Tom Felton wants to make it clear that he embraces his inner disintegration. That’s almost the first thing he says when he sits across from me at the Canary Wharf restaurant, holding a small block of Cathedral City Cheddar in his hand.
We meet for a short 45-minute lunch, as the 34-year-old actor – best known for his role as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise – is in the middle of intense rehearsals for his West End debut at 2:22: A Ghost Story . It is a compelling comedy that begins its third consecutive season in London and has received critical acclaim. After two weeks of rehearsals, in just seven days they will move from the rehearsal hall to the stage of the Criterion Theater. Felton feels confident, even if he’s a little overwhelmed this afternoon.
“There are many words to learn,” Felton said, speaking quickly. “It’s a 140-page script, and everything goes so smoothly that a little hiccup rejects everything.” He wears a blue baseball cap, white pants rolled up to the calves, and a green and yellow sweater: dressed to be comfortable. “There are only four people on stage for an hour and a half,” he says with a slight sense of panic, “so you can’t drop the ball even for a moment.” you are encouraged to approach each double a little differently. “I’m struggling with my brain right now,” he says, “because here we need everything to be exactly the same over and over again, eight shows a week for 17 weeks… Colleague, that doesn’t help my anxiety.”
“It’s a 140-page script and everything goes so smoothly”: Tom Felton rehearses for 2:22 A Ghost Story. Photo: Helen Murray
James Buckley, known as Inbetweeners, was one of the last stars of the show. “He’s a friend,” Felton said, “and he told me it was going to be a challenge, unlike everyone else’s: physically, mentally, that I had to embrace the collapse that was coming, which I did. This is new to me, but fortunately the other actors and directors know what’s going on. And I’m excited, even if I have a lot of nerves. “
That’s why he arrived early this morning for rehearsals to spin the lines himself, stopping by Tesco for snacks to keep working. He has not been involved in theater since childhood, but he remembers that time fondly. Unconsciously, he says, he also found himself eating as a child. That explains, I think, the little piece of cheese now perched on the table. He orders a plate of homemade chicken fingers when a waiter shows up.
Almost 30 years have passed since Felton’s last theatrical performance. At the age of six, he was trampling on children’s production boards at the Epsom Playhouse, not far from his childhood home. “It was usually tree number three,” says Felton, “this thing.” He is the youngest of four brothers, and the eldest was a real theatrical child. Felton was really in a drama club just to join. Does he remember being a snowman, or was he a Bugsy Malone extra? “I really wasn’t noticed for my acting skills very early,” he says. “I was much more interested in being a fisherman.”
His father was a civil engineer, traveling frequently, so his mother looked after the children. And she works in many jobs to ensure that boys can pursue their teenage passions, albeit short-lived. “A few months before I played,” says Felton, “I desperately wanted to be a violinist. He worked nights, arranging shelves, doing all sorts of things during the day to make sure we were always told yes. Four boys were a handful – the police were involved in the teenage riot of at least one brother. When Felton was six, he got his first acting job. Would he need a companion? Don’t worry: Mom took it a step.
“This first job was for Commercial Union advertising,” says Felton, “shot for two weeks across America. Mom just changed everything in her life to make sure I could do it. “Soon after, The Borrowers, filmed for four months at Shepperton Studios, appeared. His next film was Anna and the King, a remake of The King and I starring Jodie Foster, four months in Malaysia, his mother always with him, a year after his release, there were auditions for Harry Potter, unlike most of those who attended the open invitation – including his future young colleagues – auditions and studios were nothing new to this relatively experienced 12-year-old.
“I was also one of the only ones who had no idea what Harry Potter was at the time,” says Felton. “Everyone could try it, so many excited kids went together who loved books.” For Felton, it was just another job. They tested him for Harry Potter and his best friend Ron Weasley, first dyeing his hair black and then ginger. Felton was a little confused. In the end, he was cast as Draco Malfoy: for those unfamiliar with the show, she’s a bad kid. I think I got the role because I was carefree, “says Felton,” and I had no idea what anyone was doing. Wizards in cupboards under the stairs? And with three older brothers, you quickly learn to be confident. I think Chris Columbus, the director, recognized this slight disinterest and arrogance in me that he thought might work for Malfoy.
This Magic Touch: Tom Felton and Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 2002. Photo: Album / Alami
Far from becoming a derailed overnight child star, Felton found that early films hardly bothered him. “My schedules were fixed in a way that I could stay in school for weeks and weeks off,” Felton said. “Rupert [Grint]Emma [Watson] and Daniel [Radcliffe], meanwhile, have been there without interruption for 10 years. I continued normally. From time to time I received jokes or comments from my friends, but honestly no one was worried. “His main disappointment comes from missing Halloween parties and school trips when he had to be on set.” Some people are really struggling with the idea. that I’m not that special, popular kid, “says Felton,” but I was walking around with dyed hair and playing an evil wizard. It wasn’t cool. It didn’t do me any favors with the girls. “
Felton found that adjusting to the attributes of success was also fairly easy, aided by the fact that he didn’t come overnight. “It happened a little slower than you can imagine,” Felton explains, “and I wasn’t very smart: I bought cars for my brothers, a house for my mother, skateboards and video games for me.” it was envisaged that Felton would participate in all eight blockbusters with their undoubtedly increasingly lucrative contracts. “Initially, we were going to do two,” he says. “If the children still looked young enough after the second, maybe we would make a third. Then fourth. So it went on. We have never registered for 12 years. At one point, I just assumed they would replace us with worthy actors, but they never did.
Throughout the filming period, Felton never allowed himself to consider the idea that he could actually make a career as an adult in the industry. He was a child actor, of course, but standing on the set of Potter, watching as Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon, it was hard not to feel a little out of place. “I didn’t have to do a 10-page dialogue to listen,” Felton said. “All I did was look like a snotty kid who looked right and I got the part.” It was Jason Isaacs, who played Felton’s villainous screen father, who offered Felton extraordinary kindness and sage guidance.
“He was incredibly supportive and graceful,” Felton recalled, smiling. “It was a very important relationship for me. He never spoke to me as a child and showed me the way. Sometimes Felton still calls Isaac his father.
“Jason was a driving force in eliminating my cheating syndrome,” Felton continues. “I thought all I did was stand around and look miserable for a long time.” Fulfilling his role as a child meant that Felton believed he had just been lucky. “He told me to get away with it,” says Felton, “that I was good, but I could have been much better. Let me go and work on it. “While filming the sixth film in the franchise, Felton was 20. Then he finally listened to Isaac’s advice.” He told me to get in shape, learn to make an American accent, and find A good American agent. ”Felton did as instructed, and almost as soon as he hung up his Hogwarts clothes for the last time, Felton was on the set of The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
He soon moved to Los Angeles. Work kept coming, slowly but steadily: lots of independent movies and a few TV shows, nothing quite on the scale of Planet of the Apes or Potter. “I took things slower,” he says, “though not necessarily by choice. If “Planet of the Two Monkeys” had appeared, I would have taken it right away, but I was and I’m happy. “Each Potter movie takes six months or more; indie movies often take six weeks from start to finish. “So I enjoyed life in California,” he says, “surfing, writing music, hanging out with my dog. This kind of schedule allows me to have more balance in my life. “
Was it hard, I ask, not to compare his with the trajectory of the other Harry Potter children? “I’ve never really had that,” he says, “I’ve always been their biggest cheerleader. I remember seeing Daniel on Broadway for the first time, there was a moment like Draco: heck, he’s so good. I didn’t compare myself, but that threw me into gear. “
“I Love Talking About Harry Potter”: Tom Felton, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint attend the premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” in New York, 2011. Photo: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images
It’s been more than 10 years since the last Harry Potter movie came out, but their popularity shows no signs of losing weight. For everyone involved in the franchise, life on the set – and the experience of being part of its huge, incomparable success …
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