“The most original script since ‘Potter'” – Daniel Radcliffe talks “Frankenstein”!

We posted almost a year ago about Daniel Radcliffe landing the role of Igor in a remake of Frankenstein, and just a few weeks ago Daniel gave the public some tantalizing hints about the production during the Toronto International Film Festival, but now he finally really dishes on his role in a new interview with Sirius XM!

In the short interview, Dan talks about how the film will differ from the book in that Igor will be given much more agency, among other changes, and also about writer Max Landis’s inspriation in creating the script. In fact, Dan almost seems bubbly with excitement when talking about the movie, even claiming it’s “the most original script [he’s] read coming out of a studio since finishing Potter!”

Radcliffe reveals that he has just started rehearsals for Frankenstein, and the film is due out October 17, 2014. Read the transcript of the interview below, or watch the video for yourself!

I actually had my first ever rehearsal with James McAvoy, who’s playing Dr. Frakenstein, and Jess Brown Findlay, who’s playing Lorelei. And it’s one of those things I’ll say now for anyone out there who’s like a massive fan of the book: It’s not going to be like the book.

Max Landis has written the script, and in a way it’s like the Frankenstein of Frankenstein. He’s taken the mythologies that we all think we know – we have this idea of a monster and a crazy scientist and kind of a hunchbacked assistant – but we don’t really know where all these parts came from. And they all come, as Max discovered when he was writing the script, from different sources – some of them are from the book, and some of them are from the movies, and some of them are from the “Monster Mash” song.

All of these kind of different versions of Frankenstein have coalesced in the public’s eye to form a kind of image that we all think we know… I think what Max has done with this is first of all he’s given Igor a backstory which you never really see before. I think one of the biggest differences is that you’ll finally see him granted a life and a backstory, and it’s about these two young guys at the forefront of science. Because it was at a time when science was no longer just observation… it was creative in the sense that we can shape nature and change it; we want to be the masters of it.

It’s about two guys who teeter on that line constantly, and one of them, Igor, has to sort of pull Victor back and give him a dose of morality and be his conscience. The peril in the film is whether or not he will be successful in that… I’m describing it like it’s an adventure movie because it is. It’s a romp. It’s fun. It’s the most original script I’ve read coming out of a studio since finishing Potter.

It already sounds like Frankenstein is going to be amazing! Keep an eye on MuggleNet for all the latest filming news!

Jessica J.

I've been making magic at MuggleNet since 2012, when I first joined the staff as a News intern. I've never wavered from the declaration in my childhood journal, circa October 2000: "I LOVE Harry Potter! If I clean my room, my mom says she'll make me a dinner a wizard would love!" Proud Gryffindor; don't hate.