Throughout cinema history, there have been some iconic nude scenes that have transcended the bounds of the films in which they appeared. Our weekly column Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy will take an in-depth look at these scenes, their history, their deeper meanings, and their legacy. This week, Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, obliterates his boy wizard image by playing Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg in 2013's Kill Your Darlings!
The transition from child star to adult actor is about as precarious a line as one can walk, with a great many child stars failing to make that transition successfully. As -perhaps the most prominent and well-known child star of the new millennium, Daniel Radcliffe began laying the groundwork for life after Harry Potter fairly early. In 2006, halfway through the Potter franchise, he appeared in a hilarious role lampooning himself on the HBO series Extras, giving us the first real sense that he may indeed have a future in acting beyond his most famous role.
For the most part, though, Radcliffe's risk-taking roles during the Potter years came on the stage. In 2007, he appeared in a successful revival of Peter Schaffer's Equus, that debuted on London's West End before moving to Broadway. In 2011, the year the last Potter film was released, he went back to the great white way to star in a revival of the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. These moves to the Broadway stage likely helped him make a more successful transition to adult star as he deliberately seemed to be avoiding film and television roles while playing The Boy Who Lived since, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, if he made it there, he'd make it anywhere.
A scant six months after the final Potter film hit theaters, Radcliffe landed his first starring role outside the franchise in the 2012 horror hit The Woman in Black. The film recouped its entire budget and then some in its opening weekend, lending credence to the fact that Radcliffe may indeed move beyond being forever seen as Harry Potter. The film itself, however, was your standard January low-budget horror fare, designed to turn a quick profit in the worst movie-going month of the year. In other words, while Radcliffe would obviously continue to be a box office draw and a movie star to his fan base, it remained to be seen whether he'd ever earn a modicum of respect as an "actor."
Like his co-star in 2005's Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Robert Pattinson, Radcliffe sought to make a name for himself in the world of independent cinema. Obviously it would be a pay cut for the actor to go from blockbusters to indies, but he could earn plenty of credibility for the risks that an indie production would allow him to take as an actor. 2013 brought us three indie flicks starring Radcliffe wherein he demonstrated a hidden range his previous work didn't allow him to explore. The first out of the gate was Kill Your Darlings, which we'll come back to in a moment, but I want to touch on the other films quickly.
The horror comedy Horns allowed him to subvert his Potter image by appearing in a fantasy scenario—a man sprouts horns following the death of his girlfriend—with more mature undertones. Meanwhile the rom-com What If gave Radcliffe the gift of getting to play a normal dude dealing with normal relationship issues. Working outside of a high concept zone for the first time in a long time gave him a much more relatable, every guy quality he had previously lacked. And he showed his butt while skinny dipping with co-star Zoe Kazan, so that was a nice bonus.
Now, back to Kill Your Darlings, Radcliffe may not have been a dead ringer for the Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg—see I'm Not There's David Cross for that*—he completely embodies the role of the angry young man. Upon accepting the role in early 2012, Radcliffe cheekily defended his playing the part to BBC News. Ginsberg was, to put it nicely, the homeliest of his Beat Generation peers, so the notion of a cute British boy playing a New Jersey-born Jewish guy might have rubbed some people the wrong way. However, Radcliffe referred them to another handsome actor who had recently played the part in 2010's Howl saying...
"Any criticism of me not looking right for the part - well, James Franco is way too good-looking to play Allen Ginsberg."
The film mostly focuses on Ginsberg's relationship with Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan) and his own sexual awakening, with his introduction to Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William S. Borroughs (Ben Foster), among others, existing on the periphery of the film. There have been countless films that explored those relationships, however, so it's nice to get a portrait of Ginsberg before he became a beloved anti-establishment icon. The first taste Radcliffe gives us that he's Harry Potter no longer comes thirty three minutes in when he gives us the faintest hint of coin slot while jacking off in his dorm room...
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He locks lips with co-star Dane DeHaan just prior to the one hour mark, but it's not until the seventy minute mark that we finally get the gay sex scene that forever altered the way we view Radcliffe. He hooks up with a sailor, played by Olen Holm, and the two have sex with Radcliffe bottoming for his new nude pal. He gives a great performance in the scene, showing off that moment of realization without making it seem inauthentic or overwrought...
Radcliffe was truly well on his way to becoming a great actor. Being raised in the spotlight of the biggest franchise in the world can't be an easy task for any child actor and Radcliffe has certainly had his fair share of demons to battle. However, it was clear that he loved acting and decided that he wanted to continue down that path. Many would say that he's lucky to have survived, but as Seneca may have said, luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Radcliffe had easily logged his Malcolm Gladwell-endorsed 10,000 hours by the time he got to Kill Your Darlings. That he didn't squander said opportunity shows how prepared he was.
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Catch up with ALL of our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy...
Oliver Reed and Alan Bates in Women in Love | Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine| A Pair of Stars are Born in Y Tu Mamá También| Jack Reynor in Midsommar | Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant |Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises | Michael Fassbender in Shame | Kevin Bacon in Wild Things | Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall | Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game | David Bowie and Rip Torn in The Man Who Fell to Earth | Al Pacino in Cruising | John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Ross Lynch in My Friend Dahmer | Rocketman vs. Bohemian Rhapsody | Bruce Willis in Color of Night | Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu in Bertolucci's 1900 | Mark Rylance in Intimacy | Louis Garrel in Godard Mon Amour | Tom Hardy in Bronson | Henry, June, and the NC-17 Rating | The Gay Cowboys of Brokeback Mountain | Eddie Redmayne in Danish Girl | Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves | Willem Dafoe in Antichrist | Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon | Sylvester Stallone in The Italian Stallion | 9 Songs Combines Real Music with Real Sex | The Naked Men of A Room with a View | John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus | Ben Affleck's Abnormally Smooth Dick in Gone Girl | Joseph Gordon-Levitt inMysterious Skin | Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation | Richard Gere in American Gigolo | Ralph Fiennes and Matthias Schoenaerts in A Bigger Splash | The Naked Gay Men of Love! Valour! Compassion! | Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley | David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London | Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later | Malcolm McDowell in Cat People | Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man | Chris Evans in Not Another Teen Movie | Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho | Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel in The Dreamers | Anthony Mackie in She Hate Me | Nicholas Hoult in A Single Man | Chris Pine in Outlaw King | Keanu Reeves in Henry's Crime |
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