WSJ: Tom Felton Talks Jason Isaacs, Draco and Epilogue of Deathly Hallows, More

Dec 11, 2009

Posted by: SueTLC

DH Film

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal we have an another good interview with Tom Felton to update you on tonight, where the Draco Malfoy actor discusses working on Deathly Hallows, his character in the Epilogue, making some of the features found on the newly released Half-Blood Prince DVD and more. Of interest are new comments from Tom who says they have just filmed “some of the very last scenes from the very last film,” and “it’s very moving, because this is what we’ve been working toward forthe 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.”

Tom also goes on to speak about working with acclaimed actors on the film series, notably Jason Isaacs, Ralph Fiennes and Jim Broadbent:

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.

In J.K. Rowling’s final scene, we seen Draco and Harry as
adults, almost nodding to each other at the train station. What do you
think happened to Draco in the meantime? “
It’s all beautifully left to interpretation, isn’t it? I really hadn’t given it too much thought, but one thing I got from that final scene is that there is that recognition moment between Harry and Draco as they put their kids on the train, and it’s a very real moment, and
very touching. I can only hope the filmmakers actually use us on the day they shoot that [scene, and not older actors]. I like to think that Draco has slightly separated himself from his family and his kid isn’t as annoying as he was as a kid.”

Speaking of “Half-Blood Prince’ you’re featured quite a bit in the extras for the newly released DVD and Blu-rays. 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 set 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.”

Thanks much Michelle! On a related note, MTV has yet another interview online with Tom, where he speaks this time about the different directors over the past years on the Harry Potter film series, saying by far current director David Yates is his personal favorite: “I get on with him like a house on fire. I think he’s a genius at what he does…”Chris Columbus was a fantastically fun guy to work with, especially with kids because we didn’t know what we were doing and he was a brilliant person to try to get us into it and for it to remain fun,which is essential,” Felton said.He added, “Alfonso obviously had a very artistic view of it and a lot of fun with him.”





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.