the closer you get to filming. Once you actually start filming, you don’t want to be the guy turning up on set everyday being like, “Well, in the book, it doesn’t happen like this.” You don’t really want to be that dude.
Even eight Harry Potter films had to omit some things from the book. I imagine Horns did too?
Oh yeah, exactly. I think actually films like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have got people used to the idea that in adaptations of books, things will change. So I think the thing that is important to most people is that the general tone and style of the book is carried over, and that’s what I think we did successfully in Horns.
But was there anything omitted from the plot of Horns that you were able to take as background and maybe insert it into your performance?
The one thing that really isn’t touched on, I mean it’s touched on in the film but very, very lightly is the fact that Ig is actually a DJ. He works at a radio station. I found that a very helpful character note just because me and Ig are about the same age and grew up at around the same time, so I figured we would have fairly similar musical references. So I found music was a big way into this character, as it is for me for all characters but this is a particular case where my musical tastes probably line up with the characters. That was definitely a point of connection.
It’s pretty well known that you make playlists for your characters. Do you mind having your process so well known by the public?
I don’t, man. It’s my fault. I talk about it. I don’t mind it. I always think that music is just an amazing thing because it can bring you back to a time or place very, very quickly in the same way that a smell can. It’s just a very powerful sense memory trigger. I think it’s very helpful for me. I’ve heard of other actors using it as well so I don’t think I’m alone there.
So how many different horns were there?
There were seven stages, from little baby stumps to fully fledged end of movie Devil horns. They were great. I really enjoyed them. They looked fantastic, looked way better than I thought they were going to. Not that I thought they wouldn’t, but you always have a moment of going, “Oh God, what will that actually look like?” And then it looks fantastic. I even got to keep a pair so I’ve got one at home.
Which stage of horns did you get to keep?
I kept one of the later stages, stage five or stage six when they’re quite long but not the massive horns.
At each stage, were there multiple copies? Did you need to have a new set of horns each day?
No, no, no. The horns were reusable. The only things that weren’t reusable about them were the pieces that blended my skin onto the horns that made it look like it was rupturing the skin. So we had new ones of them every day. I think we maybe made a couple of spare sets for a couple of the stages, because there was obviously a couple of stages where I get them bashed around or cut into and stuff happens to them. So I think they made a couple of insurance pairs as it were.
To me, I think Ig learns a lesson about inevitability. Even with his horns, he can’t change people’s minds. Is there a lesson in Horns to respect people’s wishes?
I don’t know, possibly. I think that’s one of the great things about a film that’s sort of magical realism and allegorical is that people can draw their own conclusions and project their own themes and things onto it which is a lovely thing. I think for me, Horns is about what happens to us when we lose the love of our life, how we can change into the thing people perceive us as. Those are the themes I thought we were dealing with.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson in there. Ig is essentially a very good person and he gets put through some awful, awful things. So I think the lesson in the film is almost really about how inherent human goodness is. It’s hard to shake off because even as this guy is going through the worst thing in the world, he still finds enough compassion and empathy to not fully give over to the dark side and try and save himself.
“Getting the reporters to fight each other was a moment of strange catharsis in my life…”
That’s good too, and I think that’s what I’m responding to, the compassion of even if Merrin could never have been convinced to stay, he can forgive her and respect her wishes.
Yeah, absolutely. For me, that’s the thing that makes the film work and elevates it beyond being a really, really cool, fun story, is the love story and how perfect it is to start with and how it becomes destroyed, and then Ig’s search for solace in the wake of that I found was really moving.
He is a good person, but he does have some devilish fun with it, doesn’t he?
Oh yeah, absolutely. The scene where he’s torturing his brother, that was a lot of fun to film. It was pretty intense but I did enjoy it.
That, and also the scene in the bar and making the reporters fight each other.
Yes, getting the reporters to fight each other was a moment of strange catharsis in my life, it has to be said.
What costume are you going to wear for Halloween?
I don’t know. I’m not sure, to be honest. I haven’t got it all figured out yet. I’m trying to work it out because I’ve been invited to a party so I have to work something out. I’m no closer to anything very original or interesting yet, but I feel like quite a high bar is going to be set where I’m going so I’ve got to come up with something good.
Do you ever run into Harry Potters at Halloween parties?
Oh, of course. It’s unavoidable. I’m hoping to meet some this year.
Is it ever awkward, or are they just happy to meet the real Harry Potter?
Oh no, not really. Not particularly. I always find it quite funny and they’re always quite [friendly]. No, no one has ever managed to make it awkward yet.
I know everyone wants a Harry Potter quote. All I want to know is, whatever happens in the future, wouldn’t it be fun to just do a one day cameo in someone else’s film, versus the 10 years where you were in basically every scene of those movies?
Yeah, I’m certainly not sure I would sign up for another 10 years. I think if it were a choice between signing on to being in 10 more Harry Potter movies or do a cameo in something else, then I think I’d choose the cameo at the moment. Filming another Harry Potter film is not something that is a likelihood in my life any time soon.
That’s what I mean. It’s probably out of the question unless you do a fun one day cameo as older Harry.
Exactly, that could be fun but I don’t know. As far as I know, all these films that they’re doing at the moment are set a long time before Harry was even a glint in the eye of his father, so it’s not something that I’ll be performing.
How excited are you for Frankenstein, another interpretation of literature?
Very loosely speaking an interpretation of literature in the case of that film. It’s really not based on the book. It’s based on an amalgamation of the book and all the other movies. Max Landis has created this totally fresh, bizarre, exciting take on it I think. It’s a real adventure movie. The key difference to a lot of other Frankenstein movies is that whereas in a lot of films, the main relationship is between Victor and the monster he creates, in this film the main relationship is between Igor and Victor. It’s really about two people at the forefront of technology, and one of whom has to sort of save the other one from his own ego and insanity towards the end of the movie.
Given 100 years of cinematic Frankensteins and Igors, do you do a voice and do you have a makeup job?
Yeah, there’s a makeup job at the beginning and I’ve got longer hair. The voice is pretty much my own voice but just not quite the same accent, but not a million miles away. When you say Igor to people, they have certain expectations of what that character will look and be like, so you want to pay homage to that and acknowledge it while not being dictated to by it for the whole movie, and I think, I hope that’s what we managed to do.
Are you in Now You See Me 2 also?
I’d love to be able to talk to you about that but I can’t really talk to you about that at the moment.
I know you were a big fan of Sharknado. Did Sharknado 2 live up to your expectations?
It really did. I thought it was great. I love those movies. I thought the second one, because they knew even more the tone they were going for in the movie, I thought the second one was actually even better, even funnier, even bigger, bolder, louder, all of those things that you want from a Sharknado movie. I actually got to meet both Ian Ziering and Tara Reid separately over the course of a few days while I was in L.A. so that was fun.
“You can sort of see Al Roker’s actual meteorologist brain interrupting him sometimes…”
What did you talk with them about?
Sharknado, making the films and the hilarity of it. We just had a good old chat. It was very nice to speak to them both.
And the cameos they got in the sequel were amazing.
Were amazing, absolutely. Al Roker and Matt Lauer were having some fun that day.
They gave great performances!
They did, although I feel like you can sort of see Al Roker’s actual meteorologist brain interrupting him sometimes, being like “this is crazy talk.” When he’s trying to say about a Sharknado coming in, you can see his brain sort of going, “This is ridiculous.”
You’ve talked about how doing eight Harry Potter films makes you interested in finding different things to do, but was it a unique experience for an actor to get to play one character for so long? You’ll probably never have an experience like that again.
No, very few actors get the chance to do something like that and I’m very grateful that I did. It was an extraordinary opportunity and extraordinary chance to hone a character over a very long period of time. So yeah, I think there’s me, the young man from Boyhood and the guy who was in the Antoine Doinel films. I think we are the three that have done it for a long time.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
