Here are two new interviews of Tom Felton courtesy of The Wall Street Journal and The LA Times. In these interviews, Tom talked about filming the last two Potter films, acting with the finest actors of the UK, the HBP DVD, his Twitter account and many more. Here are some excerpts:
Speakeasy: What was the last scene you shot before coming to New York?
Tom Felton: I can’t reveal too much, or I’ll get myself in trouble, but I can say that we’ve been shooting some of the very last scenes from the very last film. Though we’re not going to be able to see it for another two years, which is crazy. But it’s very moving, because this is what we’ve been working toward for the last 10 years. Daniel [Radcliffe] is the figurehead of the series, so when we see him battered and abused and scarred [while in character] on set, you get all emotional.
In the final scenes, you get to work with more of the adult cast, which must be a nice change of pace — as well as a high-end acting workshop.
Definitely. I was always one of the 800 kids floating around, and now I get to work more with the big guns, if you will. They’re all incredibly nice people. Jason Isaacs, who plays my dad [Lucius Malfoy], is especially great. I wouldn’t go up to Ralph Fiennes [who plays Lord Voldemort] and ask, ‘How do you cry?’. But Jason I feel quite comfortable asking, ‘how do you do this, and how do you do that?’. And he would never take offense if one were to go, ‘Jason, just shut up.’ The most helpful thing he’s taught me is to speak up, because when you’re surrounded by these great actors, you tend to be the quiet voice when everyone is talking, and he taught me to stand up for myself.
On “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Jim Broadbent joined the cast and very oddly, he played my dad in my first movie when I was 7. Because I haven’t seen him in 10 years, I was convinced he wouldn’t remember me, but from the first moment he saw me, he called my by my character’s name from that first film. I’m a massive fan of his. He’s probably one of the most underrated actors, certainly in the U.K.
Speaking of “Half-Blood Prince,” you’re featured quite a bit in the extras for the newly released DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Were you guys consciously shooting extra bits during the film’s production expressly for the DVD?
In previous years, without knocking them too much, [the DVD producers] kind of just threw the extra bits they couldn’t use from the movie onto the extras. This time, because they knew the Blu-ray was going to be able to hold a lot more content, the cast and the publicity team literally sat down and talked about what we would be willing to do and what we’d be happy to do, so that’s where ideas like the “Quickfire Questioning” came from. It was really cool for us, because they gave us [actors] a camera crew each for a day, and we all went to a different departments that we had never gone to. Because obviously, the actors get a lot of praise, but there are all these amazing people building sets and making wands that, many of whom, we’d never even met. So it was fascinating to talk to them [for the DVD featurettes] and explain what they do to the audience.
MD: Are you following the “Twilight” phenomenon? That’s another young group of actors suddenly exposed to worldwide media attention. Any advice for them?
TF: I confess, I’m not the biggest [fan] of “Twilight,” but I came along due to my girlfriend. She’s fanatical about the books; I didn’t hear from her for two weeks when she was reading them. But Rob and everyone else are fantastic. They don’t need any advice from us.
MD: Speaking of your girlfriend, Jade, I know you’re both quite young, but it’s Hollywood. Any plans to make a bigger commitment?
TF: [Laughs] That’s a serious question! I would confess, we’re well and truly head over heels, but no. I’m in New York now and looking around for unique Christmas gifts for her.
MD: You have some very funny and devout fans. One of them asked about tattoos and piercings — do you have or want any?
TF: Never had a piercing, never had a tattoo. I don’t think they look good on anyone other than Megan Fox. … I once wanted to get my eyebrow pierced; my brother got it done and in a drunken night ripped it out. He’s got a hole there now.
MD: Up next for you is a cameo in Russell Brand‘s “Get Him to the Greek.” How did that come about?
TF: Jonah Hill came down to [the "Deathly Hallows"] set three or for months ago — and I’m a massive Jonah Hill fan; I milked every minute. The next day, someone got in contact and asked if I wanted to come down to London for the last bits and pieces of their shoot. I thought someone was winding me up. I was incredibly nervous, not being on another film set for the past 10 years.
To read the complete interviews, click on the links above.
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