Daniel Radcliffe was at MCM London Comic Con to talk about his starring role in his latest film Horns. After the trailer for the film was shown, he came out on stage to huge screams from the crowd.

Based on the novel by Joe Hill and directed by Alexandre Aja, Horns tells the story of Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) who is accused of raping and killing his girlfriend Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). He awakes one morning after a hard night’s drinking only to find horns protruding from his forehead. It turns out that the horns have the power to make people reveal all their deep secrets to him. Desperate to prove his innocence, Ig uses the power of the horns to find out who is responsible for the death of his girlfriend.

The first thing Daniel was asked during the panel was whether he had wondered around MCM Comic Con in a Spider-Man costume, referring to the time when he visited the San Diego Comic Con in costume. “I haven’t, no,” said Daniel, saying that he did wander around the convention, but not in costume.

When asked about his role in Horns, Daniel said, “I’ve always enjoyed darker material,” given his appearance in films such as The Woman in Black and the upcoming Frankenstein, describing how it was very healthy to explore the dark sides of characters. He mentioned how his character Ig in Horns is a cool guy, but “he does things throughout the film which you would be right to question.”

Daniel revealed that he only read Joe Hill’s book upon which Horns is based after he got the part of Ig. “It’s a fantastic book and I’m sure we have many fans of the book here.” He revealed that things have changed in this adaptation but declared that fans of the book “will love the film.”

When he initially read the script for Horns, Daniel focused a little too much on the comedy, and was excited about one particular sequence. “When Ig goes to the hospital and tries to get the horns removed, I just thought it was really, really funny.”

Daniel also told director Alexandre Aja just how funny he found the script, only for the director to tell his star, “But it’s not a comedy.”

Asked if he was particularly drawn to the fantasy genre, he mentioned how from Harry Potter to Frankenstein, they are “all very different types of movies.” Describing how he’s done a lot of fantasy in his career so far, he explained that with films such as Horns and The Woman in Black, “it gives you a chance to explore things thematically.” He went on to say how despite the haunted house premise, The Woman in Black is essentially about Arthur Kipps, “grieving for his wife and searching for some proof of the afterlife.”

On wearing the horns in Horns, Daniel said, “I was sort of dreading them. It was great. They were really easy to have on.” He went on to say how applying the horns only took 20 minutes.

When questions opened up to the audience he was first asked what his favourite mythical creature was from Harry Potter. “I think the Basalisk,” he said. “Not that I would like to have this as a pet.” He also described how his father did a terrifying voice of the Basalisk when he read the story to him.

Daniel was then asked if the comedy in Horns was similar to that in the romantic comedy What If. “I would say it’s much darker than that,” said Daniel of Horns, as he went on to reveal one of the hardest scenes he had to shoot for the film. “There’s a scene in a hospital and there’s one moment where there’s a four year old child. She is in the scene and people are swearing at each other, just being vile to each other; in a very hilarious way, but it was just one of the most awkward things I’ve ever had to do.”

Daniel was then asked to talk about his time on the series A Young Doctor’s Notebook, where he praised his co-star Jon Ham, calling him an amazing technician as well as an actor. Of the Russian terminology on the show, he said, “I don’t know if we did it very well. I’ve been told by several people since that our pronunciation of some things were not spot on. When you’re making a comedy about the medical profession in Russia, around the time of the revolution, it takes pretty good writers to make that funny and interesting the whole time.”

Horns opens in UK cinemas on 29 October 2014.

Photos by Sarah Tsang and Kay Ibrahim.

Originally published on MCM Buzz on 24 October 2014.