Former “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe hasn’t been shy in his approach to new roles since moving on from the films that made him a superstar; in fact, he seems to be making choices based mostly on the fact that he doesn’t want to be viewed as The Boy Who Lived anymore. He’s all grown up, and, as we see in “Kill Your Darlings”, he isn’t afraid to tackle love scenes.
The film, in which Radcliffe plays poet Allen Ginsburg, is generating tons of buzz due to a gay sex scene, in which Radcliffe’s character is an active participant. But the young actor says he doesn’t see why it should be so “shocking” in this day and age.
”It’s interesting that it’s deemed shocking,” Radcliffe said. “For me, there’s something very strange about that because we see straight sex scenes all the time. We’ve seen gay sex scenes before. I don’t know why a gay sex scene should be any more shocking than a straight sex scene. Or both of them are equally un-shocking.”
Radcliffe also famously starred in a stage production of “Equus” from 2007 to 2009 and appeared completely nude onstage as he portrayed a character with a strange fascination with horses. He has earned acclaim from the LGBT community for his work with the Trevor Project, which works with LGBT youth struggling with depression.
For Radcliffe, the fact that he was Harry Potter might only be a good thing when it comes to bringing in a fresh audience to the film.
“I don’t care why people come and see films. If they come and see a film about the beat poets because they saw me in ‘Harry Potter,’ fantastic. That’s a wonderful thing,” Radcliffe said. “I feel like I have an opportunity to capitalize on ‘Potter’ by doing work that might not otherwise get attention. If I can help get a film like this attention, that’s without doubt, that’s a great thing.”
