Alexandre Aja

Director, Horns

How involved was Joe Hill in the adaptation of his novel?

He was really involved in the writing process. When it comes to adapting their work most writers get very nervous and he was worried, but the more we were making the movie, the more I realised that he was really intrigued and really into it. In Hall H at Comic- Con he said he felt the movie was even better than the book!

How did you come to cast Daniel Radcliffe as Ig?

He came after me after reading the book, right before The Woman In Black, so for me he was Daniel Radcliffe- slash- Harry Potter, and not necessarily Ig. I was surprised after talking to him that he was very similar to the main character in the book, very humble but also passionate and romantic, loyal and genuinely good. I realised that he was the character and I had to make the movie with him.

How did you come up with the look of Ig’s horns?

A lot of the representations of demons and fallen angels in early 19th century Europe had horns that were very organic, very animalistic and very real and natural. It feels to me that if humans had horns they would look no different from a lot of the animals that we have around us. I wanted them to be something that you believe, something that could never feel funny, and something that would fit with the very American look Ig’s wearing for the whole movie, with the leather jacket and the hoodie.