Daniel Radcliffe by Sue Blackhall

Author:Sue Blackhall [Sue Blackhall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784182410
Publisher: John Blake
Published: 2014-09-04T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

HORROR STAR

On 19 July 2010, just a few days before Daniel’s twenty second birthday, it was announced that he was to play the character Arthur Kipps in horror film The Woman in Black. When questioned about why he wasn’t taking a break, Daniel replied, ‘Somebody said to me after Potter, are you not going to take a break? And I said no, I cannot afford to take a break: This is the time when the film world will be watching to see what we do next and we can’t afford to be seen to be inactive. That fear of failure is something that will panic me a lot.’

The film, based on the novel by Susan Hill, enjoyed a long run in the West End from 1989. Central Television had also broadcast a version in December that year in which Kipps was played by Adrian Rawlins, the actor who was to later find fame as Harry Potter’s father. This new production had a script written by Jane Goldman, goth and horror lover and the wife of TV chat-show host Jonathan Ross. Daniel had been given it to read literally hours after filming his last shot for the final Harry Potter film. He was immediately excited about the opportunity to take on a horror movie role, and not just any horror movie but one from the renowned Hammer production company: ‘It’s great because we can push the horror a little more because Hammer’s there. We can go back to old standards of creepy toys and a haunted house and all those kind of things that recur. And because it’s Hammer nobody questions it.’

There was also some satisfaction, he confessed, in Harry Potter appearing in a Hammer horror and ‘freaking people out’ – even though Daniel has said he is too much of a coward to watch horror films himself: ‘Being on the other side of the screen is OK though, it’s fun.’ It was the first Hammer production for many years and Daniel was thrilled to be part of such a legendary film institution. ‘The Hammer banner is wonderful, it’s a fantastic thing for me, particularly because, having been in the British film industry all my life, it means that if you’re not working with people who actually worked on the Hammer films, you’re working with their kids.’

The role called for Daniel to look older than his years and it would be the first time, he proudly announced, that he would be playing a father. ‘I was struggling in vain to not come close to making a face that would make people think of Harry.’ And how would he characterise a Harry face? ‘I have to accept the fact that my face is going to remind people of Harry because I played that character. If I try to avoid being expressive in that same way, all I’ll do is stop being expressive, and I won’t be any farther away from that character.’

Ever the workaholic, Daniel also said he wanted a project

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