Child stars are notorious for turning into weird adults, which is perhaps unsurprising when your formative years are spent with the world watching your every move. So, it’s a small miracle that the three young stars of the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have turned out pretty well-adjusted. For the most part, at least.
Of the three, though, it’s Radcliffe who’s been the busiest, obviously eager to prove that he’s not just a pair of glasses, a wand and a rather fetching scar. His post-Potter jobs have ranged from a critically acclaimed turn in The Woman in Black, playing Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings, a guy cursed with devil horns in Horns and, uh, a fart-propelled corpse in Swiss Army Man. And up next? Guns Akimbo.
Described as a thriller where Radcliffe’s character must rely “on his newly-acquired gladiator skills to save his ex-girlfriend from kidnappers,” we now have our first look at the film thanks to the photos in the gallery down below. They appear to be set pics and don’t reveal too much, but do give us a glimpse at the actor as he appears to be surrendering to the police for reasons unknown. He also looks just a bit crazy.
For more, here’s the official plot summary:
“Miles is a normal guy with a crummy job, pining for his ex girlfriend Nova. His lame existence is turned insane when he enrolls in a dark website that forces strangers to compete in gladiator-style battles in their own city, then live-stream worldwide to a rabid fan base. A secret gang known as the Schism, who handicaps the weaker contestant to further stack the odds against them, chooses contestants. Miles is able to avoid an unstoppable killing machine first, but when Nova is kidnapped he must overcome is fears to save her.”
While we’ll wait until we see a trailer before making up our minds about Guns Akimbo, we do trust Radcliffe’s judgement, as he seems to be making all the right moves at the moment. After the staggering success of the Harry Potter franchise, it’d have been awfully easy for him to rest on his laurels, coasting by on the fame and fortune that those films earned him.
In fact, we’ve seen a lot of young stars do exactly that, but it seems like Radcliffe’s determined to turn himself into a legitimate leading man, and he seems to be well on his way to doing so. If he hasn’t already, that is.