In an effort to shed his Harry Potter image, Daniel Radcliffe will play the late Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings. The film is set at the beginning of the Beat Generation and shows Ginsberg’s early relationship with fellow poet Jack Kerouac.
The film hits theaters Oct. 16th, but Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive clip from the film today. In the clip, Kerouac and Ginsberg attend a party at English professor David Krammer’s apartment. Krammer points out Ginsberg and ridicules him as a person no one would notice.
“Look at him. Why would we bother?” Krammer says.
Kill Your Darlings follows the 1944 murder of Krammer, who was killed by Ginsberg’s friend Lucien Carr. Carr maintained that the murder was an act of self-defense, claiming Krammer attacked him when he refused his sexual advances.
The former Harry Potter star is also featured in a gay sex scene within the film, which is already garnering heavy attention.
In an interview on the Today show, Radcliffe addressed the scene. “I would be be very stupid if I didn’t expect some reaction to that.” The 23-year-old actor admits that scrutiny of the scene has been less than what he expected, because people are focusing on the film instead.
Later in the interview, Radcliffe was asked if he actively seeks out roles that separate him from the Harry Potter franchise.
“Any actor that really enjoys what they do and wants to have a long career realizes that the key is versatility,” Radcliffe said.
Going from an English boy wizard to an American Beat poet may be the definition of versatile.
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