In a new interview with Ideas Tap, Matt Lewis gives aspiring young actors a number of tips on auditions and more. The full interview may be read in our press archive.
What were you most looking forward to doing when you finished Harry Potter?
What I really wanted to do was get another job. That was my main concern. When you’ve done a film series like that you have to be philosophical: I’m not expecting to do anything as big as that ever again. I just want to be working.
In the beginning, when I was going to meetings, I felt that I had to first convince them that I wasn’t Neville Longbottom before I could convince them I was somebody else. But I think a lot of that was more in my own mind than anything else.
What do you do to prepare for auditions?
There’s so much out there that I’ve found helpful – books written by casting directors, guidelines for auditions, books on Stanislavski technique. As soon as I get my script, I put my phone on silent and I sit and read through it and really try to immerse myself in it.
You can’t over-emphasis the importance of preparation. If you’re doing an accent, speak in that accent up until the moment you go in. If I’m going into a room to do a scene I want to know that scene back to front: what everyone’s motivation is and just know the scene completely – not just the lines.
What advice would you give adult actors for working with child actors?
I just remember how terrifying it was, working as a kid. I was so nervous around the older actors and thought, “Oh, are they going to be judging everything that I’m doing? Do they think I’m crap and is that why he’s not talking to me?” And that’s not true at all – it’s just that they are obviously engrossed in their own performances.
One thing I’ve always tried to do, working with kids since then, is talk to them and make them feel as comfortable as possible. Sometimes young people on a film set can feel excluded. You’re expecting these people to work like adults and be as professional and mature as adults so you’ve got to involve them.
Michael Gambon used to tell some really naughty jokes, when I was a kid. He wouldn’t tell them to us, but he’d be telling them to someone else and you’d overhear. I don’t think the parents liked it very much but for us that made him seem so much more human and more approachable. That made me more relaxed.
