Sure, we all know him as Harry Potter, but little Daniel Radcliffe is all grown up and has a few historical costume movies and TV shows under his belt. And under his, um, sparkly assless chaps too. Which is really why he’s today’s Man Candy Monday, just wait for it…
Young David in David Copperfield (1999)
Before he was the Boy Who Lived.
John Kipling in My Boy Jack (2007)
As Rudyard Kipling’s son during World War I.
Arthur Kipps in The Woman in Black (2012)
A spooky turn in this Victorian ghost tale.
Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings (2013)
A Beat poets murder-mystery set in 1944.
Young Doctor in A Young Doctor’s Notebook & Other Stories (2012–2013)
A strangely comedic series about a 1910s doctor.
Igor in Victor Frankenstein (2015)
The classic horror story told from Igor’s point of view.
Craig / Prince Chauncley / Ezekiel Brown in Miracle Workers (2019-)
How it started — in the first season, Radcliffe plays a low-level angel in Heaven who got stuck with a difficult miracle.
The second season jumped to the middle ages, & Radcliffe plays a prince who was a total disappointment to his father.
The third season takes the cast to the Oregon Trail, & Radcliffe is a zealous preacher leading them to a supposedly better life…
What’s your favorite frock flick role of Daniel Radcliffe’s?
Thank you for this! Not going to lie, that last clip has been my daily go to to put me in a good mood all week. Just hilarious!
Same!
I know, me too! It’s totally “Harry Potter doesn’t live here any more” ! Just brilliant.
LOL
I’ve seen a few of these, and I am fan of The Woman in Black. But I really am enjoying his stint as a man of the cloth in Oregon Trail.
Love him!! He seems like a lovely human being in real life, too. And he rocks the Victorian look (in Woman in Black). I can see him being an excellent Jonathan Harker.
The thing about “Frankenstein from Igor’s point of view” is that there is no Igor in the book. The idea of Victor Frankenstein having a hunch-backed assistant comes from the 1931 movie, but there the character was named Fritz, and Ygor is a completely different character who shows up in the sequels. The assistant character showed up again in the Hammer Frankenstein series, but was again not named Igor.
I’m pretty sure the idea of Victor Frankenstein’s assistant being named Igor first shows up in Young Frankenstein, which clearly thought they were parodying a character named Igor who already existed. And the mix-up has stuck around ever since. But the more you look for “Igor”, the more you realize he’s a cypher character who doesn’t exist in any straightforward adaptation.
(Also, even if that weren’t the case, Victor Frankenstein 2015 looked like it had approximately 5% to do with the actual book. Maybe people should actually go back and read the source material before writing a movie that’s allegedly based on it?)
“I’m pretty sure the idea of Victor Frankenstein’s assistant being named Igor first shows up in Young Frankenstein, which clearly thought they were parodying a character named Igor who already existed. And the mix-up has stuck around ever since.”
Mel Brooks didn’t develop this trope.
Assistants to Dr. Frankenstein actually predated motion pictures in various stage versions of Shelley’s novel, and when Universal started their series of movies, they incorporated this element from the plays. (Peggy Webling’s 1927 play was purchased and heavily rewritten for the 1931 film.)
Universal’s movies tended to have the Monster kill the assistant at some point, so hunchback Fritz in FRANKENSTEIN got replaced by non-hunchback Karl in BRIDE OF (both played by Dwight Frye), and Bela Lugosi stepped in as “Ygor,” a broken-necked shepherd with a vendetta, in SON OF.
Ygor finds the Monster and forces Dr. Frankenstein’s son– who’s newly returned to Castle Frankenstein after years of absence– to revive it. Ygor is hovering over the operation so much that he basically becomes an “assistant” in the setups. The same thing basically happens in the sequel, GHOST OF, with Frankenstein’s other son transferring Ygor’s brain into the Monster.
Ygor is basically fused with the Monster from that point, and there’s no substitute “assistant” in MEETS THE WOLFMAN, but Lugosi plays the Monster for that one, so Ygor’s still essentially there.
The next two sequels have two unrelated doctors attempting to revive the Monster, and both have otherwise attractive hunchbacks (Daniel and Nina) as assistants, and both doctors promise to fix the assistant’s backs. However, both assistants get killed before this ever happens.
Because this was such a recurring theme in the Universal series, various parodies in comic books, TV shows, stand-up comic routines, and elsewhere established the “hunchback assistant named Igor/Ygor” trope decades before Mel Brooks did YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN– which was largely based on SON OF.
Obviously, I was just referring to the premise of ‘Victor Frankenstein’ the movie, not the original book’s plot.
@Trystan Oh, I wasn’t criticizing your summary! I was commenting on the movie’s basic premise and the way the “Igor” thing seems to have taken on a life of its own (apt for Frankenstein, I guess?) despite not being in the source material, and the name itself not even being in any major adaptations.
@Natasha…I hear everything you’re saying, but…Victor Frankenstein is a REALLY FUN movie, and I think you should give it a chance. I say this is a lover of the book. Also, we just have to accept that Frankenstein and his Monster are (and have been for a very long time) properties in the cultural imagination more so than from the book. With that said, I usually love a good Frankenstein adaptation and have only seen two did not appeal to me at all–one with Aaron Eckhart and another with Vincent Perez.
Not gonna lie, The Woman in Black scared the bejeebers out of me. I usually do pretty well with horror (just watched Candyman the other night), but I was clutching the armrests in the theater LOL. :)
dying over here – thanks for including the clip!
That clip is hilarious! I had a friend who was really in to Radcliffe for a number of years and now I’m debating whether or not she would spontaneously combust if I sent her this link.
Vielen Dank, muchas gracias, merci beaucoup, grazie mille, bol’shoye spasibo,gratias tibi valde!!!!!
I’ve had a truly lousy day and that clip just made me laugh so hard I snorted tea up my nose!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, I needed that very much.
Of these, I’ve only seen Woman in Black, which left a bad bad taste in my mouth. I saw the original play years before I saw the film. Many of the play’s charms are missing in the movie.
I haven’t seen either one, but the 1989 ITV television version of THE WOMAN IN BLACK is said to be superior to the 2012 remake– though the author of the source novel wasn’t pleased with the changes Nigel Kneale made in his adaptation.
WELL!! i can definitely see Daniel playing Hedwig in the West End, should it ever happen!!!
I was thinking “Frank N. Furter audition” when I saw it– the reveal with the cape like in “Sweet Transvestite” and all.
That clip is insane and strangely hot. Thanks for posting it, Trystan!
That’s just what I was coming here to comment! I wish him all the luck, he’d be a great Frank OR Hedwig, I’m sure.
I was about to say, what about War Horse, but then I realized it starred a complete different square-jawed white British boy, and I had it confused in my head with Daniel Radcliffe’s on-stage role in Equus (oh my.)
Fun crossover idea…
Some years ago, I was quite surprised to realize that Daniel Radcliffe had become a snack. In looking over the pics in this post, I’m getting Bono vibes. Anyway, The Woman in Black was soooo spooky. And I loved him in Victor Frankenstein.
I did not know how much I NEEDED that clip in my life until just now! I never watched Miracle Workers–but I definitely will now. And, yes, I agree with everyone else about the Frank N. Furter vibes and also Hedwig!! Of course, if Daniel ever plays him on stage, I feel like there should be a discreet Easter egg prop of a white owl in a cage.
What period is Season 1 of the Miracle Workers supposed to be? Or is it supposed to be modern? Just curious.
I saw his name and my immediate first thought was ‘Oregon Trail drag performance’ so I am very happy it is included
I love him. I was never super into Harry Potter, to the shock of everyone else in my generation, but I’ve seen all the movies because I think he is fantastic. I especially love him in The Woman in Black, for most of the movie he is the only one on screen and he easily carries the film.