Tom did on 8th April a photoshooting for the UK gay attitude magazine and on 27th July he talked with Colin Crummy from the magazine in a small section how he learned to know the value of money and of course he spoke about Harry Potter, his other film projects, his music and more. Thanks Feel_The_Beat_x for uploading the scans from the magazine.
For it is as blond-haired brat turned Dark Lord adherent Draco Malfoy that Tom has made his name over the six Harry Potter Blockbusters based on the gazillion-selling books by J.K. Rowling. Later this year the penultimate instalment of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, is due in cinemas, with the final part not set to be released until 2011.
Tom – like his Potter counterpart Daniel Radcliffe who we shot for our special youth issue last year – is reassuringly down-to-earth, terribly unstarry and totally, resolutely British about all the fuss that’s made about him. When he won Best Villain at the MTV awards this summer he stood out among the try hard ‘look at me’ mentality of the American actors and, looking distinctly embarressed, rushed to thank his mum. That’s our boy.A: You have a massive Twitter Following. We were told that Twitter was merely for celebs to flirt with each other.
T: I don’t know about that. To be fair, most celebrities aren’t them (the tweeters) at all – it’s their management. As was mine when it started but I’ve taken it fully into my own hands. As has Tom Fletcher from McFly who clearly does his own tweets. He’s fun. I actually got to know him through Twitter. I’ve not actually met him but we’re quite good Friends through that.A: We just had McFly as our coverstars.
T: I tweeted Tom this Morning about the cover – saying, “Just saw the Attitude cover, take my hat off to you. You’ve got balls (literally, i can see them).” It wsa pretty racy. Those lads are confident.A: When we shot you for this piece earlier in the year, we had a massive amount of people emailing and tweeting, asking when it was out. You must get a lot of fan Mail.
T: It has calmed down a lot over the Years. The Japanese like to send things for good luck. I have a collection of about 30 silver spoons now. I’Ve had requests for adoption. In Amerikca, a man changed his name legally to Lucius Malfoy, showed me the documentation and then sent me documents to disown my parents and move to be with himin the States in his house, which he had named Malfoy Manor. In kindly rejected that. That was quite scary.A: Do you get crazy hormonal teenagers pestering you as well?
T: I’m not Robert Pattinson, mate! No, not really. There’s a little bit of that – some excited young American girls and I take that in my Stride.A: And there’s a point too in the Harry Potter Movies when everyone starts fancying you lot
T: Yeah!I don’t read a about myself, so I don’t really know but apparently there are a lot of cougars out there after me. I’m yet to witness it but I appreciate it. I get the full blend – from dangerously low age to really old.A: You’ve finished filming the final Harry Potter film. How was the last day on the Set? It must have felt strange.
T: The last day was justa shot by myselt so it was just me and about 30-40 (crew) so we had a little round of handshakes at the end and that was that. But we still have two more films to promote, the DVDs, the theme park … So there’s going to be plenty of opportunities to see everyone. It hasn’t really sunk in. Everyone asks if I’m going to miss it and it depends on what I do next really. If I’m back on my paper round, maybe I will miss it. If I do another Film, i won’t.A: So you used to do a paper round?
T: Yes and I was a bailiff at a fishery. I was there for 18 months between the third and fourth films. A bailiff goes around and picks up litter and makes sure everyone’s got a ticket so they can legally fish on the lake. My Dad insisted that I didn’t know the value of money. It was a 6am to 6pm Job.A: Was that your dad’s way of taking you out of the Harry Potter bubble?
T: Yeah. My Mum took some of the Money I earned and invested it for me, which I thank heavens for every day. But you know I bought skateboards, had a nice music system, bought a guitar and BB gun – all the stupid things boys want.A: Did you get schooled on set?
T: I was lucky that I never had to leave my school. I stayed at my secondary school, which was a normal state school where I met all my friends that I am still friends with now. I was privately tutored on set, which was very different. I foolishly, after GSCEs decided to focus on the films for a few years and thought about going to uni or college after that. They have obviously done more films than I expected, so I never went back to further education, which I regret and I do think I’ll go back one day. A couple of really nice universities in Amerikca have offered me courses to go for a year or two years. So if any point I feel like I’m lacking in that department, I could go.A: Is there any college of interest?
T: No Names.A: I can see fanatical teenagers enrolling now if you did.
T: It’s funny you should say that because when I was younger I said I wanted to go to this particular college in Southampton. There were some nutters who then said they were going to go which put me off going. It’s the kind of thing I now keep under wraps.A: What other Projects are in the pipeline post Potter?
T: There’s The Apparition, with Ashley Greene of Twilight, which should be coming out next year. It’s a supernatural horror. It’s based around four psychology students who summon an apparition, who isn’t that friendly and starts causing mayhem. My character tries to shut it down. I’m a bit of a Captain Science in that. Then there’s the Planet of the Apes prequel with James Franco and Freida Pinto. I’ve just done one day on that so far.A: Is it different to move from the particularly British set and crew of Harry Potter to these American productions?
T: It is. And on Harry Potter no-one would ever blow smoke up anyone’s backside which is great and most of the Cast, if not all of them has kept a normal head on them. Certainly within Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson they are all great examples of normality – as much as you canbe in that situation. Whereas if oyu look at the Twilight Bunch, it’s a fantastic franchise but they are clearly seen as something else in America whereas Daniel and myself can walk down Kings Rod in Chelsea with no hassle. I know it’s different for Ashley Greene who told me when I was working with her, that it was a nightmare for her to go shopping. There’s a different attitude to young actors. But as far as working through, you hear about American producers and how it’s Entourage-Style shouting into three phones at one time but so far they have all been really nice, exciting and encouraging.A: Why is there that difference between Twilight and Harry Potter?
T: It’s weird. I want to say the media but the British tabloid media are renowned for being one of the worst worldwide for getting in people’s private lives and making a massive deal out of nothing. But it is hysteria. American are generally more hysterical, more excitable- in a good way. Twilight is an American franchise rather than a British one and more importantly it is a love story. Harry Potter was always based around what could be called a child’s story, which has just grown up. Whereas my female friends and my girlfriend go weak at the knees at the mention of Edward Cullen,.A: You won the Best Villain at the MTV Awards.You came across tonally quite different from the Americans.
T: I clashed, didn’t I? I was salt in a bowl of sugar. I’d like to be there as a guest but to go up and do something… I got a nod about five minutes before the award and then a camera was in front of me.A: Did you go to any after-show Parties?
T: I went for about 20 minutes. Just wanted a cup of tea and a digestive. It was fun, a great experience but absolutely terrfifying.A: Why?
T: I was completely out of my element. I walk around London. I do my shopping in Tesco. I don’t at all put myself in that category of people. It would have been bizarre to meet Eva Mendes. But to be accepting an award? Samuel L Jackson gave me the award. I mean that’s just mental.A: What’s happening with your music?
T: I’m in discussions with a great company called Six Strings Productions. This Idea has come along for me to be a director in the company, not only for myself but also for other young musicians. We get the feeling that a lot of these big record labels put young musicians off wanting to do albums because they just get screwed over. I want to do it for fun and for Passion, not to see how many Harry Potter fans want to buy a Tom Felton album. That’s od no appeal to me.A: Lots of them would though.
T: Possibly. That’s probably what the company had in mind to begin with, which is why there’s this other idea.A: If you move to LA, will you embrace the lifestyle?
T: No. I’d have to do it my own way.I’m not really into the whole aviators through the airport and all that malarkey. But with the sunshine, my dog would love walking up and down the pier, I’d love it.A: What if the Americans said you need to do all these self-improvement things – like Twilight’s Taylor Lautner, who went to the gym twice a day to bulk up?
T: It’s funny because had Harry Potter been shot in America, we’d have all been doing reps and chest presses in our lunch breaks. I understand it’s for the business but if you make that your everything, then you’re going to live a very sad life. There’s a smaller picture and a bigger picture and that’s well and truly in the smaller one. Nothing wrong with staying healthy. It’s for your craft.<A: So if Harry Potter had been American produced there’d be slow-motion chest reveals?
T: Literally, yeah! We’d be ripped up, man, bulging at the shoulders. Thank God they didn’t, or else I would have been on the protein shakes.A: Have you read any fan fiction?
T: I have no knowledge of it, expect that I know people have vivid imaginations. I’ve seen some hilarious pictures of Daniel and I on my brother’s screensaver on his phone and you don’t want to go anywhere near that sort of fan fiction. That sort is well and truly.. my brother enjoys that kind of joke.A: What was the picture?
T: We’re naked in the bed together. I’m spooning him basically. It never happened! That’s all I can tell you – it’s digital trickery. We never took pictures of the time we actually did. That was a different time altogether!A: You have a good tan. Have you just been on holiday?
T: Well yes. It was the first chance I had after having been ordered out of the sun for the last 10 years. I’ve had to remain pale, which can be quite crap when you’re on holiday. I’m not really much into lying in the sun but I like golf and before, if it was sunny, I couldn’t go out. But on my fourth day of lying in the sun, I got the call for Rise of the Apes and they said don’t get any more sun.A: Are you going to do something controversial to break away from the children’s franchise?
T: You mean like get my wand out on stage? I think anything that challenges you. People ask what you want to do now? But it’s nothing particular. It doesn’t have to be a play or a film. Whatever – as long as it challenges me.
