Daniel Radcliffe to Play Legendary Poet Allen Ginsberg in 'Kill Your Darlings'

I have a feeling that in just a few years, Daniel Radcliffe won't be entirely pinned down as the Harry Potter kid anymore. At least, he's making efforts to expand his boundariessome pretty fantastic efforts, as a matter of fact. Radcliffe's first post-Deathly Hallows Part 2 film roleis the leade in the eerie-looking horror film The Woman in Black, for which fans of the genre should start getting very, very excited (the first, second and third trailers all give some very frightening promise). But Radcliffe is also claiming territory in a more artistic venue: he signed on to portray the immortal beat poet Allen Ginsberg in John Krokidas' drama-thriller Kill Your Darlings.

The story of Krokidas' film will revolve around the highly publicized friendshipsbetween writers Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Lucien Carr, whose infamous murder of his stalker David Kammerer will be a major elementof the film. Chris Evans and Ben Whishaw will play Kerouac andCarr, respectively.

Over half a century after the peak of its prominence, the Beat Generation remains one of the most fascinating m! ovements in modern and post-modern art. This is especially evident because just last year, James Franco headlined the Ginsberg biopic Howl, named after his mostfamous work.Ginsberg's beat poem Howl is one of the most unforgettable products of the movement, along with Kerouac's novelOn the Road and William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch. Krokidas' dramais the second attempt at a film adaptation ofthe poet's life(starring a major Hollywood actor, no less), indicating an everpresent fascination with the man, his work and his era.

Ginsberg is the sort of figure who has become, through the notoriety of his work, larger than life. But the horizon-expanding Radcliffe is an actor I would trust with Ginsberg's depiction. Let's just hope the movie doesn't open, "I've seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by the Babbling Curse."

Source: Vulture