There are many who take one look at Daniel Radcliffe and automatically associate him with the Harry Potter franchise, which makes sense. The actor became an international star the moment he was cast as The Boy Who Lived. Ever since the monstrous movie franchise wrapped up, the twenty-something actor strives to further his acting skills through his continually diverse and intriguing set of film roles.
When the script Joe Hill’s novel-turned-movie ‘Horns’ first came to the attention of Daniel Radcliffe, he knew the project wasn’t about to slip out of his grasp. The story centers around a young man named Ig who begins to grow devilish horns shortly after the mysterious death of his girlfriend (played by Juno Temple). While the horns continue to sprout out of his head, the truth is gradually revealed about her untimely demise.
ShockYa got the cool opportunity to speak with Daniel Radcliffe about the process of creating this latest film and about the fantastic people who helped put it together. He also spoke up about his work alongside James McAvoy in the upcoming ‘Frankenstein’ film along with how his life is being in the public eye.
What was it about Ig that worked for you when you first read the script? Were you familiar with the Joe Hill novel, or was it mainly the script that screamed out to you?
Daniel Radcliffe: It really was. You read a lot of scripts and you read a lot of stuff that’s good. Then you read something like this. It’s almost like the thought of your girlfriend being with somebody else. When you read a script like this and you imagine another actor doing it for a second, you’re just like no, I can’t allow that to happen. It’s like some very deep thing inside of you that happens sometimes when you read something and I’m like no, I have to do this because I know if I see this in the cinema and watch somebody else do this, I’ll be furious with myself. So I think that’s when I really know that I found a script when I have that sort of visceral reaction towards it. And for the character, as far as that goes, he’s a wonderful character. He’s a romantic in the true sense of the word in that he’s pure of heart, and has this incredible sort of nobility about him, but he is also somebody who has lost a lot of his life and has changed by that. He’s trying to make sense of what his life is now without her, and as a consequence of that does some pretty terrible things to people out of a quest for revenge. But there is something kind of great about watching this very noble, good character go through these awful things. It’s one of the performances I’m proudest of I think of any I’ve done. In terms of a film I’m so proud of this as an achievement for myself. I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.
When you first met up with director Alexandre Aja and talked to him about really starting to flesh out Ig, did he already have a mindset of what he wanted the character to emulate? Did you have notes on your perception of Ig?
Daniel Radcliffe: Personally we were kind of on the same page really quickly. There wasn’t anything, it wasn’t the case where I read the script and I was like I want to change this, I want to do this. It was very much as the script was, I was very happy with it. The one thing I talked to Alex about and we paid attention to as we made the movie was that it’s a very extreme, heightened situation that these characters are in all the time. The challenge as actors is finding the balance between doing justice to the entire theme or the situation and also keeping it grounded, real and kind of recognizably a human being somehow. That was a the main challenge of it.
Music is very important to me and Alex and the character in the movie Ig is obviously a DJ so music is a big part of the book. It’s a big part of all of our lives really. So I think it was a very natural way for us to get into the character. I started off by making a couple of CDs which I gave to Alex of music for Ig, which some of it actually made it’s way into the movie. One song by The Shivers called “Lonely Road” is actually in the film, which I’m proud to say was sort of my contribution to the soundtrack in a movie. I love working with music and I think, I listened to a lot of heavy metal for this stuff.
What was the process of putting on all of that stuff. Did you guys shoot chronologically? If so, did the horns gradually increase as you were shooting, or was that not the case?
Daniel Radcliffe: It was out of order. The makeup department basically broke down the script into stages of horns. So from when the horns first appear to a few scenes later is like stage 1, and then as soon as they get bigger… I think there was 7 stages in total of the horns. You have to find ways, moments in the film where they could naturally grow. So when a little time might have passed, we would find an opportunity to move from one stage to the next. And then the, the process of having the makeup done should have been f–king horrible, and was so easy. I’ve heard horror stories about people doing long, long makeups, full-body prosthetics and stuff like that. The two guys who did my makeup, I always have to mention their names. They’re Mike McCarthy and Mike Fields. They are amazing at what they do. Not only were they amazingly fast, they saved the movie by how fast they were able to do some of my makeup. They are also so brilliant and so thoughtful. There was one night where I had a terrible, terrible cold and I had to have this prosthetic on. They allowed me to not glue the nose down so I could just lift it up and just blow my nose and clear my nose out still. So they were really lovely and they really helped me.
The rest of the film set must have been fantastic, between the locations and the rest of the supporting cast, especially working alongside Juno Temple.
Daniel Radcliffe: She’s amazing. She should be one of everybody’s favorites and I’m sure she will be soon. I should talk more about Juno actually because she is part of the story. She set the tone for everybody basically, because on her first day on the film she was filming the scene, a very intense scene with Lee (Max Minghella) in the forest. That was her first scene, and she was wearing basically a sheer dress. She was standing under a rain machine being murdered for an entire night in Vancouver in October or November, and just never complained. She was just completely stoic, a total soldier throughout and she’s amazing in the movie. She is so committed and so fearless. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the blueprint for what all young actors should be.
Let me be frank in asking what is it like doing press now compared to days past when you were a part of a major franchise. That must have been an incredibly busy time for you.
Daniel Radcliffe: Oh no, not at all. We did almost no press for those Harry Potter films, relatively speaking from what you have to do for most films. Potter was going to be a success, always. Of course with the first one there was a bit and then after that we just did bare minimum press tours. I went to do a press tour in London, a press tour in New York and then I’ll be home. That’ll be it. So for films that need it more, you do a lot more press. It was a very famous actress who once said that she thought doing press was the bit that you got paid for. I agree with that, cause acting’s fun. Being on film sets is fun. Press can be fun, but it’s not a very natural form of existence, to talk about oneself this much. To have so many questions asked is sort of a bit weird. You do end up just getting bored with the sound of your own voice but it is an important part of the film industry now. If you believe in your film and you’re proud of the film that you make, I think you should get out there and promote it and bang the drum for it.
And understandably it must be tough not only to do that but deal with so many questions, flooding your head within a short span of time from multiple people. It can easily get exhausting doing that after awhile.
Daniel Radcliffe: That’s the thing; it’s never that you get like that. It’s like you start inferring things with the questions people ask. For instance I just did a romantic comedy and I was promoting a romantic comedy. I had two months of questions of “You’re really unconventional for a romantic lead” to the point where I was like “God, you’re giving me a f–king complex. What’s unconventional about me?” So you get into that really. I suppose I will never not be weirded out by the fact that I guess my life is sort of fascinating to people. People expect me to be I guess more f–ked up than I am.
It’s cruel for folks to expect that life should be tougher or worse for those working in different fields, especially the big platform that is the film industry. We’re all humans, but you just have a different job than most people.
Daniel Radcliffe: Yeah, well that’s the thing. What is weird about interviews is that you’re constantly confronted by what the perception of you is, what people think about your life. Some people just want to frame my life as being really weird and a bit sad. There are some who actually feel sorry for me because they think I didn’t have a childhood. I always want to tell them shut up, I did have a childhood. I had a really healthy, happy, totally bizarre and completely weird but a very happy, fun childhood. So when you hear stuff like that, you never want to get irritated with people because you don’t want to be mean. But when people ask an irritating question like that, it’s tough. It’s a battle between my own natural politeness and my firm desire to tell them not to ask such stupid questions.
And you’re still keeping busy with wonderfully diverse roles in your career, including your work in the upcoming movie ‘Frankenstein’ where you play Igor.
Daniel Radcliffe: Yeah! Everyone sort of thinks they know what that film’s going to be and it is just a totally new version of Frankenstein. I happen to think James McAvoy’s Frankenstein will become the quintessential version. I think he’s wonderful in the film and the film is basically his and I’s relationship. It’s a real fun adventure movie about these two guys at the forefront of technology, pushing each other and eventually me having to save him from his own ego and insanity. It’s a film about creation and the nature of what it means to create something and do you own it or does it have a life of it’s own.
‘Horns’ is out in theaters and VOD now.