Here’s Your First Look At Skinhead Daniel Radcliffe In IMPERIUM

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, here's your first look at Imperium, in which Daniel Radcliffe plays "an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate a group of white supremacists building a dirty bomb." 

Yikes! Radcliffe looks mean here, doesn't he? Mean and...kind of badass? I mean, let's be clear: skinheads are the fucking worst (see also: Green Room). But I like glowering, stubble-domed Radcliffe! My man's looking all pushed to the edge and shit! Here's hoping he gives these white supremacists what-for. 

As for the film itself, EW's got an interesting quote from the director, Daniel Ragussis:

“It was inspired by real events and co-written by Michael German, a former agent who spent years inside the neo-Nazi movement. Daniel Radcliffe plays Nate Foster, the agent. His greatest strengths are his intelligence and his people skills; I learned from Michael that actual undercover agents are primarily master manipulators — able to win confidences, control situations, and out-think the enemy, even when mortal danger is staring them in the face. Toni Collette plays Angela Zamparo, his case agent and supervisor. She’s spent years focusing on white supremacist terrorism and is really the only person out there that’s focused on keeping Nate alive.”

I like that Ragussis is talking up the idea of undercover agents as master manipulators: a good undercover-agent movie should absolutely show off some of the on-the-fly strategizing and bullshitting that lets these guys get out alive (Donnie Brasco delivered a lot of that stuff, and it's one of the many reasons Donnie Brasco rules). Head on over to EW to hear more from Ragussis, including his thoughts on how sadly relevant his film is in 2016. 

Imperium opens in select theaters and OnDemand on August 19th. You guys interested?