“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe has made another play at establishing a legitimate adult career by signing on to star as legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg in “Kill Your Darlings”, a role to which Jesse Eisenberg had been previously attached. The project was initially announced in 2009 with Eisenberg set to star opposite Chris Evans as poet/novelist Jack Kerouac and Ben Whishaw as instrumental Beat Generation figure Lucien Carr.
“Darlings”, which will focus on the relationships between Ginsberg, Kerouac and Carr, was written and will be directed by John Krokidas in his first feature-length outing behind the camera. It is unclear whether Evans and Whishaw are still attached to the project.
Radcliffe, who will next be seen in the period horror adaptation “The Woman in Black”, is currently starring in “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” on Broadway, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical earlier this year. He will begin filming “Darlings” once he wraps his run in the musical at the end of December, according to exclusive-getter Twitch.
Allen Ginsberg was a leading figure of the Beat Generation in 1940s and ’50s New York City, a movement that was highly critical of American materialism, censorship and conformity. His friendship with fellow writer Kerouac began when the men were introduced by Ginsberg’s Columbia dormmate Carr, who was later sentenced to first-degree manslaughter in the killing of David Kammerer, a friend of fellow Beat Generation figure William S. Burroughs who had become infatuated with him.
Ginsberg was also portrayed by James Franco in last year’s “Howl”, titled after the poet’s most famous work.
Do you think Radcliffe will be up to the challenge of portraying such a complex figure? Sound off in the comments!