Last week I interviewed Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) ahead of the first performance of Verdict at Cardiff’s New Theatre.

We chatted about his stage debut; how that has stretched him as an actor, what new skills he has learnt, how he came to decide upon the project, what attracted him to the character of Lester Cole, how it feels to be touring with a theatre group and how the role contrasts with those which he has played before.

We also talked about those infamous Deathly Hallows reshoots, which he never actually participated in. He told me that he’s not sure why they didn’t happen for him at least, but feels it may be down to the weather (the UK was hit by a particularly heavy snowfall in late November, early December in 2010). Matt confirmed that he is now completely wrapped for Harry Potter. He also reported having spoken to David Yates recently, who he said is ‘very happy’ with how the final instalment is coming along. Matt revealed that he is most looking forward to seeing a new scene added to the film in which he fights the snatcher, Scabior, on a bridge at Hogwarts.

Matt finishes his run in Verdict just before he starts publicity for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, following which, he will take a holiday in August with friends. He has no plans beyond that at the moment.

SnitchSeeker: So, you did Harry Potter, then you did The Sweet Shop. How come you wanted to do a play?
Matthew Lewis: Well I went for a meeting with [theatre producer] Bill Kenwright for something different. It was the differences that I started to realize between film and TV, I’d been doing for so long. In that play that I read for that I realized that I had something I’d really missed out while I was growing up in acting, and it was something that I thought was a good foundation for all kinds of acting. So I thought, well why not go back to doing that and then learn. Then, hopefully, that will help you later on when you want to go back to film and TV. So Bill Kenwright came up to me and said, "We’ve got this other thing, if you want to play. It’s not a huge role, but it’ll be a tour and you can learn."

So I agreed to do it. Joe Harmston, the director, was absolutely fantastic. He worked really hard with me ’cause it’s so different from TV and film when you’ve got a camera that can get all your close ups and all that kind of thing. You can act very internally and very quietly, whereas with this you’ve got to be out there all times and people in the back row need to know exactly what you’re feeling and what you’re saying. It just feels like overacting, to be honest with you, to start with. It’s very, very difficult. I struggle with it. There are all kinds of little things that you’ll keep picking up, saying, “Try this. Try that.” First we’d had rehearsal and I was like, "Gah, this is so different from what I’m used to. I don’t know if I can do this."



SnitchSeeker: Did you consider not doing it?
Matthew: No, I was always doing it, but it was difficult. It’s not like a huge, difficult role or anything like that. It was just the differences. But working with Joe, it so very quickly came together. It’s good. It’s fun. It’s so different. I’m so looking forward now to doing it for so long – I will have done it for so long. To taking what I’ve learned, bringing out that foundation, that base, and then putting TV and film on top of it. It’s going to be quite exciting, I think.

SnitchSeeker: So it’s almost like back to basics?
Matthew: Exactly that. It’s a learning curve for me to go from all these million of dollars worth of sets to work on and costumes. It’s back to basics. It’s nice. It’s fun. It’s good.

SnitchSeeker: I suppose to take on a smaller role, in a way, there’s less pressure because you’ve got quite a big cast on the stage. So it’s not like everybody’s looking at you, as opposed to Dan with Equus.
Matthew: Yeah, exactly, and it helps. I can watch these other guys and see how they’re working and learn from them, as well. Rob Duncan does an amazing job. Dawn Steele. It’s great to be able to watch those guys working. Like you said, the pressure’s off. It’s still a play. You want to give them the best performance every night you possibly can. But in terms of the pressure, the play is not on my shoulders, if you like. So I can learn and enjoy myself at the same time. We’ll see how it goes when I finish and do something different.

SnitchSeeker: What attracted you to the character?
Matthew: Well, to be honest it was the whole play. When I first read it they said, “Well, do you want to do it?” And I said, “Well I’m interested in doing some theatre.” But it was the whole play. I spoke to Joe again about Agatha Christie and he knows a lot about it. He’s worked with this Agatha Christie theatre company for some time now. So he knows a lot about her and he explained all the backstory to it and how it was very reflective of her own life. It’s just so unusual. It’s so different from its original murder mystery whodunit Agatha Christie. It’s much more character-related. Themes of love and life. It’s really interesting and moral choices. I was fascinated by ethics and I did theology at school. It’s moral choices that people are given and how liberal can we be before it becomes dangerous, and vice versa. It’s just so unusual. Actually I think it was her second favorite play she ever wrote, so it was really that that attracted me to it, and the character less.

It’s set in a period in 1958 when people didn’t go to university based on their academic ability, they went on whether they had enough money or whether their families had enough money or were from an aristocratic background. It’s at that time when that kind of class system is starting to become less strict. So Lester is this working class person whose probably father works in a mill or something up in Yorkshire and he’s actually at this university by his own merit. He wants to learn, which is in contrast to Helen, who is played by Ali Bastian, who’s there not because she wants to work, but because her father is a very rich man. So it’s just interesting. It’s fun. I’m not from a working class background, but I am from Leeds and that helps me do the accent pretty well. This role is different from Neville, obviously.



SnitchSeeker: And obviously, even though it’s Agatha Christie, it sounds like it’s very relevant these days with tuition fees. Like you said, back then people went based on their money and you could argue that that’s going to go back to the way it used to be now.
Matthew: Well yeah, I suppose it is. This Helen comes in. She offers all this money and Karl says, "Well no. You can offer however much money you want. Education’s not about money. It’s about getting the right people with the potential." That’s an interesting scene when Karl, the main character, has the argument with her father because her father’s offering money and he turned it down. He’d rather teach poor students that have a thirst for knowledge. Yeah, that’s one of the reasons that it’s a contrast, as well.

SnitchSeeker: So the production’s been touring, how’s that been?
Matthew: It was hard work, to begin with. It still is a lot. We’ve got so lucky to have such a great company. The cast and crew are amazing. I’ve gotten on with everyone so well. We’ve really bonded. We’re staying in houses together. It’s phenomenal. I feel a bit like I’m on holiday sometimes. It’s kind of nice, especially when we were in Plymouth, on the seaside and that. It’s a shame we don’t have the weather for it yet.

SnitchSeeker: You posted a picture of you on a ferry on Twitter...
Matthew: We did. We went to Cornwall on ferry, yeah. It’s five minutes across the bay to go to Cornwall. We went walking through all these grounds. It was rubbish weather.



SnitchSeeker: It always is.
Matthew: But it was fun, just a fun little day trip out with everybody. Being away from home is, for me, really difficult. I get really homesick.

SnitchSeeker: I suppose it’s different to when you’re on a film set and it’s back and forth, back and forth.
Matthew: Yeah, well even when we were consistently filming I would always insist on going back Friday night and coming back Sunday. If you do a six- to ten-week film, that’s not a bad book. When it’s six months, it’s hard work. So I went home this weekend. I guess I haven’t been home for over a month. It was great. It was really, really good to say hello and just see all my friends and that. It was wicked. And I’m going to go home again next weekend but then normally it’ll be months apart. So it’s hard work.

SnitchSeeker: Possibly a taste of things to come then, if you do more acting.
Matthew: Well yeah, exactly. Having long periods away from home. So it’s just getting used to it. Like I said, I’m just so lucky we’ve got the great company. I mean, if it was full of horrible people I think I would have struggled so much.

SnitchSeeker: So what’s been the biggest challenge with the character?
Matthew: I guess what I explained earlier – the differences between film and TV. The actual character itself I can relate to it in a lot of ways. When I was at school, when I was doing ethics at school, it was something I really wanted to learn. I was always reading books and trying to gain more from it, which is just what the character, Lester, is trying to do. So, I get all that. So he’d get engaged in these in depth conversations and he can be quite bold sometimes. He doesn’t mean to be. It’s just his thirst for knowledge. He asks very direct and bold questions. It’s not out of rudeness, just maybe a clumsy kind of way in his northern manner.

He just really has this thirst for knowledge, so he doesn’t hesitate in asking these questions. I could relate to that a little bit, which made it easier for me. But it was the projection. Because as soon as you start shouting things. If you’ve got a line that’s supposed to be quite soft, you have to be able to project whilst at the same time keep it small. It was so difficult, to begin with. You know, a camera you can whisper, you’ve got microphone picking you up, you’ve got close up, it’s fine, but on this you have to always be out. It was hard work, to begin, with and I really struggled with it. But I think it’s starting to get there now. The last few weeks I’ve been happy with it.



SnitchSeeker: I suppose it’s better with repeated performance?
Matthew: Yeah, and also the more you repeat it, the more you feel more free with it. You can try different things. It’s fun. I’m not going to say that people are going to come in and one night and they’re going to get one thing and then they’ll get something rubbish. I try to make sure it’s all going all right. I do the best I can every night. But sometimes when you say something it comes out a little differently and you think, "Actually, I never thought of saying it that way before." But it actually makes sense as you get to know the character better. So it’s fun doing that little experiment every now and then.

SnitchSeeker: You said in November, while at the kids’ BAFTAs that you were going back for reshoots [on Potter].
Matthew: Yeah, I did.

SnitchSeeker: You did in the end?
Matthew: No. I was going back and faxed them a picture of myself. I sent it to them so they could know whether they needed wigs or whatever. After I sent the picture they thought, "No." (laughs) My hair was right short and they just thought obviously they’d had enough. They said don’t worry about it. I didn’t end up going. I think it was because it was a time when we had really bad weather, as well – really bad snow. And I don’t think they had any way of getting me down there because the trains were all canceled and they couldn’t get any cars up. So I think they just thought, "Well, we’ll just have to leave it." So I don’t know whether they cut whatever scene it was for.

SnitchSeeker: That’s interesting because clearly they felt the need to redo it.
Matthew: Yeah, but I don’t know what scene it was so I can’t even guess what they’ve done with it.

SnitchSeeker: Do you know if they managed to do the other reshoots?
Matthew: Yes, I believe they did some of the stuff with Dan, Rupert and Emma. I think they got all that out of the way before the weather came in.

SnitchSeeker: Do you know why they did that?
Matthew: I’ve no idea, no. Like I said, I don’t even know what scene I was supposed to doing, nevermind why.

SnitchSeeker: There’s lots of speculation when they did [the epilogue scene] originally on location there was a lot of paparazzi and maybe that was the problem.
Matthew: That could be it. They redid it in the studio I think, didn’t they?

SnitchSeeker: Yeah. Loads of pictures got out of all of them in their prosthetics and their costumes, and we’re wondering whether they changed that completely. Everybody saw what it was like before it was even filmed.
Matthew: Exactly, I think that … could ruin it a bit, especially when it’s supposed to be the final scene of the film. Also they felt really rushed as well because they’ve got to try and keep people away, and paparazzi. They were really rushed and they didn’t get what they wanted. So they felt they could do it in the studio with no distractions. I spoke to David Yates recently. He’s very happy in the editing room, he says. He said he’s really enjoying it. So he must have everything he wants.

SnitchSeeker: So you’re completely done?
Matthew: Yeah.

SnitchSeeker: So what scenes are you looking forward to seeing in the second film, both involving Neville and not?
Matthew: Well, there’s actually a Neville one that I can’t really talk too much about.

SnitchSeeker: That’s not in the book?
Matthew: I don’t think so. I don’t think it is. I can’t remember. I read the book three times but I can’t remember if it’s in. I’m pretty sure it’s not. It’s a new one they put in. It involves a bridge, that’s all I can say. Involves a bridge and Nick Moran.

SnitchSeeker: He’s one of the snatchers.
Matthew: Yes. Scabior, is it?

SnitchSeeker: Yeah, the one who kind of looks like Jack Sparrow.
Matthew: Yeah, him. It’s a scene with him. It took us weeks and weeks of night shoots and stunts and all kinds of stuff. If it’s all in there – I hope it’s in there because it took us so bloody long to do it – and if it’s all kept in there the way we did it then it’s going to be amazing. That’s what I’m most looking forward to.

SnitchSeeker: So it’s part of the battle sequence?
Matthew: Yeah. It’s going to be very, very cool, I hope. If it’s in there. The scene I’m most looking forward to without Neville … I don’t know, really. Oh yeah, actually, the Gringotts stuff because I’ve seen brief clips of it. I was on the Gringotts set just messing around because it’s a spectacular set they built for it. So I’m looking forward to seeing all that stuff. It should be good.

SnitchSeeker: After Verdict, what are you up to?
Matthew: Well I finish just before Harry Potter press tour kicks off, so I’ll be going around the world with Harry Potter. Glad to. Next year I’ll be looking, after I come back from Harry Potter tour, I’ll go on holiday, which is going to be wicked. Going on holiday with some mates from home. I can’t wait for that. And then as soon as I get back I’m ready to start looking for some more stuff. I mean if something comes up before then, great. But, yeah, that’ll be the time when I come back from holiday. I’ll have all this time. I’ll be looking at auditioning for anything I can read for, really – film, television, plays even maybe. I’m looking forward to taking off late August and really getting out there and almost starting again, if you like. It’s weird.



SnitchSeeker: So you haven’t got anything in particular. Nothing in mind you want.
Matthew: Not yet, no. I’ve been so focused on this play, really. We’re doing eight, nine shows a week. I don’t really have time. There are a couple of things that are coming up. Some stuff being shot in Leeds, some stuff being shot in the U.K. Hopefully, maybe I’ll audition for in the future. But nothing that I’ve got set up yet.

SnitchSeeker: And about The Sweet Shop, do you know when the release is?
Matthew: I don’t actually. The producer came to see the play in Windsor about a month ago. I think they’ve got some distribution, they’re hoping. Obviously, Seb Hurtado, the main character committed suicide last year, which … everyone prayed about. So they didn’t really know what to do with it. They didn’t know how to approach it or not. They had to speak to Seb’s family, as well, to see if they wanted it released. But I think they do. They’re going to keep in touch with me over the next few months. But hopefully they’re going to try and get it out at some point this year if they can. At the start of this year, maybe even towards Harry Potter release maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see. But if they let me know I’ll let you know.

Copyright 2011 SnitchSeeker.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be rewritten or redistributed without proper accreditation.

You can read my review of the play here.

The list of current and future dates and locations, all in 2011, are as follows:

• 21 - 26 February: Grand Theatre Wolverhampton
• 28 February - 5 March: Queen's Theatre Barnstaple
• 7 - 12 March: Palace Theatre Southend
• 14 - 19 March: Swan Theatre High Wycombe
• 21 - 26 March: Festival Theatre Malvern
• 28 March - 2 April: Churchill Theatre Bromley
• 4 - 9 April: Derby Theatre Derby
• 11 - 16 April: Arts Theatre Cambridge
• 18 - 23 April: Connaught Theatre Worthing
• 25 - 30 April: Richmond Theatre Richmond

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