Happy Sad Confused - Tom Felton

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

Tom Felton will foerver be Draco Malfoy and he's surprisingly okay with that! Now, in his new memoir, BEYOND THE WAND, Tom recounts many fun Harry Potter stories and shares many of them with Josh in this conversation. To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to Josh's youtube channel here! Check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! Come see Josh tape LIVE Happy Sad Confused conversations in New York City! November 11th with Sylvester Stallone! Tickets available here! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. And, yes, we have one of the key members of the Harry Potter franchise. Tom Felton surprisingly has never. done the podcast before, though I have talked to Tom many, many times over the years. He is a great guy. I consider him a friend. He's somebody that kind of grown up with. Well, I was a grown up when I met him, but he was barely a grown up. Now he's a full-fledged adult male, and I'm an elderly man. But that's okay. We're still friends. I'm so proud and happy for Tom because he has a new book out that is delightful.

It's called Beyond the Wand, and it tells of his life and career in and around the Harry Potter films. So we'll get to that in a second, but that is the main event coming up, me and Tom Felton. Other things to mention, well, there's a lot going on, guys. Many of you probably checked out last week's episode. If you haven't yet go into the podcast feed and check it out, Henry Cavill. That conversation exploded on the interwebs. That was Henry's first public conversation since his return as Superman.

And proud to say, I think it was a great chat. People seemed to really dig it. I'm so thrilled that people received it so well. It got a ton of press. But most importantly, people really loved seeing Henry happy and Henry back as Superman. So thanks for all the kind words. And if you haven't checked it out, go back and check it out. It's also available, I should say, as our virtually every podcast episode of Happy Sank and Fused in video form on the YouTube channel.

So our YouTube channel we launched just a couple months ago. And admittedly, I'm probably 10 years late on YouTube because I'm crazy that way. But better late than never. And we just passed the other day the 10,000 subscriber mark. And I'm so excited about that. If you have not given it a chance on YouTube, what's stopping you? It's totally free, and you get to enjoy video clips, full episodes, all sorts of fun stuff from the archives and new episodes of happy, say, confused, and all my stuff. Go to YouTube.com, if I can speak correctly, slash Josh Horowitz.

I'll put it in the show notes. Again, that's YouTube.com slash Josh Horowitz. And as always, if you want the early access, the first information, the first access to everything, the bonus game night episodes, the bonus live episodes, that's where Patreon is your friend, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. You get to ask questions of folks. You get merch, all sorts of cool stuff. That's where all the cool kids go, Patreon. And that, in fact, brings me back to this episode. So this episode with Tom Felton was a live episode of Happy Say I Confused done virtually for the Patreon crowd. So we've done this a few times. We did this Graham McTavish.

We did this with Jamie Campbell Bauer, and they're really fun to do. They're basically the same kind of happy, say, confused episode, except we have a small, intimate Patreon-only audience that gets to watch and contribute questions. So, yeah, we taped this the other day, and now it's going to be available for all of you guys to listen to and watch, if you so are inclined. We have another live episode for the Patreon crowd that has not been announced yet, but it's going to be next week, I believe, with somebody. that is very familiar to the game night crowd. I think you guys will enjoy that. So that's coming up. Also coming up, our next live event in New York City

is with a legend. I couldn't be more excited about this. Someone who has never done the podcast, someone who I've done very little with, but I consider one of the formative actors, superstars of my childhood, Sylvester Stallone. Yes, if you're in New York City,

November 11th is the day, Sylvester Stallone and I are going to be chatting about his new TV show Tulsa King. Also, there will be Terrence Winter, the showrunner. This is an amazing guest in his own right, screenwriter behind Wolf of Wall Street and many other things. But the main event, Slice Stallone. So that is going to be a special night. Click in the show notes if you want to purchase tickets, live virtually or in person. Yeah, that's one to mark on the calendar. We have some Other live events coming up, I can't announce just yet, but there will be at least, I would say, two to three others in November and December coming up. And those are always a blast.

Last week alone, we did Henry, we did Ralph Machio, which will be available on the podcast feed soon. So, yeah, the live events, keeping me alive, guys, keeping me active and excited to see your bright, shining faces, your enthusiastic applause. It just adds a whole other dimension to the podcast. and I really, really dig it. What else could I mention to tease you guys? Oh, I know, a couple things.

Black Panther, Wakanda Forever. I can say I've seen it, and I can say it's awesome. Not surprising. Ryan Coogler, an amazing, talented filmmaker. Truly an emotional tribute to Chad with Bozeman, but also shines a light on this amazing ensemble. And a new character played by Tenoch Querta, as Namor, who's kind of the antagonist of the film, someone to keep your eye on.

So that's coming out next week, I believe, for all of you to see. I highly recommend it as if you needed my endorsement on that. I did interview Ryan Cougler for MTV. So that will be out, I believe, right around the release of the film. Also chatted with Millie Bobby Brown for Comedy Central. We had a fun time, played some games. That will be up, I believe, the end of the film. of this week, which is when Anoa Homes 2 comes out, also starring Henry Cavill.

Look at it, guys. It's a full circle. It all gets connected in the end. So that's a snapshot of where I'm at, all the things going on in the Josh Harowitz universe, all the information on the live shows, the Patreon, the YouTube. It's all on the show notes. Check it out there. Okay. You're about to hear me and Mr. Tom Felton. Please note you're going to hear this in the context of it being taped as a live episode for the Patreon crowd. but you're not going to even really notice. It's a conversation between two old buds talking about all things Harry Potter and his life and career. The book is fantastic.

It's called Beyond the Wand. It's an easy, fun read. And it gets into some, you know, some interesting real stuff too. I mean, Tom talks. There's a chapter in the book, a chapter or two about his journey into rehab towards in more recent years. And he's just, he's a great. guy. He obviously, you can wear a character like Draco and a franchise like Harry Potter differently. Some people let it burden them, drag them down, but Tom has really embraced it,

embraced the fandom, and made it just an asset in his life. And I love to see that. And he's in a great place. He just did a play in London and always has lots of cool stuff going on. So always rooting for this guy, pick up his book, Beyond the Wand, and enjoy my conversation. with the one and only, Mr. Tom Felton. A big welcome to Mr. Tom Felton. Tom, thanks for doing this, man. It's good to see you, buddy. Thanks, Josh.

It's all right. It's all right. It's a little bit surreal, isn't it? But, yeah, thanks for having me on. You're an official author. You've added this to your list of many accomplishments. And as I told you, a couple weeks back, I read your book. It's amazing, man.

Here it is, for those of it watching. Thanks for ever here. taking the time to do it, yeah. And, well, you're, you're, you're part of it in a way, aren't you? As far as, as far as, I don't remember when the first time we spoke, but I was definitely in the, in the early pot of years. So it means a lot to me that you, that you read it. So thanks. No, it's, it's a great read. And the highest compliment I can give is it, uh, it felt like a conversation with you. I heard you in my, in my head as I was reading it. And it's, uh, this doesn't feel like someone else, you know, dictated the stories of Tom Felton. It's, uh, it's your

voice man and it's a good one it's nice to hear it's nice to hear that you can vouch for that because you've had enough you've had enough conversations with me uh over the years but yes that's kind of how the book is obviously intended to be um because it's all basically my scraps of paper that i've kind of put together over the last 10 years so to hear that from the um the horse's mouth that it that it sounds uh authentic is it's good it's good to hear from you just call you just called me a horse right off the bat you just your it's an expression For those of us, for those folks watching live, there is a button that says ask a question. If you want to ask a question of Tom, please do so.

But I've got more than enough because I've known this guy for a long, long time. And it's really fun to go on the journey with folks like you, man, to see the ups and the downs and to see you in a good place and reveling in all things Potter in this way. It's like I've talked to so many people that are so tied to these iconic franchises. and it's a complicated relationship for folks. And I feel like you are like the template for how to just kind of make peace with what's an insane, overwhelming, not a burden, but it is a burden. I mean, there's not a day that goes by where Potter is not a part of your life, safe to say where it's not referenced 20 times a day when you're walking around.

It definitely is brought up every day. It doesn't help if you've got a slitherin phone case. But yeah, no, it does. It comes up every day. I don't think anyone saw, I know when we finished filming, there was a sadness and a real sense that not that POTR was going anywhere, but the fandom or the levels of sort of crazy fan exposure that we'd had would slowly start dwindling down over the years.

And we finished over 10 years ago. So to see even where it's gone from there, the fact that it's the stories and the films are being passed down from one generation to the next. None of us saw that coming. So I get used to the new fandoms every day. But I am definitely in a lucky enough position to say that I think it's awesome. That's the right attitude, I would think. So we first started the talk towards the end of the films.

I spoke to you in the last few. And I'm just curious, you know, for young men and women, that have to navigate that world, I'm just curious what it was like for you handling press over the years. Like, were you media trained? Were you the good boy on the press, on the press circuit, or-

You were a more pleasant memory that I have of my earlier. No, actually, you really, you really did. You and Ben Lyons were the first two, like media people, shall I say, that didn't feel like I was on the news or part of some old DVDs, extras type thing but no not really any any any official media training I learned a lot of my um how to interact with with people like that on on on

on junkets really where you sit in these these hotel rooms and they and they have a new journalist come in every seven minutes and I know you know this world very well Josh and it's very hard to actually have a decent connection or a conversation with anyone because you just have such limited time. So you often find yourself just saying the same thing over and over and over and over again. But in rare occasions, in rare occasions, you do get a chance to see the same person a few years in a row. And you build up a rapport and you, I think you sort of train yourself to say the same thing, but in different ways, as many different ways as possible.

And then coming out of, so again, like, I remember in particular the last few films and what a, what a capper it was. I remember covering the premiere here in New York. I'm sure there were a few premieres. Take me back to that headspace when it was over. Like, were you prepared for the next chapter? In retrospect, would you have done anything differently to prepare yourself either from an emotional or career perspective to better handle it? Or did you just handle it as best you possibly could you think? Oh, cricky.

You said you were going to go gentle. It's very hard to say. The last days of filming were obviously just difficult and awkward in a British way of everyone trying to say goodbye to each other. The last premiere, I remember, especially the one, well, the two, the one in London and the one in New York were such celebrations.

We weren't just even celebrating the one final film we were celebrating all the fans. that had come and supported them over the years. So it felt like a really, really good way to say goodbye. There was something very, very, well, bittersweet, obviously, but something really, really beautiful that we got to do it in style. Take more pictures. That's always the advice that I would have given the younger version of Tom.

Just take a few more pictures. Oh, yeah, there aren't enough pictures of you from back in those days. There are very few if you look on the internet. Yeah, that's a fair point. It's, you know, it's often cited, but I would agree with this assessment that like the casting of the core cast of Potter is just, it's one of the miracles in modern filmmaking, but both in terms of just like great actors for the right parts, but also good and decent human beings. And I'm referring, you know, in particular to talking about, you know, you and Rupert and Emma and Dan, folks that, you know, all very different, different temperament. And I have different, it's funny, like, I have, like, very different kind of repores and relationships with each of you because you all are very different from each other. But, you know, to a man, you've all handled this very well, like all things considered as well as can be expected, I would say.

And do you, when you look at your group, that group, how much of that is just dumb luck of them just, or how much of it is, I don't know, the way these movies were made, the, the things that were said to you over the year. I mean, why did this group kind of come out so sane? And relatively well-adjured. You do quite uniquely know us all individually and grown up with it. You should be doing a book. You should write, written the chapter for this. The sequel. The paperback.

Okay, I'm ready. The wand, too. Yeah, here's my competing book. It's a, it's a great question. It's a big question. question and it deserves a big answer I think the casting the initial casting none of us none of the cast would get angry at me saying that that none of us were particularly talented we were just we were at the right stage of our like

acting development and we looked the right we looked the right way and and we weren't we weren't too shy I think the biggest contribution to the fact that fingers crossed like touchwood none of us have turned up to be to be maniacs really and we've also managed to enjoy all of this is the company that we kept was constantly around us Chris Columbus obviously set the tone he's the one that directed the first two films but he also he basically cast us together and put together you know a group of kids that weren't necessarily particularly talented in the acting world but they melded and they melded together really well

and were able to create all these different characters. One of the stories that I've written about in the book is so Chris Columbus did this trick or tried this trick where there's like 20 kids together and he'd say, okay, I'm just going to leave you guys for a second. We're going to go talk over here. And the producers and whatnot would go into one corner. And the other guy was still holding the boom mic,

like a huge boom mic over our head. I knew exactly what was going on straight away. And this little brushy-haired girl came up to me and was like, what's that? And I looked at her very arrogantly and said, it's a microphone, you idiot. What do you think it is? And I met this, I'm pretty sure they heard that

and I'm pretty sure that helped me get the part of Draco Malfoy. It also turns out that I saw that girl two months later and her name was Emma Watson. And so we didn't get off to the greatest star. Safe to say the relationship has improved since then. She didn't hold it against me too bad. Can you give you a sense without revealing? Look, I mean, these are personal relationships.

I don't expect you to divulge too much. But, like, again, like I have these, you know, much lesser extent relationships with each of these folks. You have different kinds of relationships with each of these actors, these young people that you grew up with. I'm curious, like, so like your relationship to Dan, Like, my sense is, like, Dan, it's always like, what's up, like, keeping up with Dan, keeping up with the latest, like, cool project with Dan.

Like, what's your relationship with Dan? And then Rupert obviously is a dad now. Emma has a very special place in your heart. Can you give me a sense of sort of a different kind of dynamics between the... We're all close friends. I suppose in a nutshell, I'm trying to go back in my memory of when I last saw them all. Weasley Twins. I played golf with the Phelps Twins about a week ago.

and don't ask who won because it didn't end too well there for me as it never does they're very good i saw i saw daniel recently um yeah we see each other we see each other a lot i'm a huge uh admirer of how different we all are really as as characters but yet put us all back in one room when we did the uh 20 year anniversary we did this classic sort of british five-minute awkward reunion thing of going like hey all right and then it was just straight back into what it was always what had always been like completely effortless so that was so we're rarely in the same we're rarely in the same room at the same time but when we when we are it's pretty effortless i'm a huge admirer of uh daniel for his for his for his uh oh just for who he is but also for his work like all of his theater work

his choice in films the stuff that he actually puts his name to I'm always excited to see what he's going to do next which is a cool thing to be one of his biggest who would have thought Drake came off voice saying that I'm one of Potter's biggest cheerleaders what's happened Josh I've got betrayed betrayed your bloodline how dare you good God have you seen Weird Al yet have you seen the Weird Al movie

no no I was just thinking have you oh good yeah that's amazing i look for i look forward to uh so that's another exciting one to go to yeah and and emma and rupert i mean i see them all as in when i can emma was a big inspiration for me to um to finish the book actually and not just tell the um just the small stories or the short the short the shorter version of the stories um because a lot of these started from like scraps of paper that i come right i come off stage from the comic con um which we've seen each other out as well and uh the art the stories would flesh out a little bit more in my head so i'd quickly take that to a

piece of paper and um yeah she was once she read those pieces of paper and and laughed her else up she said that i should continue writing more so that's kind of that's kind of a nice nice encouragement and i'm very glad you wrote a a lovely forward were you worried when you got when you got the the file we're like oh god what did she say what no no i didn't even read it to To be honest, I just was grateful. I mean, I did once it was in there, but I was just very grateful that she would even consider it. But yeah, they were very touching words.

So she also, as I understand it, encourage you, as you say, beyond kind of these great anecdotes, and there are tons of them in this about the making a potter, of getting to, like, you know, the weighty stuff, like the really, like stuff that you could have totally not even included and still had a book that many people would have wanted to read. The true personal ups and downs.

And you've been really, and I texted you about this, I think this book is really going to help people that de-stigmatize rehab and the tough times that people go through. Like, was there an iteration of this book that didn't go there? And was it tough to make that decision to finally discuss it? Not really, because I'm a bit of a writer. So I write down more than all of these stories anyway. Compiling them together was the sort of tricky part

and making them have a full narrative, putting them to an actual chronological timeline was was tricky but the choice to sort of bring in more about my own personal life afterwards wasn't really in an attempt to preach or to try to be any sort of self-helpie it was just more a case of it was important to me that if if the book's about me then it has these these chapters have to be have to be written it was only afterwards to be honest with you it was other people that were encouraging Lots of my friends, my family were very supportive of saying, oh, no, you have to put those, you have to put those chapters in.

I mean, the book opens up with me getting in trouble with the law. And that's not a story that I should have ever really shared with anyone, but there it is. Can we say what it is? Because it's a hell of a way to, I admire any book that begins with the tale of a young man stealing pornography and ends with rehab. This is the mark of a great storyteller. I never thought of that, but I'm going to use that quote as one of my taglines. Yes, essentially I was a young teenager trying to show off to some cool kids.

And I thought by stealing a DVD of a nefarious kind would be a quick way of impressing them. And needless to say, I wasn't successful. I stalked the aisles for hours and I got immediately picked up by security and this is when I had bright blonde hair I think we were doing Possible 1 so there was a strong... I was banned from the store and that's the aspect that's amazing

that you were already in Potter and could have like could you imagine I mean you can't actually yeah I was terrified definitely again I was encouraged by my friends and family my brothers especially they were like you have to you have to put that chapter in that's a great one also my mom didn't know that story so she was a little bit pissed to be honest she she thought it was she thought that was a bit too much but uh i got away with it and then on the flip side look

the the the stuff towards the end you handle with a lot of i mean there's humor even in these dark stories like i mean it's it's intense stuff i mean this the story of you going to rehab and then bolting and trying to get all the way back from what was it malibu to barney's beanery i I mean, is like, that's a short film right there that I want it. Like, I mean, I don't, again, I don't want you to have to rehash it if it's painful or anything. But it's like, what was it like to revisit what must have been one of the most scary, intense moments in your life? It took a little bit of time, definitely. It's one thing, I found writing a lot of these memories.

of mine especially the ones that were slightly more traumatic I found writing them down to be really cathartic and and that part not to be too stressful you've got to be slightly disciplined and force yourself to do it because it's quite sometimes easier to just put the Simpsons on and ignore it but once once you commit to it and say like I'm gonna I'm gonna write this part of my life down on paper that that bit is um it was wasn't too bad. Reading it back, like I did the audio book and I really struggled for quite a few chapters, either through laughing or giggling my way through the antics about my brothers and

my early shenanigans or just getting emotional about my, you know, my mom and my parents and how much they've done for me. So there was quite a few times in the, in the audio book recording session where the producer, he couldn't see me, he could just hear me, but he could hear me because I'll go, Tom, you're right in there. Just give me a second, Tom for him. So it took a lot longer than I thought to get it done. But yeah, writing it down wasn't too bad, but you know, seeing them written down and reading them out was a little more tricky. I like the, I really love the chapter headings throughout the book. Oh, yeah, cool.

One of my favorites is fans or how not to be a real dick. Yeah. I feel like any celebrity should have that chapter, read that chapter and no, because this is an important lesson. Yeah, it was an idea I threw out early only because I thought both chapters have a version of what I think it should be called and then what I also think it should be called. What the real title is. Yeah, what a real title is.

Yeah, I was quite encouraged actually to use both, so that was helpful. Yeah, that first chapter there, fans and how not to be a real dick was, that was all started with a young boy who got rather upset with me at the end of the first potter premiere and calling me a dick and me being thinking that was terrible and getting very upset about it. And coming to realize that obviously the more of this six-year-old thought I was a dick them the better job that I must be doing. That's what my grabs told me anyway.

Well, there is an advantage to playing, you know, it's in some ways it's harder to play, to be a virtuous character for decades, and people expect that. You have license. If you're having a bad day, you can be a dick, because that's what Draco should be.

Draco should be a bit of a dick. I can get away with murder. Is that what you're saying? I mean, I mean, not murder, but something close to it. It's very true. I did wonder. about that because Alan Rickman was always very, he played into that. Okay, all right. He's always seemingly very sulky, but I wonder if that was just a bit of license there being like, well,

I can be because I'm Snave, so. You have great anecdotes about virtually all the adult members of the cast, these luminaries, including Alan Rickman. It sounds like Alan Rickman and Ray Fines are the top two most intimidating folks. Is that fair to say? Are they the upper echelon of the folks that you don't want to catch uh get on the wrong side of say the wrong thing to not not not not they're you know honorary people but they're scary they're a little intimidating yes when also you should record when in posture i didn't um i never met i never met ray fines i've never met rave fines till the to the final premiere i think and i even asked someone then do i recognize him because i've never seen him i've never seen him without full Voldemort guard and obviously he still had a

a nose but he was all he always had a lot of green dots that were all over his face for for cgI reasons to do later um so yeah he was but you know who's not going to be intimidated by Voldemort that's fair definitely but alan was just um he had an incredible uh way an incredibly slow way of talking which was quite intimidating he but he was also dressed as Snape and all of his regalia. So, yeah. But deep down, again, both, both lovely, charming kind men. Were all the kids doing impressions of the actors behind their backs? Like, did everybody have a Rickman?

No, we wouldn't dare. We wouldn't dare. No, I think we all, some of us would like to try and do Hagrid or McGonagall. but I don't think any of us to you much with that. Right. Maggie, Maggie Smith loves impressions of her. She's well-known. I appreciate that, I'm sure. I heard that. If you run into Ray Fines today, would you give him an awkward hug

in honor of your awkward hug in the film? Probably. Yeah, I think I probably would, yeah. No, I mean, I've met Ray several times since our awkward hug. Yeah, that awkward hug in the last scene, that was, it's only really awkward because it was particularly unscheduled. And seeing someone as creepy as him offer you a sign of affection is, it's not something that anyone wants to see. Do you remember, like, a transition point? I know, I know, and you said this in interviews and in the book, even, I think, and I totally get this.

Like, it all blends together. It must blend together the years, because you're with a lot of the same. same crew, cast, directors, and it's just, it must be hard to differentiate. I mean, I was going to say, like, do you remember a period of time when, like, you were adult enough to realize the opportunity and excitement of working with these luminaries? Because I know, I'm talking to some of your colleagues, like, it was lost on them. Like, it was lost on them at first, like that British royalty, acting royalty, was acting opposite them.

But by the end, those last couple of films, you must have realized what an opportunity. you had a master class in front of you every day. Yes, definitely to some degree. I think that's maybe the best thing about the whole thing, though. I'm still realizing how big of the legends are that we got to work with. I genuinely thought Gary Oldman just sort of worked at the studio as one of the cleaning department. He was so down-dressed. And I think more to the point, it wasn't the case of them.

no one was pompous enough to treat themselves like an actor. And also, of course, when you're 12 years old, you haven't seen a lot of Sir Richard Harris's work or, you know, or Ray Fines or whoever else it may be. So you discover the royalty, like you say, that you've been working with. I think the nice part about that is, yes, we definitely learn a lot. What, if we've learned anything as actors, then I'm sure a lot of it was rubbed off from being around these fantastic actors and showing us how they jump into these crazy characters.

If it's, you know, Helena doing Bellatrix or Michael doing Dumbledore, then we certainly learned a lot from that, but it was more a case of what they did off set. people don't realize as well when they're making your films so much of the day is spent not filming like just preparing or lining up or moving lights which means a lot of downtime so seeing how

Robbie Coltrane will be the best example how he like to make fun of everyone and just keep the environment this working environment so friendly and such a pleasant place to be that's the reason why I kind of think

myself, I consider myself extra lucky to be having a career in something that I love doing because I think we were surrounded by just good, good people, great actors, but greater people. The good combo, yeah. You tell a bunch of great audition stories in the book from, of course, the famous one that, you know, got you, Draco in the first place. Yeah. Of course, me being, you know, a gladden for punishment, I love, like, the horror stories. And your, you're sad experience with Anthony Hopkins. Classic Horowitz, this. I mean, are you scarred forever from that?

Like, are you, can you ever? So this is an audition for the Hitchcock movie that he starred in as Hitchcock. Yes, yes. You didn't quite have the interaction that maybe you had dreamed of with the great Anthony Hopkins. No, like, no, this is not my finest hour

when it came to auditioning. I got the sides very last minute. I knew I wasn't right, for the role. I hadn't, I've never seen Psycho. The film was about the making of the film Psycho. I didn't know anything particularly well, but I knew I wasn't right for this. And I've very rarely called my agent before going into an audition and said, I really don't think this is for me, but I did on that occasion. And they said, just go in, as you always do, just show your face, show you know the work and trot on. And then, yeah, I was whispered to by,

I think it was Anna Farris, I swear, she said. On the way to the audition, she said, he's in there, who's in there? And I sat down across Sir Anthony Hopkins, and he knew straight away that I didn't know what I was doing. And he decided to go off book. He was like, let's put the scene down. Let's just test the water with the characters. And I proceeded to probably babble out the worst three minutes of, improv in an awful American accent that anyone has ever seen.

And he very kindly, he had a very graceful way of saying leave, which were just, thanks very much for your time. And I mean, shefishly tuck my tail and walked out of that one. I can validate your parking if you'd like. Technically, I have work with Sir Anthony, so I'm not sure if that goes on my resume. Speaking of auditions, when I was going through the old IMDB, all the rumor control, here's an audition supposedly you were up for, set the record straight. Were you one of the many actors up for Han Solo way back one?

Did you get a shot? Definitely not. Aw. Was I really? Look, there's rumors. Dan has been cast as Wolverine 10 different times, as you know. Okay, I'm not up to date with these days, but no. Solo at the moment.

Okay. You Star Wars guy? Not really. I mean, I am, but I'm not up to date. I've got my basics down. I'm sort of, I'm waiting to watch it all on a big, big screen. It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. There's too much.

Yeah, it's a lot. Speaking of which, let's talk about like where the Potter universe is now, because I know you saw a cursed child, I believe, right? You've seen that one. So when you go see a play like that, are you watching it with like a curiosity on like, oh, this is going to be interesting, see someone else interpret my character, or are you thinking potential movie in five to six years? Future employment. Here's a scout. No, but that's a good idea. I should think about that. It's quite nice. I actually went to go see Curse Child again

last week, because I did my first run of theatre around the corner from Curse Child. I skateboarded to work every day past the Curse Child. Imagine how I fell out. This is mental. I couldn't believe, seeing that. So I went to go see and support my Luca, who was playing my son, Scorpius, in it, and met James, who plays Draco afterwards. And the three of us went out for a pint of beer. So that was kind of a bit surreal.

Three Malfoy's around one pub table. But it was even weirder, the fact that I was sitting there, I immediately text Chris Columbus because I was just sat next to a family of, I want to say Australians, six, seven-year-old, head-to-toe in Slythering Garb. Like the hat, the rogues. Behind me, I had, there was like a family of Hufflepuffs. And they can't have been, they can't have been more than nine, ten years old. They weren't born when these films were being made.

And I couldn't help but text Chris Columbus going, and how did we get here? This is mental, Emma. But then proceeded to watch them all wide-eyed, watching hours and hours of fabulous theatre. So, yeah, I get a bit of a tear in my eye, but I also just sit there in awe of how far it's come. Yeah.

If you were a betting man on this day, do you think you'll ever play that character again? I mean, this is going to, everyone's going to ask you this every day the rest of your life, as it will for Daniel and Emma and Rupert. But it's there. a curse child is there it's a good play it's a good story do you feel like i was a betting man um i would i would definitely consider it i do wonder though like because like it would

one would think it would have to be all of you or nothing and i do wonder about daniel and emma in particular well wait no sorry i'm coming back as harmonie oh sorry i'm not no no you're playing all the roles you're doing it's a one man curse child i've actually i've already i've already i've already made it. It's a homemade film. Did it in the lockdown? Can you imagine? No, yeah, that's not happening. I don't know. I don't think it will be an all-or-nothing thing.

I think I would honestly, if they do continue to make more films or TV shows in the wizarding world, I'd be happy to like pop up as a as an extra in the background. I didn't have to, as much as I'd love to play Draco or I'm out for it again. I'd still just love to be part of the world. That'd be cool enough. I think they might give you more than a background extra role at this point. Don't sell yourself short. You talk about theatre.

Congratulations on your recent run, man. Did it feel like this is like, you know, achievement unlocked? Like, this is like a big, that's a big one. Yeah, it's definitely a big step forward in my sort of learning about acting. Like, it's an obvious thing to say, but acting on stage was so vastly different. from from the method of acting on on films so it took me a few weeks more than a few weeks of absolutely being terrified every morning going there's no way I can do this there's no way this is going to happen to actually get to a place where I was really

confident comfortable sorry comfortable doing it yeah the moment where I actually started to enjoy it those are the best nights ever actually going out there knowing that you've, that you, that you, that you, that you, that you, that you, uh, that you, uh, those days were, uh, those are great. So yeah, thanks, my home. Are we going to get you to New York for either that one or a different one? Do you have your eye on another, another show? Uh, I'm not saying no. It's a definite potential. I'd love to do more theater and obviously doing it, doing on this side of the pond would be a, um, yeah, a bit of a dream country. Excellent. What about, uh, you could do the, uh, you could do the one man.

Beyond the Wand, telling your stories. Like, you could have a Vegas residency. You could just, like, sit there on a stool and tell your stories. Through interpretive dance. Exactly. I am the king of shitty ideas for you, Tom. We'll just keep those trial balloons coming, Josh. We'll get there one there.

I'm just trying here. How's Willow doing? How's your dog? She's hungry. She's good. She's good. She's great. she's a four-year-old Labrador now she still seems to think she's this big because she runs around the house just like colliding into everything and everyone but yeah she's the friendliest creature in the world she's a good reminder yeah I got my wife and I got a dog the last two years oh my god she's in the other room but she's a pit mix and she's the sweetest Lucy Lucy and Willow will meet one of these days she's how old is Lucy she's about four herself yeah

Okay, is she calm? You seem wary. You seem wary. Don't be safe. No, no, no. I was, I mean, she calmed down because I'm waiting for Willow to calm down and it hasn't happened yet. She has two modes, manic and just sleeping, you know, 15 hours a day. So I, of course, prefer the sleepy version of Lucy.

But manic has its own charms. Willow's just manic or more manicer. Yeah. Level after the next. It's insane. And you were saying earlier, like, one of the crazy things, like, this unpredictable trajectory of your relationship with Potter is, like, if anything, it feels like it's bigger than ever, which doesn't happen. I mean, do you find, like, are the parents

and the kids both recognizing you now? Like, is it a different, has it evolved in the way that you're received by folks every day? Or is it's- Definitely. That's the, that's the strange thing about the stories, is that they're being passed out. Like, I always keep saying to my parents, Like I said, most people weren't born when the most fans that come up to me and say, say Potter or call me Draco, whatever. They weren't born when the first film was being made, which is insane to me, that they really are being passed down. Not like just, not that I want to compare it to anything else,

but I feel like all the Jurassic Park films are still going to be passed down forever. Like, there's still some of my favorite movies. But there's something about the Potter stories books, films, plays, whatever, you know, all of it, that seems to be truly, like, transgressing. There was a couple in the cursed child. It was a grandfather and his daughter. She can't have been more than seven. He looked more like 77, both head to toe in Gryffindor clobber. I'm not sure what else could do that. No, no, nope, nope. You're, yeah, you're part of a phenomenon you always will be, and I'm glad that you wear it with grace and humility and good

humor. You're a good emissary for Potter and for all the good that it's done. It's always good to catch up with you, man. Everybody should check out out. We touched on like 2% of the fun stories in this book. Beyond the Wand is the book from Mr. Tom Felton. Check it out for just great remembrances of the making of, I don't know, the most iconic franchise. of the last 50 years maybe ever who knows um and it's got some um some serious stuff in there too it's not a self-help book as you said but there's there are lessons to be learned i think thanks for the time man i hope to see you and willow in person one of these days thank you brother josh always good to speak to you mate uh send my love and uh yeah look forward to get

the pups together one day soon and so ends another edition of happy sad confused remember to review rate and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences, decades or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles

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