In an exclusive interview with self-professed Ape-aholic Ed Gross of Ape Central, Tom confesses the joy of joining a new mega-franchise series. In this interview, we hear about his working with yet another villainous on-screen dad, working with relatively unknown director Rupert Wyatt, how the film is not a remake but a stand-alone in the series, and also his plans for the next few months which includes heading to Louisiana to shoot “From the Rough.”

*NOTE: Tom calls the film “Out of the Rough,” but IMDB still has it listed as “From the Rough.” Which do you like better, Feltfans?

It’s quite possible that actor Tom Felton is moving from one mega-franchise (in the form of Harry Potter) to another as he co-stars in next summer’s Caesar: Rise of the Apes. In this exclusive interview, the actor talks about his time on the set of this Rupert Wyatt-directed reboot of Planet of the Apes.

Interview conducted by and copyright Edward Gross

In the film, Felton is playing the son of Brian Cox, who in turn is described as being the cruel manager of an apes sanctuary. As Tom points out, he’s not moving THAT far away from Draco in that his character is far from a nice guy.

APE CENTRAL.NET: You’ve obviously moved on having scored Caesar: Rise of the Apes. How did you get cast in that?

TOM FELTON: It came out of nowhere, bizarrely. I actually went on my first proper holiday I’ve had for a while, and on the fourth day I got a call saying, “Would you fancy coming to Vancouver and we’ll have a look at you, and think about taking on this role?” I was excited about it; I’m a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes franchise, so I was excited. I read the script and honestly it was one of the best things I’ve ever read, if not the best – certainly over the last few years – so I was excited to come over. And when I got to Vancouver I met with [director] Rupert Wyatt who’s brilliantly directing the project at the moment, and I’ve been here for three weeks now.

APE CENTRAL.NET: How familiar are you with the old movies?

TOM FELTON: I’ve actually been re-introduced since joining this other franchise, if you will. I’ve had to do some research and go back a bit, but my dad was the most excited, because he was a big franchise fan back when he was a youngster. He was very excited. He keeps dropping quotes and names of old apes and things.

APE CENTRAL.NET: When you watch those old films what do you think of them?

TOM FELTON: Well, I think it’s always different when you’re looking at a film from another time, but they are fantastic. I knew about them, and I knew what was going to happen, and a lot of the famous lines I knew – I’ve seen other franchises quoting from them – but it adds to the excitement, it adds to the magnitude of what I’m joining on to. It’s fantastic; it made it even more exciting.

APE CENTRAL.NET: I think this approach – using the fourth film as a launching point rather than doing a direct remake of the original – is brilliant. It’s really it’s own thing in a lot of ways.

TOM FELTON: I couldn’t agree more. Had I not had the knowledge that it was what it was, I almost wouldn’t have put two and two together – it’s such a great story set in completely different backdrops and atmospheres, so I’m sort of intrigued about how the Planet of the Apes fans take this, and kind of enjoy it, because everyone here is absolutely reveling in the story. it seems to me that it’s going to appeal to absolutely everyone. Whether you’re a fan of the franchise previously or not – you don’t need a heavy understanding of what happened in Tim Burton’s or in the original; it’s sort of out on its own, in its own way. I mean, one of the golden rules is don’t touch a classic, and it’s fair to say that some of the originals are definitely classics and there’s less pressure on the whole franchise if you’re not trying to remake something, or please a certain genre of fans. It’s something completely new.

APE CENTRAL.NET: And how about working with Rupert?

TOM FELTON: It’s been an absolutely joy. I really thought, after the last four years of Potter, working with David Yates, that I wouldn’t find anyone who’s quite as incredible as him, but now on my first job I’ve found one. Rupert is unbelievably understanding and approachable, and a completely nice guy, but at the same he’s an absolutely genius as well – he seems to notice tiny, tiny details that no one else does, and he can sort of control a set of ten plus actors single handedly, so it’s been nothing but a joy, and he’s come up with all these extra bits, if you will that I wouldn’t have thought of, that no one would have thought of, so it’s been an absolute joy.

APE CENTRAL.NET: Rupert himself is such an unknown quantity to a large extent that it should be a big surprise to people.

TOM FELTON: Oh, 100% I think it’s such a great idea and I was very intrigued when I found out Rupert was directing. I’m a huge fan of The Escapist, and I think that was, again, an exceptionally clever film, so I knew we were dealing with someone straightaway who was on the ball, and up-and-coming if you will, so it will be something completely fresh. And not that I’ve seen much footage, but some of the stuff he has captured and I have seen is beautiful, it looks so cinematic as well as staying true to the story. I can’t say too much – I’ve only been here for three weeks and I haven’t seen anything finalized, but from what I have seen, and what I’ve got a vibe from… For instance, Andy Serkis has been here from the start, and he sings Rupert’s praises from the rooftops, and the fact is that he’s been here every single minute of it, almost, and he’s extremely excited, and everyone’s excitement is sort of bouncing around off each other at the moment.

APE CENTRAL.NET: Are you a nice guy or a bad guy in the movie?

TOM FELTON: (laughs) I don’t want to say too much, but needless to say he’s not the nicest guy in the world and I have a lot of fun playing him. With Brian Cox involved [playing his father], it doesn’t set a good scene; it’s kind of bad from there on in.

APE CENTRAL.NET: Have you worked with Brian yet?

TOM FELTON: Yes we have, we’ve had a few opportunities to work together and he’s been great as well. I don’t know why you would expect these big names to be very different around you, but not at all, he’s exceptionally relaxed, and very friendly – we got to talking about old times, and he’s relayed a lot of exciting stories to me. He’s kind of a scary guy to be fair. It’s actually bizarre, there’s lots of brilliantly friendly actors on set, but when they’re in front of the camera they’re completely different people.

APE CENTRAL.NET: What else are you working on?

TOM FELTON: I always try to keep focused on one project at the time – but this is coming to a close for me – I’m finishing up on Friday and I’ve got a lot of Potter promotion and premieres which I’m very excited about as I’ve not seen any of the footage we shot there. Then I’m supposed to be going to Louisiana to shoot an independent film called Out Of The Rough. We’re going to be shooting that through October and November, so I’m very excited about that as well. It’s an independent project about a coach who gets the opportunity to put together a golf team, for which he gets four international boys, and I play the British boy. It is a very different role for me, and it definitely stands out against what I’ve done previously. I’m excited to get on board.

Source

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.

While Tom was on vacation in Majorca last week, he had the opportunity to speak with their Daily Bulletin while partaking in the island’s Pirates Adventure Uncut show, the same program he saw the “kiddie” version of last year when he visited in support of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. In the interview, Tom gives further detail on his role in The Apparition, his upcoming journey to Canada for Rise of the Apes, and his music.

Feltbeats Admin Tick Tock has lovingly transcribed the newspaper article for easier reading. You can see the original scans of Tom’s interview here in our photo galleries.

Tom Felton, alias Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series of films, is currently enjoying a few days off on the island before heading out to Vancouver next week to begin filming Rise of the Apes, a 20th Century Fox prequel to Planet of the Apes.

Later this year, the first of the final Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released, with part two, the end of the eight-film saga, due to be released in July next year, and Felton admitted to the Bulletin yesterday that being one of the main characters in the Potter saga has not only been a fantastic experience but a unique one which no actors will probably experience again.

“I very much doubt a series of films like this will ever be produced again, and, yes, this is the end of Harry Potter, unless JK Rowling starts writing again, and I would love to return to the part,” he said. “It’s also been a great stepping stone and a wonderful chance to work with the cream of British film and stage. It has been a truly inspirational cast, and, for us, being so young when we started out on the first film, we’ve learnt so much from these legendary actors and actresses as well as producers and directors,” he added. “I guess it’s a mixed emotion now it’s all over. One the one hand it was a wonderful experience and great fun, but on the other it is kind of sad,” he said.

However, Felton is a man of many talents. He had a cameo part playing himself in the hit comedy Get Him to the Greek and will soon be seen in The Apparition, which is described as a sci-fi/horror/thriller, which was shot on location, in Berlin, mostly, and then Los Angeles. “It’s based on a true story, actually. It is inspired about a supernatural attendance unleashed by a college experiment called the Phillips Experiment,” he explained. “I play the scientist responsible for unleashing the apparition, which does not quite turn out as we expected, and then have to try and contain it some two years later.”

And now he’s off to Canada for a four-week shoot on the 90 million dollar The Rise of the Apes, in which he plays an expert at a primate facility for young apes.

He is not going to be playing the ape!

“It’s got a great script and cast: John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), James Franco, Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), and the larger than life Brian Cox, and I’m really excited about getting on set,” he said yesterday.

But Tom is also branching out into the world of music. “Nothing’s been signed, sealed, and delivered,” he was quick to stress yesterday, but he may well be swapping magic for music. “Music has always been one of my big passions, and I’m in talks with various people about getting involved in Six Strings Productions, which is an independent record label. Primarily, my desire is to help young, talented musicians, of which there are so many, who are scared of signing up with the big labels and getting turned over. The project is still up in the air, but I hope we can make it work because I really want to help young musicians,” he explained. He admitted that he is also a singer/song-writer, “nothing too serious”, but he has recorded a few tracks and there may be room for some form of “coalition” within the new project that he gets to record some music as well.

So, after what will have been eight Harry Potter films – he auditioned when he was 12 and is now [22] – by the time the final part is released next summer, Felton is neither short of work nor ideas. He has not seen the final Potter films yet, but he knows they are going to be the best. “The whole production company (which includes his girlfriend Jade, who is the assistant stunt coordinator) and cast really wanted to end the series on a major high, and, obviously, they are both more adult than the previous ones as they have had to grow with the characters. But I know the director David Yates, who’s directed these last four, put everything he could into [them], his heart and soul – we all did, I guess. They are both more violent and darker than the others; there are more battles and, of course, deaths. We’re nearing the end, so it’s all going to be very exciting, and we all wanted these two last chapters, in particular the final, to be the piece de resistance, and, from what I have seen, Potter fans and movie-goers in general are in for a real treat,” he said. “But I can’t give too much away,” he added.

Tom was also at the opening of the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando and said it is an amazing place. “They used most of the films’ set and costume designers and crew to build and design it, so it really is authentic. It is hugely impressive,” he stressed.

After having been one of the stars of the greatest series of films to have been made to date, Felton has plenty of options and open doors, but he appears to be quite relaxed about what the future will bring. He admits he may spend some time “across the pond”.

That is providing JK Rowling does not start writing again, though.