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October 6, 2003 — Potter mania as stars meet their fans
Film fans queued for hours to meet some of the stars of the Potter movies at the weekend.
The actors who play Neville Longbottom, Fred and George Weasley, Tom Riddle and Dobby were at a fan event in Milton Keynes, called Collectormania.
Potter-mad people kept the stars busy all day signing autographs, taking photos and quizzing their idols about what it’s like on set.
Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom, said he was amazed by all the attention.
“It’s mad,” he said. “But it’s great to meet everyone.”
‘Bit behind schedule’
But Matthew’s having a bit of trouble keeping track of Potter-mania.
His schedule is pretty hectic! He’s still filming Potter three, has just signed up to star in Potter four, and is still reading Potter book 5!
“Filming is going quite well,” he said, talking about the long-awaited third movie, the Prisoner of Azkaban. “Neville’s a great character to play.
“We’re a bit behind schedule but we should be finishing soon. In fact, me, James and Oliver, who play Fred and George, should be finishing some time in October.
“It’s quite hard to say goodbye to everyone but we will be starting to film the fourth one soon. I’ve officially signed up for the Goblet of Fire.”
‘Best bits’
Matthew said filming Harry Potter was still exciting, especially because there’s a new director on Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron, who’s got a really different style of working.
“Azkaban’s been great and the best bit is the Monster Book of Monsters – that was really fun to do.”
He added he was excited about the way his character is developing in the books.
In the Order of the Phoenix, Harry finds out that no one’s 100% sure whether it’s him or Neville in The Prophecy.
“It’s cool because Neville’s always been there in the background before but in book five he’s suddenly bigger,” Matthew said. “It could be Neville that the prophecy’s talking about – and to do that as a film would be brilliant.”
Marauder’s Map
His mates, James and Oliver Phelps, who play the Weasley twins, are also having loads of fun on the Azkaban set.
“We’re enjoying it,” James said. “There’s some really cool scenes like Quidditch, which is always fun to do, and the Marauder’s Map.
“Doing the third film is great. It’s like a school within a school. Hogwarts is a school and it’s got all different pupils, and all the cast are like pupils at another school. After Potter two, we had a break, like a school summer holiday, and then we all came back to do Harry Potter three, it just feels comfortable.”
‘Great honour’ Toby Jones, who’s the voice of Dobby, said he’d had a funny time meeting fans.
“Most of the fans have been thrilled to meet ‘Dobby’,” he said, “but some of the younger ones have been a little bit confused because obviously, um, I’m not Dobby!
“It’s bizarre, I didn’t realise til I did the films what an important character he was to so many people.
“Being in Harry Potter is a great honour.”
We quite agree!
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