Daniel Radcliffe’s 10 Weirdest Post-Harry Potter Roles

Immediately after graduating from Hogwarts, Daniel Radcliffe found himself terrorised by a vengeful spirit in the creaky corridors of Eel Marsh House. The Woman In Black was a statement intent for how he'd move on post-Potter, shifting into more grown-up fare as a widowed father in James Watkins and Jane Goldman's adaptation of Susan Hill's classic ghost story – a jump-scare-laden spookfest that, despite its mild 12A rating, scared audiences shitless. No specs, no scar, no spells – just lingering dread, spectral children, and things going bump in the night.

Yes, there was a Playmobil movie. No, it wasn't very good. But it did feature Daniel Radcliffe doing a wacky James Bond impression as plastic secret agent himbo Rex Dasher – a chance to delve into silly comedy, spouting nonsense lines like: "I'm 100% almost sure!" OK, so the film isn't that weird, but everything else around it is – from Rex Dasher's own theme tune ("The man with the plan‚ incognito / He could disguise a burrito"), to his 'signature car', the Porsche Mission E. "That's precisely what we wanted to convey in PLAYMOBIL: The Movie, where we could naturally position it as the world's first all-electric super secret agent vehicle," says Porsche's head of Branded Entertainment, Sebastian Hornung, for a film we're 100% almost sure is just an advert comprised of other adverts.

It would normally take a seasoned comedic actor to be able to harness Tina Fey's staggeringly high joke count (30 Rock was reported to average at 7.4 per minute). But in the special interactive choose-your-own-adventure episode of her Netflix comedy series, Radcliffe proved a natural at delivering her rapid-fire gags. As Prince Frederick, Kimmy's (Ellie Kemper) betrothed, he not only masters performing to a multiple-choice format, but manages to turn in silly one-liners ("I'm not a good boy. I am the opposite, I am a bad girl!") with all the sincerity and speed of the show's core cast.

After he left Hogwarts, Harry Potter went on to become an Auror. After he left Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe went on to play an FBI agent. But Imperium isn't just any cop drama – it's the tale of undercover agent Nate infiltrating a neo-Nazi skinhead gang. Cue Radcliffe having to shave his head, march with Swastikas, and don 'white power' slogans as Foster desperately tries to take down a white supremacist terrorist plot without blowing his cover. The cognitive dissonance of seeing Daniel Radcliffe in Nazi garb grabbed headlines – but the film, and his performance, marked him as a skilled thriller actor, willing to plough into daring and timely territory.

Stop reading. Open YouTube in a new tab. Type in 'Daniel Radcliffe she'll be coming round the mountain'. Have fun. Yes, that is DanRad, in glittery Bowie/Elton eye makeup, a flowing cape, and assless chaps, twerking and vogueing while singing a glam-funk take on the American folk tune. Really, there's no other context necessary. But if you did want some, it's a scene from Simon Rich's theological, The Good Place-esque anthology sitcom – the third season of which heads back in time to the Oregon Trail, where Radcliffe's preacher Zeke drinks a Snake Oil potion and does… well, you just saw. Get him in a lip sync battle with Tom Holland, stat!

As soon as the paparazzi photos hit, people were obsessed. Why, oh why, was Daniel Radcliffe walking through the middle of Central Park in NYC, smoking a cigarette, with a vast array of dogs tied to his waist? It almost needed no explanation, just a perfect image devoid of context. It eventually came, though, in Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer's rom-com Trainwreck, revealed to be a scene from movie-in-the-movie 'The Dogwalker' – a black-and-white indie art flick parody, with Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei trading sexually-charged dialogue about petting pooches, and handling 'bitches'. Cast Radcliffe in more comedies, please.

You probably know the image already: Daniel Radcliffe in a blue dressing gown, his pants, and bear-foot slippers, with a pistol bolted to each hand, a look of total consternation on his face. The much-memed paparazzi shot was from the set of Guns Akimbo, a gonzo, Crank-esque action-comedy in which Radcliffe's computer programmer Miles is forced into a live-streamed real-life deathmatch by shady internet cabal SKIZM. Radcliffe isn't the sort of actor you'd expect to fire guns up in the air and go 'argh!' Except, here you get to see him (kind of) in that mode, playing a character who's embroiled in all kinds of ultraviolence while entirely out of his depth.

OK, so this much-anticipated comedy music biopic isn't out for a year yet. But when looking at Daniel Radcliffe's weirdest roles, it's impossible to ignore the fact that he'll be playing Weird Al Yankovic in a movie literally titled Weird. It is, appropriately, a weird but great bit of casting – even if, for now, we only have a teaser image of Radcliffe in a curly wig, a big moustache and Weird Al's trademark accordion to go on. It makes sense – if you're making a Weird Al biopic, you really should pick an actor who's both white and nerdy.

Horns' Ignatius 'Ig' Perrish might be able to control snakes, but that's basically where the Harry Potter similarities end. In Alexandre Aja's adaptation of Joe Hill's novel, Radcliffe plays a man suspected of raping and murdering his girlfriend – and who soon discovers devil horns protruding from his forehead, coupled with the ability to hear people's deepest, darkest secrets. Come the conclusion, Ig has turned full spiral-horned demon complete with molten lava body, and – SPOILER ALERT – takes out the real villain by impaling him in the chest and mind-controlling a snake down his throat. In retrospect, Voldemort had it easy.

If Radcliffe ever tops Swiss Army Man in the 'what-the-hell-am-I-watching?' stakes, we'll be impressed. The feature debut of filmmaking duo Daniels (aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) is the ultimate WTF movie – starring Radcliffe as a pale, slack-jawed, decomposing corpse who becomes the best friend of suicidal weirdo Hank (Paul Dano). Throughout the film, Manny's body becomes a boat, his boner becomes a rudder handle, his arms become axes, and his flatulence becomes a flamethrower, guiding Hank back to safety. It's a gloriously unhinged movie, with a totally committed performance from Radcliffe (and his many Manny body-double models). It's deeply, deeply weird – but totally wonderful too.