As reported
earlier, a new on-set article for Daniel Radcliffe's upcoming thriller,
The Woman in Black, was featured in the October 2011 issue of
Empire magazine, including new promos with Arthur Kipps in the spooky tale. In the article itself, Dan discussed choosing the film as his first foray beyond the
Harry Potter series, working with his real-life godson Misha, who plays his young son in the film, as well as the books he read to get into the mentality of a grieving widower, and a few personal tips given to him by director James Watkins. The stills can be found in our
galleries; highlights from Dan's interview are below.
On playing a father:
Quote:
"I cheated a bit on that. I got my godson to audition to play my son … and he was very good and got the part! I’ve known him since he was a baby and there’s already a chemistry there; there’s a lot of love between us. I got very lucky on that."
Daniel Radcliffe: "I feel like I’ve landed on my feet with this being the first thing after Harry. Because this is very different, in that I’m playing a father and it’s a more grown-up film, but it’s not so scandalously different that people will say, ‘Oh, he’s just trying too hard; he’s trying to shock us into thinking he’s something else now.’ I think I’ve taken away some of the ammunition people can throw."
"But I know it’s going to be a leap for people who’ve seen me in a schoolboy outfit for the last ten years and suddenly I’m playing a dad. In the script you read, it probably said Arthur was 27, but we’re pinching it at about 24. Because I can just about pass for 24, especially with the sideburns and make up … That was the thing that worried me more.
"I started to think, ‘Should I do a deeper voice?’, but the chances are my voice isn’t going to be any deeper by the time I’m 24, so it didn’t make sense. And James [Watkins, director] was very quick to allay my fears and say, ‘Well, if that’s what the audience is thinking about, then we’re buggered anyway.'"
One trait noted about Dan was the fact that he was a mouth-breather in real life, but for Kipps he had to learn to breathe only through his nose, something he kept forgetting.
Dan: "That’s one thing James has been very, very keen on. The note I get more than any other on this film is, ‘Close your mouth!'"
"What’s interesting is when he comes here [to the village]. When I was reading the script I was going, ‘Why doesn’t he leave?! He’s nuts for staying here!’ But the interesting thing James said was, ‘He’s lost his wife, he’s searching for her and then he sees the ghost of a dead woman.'
"That curiosity keeps him there. Because curiosity is a very powerful thing. It sounds like a twee word, but it’s what makes us human. It’s such a powerful force."
On reading Virginia Ironside's You’ll Get Over It, a book about dealing with grief:
Dan: “It was fantastic. It was the most honest book. The thing it talked about, that I liked, was that people always talk about the seven stages [of grief], but what it said was, the idea of having stages implies that after you’ve gone through them you will be over it. The thing with Arthur is he never got out of that place.
There’s a bit in [C.S. Lewis'] A Grief Observed where it talks about [how grief is] like walking through a valley where the landscape always changes and repeats. It’s that thing of being stuck in the cycle of grief and living with the ghost. That’s what he’s been doing: living with the ghost of his wife for the last four years.
The Woman in Black will be released in theatres in February 2012.
Daniel Radcliffe talks playing Arthur Kipps, grief in The Woman in Black; new photos 
he looks brilliant
Potter's woman through and through 
