New Woman in Black Poster and Preview Clip, Director Discusses Casting Daniel Radcliffe
Posted 01.25.12 by Ryan
A new poster and preview clip have arrived online for The Woman in Black, which features actor Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter role, and one that may be too intense for some of the Radcliffe's younger fans.
Based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black follows Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer who travels to a remote village which he soon discovers is being haunted by the ghostly spectre known as the Woman in Black. Radcliffe has previously admitted that he hopes the role would help shed his Harry Potter image, as it allows him to play a young father. "If I get that right, that is something that immediately separates me from Harry," Radcliffe said in August of 2010.
Director James Watkins (Eden Lake) was also looking for Radcliffe to be viewed as something other than an iconic, bespectacled wizard, admitting to Bloody-Disgusting recently that he hopes audiences will "revisit him as an actor."
I was definitely a part of [casting Radcliffe]. I met with him and checked it through, I wanted to see if we both saw the film the same way and saw the character in the same way. It was a real challenge, people have this very iconic notion of Dan. I wanted them to revisit him as an actor playing a new character, revisit him anew. Take off the glasses. It was a really interesting challenge and opportunity. I’m really proud of his performance.
The script, written by Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class screenwriter Jane Goldman, was what drew Watkins to want to work on the movie.
The script she wrote was fantastic. It was scary but I responded to the fact that there was quite a bit more to it. It had an emotional core, it tapped into some real primal fears. Fears of loss, fear of separation, fear of drowning, parents and their children. Some really deep fears, which the best horror films tap into. Once I got involved we worked to keep tightening it. I wanted it to be really spare. To cut back on dialogue and back story and really find the story in the present. That was the biggest change that we made. It was a real pleasure working with Jane. All through pre-production and then she was around for the shoot and involved deeply in the edit as well. It was a real collaboration.
The result, Watkins hopes, is ghost story that will provide audiences with "a pervasive sense of dread". The latest poster, which features a blue-hued darkness surrounding an old estate, while shadowy figures enter the property, certainly provides evidence of Watkins's "sense of dread" approach, as does the latest preview clip, which sees Radcliffe wind some toys to see if he can draw the Woman in Black out of the darkness.
The Woman in Black co-stars Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer and Shaun Dooley.
Next Showing: The Woman in Black opens February 3rd