Fan: Since you found out you’re actually Gryffindor, and confirmed by J.K. Rowling …
Tom Felton: Twice? Are you going to remind me every time?

Fan: … have you had a chance to put on a Gryffindor scarf or getting any sort of Gryffindor paraphernalia?
Tom Felton: Someone forced me to earlier. (see image below) Very begrudgingly, I did. I managed not to cry. My hands were kind of forced there. I don’t think the colors really complement me quite as well but, whatever, I’ll let it go.



Fan: I’m just curious what your upcoming projects are?
Tom Felton: I’ve been directing and presenting a documentary for the last couple of months. It’s an idea actually that I had about four years ago about the world of superfans. Four or five years ago, when I first came to my first couple of conventions I was a bit in awe and didn’t really know how to take it. I thought everyone was a little strange. I kind of got a bit freaked out and was like, “Wow, this whole world exists and no one really even knows about it.” I did some filming at DragonCon in Atlanta and went back and showed some of my friends and family. My friends were like, “Oh my god. Some of these people are really strange.” And then they would go and put on a red soccer outfit and scream at the TV for half an hour for a team they have no affiliation with whatsoever. (laughs) Over the years, as I’ve been coming to conventions, mostly across America, I’m just stunned every time at the positivity and unjudgmental attitude and vibe that happens at these places. I think if the rest of the world could be more like what it’s like on the inside of these convention walls, then the world would be a lot better place. We’re just editing the process now for a documentary that will be out on the BBC back at home in April, and hopefully sometime later on in the states.

Has Harry Potter helped you meet girls?
Tom Felton: It has helped me in the respect that I met my now girlfriend of nearly seven years - actually in the Great Hall is where we first met each other. She was an extra for the day in the Gryffindor table. (shakes head) I fell in love with a Gryffindor. I mean, all the signs pointing towards my true House. We were there for six years together. She worked with the stunt department. She actually played Astoria in the very last scene of the last film. We see Draco with his wife and kid – the kid’s not mine. But Jade played my onscreen wife, so that was fun. It did help me get the girl in the end.

I was wondering what your favorite behind the scenes moment was from Harry Potter?
Tom Felton: The robes that we had, had these incredibly deep pockets and I was guilty of stuffing them with as much chocolate as I could fit into them. I had Red Bulls. I had a couple of crisp packets. And I was known for leaving the remains of these inside the robe so, come the end of the day, my wardrobe guy would just be picking out this melted chocolate. So thanks to that, they sewed up the pockets on everyone’s costume, not just mine. I think I was handing out Red Bulls to ten-year-olds at the time. I got told off for that, as well. I was a bit of a bad boy, to be fair. I was method acting. Actually, I remember we used to play this terrible game. Apparently it has a name in the states, I didn’t know this, where you have a cup and you pour like twenty different drinks into it and then try and coax someone for a pound to drink … what’s it called? (Crowd shouts) Suicide – thank you! So I remember my double, the guy who had blonde hair as well and stepped into scenes to line them up and get the focus right, we used to put him through some pretty terrible suicides. Like orange juice, coke, milk, cornflakes …

What was the hardest scene that you did in Harry Potter?
Tom Felton: I remember being incredibly nervous about doing the attempted assassination of Dumbledore. I was very nervous about working with all these adult actors. On the second take I still hadn’t got the line out right and I was so embarrassed and shaking with fear. I remember going up to Michael Gambon and saying, “I’m really sorry about this. I don’t know what’s come over me. I know the lines. It’s just not working for me.” And he said, “If you had any idea how much they pay me per day, you can just keep messing it up for as long as you want.” So yeah, Dumbledore’s a joker. That immediately alleviated any fears and we managed to get through it pretty well. But yeah, that was a pretty nerve-wracking morning for me. He also hid cigarettes in his beard. I always thought that was pretty cool.

Fan: As an actor, what was it like being the arch nemesis in Hogwarts?
Tom Felton:It was a lot of fun, to be honest. It took me a couple of years to get used to it. I remember after the first premiere, I had a six-year-old come up to me and hurl abuse at me immediately. “Why are you such an dot-dot-dot.” He was a very naughty-spoken six-year-old. That was a little strange. I remember we had loads of kids come to the rehearsal set. Nearly every day we’d have a new set of kids – sometimes from Make-A-Wish Foundation or sometimes just friends and family of the cast and crew – and a lot of them wanted to hug Emma, high-fives for Rupert and hugging Harry/Daniel, and they would just hide behind their parents’ legs when it came to me. And I was just like, “Hey Buddy, how’s it going?” and that would freak them out even more. They were like, “Whoa, Draco’s not like this. What’s going on?” So I learned very quickly to follow Alan Rickman’s step there, and that was just to be Draco. Alan never broke character. He always just said, “Tuck your shirt in, boy.” You’d get a lot of clips to the back of the head.

Fan: When filming, what was it like being hit by Emma?
Tom Felton: I lost a lot of street cred that week. It was fine. The punch was fake. She managed to hit me without actually getting to close to the face. But you’ll be pleased to hear, in rehearsing the scene a few months before it … I went up to her in the kids’ play area, just mucking around. At the time, it was written as a slap, and I said, “So we’re gonna do the slap. Let’s work on it now and make sure it looks really professional and looks very realistic. She was like, “Okay.” And she just slapped me across the face.

On auditioning for the role of Draco:
Tom Felton: I hadn’t read the books before that. It was open cast auditions when we first started, and they just lined us up, hundreds of us. I remember vividly, Chris Columbus coming down the line saying, “What’s your favorite thing from the book? What are you most looking forward to seeing?” I was so stupid. He only got to the second person next to me before I realized, “****, I don’t have an answer here.” So the kid next to me was like, “Gringotts. I’m so excited about Gringotts.” Then he came to me and I was like, “Yeah man, I love those Gringotts. They are awesome. I can’t wait to see them flying around.” I think that Chris Columbus knew straightaway that this kid could be a good Draco.

Fan: Welcome back to the United States.
Tom Felton: Thank you very much. Happy to be here. You know this is now home for me. I just moved to California. So I’m almost a U.S. citizen – nearly there.

Fan: My question is about Get Him to the Greek.
Tom Felton: Jonah Hill was actually a huge Harry Potter fan. He came on the set one day and had a tour. I never usually know who the people are who are having tours. In fact, for the first three times I saw Gary Oldman, I thought he was having a tour. I didn’t even realize that he was in the film. (laughs) I clung onto Jonah Hill like an obsessed fan girl. At the end of it, he said, “Hey, I’m shooting a movie do you want to come and be in it?” And I was like, (nervous girly voice) “Yeah, all right.” So that’s how that happened.