Watch: Daniel Radcliffe infiltrates neo-Nazi gang in ‘Imperium’ trailer
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is a long way from the boy wizard in his latest role… he’s going undercover with the Death Eaters.
A trailer debuted today for upcoming thriller Imperium, which stars Radcliffe as a young FBI agent who goes undercover to try and infiltrate far-right extremist groups, who are planning to make a dirty bomb,
The film shows a very different Radcliffe, adopting the skinhead look and getting Nazi tattoos to fit in with the group.
Set for release next month, the film is co-written by former FBI agent Michael German, who in real life spent more than a decade inside the neo-Nazi movement.
Though the film is fictionalised, German twice infiltrated extremist groups in real life – helping to prevent real terror attacks in the US. In 2004 he blew the whistle on allegations of FBI corruption and was forced to resign.
It is the latest departure from form for Radcliffe, who aside from Harry Potter won acclaim for his 2013 turn as beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings.
He said at the time that he had to portray that gay sex as “really f**king painful”.
He said: “I don’t think there’s any difference between how one falls in love. People express love differently, person to person, but it’s not gender or sexuality related. The only difference it made was obviously the actual sex scene, of course.
“I was talked through it by the director. He would be telling me what I would be feeling in each take. Basically, gay sex, especially for the first time, is really f**king painful. And [Krokidas] said that he had never seen that portrayed accurately on film before. He wanted it to look like an authentic loss of virginity.”
A strong supporter of LGBT rights, Radcliffe joked previously of Google’s autocomplete searches for him: “Daniel Radcliffe alcoholic. Daniel Radcliffe gay. Daniel Radcliffe girlfriend.”
“I’m pleased my girlfriend [now] comes up before alcoholic or gay.
“When I first did that, I got really annoyed for about half a minute, until I tried a few other people’s names and I found out [gay] comes up after almost everyone if they’re a man, and even some women – Florence Welch had it, and I was like, really?
“If people are speculating about your sexuality, then you’re doing OK.”
