SAN DIEGO -- Since leaving the series that made him a household name, Daniel Radcliffe has chosen roles deliberately and with an eye for variety. For his next role, however, he's set to return to the fantasy genre. But "Horns" is no "Harry Potter."

The film is an adaptation of a book by Joe Hill (a best-selling author whose dad you may have heard of, Stephen King) and Radcliffe will play the peculiarly named main character Ig Perrish. In "Horns," Ig is the primary suspect in the investigation of his girlfriend's brutal rape and murder. The fantasy aspect comes into play when Ig wakes up from a night of drinking only to find a set of horns growing out of his head.

The horns on Ig's head come with a special ability, though. They make people confess to their sins and give in to selfish impulses, something he uses to his advantage in looking for his girlfriend.

Alexandre Aja ("The Hills Have Eyes") will be at the helm, he has said the book had an immediate effect on him. "After reading Joe Hill's cult book, I couldn't resist temptation to dive into the devilish underworld and reinvent a universal myth," Aja said in a press statement. " 'Horns' is a wild ride of sin and crime, with a love story in its heart."

Though "Horns" generally shares a genre with "Harry Potter," this venture into fantasy for Radcliffe will decidedly be of the darker variety. Filming for "Horns" is scheduled to begin this fall. Additional casting is currently under way. And up next for Radcliffe, there's "Kill Your Darlings," a murder mystery of a different sort, following the real-life pioneers of the Beat generation.

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