Daniel Radcliffe is best known to audiences as the geeky young wizard of the Harry Potter films, but at age 17, he’s taking an unusual career detour in the West End revival of Peter Schaffer’s Equus, which previews tonight at the Gielgud Theatre and opens on February 27. In the play, Radcliffe is said to act out full-frontal sex and spend ten minutes onstage in the buff. Studio executives at Warner Brothers are rather pissed that this sexed-up role will nullify the multi-million-dollar investment in the upcoming Harry Potter theatre release:

Warner Bros have been building up their publicity machine for Harry’s first – chaste – screen kiss when the next Potter film (Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix) comes out in the summer.

Now our star is out there doing full-frontal sex. We’ve been blown completely out of the water by this.

As expected, the buzz is that Radcliffe may be replaced in future Harry Potter films. Radcliffe probably should have waited until age 18 to disrobe onstage . . . not that his rear view is anything to complain about.

Images via Celebitchy (who has many more) and the Daily Mail.