Joe Hill puts a plastic set of horns on Daniel Radcliffe at the Horns premiere during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on Friday.Aaron Harris/Getty Images
Whoa! Out of nowhere, little Daniel Radcliffe is 24 years old. Not only is he sporting a bit of face scruff at TIFF (where he has three films showing), the young English actor has absolutely grown a pair. "The Harry Potter audience has graduated to R-rated movies," says the French director Alexandre Aja. "They've grown up with Daniel."
Aja, the shock-horror ace, was talking about his new film Horns, which stars Radcliffe as a murder suspect who weirdly grows a pair of horns on the side of his head. The Gothic thriller, adapted from Joe Hill's cult-hit novel, carries some clever, dark humour to keep things from getting too heavy. Indeed, the opening line in the film (which revolves around a first-love romance) is, "Are you horny?"
Aja says Radcliffe was perfect for the role and suggests the more mature character is still connected to the actor's magical youth. "I'm not hiding who he is. The supernatural breach in Horns circles back to the Harry Potter franchise."
No butts about it. The ram-headed character takes part in a few shirtless scenes, and, really, the maturing Radcliffe has never been more hairy.
Brad Wheeler