Update: It looks as if Radcliffe will get his wish: The Hollywood Reporter has the news this morning that the erstwhile boy wizard and latterday ghost-watcher is now in "final negotiations" to get the hump as Igor. Yes, master.

Casting's not quite underway yet on Fox's Frankenstein, recently inherited by Paul McGuigan after Shawn Levy's departure. One actor, however, has already thrown his hat into the ring. Continuing to aim for roles that challenge his public image as a boy wizard, Daniel Radcliffe is apparently keen to join the film - not as Dr. Frankenstein, but as his hunchbacked assistant Igor.

The screenplay by Max Landis (Chronicle) isn't a straight adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic novel. Not many specifics are yet known, but it's being talked up as a "sci-fi take" on the material (although Frankenstein arguably has sci-fi aspects in any form) and Landis has made it known that he's been interested in the history of the Igor character.

You won't find Igor in Shelley: his origins are in the Universal films, where he's played by Bela Lugosi and spelt 'Ygor' (see above). He starts out in Son Of Frankenstein as a disabled blacksmith, and in Ghost Of Frankenstein has his brain transplanted into the monster. In the popular imagination, Igor is an amalgam of this character and Dwight Frye's hunchbacked henchmen in Frankenstein and The Bride Of Frankenstein (called Fritz in the former and Karl in the latter). Confused? So was Landis, which is presumably why he's tried to unravel the knots.

The Wrap has got hold of a description of Igor's new incarnation, and we're told he's "pathologically dirty and dressed in old clowns' clothing". Daniel Radcliffe is also currently attached to Horns, Alexandre Aja's adaptation of Joe Hill's novel, where the role of Ig will require him to shave his head, paint himself red and wear a dress. So if he ends up in Frankenstein too, he's got some interesting times ahead...

Frankenstein is on a fast track at Fox, who want to get it going before the bajillion competing projects leave it dead on the operating table. The current job is to finalise the script, after which casting and production will start in earnest.