Whether it’s a conscious decision or not, former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has continued to distance himself from his wizarding persona with a string of diverse and interesting projects, the latest of which is a political thriller entitled Imperium.
Deadline reports the news that Radcliffe has signed on to play a role that couldn’t get further away from the Hogwarts student, that of a young FBI agent in the true story-inspired thriller.
Radcliffe will play an agent who goes undercover to find and stop white supremacists trying to make a dirty bomb. It’s based on the experience sof Michael German, who spent years inside U.S.-based neo-Nazi militia groups. Yikes, that’s certainly a far cry from casting spells and battling Voldemort! German co-wrote the script with Daniel Ragussis, a short film director who’s making his feature directorial debut.
It might come as a bit of a surprise to those following Radcliffe’s continuing career, not just with it being a totally different role than we’ve seen him take on in the past but also considering just how busy his schedule is. He’s currently working on indie comedy Swiss Army Man, opposite Paul Dano, he’s playing Lee Atwater in biographical comedy Young Americans and is in pre-production on drama Brooklyn Bridge, opposite Brie Larson and Ben Kingsley. He will also soon be playing Rockstar Games (the folks that brought us the wildly successful Grand Theft Auto series) president Sam Houser in TV event film Game Changer.
Radcliffe will next be seen in Victor Frankenstein, a monster origin story in which he plays Igor opposite James McAvoy’s titular doctor. That film is set for release on November 27th, this year. After that he has magic-themed sequel Now You See Me: The Second Act, which takes to the stage on June 10th, 2016.
Sources: Deadline and AP/HuffPo (image)