‘What If’ Stars Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan

Harry Potter graduate Daniel Radcliffe tries his hand at romantic comedy with the upcoming What If which the British actor co-stars with Zoe Kazan, the star and screenwriter of the 2012 indie Ruby Sparks and granddaughter of legendary filmmaker Elia Kazan.  Originally the film went under the moniker The F-Word, now Variety reports the title change. The film had it’s world premiere at last years’ Toronto Film Festival where it was warmly received, becoming one of the buzzier titles of the fest, and was picked up by budding distributor CBS Films.  Perhaps they flinched at the racy title.The film, directed by Michael Dowse (It’s All Gone Pete Tong) and written by Elan Mastai (The Samaritan) based on the play by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi, focuses on a budding attraction between a medical school drop-out (Radcliffe) and an animator (Kazan.)  The two hit it off, but there’s a problem– she’s already has a boyfriend (played by Rafe Spall, Life of Pi.)  Adam Driver (Frances Ha) co-stars.  What If marks another chance for Radcliffe to try and shine post-Harry Potter.  In the past few years, the actor has leaped from horror films (The Woman in Black— also distributed by CBS Films) to the arthouse (last fall, he played Beat writer Allen Ginsberg in the acclaimed Kill Your Darlings) to Broadway (seen in productions of the play Equus and the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.)

What If is scheduled to open in limited engagements in New York and Los Angeles on August 1st, with expansion set for the weeks after.  Also scheduled to open that weekend are Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the James Brown biopic Get On Up.