Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom showed up at the Irish premiere of Harry Potter 6, we nabbed them for a quick chat…
Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom are two of the lesser known characters in the Harry Potter franchise, but we have a special place for them thanks to their Irish connections. Both actors Evanna Lynch and Matt Lewis showed up at the recent Harry Potter premiere and Movies.ie was there to grill the duo on their Hogwarts success.
How does this movie stand up in the Harry Potter movie franchise?
EL: It’s gearing up for the last one. You definitely have a sense of “this is it”; either Harry or Voldemort has to die. You learn about the Horcruxes – that there are actually seven pieces of Voldemort, which is a scary thought! And you meet young Voldemort, which I find quite disturbing because there is that big question of whether his evil was influenced as he grew up or if it was deep rooted within him. That is heavy, that’s intense, but then there’s all the fun stuff as well, the bits where they get to play with the characters – to mess Ron and Hermione around and stick Lavender in there… And there is the Snape story, which is very interesting – Snape and Draco… Yeah, you have to concentrate!
Were you both fans of the books before you made the movies?
ML: Yeah! I mean, I don’t think I was quite a big a fan as Evanna was, but yeah I was definitely a fan. I read the first four before my first audition and I loved them. I asked my mum “if they make a film, can I go for an audition?” and she was like “Yeah, we’ll see…”! I wanted to be an extra, a walk-on, anything! I was lucky enough to land the role of Neville and it’s just a dream come true really.
EL: I was a massive fan. It was my defining point! I loved it, I breathed it. I had all the posters up and I remember when I got the part, one of the publicists came to my house and she looked at my wall and said “It’s like my career in here!”. I queued up for the books and the films. I still love them, but obviously I can’t talk about them as much as I used to because my friends are like “You’re just a glory hound!” [laughs]
Which was your favourite Harry Potter book?
ML: I think my favourite was Prisoner of Azkaban… I really liked Chamber of Secrets, but a lot of other people I have spoken to, that was one of their least favourites. I really like that one!
EL: Yeah, that was my favourite until the fifth and seventh ones came out… I like Order of the Phoenix a lot because I think it’s where Harry grows up a lot. He gets really, really angry and I love a bit of anger and passion! [laughs] He is suffering with all this bad press he is receiving and he has to learn to not care about that and I think that’s a big stage for him. It’s where you stop focusing so much on Harry himself, and then from the sixth and seventh books you see why he is great, you see why he is The Chosen One, he’s not just this normal kid, he has, as Hermione puts it “a saving people thing” and he won’t be happy until he defeats Voldemort.
There are two more movies left; do you both want to continue acting after they are finished?
ML: Yeah definitely! I have been acting since I was five so… 15 years, so I think it’s probably best to stay in the industry if I can! It’s just always been my passion, I have always wanted to do it and I would like to do it for the rest of my life. It’s just one of those industries, unfortunately, where it is never guaranteed and I am well aware that you never know. So I did all my exams at school – my A Levels – and I am prepared to go to university if I need to if it doesn’t work out. I have set aside, after Harry Potter, a good five or six years where I will give 110% and try and make it work!
EL: I would love to! I really enjoy acting. It has been such a great opportunity to grow, if I had been stuck at school, just reading the books I’d be a lot shyer and I wouldn’t have met so many people. I really don’t want to give that up, but like Matt says, you can’t guarantee anything. Everyone says “Are you going to continue?” and I am like “Uhh… You tell me!” [laughs]
Matt you worked Robert Pattinson, did you ever think he would become the massive heartthrob movie star that he has?
ML: [laughs] Well you see, Rob’s really good looking, and we all knew that! He is very cool, he’s just naturally a cool person, who really doesn’t care. He has an attitude where he is just like “Yeah, whatever…” He’s a really nice guy, I went out with him a couple of times in London. I never expected to become as huge as that, but he’s done a great job and he really deserves it.
Words : Brogen Hayes
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE IS NOW SHOWING AT IRISH CINEMAS