Radcliffe, who begins shooting the film this fall, will be on screen in almost every scene of the film, and it will be the first true test of his ability to carry a movie in which he doesn’t wave a wand. "People really have only ever seen my face with glasses on it ... that’s going to change in this movie,” said Radcliffe, who’s also attached to a new version of "All Quiet on the Western Front” as well as "The Journey Is the Destination,” the story of slain photojournalist Dan Eldon.

It might be hard for some moviegoers to see Radcliffe as another character, with or without the spectacles. The six "Harry Potter” films to date have pulled in $5.3 billion in worldwide box office, and there are still two installments left, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” in November and "Part 2” in July 2011. Radcliffe says his preparations for "The Woman in Black” have helped him avoid the full emotional impact of leaving his decade-long role and costars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

"We, all three of us — me, Rupert and Emma — we just wept,” Radcliffe said of June 12, the final day on the set of the last "Potter” film.

As Radcliffe walks away from the last decade’s shining success of  the British film community — the "Potter” movies were filmed in England by local crews and starred several generations of top British and Irish actors — he steps into a project that taps into an older and edgier part of U.K. cinema lore: "The Woman in Black” is being made under the banner of Hammer Film Productions, the most revered brand name in European horror, which is coming back from the grave after three decades without a feature-film release.

Radcliffe, a devoted student of the British stage and film, is eager to be part of the resurrection of Hammer. The studio dates back to 1937 but really began carving out its reputation with the release of "The Curse of Frankenstein” in 1957 and "Horror of Dracula” the following year.

"It does bring a smile to my face, and it’s an absolutely genuine smile,” Radcliffe said. "Hammer is the company that everybody wants to see succeed. It’s such a part of our film heritage. It was a massive producer of films in its heyday — they were really prolific, there were tons of them — and with actors like Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It’s wonderful to see that company, that name, in a resurgence.”

That resurgence begins with the October release of the wintry vampire tale "Let Me In,” directed by Matt ReevesCloverfield”) and starring Chloe Moretz ("Kick-Ass”) and Kodi Smit-McPhee ("The Road”). Hammer also recently wrapped production on "The Resident,” which stars two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Jeffrey Dean MorganWatchmen”) and was directed by Finnish filmmaker Antti Jokinen. In a bridge to the Hammer past, Lee also appears in the film. (" ("

Hammer Chief Executive Simon Oakes said some recent compass points for the reconstituted Hammer and its ethos might be "The Sixth Sense,” "The Others,” "The Orphanage” and "Let the Right One In,” the Swedish film that is being remade in English as "Let Me In.” He said that sets the horror-house apart from the shock-and-splatter "Saw” and "Hostel” crowd of today.

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