In a franchise first, one of the key characters in theHarry Potterfilm series will reprise his role on stage.Tom Feltonis set to play his villainous character Draco Malfoy once again in the Broadway production ofHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, making history as the only performer in the fantasy series to reprise their original character in a different medium. Felton is excited about the opportunity, but theHarry Potterterritory is turbulent nowadays due to authorJ.K. Rowling’s controversial views. However, this doesn’t seem to affect Felton, as he says that he’s “not really that attuned to it.”
Per Variety, the actor recently attended the Tony Awards where he talked abouthis return to the widely acclaimed franchise. “There’s so many physical tricks,” Felton says when comparing the film sets to the elaborate stage on Broadway. “In the films, we used a lot of green screen, a lot of effects happened afterwards. And obviously in the show, everything is live and real, so I’m really excited to get my teeth stuck into that.”
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Felton was asked about Rowling’s views and the X/Twitter controversy, with the actor revealing if he felt impacted by the author’s newfound infamy, or if he felt that this impacted his work in the Wizarding World. He replied:
“I can’t say it does. I’m not really that attuned to it. The only thing I always remind myself is that I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world — here I am in New York — and I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter. And she’s responsible for that, so I’m incredibly grateful.”
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Felton is one of several performers who came of age while starring in one of the most successful film franchises of all time. Despite his co-stars in the film beingvocal about Rowling’s scandalous debate, he’s apparently more neutral about the whole conversation. His opinion is similar to that ofstars like Warwick Davis, who was also asked about Rowling’s issue recently, and he said that he’s “out of touch.” Felton is just thankful for his new chance to reprise his most important film role:
“It’s amazing. First of all, we all thought the Wizarding World fandom flame might be doused over the years, but clearly it’s not. The most exciting part is to do it live. It took nine months, more or less, to shoot a film, and this is all compact. This is all reimagined into a very loving, new type of story. And I get to be a dad, which is really fun.”
While every newHarry Potterannouncement is met a loud and often divisive reception by fans, regardless of the medium, there’s a significant portion of people that now associate everything with Rowling and her views. Many of them even used to be followers of the franchise, untilthe author started being outspokenwith regard to trans people’s rights and gender identity.
Everyone associated with the franchise has their opinion. It’s basic freedom of speech. But taking distance from the discourse appears to spark backlash as well. The social media response to Felton’s opinion is evidence of this, as some users claim he’s supporting Rowling and her controversial views, though he has not expressed support for what has become the author’s latest legacy. However, there are some who, understandably, perceive Felton’s willingness to continue to be associated with Rowling as endorsement enough. It remains to be seen whether this will affect his Broadway debut inHarry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Source:Variety
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