To start off the new year we get a brand new interview with Matt Lewis from the Evening Standard. He talks about everything from his Attitude Magazine shoot and leaving Neville Longbottom behind to his new roles in Happy Valley, Ripper Street and Me Before You. The full interview, including some Harry Potter talk, may be read over at Evening Standard. You can also view ttwo photos and a scan of the paper in our gallery.
When talking about why he wanted to be in Ripper Street‘s 4th series, which will be available on Amazon Prime UK starting January 15th, he said:
“I have a morbid fascination with serial killers. This show is about dramatic human stories that happen to be set in Victorian England. The first episode deals heavily with imperialism, immigration, Islam, murder, police corruption and all these things we are still talking about today. Man’s inhumanity to man is an interesting topic.”
Unfortunately Matthew could not say much about his role as Sean in series 2 of Happy Valley other than the character is “a wayward soul” and that ” it was one of the toughest challenges I’ve ever undertaken. I had to go to some pretty dark places. I was strung up really tight.”
Next he moved on to chatting about Me Before You, which will be released on March 4th. Of his trainer Tim Buckley, who works with Daniel Craig on James Bond, he said he is “simultaneously my hero and the worst person I’ve ever met in the entire world because he flogged the shit out of me.”
The interview also goes into the awkward topic of looks and Matthew’s recent Attitude Magazine shoot.
“I was like ‘Why the hell do you want me?’ Naturally you think of cover models to be David Beckham or someone insanely handsome, not me. But I’ve worked with the photographer, Joseph Sinclair, before and he is incredibly talented. He suggested some more risqué shots because I was in the best shape of my life and I trust him. Of course I was self-conscious. Even if one day I end up looking like f***ing Chris Hemsworth I’m never going to not be self-conscious.”
He acknowledges “there is massive pressure on women, and increasingly men, to look good. If you step out on a red carpet not looking a certain way you’ll be rinsed mercilessly — and that’s disgusting.”
[…]
“Yeah. The photos were good and people were saying nice things. I’ve had a few marriage proposals but they should try living with me.”
And if you were wondering if Matt ever reads your Twitter messages, he does read them when he has time “because if people are taking the time to write you a message the least you can do is read it. Jo Rowling has the same attitude.”
