Daniel Radcliffe recently spoke at length as to why he chose to take on the main role in Hammer Films' The Woman in Black, in which he plays a haunted solicitor.

“Working is how I will best get through a very weird time,” Radcliffe said. “I know it’s the most constructive thing I can do because otherwise I’d be moping around and being a bit like, ‘Oh, I miss everyone ... ’ So I'm quite pleased to go on to the next thing and the next challenge.”

“When I met first met James Watkins, our director, he told me about a quote of Stanley Kubrick’s, which was that all films about the afterlife or ghosts are innately consoling,” Radcliffe said. “I think there’s something about that that is very true to our story. While it is a horror story and it is very frightening, it’s also about loss and grief. I read it on a plane, and I don’t know what the people around me must have thought. I kept jumping and gasping...”

“It worries me, but the challenge is to look like a dad and a young father. If I get that right, that is something that immediately separates me from Harry,” Radcliffe said. “The script is so good and the characters are so clear, there is actually reduced pressure on me to be constantly ‘different,’ if you know what I mean; in other words, once people are into the story, they’ll be watching this really compelling movie and will stop — I hope — thinking about me.”

Dan also talked about his eagerness to work in a project for Hammer Films, revered for its history in horror-filmmaking.

“It does bring a smile to my face, and it’s an absolutely genuine smile,” Radcliffe said. “Hammer is the company that everybody wants to see succeed. It’s such a part of our film heritage. It was a massive producer of films in its heyday — they were really prolific, there were tons of them — and with actors like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It’s wonderful to see that company, that name, in a resurgence.”

The Woman in Black is set to begin production this fall; there is currently no release date scheduled.