Posted Under: Agatha Christie's Verdict, Film, Harry Potter, Interviews, Roles, The Syndicate, Wasteland/The Rise
Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 11:07 am | Comments Off on Matt Lewis Talks Post-Potter With Yorkshire Evening Post |
In a new interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Matt talks about his career post-potter and The Rise, also known as Wasteland which is out in the UK beginning tomorrow. The interview began with Matthew talking about his first post-Potter role in the West End play Verdict:
“I guess I wanted to prove that I could do something after Potter,” he explains. “When you come out of a film like that you worry if you are going to work again. You have to shake that off and get the monkey off your back. I had never done theatre before and coming out of a big film, I wanted to go back to basics and see how it goes. I was largely terrible. We didn’t have a lot of rehearsal time and I’d done nothing like it before, so we had some bad reviews. But it was good for me. I picked up the basics and by the end I figured out what theatre was about. Jumping in the deep end like that was a stupid thing to do but I really enjoyed it. I’m very appreciative that they gave me that opportunity. Even though it was difficult at first I knew I had to knuckle down and I came out of that with a renewed confidence.”
On why he chose to accept the role of Dodd: “When I was approached with the script I thought it was brilliant. It is hard to explain the intelligence of it without giving away the ending. I really loved it. It was clever and different and very much something I wanted to be a part of.”
Of his character Dodd in The Rise: “The character of Dodd was really fun for me to play. He is the biggest of all of his mates and very loyal. He’s on the front line but isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. It was so different to Neville. Neville isn’t something I wanted to dwell on and I’m moving away from it now. But at the same time I’m not going to begrudge it because that is what made me and it’s where I came from. There are opportunities that I’ve got now that I wouldn’t have got without it. I wouldn’t ever shy away from talking about it.”
On being able to work in his hometown of Leeds: “Working in Leeds is brilliant for me. I am not a keen traveller in any way. I’ve been around the world with my job and been to many wonderful places but I always want to come home. So for me, to be able to do a job that I love in the city that I love really is a dream come true.”
More may be read in the full interview.
Posted Under: Our Boys
Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 10:22 am | Comments Off on ‘Our Boys’ Nominated for Most Inspiring West End Show |
Matthew’s play Our Boys, which just finished it’s West End run last night, has been nominated as the Most Inspiring West End Show in the West End Frame Awards. It is up against some pretty tough competition so make sure to vote via the West End Frame website!! As of the time of this post, Our Boys is in 3rd place with 10% of the vote. From the website:
Posted Under: Our Boys
Friday, December 7, 2012 at 11:41 am | Comments Off on Our Boy Noinated for What’s On Stage Awards |
Matthew Lewis’ play Our Boys has been nominated for two What’s on Stage Awards for 2013! It has been nominated for the following:
The IMAIL Best Ensemble Performance
Chariots of Fire – at Hampstead & the Gielgud
Let It Be – at the Prince of Wales
Our Boys – at the Duchess
Richard III & Twelfth Night – at Shakespeare’s Globe & the Apollo
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – at the National, Cottesloe
The Ladykillers – at the GielgudBest Play Revival
A Doll’s House – at the Young Vic
Abigail’s Party – at the Menier Chocolate Factory & Wyndham’s
Long Day’s Journey into Night – at the Apollo
Our Boys – at the Duchess
She Stoops to Conquer – at the National, Olivier
The Judas Kiss – at Hampstead
You can vote, starting today, on the What’sOnStage website, voting closes on January 31st. The awards will be presented on February 17th. You can buy tickets to the Awards Concert via this page.
Posted Under: Harry Potter, Interviews, Our Boys
Monday, November 26, 2012 at 10:40 pm | 1 Comment |
In a new interview with Mirror Online, Matthew talks about Our Boys and his life post-Harry Potter and how he still disagrees when people call hima “hunk” and more. Of his reaction to the recent obsession with his looks he says:
“It was just a few good camera angles in New York,” he says. “I wasn’t attractive when I was growing up and I don’t think I am now. It was never something I associated with me, ever, so it came as a shock. It was never, like, ‘Let me take these ears off then you’ll see’.”
He says: “Julia Roberts says it in Notting Hill. ‘Eventually, people will realise that I can’t act and I’m not that good-looking’ and stuff. You’re just thinking, ‘Tomorrow they’re going to figure it out.’ […] It was very nice to hear it said about me – very humbling, you know – it’s just a lot of pressure.”
In the interview he discusses Our Boys and how his character Mick, has some similarities with Neville:
There are a lot of similarities between my character Mick and Neville – he’s the butt of a lot of jokes. He’s a soldier, talking about sex and being overtly racist and sexist because he doesn’t know any better. Potter fans won’t expect that but hopefully he’s not too far detached that they get upset about it.”
The play is set in a military hospital and the central theme is the camaraderie between the sick soldiers. “The research was meticulous,” says Matt. “We had a lecture from an officer about the army of 1984 – it was a peacetime army. Lads were in Germany or sunbathing in Cyprus. But it’s also about the boredom of the 80s. People only had three TV channels, Betamax and a Walkman. They have to entertain themselves by playing pranks on people.”
He also talks about some of his jobs when he was first starting out:
“The fact that I was in Sharpe – for one scene as ‘boy in workplace’ – that is the pinnacle of my career to him because I was with the King of Yorkshire, Sean Bean. [see a photo here]
“I was the face of Warburton’s when I was little too. That’s a close second.”
Read the full interview at the link above or in the press archive.
Posted Under: Interviews, Our Boys, Videos
Friday, November 16, 2012 at 7:30 pm | 1 Comment |
Today, November 16th, Matthew was a guest on ITV’s This Morning to talk about his play Our Boys currently showing on the West End. It is now available on the ITV website for those fans living in the UK. Unfortunately I haven’t found a version for those of us not in the UK, this post will be updated when I do.
The description of the episode is as follows:
A preview of the weekend’s X Factor, the latest news from I’m a Celebrity, Omid Djalili talks about his tour, and Matthew Lewis aka Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter pops in.
If anyone is able to capture the video please send it in! (webmiss[at]magical-menagerie.com)