Daniel Radcliffe has starred in the
most profitable franchise in film history. At 22 his financial future is set. But he is determined to push artistic boundaries and continues
to challenge himself as an actor.  After recently leaving
his second Broadway stint and saying goodbye to the iconic, career defining Harry Potter; Radcliffe now returns to theaters as a young widowed father in the supernatural thriller The Woman in
Black, now playing. In an exclusive conversation the charismatic actor opens up about Potter, the road ahead and his latest role.

HOMBRE: Tell us about ‘The Woman in Black’

Daniel Radcliffe: It’s my new film. I play Arthur Kipps
who is a young widower sent by his employer to an old house in rural England.
There he has to straighten out paperwork from a woman who has recently died. It
sounds like a very simple, boring job but he goes there and is tormented by a
hateful, vengeful ghost. That is what the film is about but it’s also a film
about death, grieving and bereavement, and basically how death touches
different people in their lives. Everyone in the film has been affected by
death in some way.  It’s a supernatural
thriller. It’s very, very scary. There are going to be people jumping out of
their seats. 

But it’s different. People are used to ‘Saw’ and very graphic horror films. There’s
nothing gratuitous in this film.  It’s
all about the mind and psychological. It’s really scary.

H: How was it playing an older character and a young
father?

DR: I play a young dad which is nice. I loved playing a
father because I get to act with my godson – the kid who plays my son in the
movie is also my godson. I didn’t feel there would be enough time to build that
chemistry with a kid I didn’t know so we auditioned several kids and Misha (actor Misha Handley)
auditioned as well. You can’t replace that natural chemistry when he’s known
you all your life, so he plays my son. That was great fun and it’s great to be
able to play somebody older given that everyone’s seen me in a schoolboy outfit
the past ten years. That was a nice thing to help me break away from it. I think
in general people are going to be excited by the story and even if they go in
thinking ‘oh let’s go see Harry Potter’s new thing,’ after ten minutes they’ll forget
about that and be into the story.

H: How important is the relationship between father and
son in the film?

DR: It’s very important because he has something to lose:
his relationship with his son. He is going to this house in the first place so
he can keep his job and raise his son properly. And part of why he stays there
is partly because of a duty to his son.

I find personal relationships between fathers and sons to be the most moving in
films. I was keen that there was a natural rapport between Misha and I in the
film and that you believed I was his dad and I think you do. So yes,
it’s a very important relationship even though the son only appears
in the beginning and end of the film. But it’s important to know he has a
child.

H: ‘The Woman in Black’ is a book and had been previously
adapted into a film; did you see it, or read the book?

DR: I did read the book after I read the script and it is
very different from the film. Stuff has changed and been moved around. Our film
captures the tone and atmosphere of the book. I never saw the previous film. I
wanted to make this my own.

H: I understand you met with a psychologist prior to the
film, why was that important?

DR: I met with a bereavement expert. I wanted to get a sense from her of what it’s like
for a young man to deal with the death of his wife because it’s very different
from losing a friend or a parent and it’s even different than losing a wife
later in life.

This was a young man who had years of happiness ahead with
this woman and has had that wiped away. He has a sense of injustice and rage – and
also because his wife dies in childbirth – there’s the sense of resentment that he has for
the son whom he also loves. In some level, even if he doesn’t think
this, he knows that his son is the reason his wife isn’t here. So the
complexity of those emotions is something I needed to speak to someone about
and it was interesting.

H: How difficult was it to portray Arthur Kipps?

DR: The main thing I had to work on with this character
is that he’s detached, almost incapable of being an emotionally open member of
society. He has shut down completely and I have a lot of natural energy which I
had to suppress to put across that this guy is exhausted and depressed and
unhappy.

H: Are there any similarities with any previous roles?

DR: The supernatural element is so different in Potter
than it is in ‘Woman in Black’ that you get a different sense of what the
supernatural is. Potter is a world of magic and this is a world of past lives.
In terms of the character there are similarities as there often are between
protagonists in films. There are common elements; particularly there is a kind
of an underdog status because Arthur is a lowly clerk in the office. There are
similarities in the darkness of the character and how unhappy the character is.
I think as a whole ‘Woman in Black’ is a much, much darker film than Potter
ever was.

H: What was the most challenging part of the filming?

DR: There was one scene where I have to retrieve
something out of a muddy mosh land and I was filming in a cold tank of mud for
over two days. I’d say that was fun for the first day and a half and the last
six hours were ‘get me out of here!’ But when you’re filming a sequence like
that you just have to keep in mind how good it’s going to look eventually.

H: How was it filming in London?

DR: It was great. We actually filmed the studio stuff in London
but we got around a bit. We filmed in Peterborough, in Yorkshire, in the hillside;
in remote little villages… it was good. 

I’ve
actually never worked in America, that’s the next thing on my list, to work
here.

H: What draws you to a role?

DR: If it’s interesting and weird I’m normally half way
in (laughs). That’s the kind of stuff I respond to. Stuff that makes me say, oh
this is different than anything else I’ve read before. That’s the kind of stuff
I’m looking at. Stuff that’s exciting and interesting and would help me grow as
an actor.

H: Last year you returned to Broadway, why is theater so
important to you?

DR: It’s where I get better. It’s where I learn the most
as an actor and make the most progress. My stints in theater have made me
immeasurably better. It’s important because I think as an actor you should never
shut yourself off to any media be it TV, film, theater, radio… if it’s a good
story, do it.

H: And ‘How to Succeed in Business’ was so different from ‘Equus’…

DR: They are worlds apart and this (‘How to succeed…) is
a fun show and all the family can come and see it and I’ve never done anything
like that before. That’s exciting. I’m having a good time.

H: What’s next for you?

DR: This year I’m hoping I’ll get a couple of films done.
There’s three or four all of which may happen or none of which may happen. Its
independent films but hopefully if they get their money there will be at least
two very good films.

H: What advice do you give someone starting out in show
business?

DR: I don’t have advice about getting started because in
my case I just got very, very lucky. But if you do get lucky then you can earn
your luck by working very hard afterwards.

And if you start out in a film set in any capacity, whether you’re an actor or
part of the crew, there will always be someone on a film set who is being waited
for, so never be the person who is holding things up. Always be ready, always
know your lines and always be there on time.

H: And finally, was it difficult saying goodbye to Harry
Potter?

DR: I said goodbye a while ago. When we finished filming
that was my goodbye to it I suppose, and then 2 hours later I was on a plane
reading ‘The Woman in Black’ script for the first time so it was a quick
transition.

I’m kind of over it now. It was a fun ten years.