Q&A: Daniel on
Horns and
Victor Frankenstein.
FANGORIA: How did you initially get involved with HORNS?
DANIEL RADCLIFFE: It was one of the scripts my agent sent to
me, and he said, “Let’s see what you think.” It wasn’t an offer or
anything; it was more like, “If you like it, we’ll get a meeting with
the director.” I read HORNS and, when you’re an actor, you’re constantly
looking for that script. You’ll always get a script that’s good and
you’ll go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s good… maybe,” and there are very few
scripts like HORNS where they’re asking for a lot of time in advance,
which is hard to do unless you really love something. And when I read
HORNS, it was one of those scripts that made me want to get up, bang on
the table and say, “No one else can play this. I must play this part.”
That was the sign that I wanted to do HORNS; I didn’t want
anyone else playing this role [
laughs].
I had that feeling with the script very quickly, so then I had a
meeting with Alex [Aja] and that went really well. We had a long
conversation about The Devil in literature and pop culture, and it
turned out I knew a weird amount about that; enough to come off as
knowledgeable. But we talked about how The Devil has been generally a
much more interesting character than God, and a much more charismatic
one, which is why he turns up all the time .
Did you know that when John Milton wrote PARADISE LOST that he felt
so bad, as a religious man, for having made The Devil into such an
interesting character that he wrote PARADISE REGAINED to make Jesus the
star? The problem is that one was really boring and no one liked it, so
it was not as successful. So we talked about that as well as THE MASTER
AND MARGARITA, which is one of my favorite books and The Devil is
important in that story as well. We talked about The Devil
a lot, and when you respond to a script that like, it’s very easy to be like, “I love
this, and I love
this,” and the process becomes a lot easier to talk about.
So we got off to a great start, but I really was won over when Alex
showed me these photos that were made to look like portraits. They were
very vibrant, intense and cool. When the director sits you down and
shows you a mood board, and you see
exactly what you were
thinking, that’s when you go, “Oh man, this is going to be really cool.”
I didn’t have the part by that point, but I really wanted to be a part
of HORNS because it looked really cool. But then I read the book, and
things started to fly after that meeting, really.
FANG: HORNS is a very hard film to define; it’s part love
story, part crime story, part horror story, etc. What was the film
exactly in your eyes?
RADCLIFFE: That’s the thing; I think we’re obsessed
with defining things and the thing I loved about HORNS is that it was
very hard to define. I loved the fact that it jumped between genres and
was really, really funny. To me, though, the most important aspect where
if we didn’t have it right, the film doesn’t work, is the romance. We
had to carry off the love story well, and when you say, “a love story in
a horror movie,” as funny as that might be, that’s what I think it
needed.
Particularly, it was most important that we nail that scene in the
diner where my character goes to propose to Merrin, especially
considering that we see that scene from so many different perspectives.
It’s such a key moment in the film, and unless you care and really feel
how perfect that relationship between Ig and Merrin was, and how much of
a gut-punch it is to have that ripped away from him, then the film
doesn’t work. Ig’s quest for revenge wouldn’t make sense, and you’d ask,
“Why are you doing that?” It’s those moments and that storyline which
elevates the film from just being a really fun, entertaining movie with
some horror elements to having a real place of emotional power.
Hopefully, HORNS will be the kind of movie that sticks with people.
FANG: Speaking to that point, there’s a theme of
uncovering hidden emotional truths that runs through the film.
Sometimes, it’s used for comedic effect, but other times, especially in
Ig’s chats with his parents, the film takes a really tragic,
heartbreaking turn. Was there any scene of this in particular that you
were wary of approaching or perhaps felt like could hit a nerve
personally?
RADCLIFFE: No, but actually, those kinds of scenes are
actually kind of welcome when you’re an actor. When things get close to
home and you start to face down those fears, that’s when it’s really
easy, actually, and acting feels very natural. That’s something everyone
can tap into: the fear of disappointing your family, no matter what
form that takes. People can relate to that fear, and the idea of your
parents saying those awful things to you is so horrendous, but I think
that’s why actors are really lucky: we’re allowed to have a very healthy
relationship with our own dysfunction, so we get to know it and we can
use it.
As an actor, I can be at peace with that dysfunction and that can
really be helpful in the rest of my life. In a way, that’s also what Ig
does throughout the course of HORNS: he gives people permission to feel
these dark, awful things and realize that they’re all human and normal.
Just because something you feel isn’t moral doesn’t mean you’re not
moral; it’s how you act upon those feelings which chooses to dictate
that. But that kind of catharsis is really helpful as an actor, even
though one of my biggest acting challenges in HORNS was making those
reactions feel gradual. Those first bits in the hospital with Ig are a
bit disconcerting but it’s also quite funny, but when you get to Ig
seeing his mom, and she says she doesn’t want to see him ever again,
that’s an awful thing for someone to say. You have to give yourself room
emotionally, because we’re only a half hour into the movie and it’s
only going to get a lot worse for Ig. So it was like making sure you did
justice for the scene you were in, while always making sure you didn’t
screw yourself for those later emotional moments.
FANG: The role of Ig Perrish also required you to
become quite demonic at times. Were there ever times during certain
scenes where you might have felt that you were going too far or were
those the moments you wanted to play more in while you had the
opportunity?
RADCLIFFE: Yeah, absolutely. Like the scene where I go to
torture Terry, where I have the snake around my neck? That’s a scene I’d
never done before, where I’m being asked to be really ominous and
frightening. I think my natural reaction is to downplay stuff and
not
go particularly over the top, but Alex and I were on the same page most
of the time. The battle with HORNS was making sure we got all of the
tones right and making sure they didn’t conflict with each other, so I
really put myself in Alex’s hands for those moments. If Alex said he was
getting what he needed, I always trusted that, and I never have a
problem with “
going for it” on set. I don’t remember Alex having to reign me in on set, but you’d have to ask him.
FANG: As a genre publication, we have to ask: what can you
tell us about Paul McGuigan’s VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN? Can you tell us
anything about the project?
RADCLIFFE: I’ve seen a very rough version of VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, and it’s
really
good. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a very new version of FRANKENSTEIN.
I’m very pleased with how they portray Igor because there’s certain
things people picture when you say you’re playing Igor. You want to live
up to that and do that well, but you also want to make something
unexpected and different. I think we’ve done that.
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN is much like an adventure movie, and it’s less of
a straight horror film than previous FRANKENSTEIN movies have been. But
there are a lot of nods to past incarnations of FRANKENSTEIN. James
McAvoy, in my mind, is now the definitive Victor Frankenstein, and I
think he’ll be that in everyone else’s mind shortly.
source:
fangoria.com
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@DanJRadcliffeNL
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