Daniel Radcliffe Eying A Starring Role In Frankenstein

The monster in Frankenstein.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Since the last of the feature adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series wrapped up, we've seen Daniel Radcliffe head into darker territory with his starring role in The Woman in Black. And among his upcoming projects, he'll star in the feature adaptation of Joe Hill's novel Horns. There may be a pattern developing her involving dark roles and book adaptations because it's being reported that Radcliffe has his eye on a starring role in an adaptation of Frankenstein.

According to The Wrap, Radcliffe is interested in playing the role of Hunchback in Paul McGuigan's revisionist take on Mary Shelley's classic novel. In the works at Twentieth Century Fox, the script comes from Chronicle's Max Landis and is described as an adaptation of Frankenstein that "puts a sci-fi take on this classic story about a creature produced through a scientific experiment." The character Radcliffe reportedly wants to play is described as "pathologically dirty and dressed in old clowns clothing." By that and the name Hunchback, it sounds like an Igor-type role, which could be an interesting character for someone like Radcliffe to play. At this point though, it sounds like the focus is on getting the script finalized before any serious talks begin for casting.

As for what Radcliffe has going on now, his upcoming projects include Kill Your Darlings, The F Word and Horns, the latter of which just started production this week. Alexandre Aja's take on Joe Hill's novel began principal photography yesterday in Vancouver. The novel follows a man named Ig (Radcliffe) whose girlfriend is brutally murdered. A year or so later, after a night of hard drinking, he wakes up with horns growing out of his head, and for some reason, people keep confessing their darkest secret thoughts to him. Hill Tweeted an update on the film's progress yesterday, saying, "Just saw my first snap from the set of @RedGranitePics #HORNS. No, I can't share. But my God, what beautiful desolation. }:D"

It sounds like it's too soon to know for sure if Frankenstein is a go for Radcliffe, but it's interesting to see him pursuing darker roles as opposed to heading straight for romantic leads in his post-Harry Potter years.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.