Matthew-Lewis.com

HeyUGuys have posted a new interview with Matthew Lewis and his The Rise co-stars, Luke Treadaway and Gerard Kearns, about the film. The interview is posted in conversation style and may be read in full, here.

Was there much conversation on set about heist films?
ML: It’s weird, because I don’t feel like it’s a heist film.
Luke Treadaway: That’s how it’s been sold.
ML: Someone was talking about it being a heist film, and people say “what is it?” what am I going to say? “it’s a heist film”, but it’s about the four lads, and that’s what all the conversations that I had were about. It was about the relationship between the four guys, which I feel is the most important thing in the whole picture, and the heist thing is just the backbone that carries it on.
LT: Gerard’s character got to do some of the most heist – you were there for all the fire stuff.
Gerard Kearns: I got set on fire.
LT: And all the tunnels and stuff like that. I didn’t do much heist-y stuff.
GK: You measured the vault. We had to do that, that was a bit heist-y. Irwan got to use a sniper rifle.
LT: The crossbow. And he had to pull himself through roofs and stuff.
GK: That was heist-y.
ML: He dropped through the skylight, didn’t he.
LT: I think the most heist-y thing I did was time you welding something to a thing with a stopwatch.
ML: I climbed a ladder. That was pretty cool.
LT: I threw a brick through a window.
ML: Well, you tried to throw a brick through a window.
LT: They managed to convince a local shop owner – it had a small crack, and he needed a new window – to let us throw a brick through his window one night for a scene. And it was the scene where Matt was up a ladder, fixing the security alarm.
ML: The guy neglected to tell anyone that it was security glass.
LT: So we were there, huge build-up obviously, a lot of rehearsals. “We’ve only got one shot at this guys” I’m like, “don’t mess it up, don’t mess it up,”.  I’m there working on my arms beforehand so I can aim it really well. And then I went for it. Threw it, and it literally bounced off.
GK: So what did you do?
LT: Threw it another ten times.
ML: Stu [Stuart Bentley – the Director of Photography] made it work. Somehow. We did it about ten times, and the guy , after the first take was like, “I were gonna say it’s not gonna break”. Cheers pal.
LT: But that was funny.
GK: Is Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels a heist film?
ML: Yeah…
GK: I loved Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I thought it was a great heist film… Is crime heist? What are the rules? We need boundaries
ML: You’ve got to rob something that’s difficult to rob, like steal a jewel or rob a bank.
LT: You’ve got to make a plan, you’ve got to have architectural plans of a building.
ML: You need blueprints, a montage, a getaway driver
GK: The usual suspects, is that [a heist]?

Film3Sixty has posted a new interview with Matt where he chats about The Rise, among other things.

Film3Sixty: What attracted you to The Rise?
Matt Lewis: I read it in half an hour and thought this is brilliant! Immediately the attraction was that it was very clever, cool, the dialogue was very real.

F3S:  You have worked in film, TV and Theatre, both big and small budget, is there a medium or a way of working that you prefer?
ML: There is a long list for pro and cons of all three of those mediums. Harry Potter was incredible, but it was a big production. Whereas The Rise had a smaller budget, but we were all involved at every level. They’ve all got their little pros and cons, and I like them all for different reasons.

F3S: Is there one that you would like to do more of?
ML: I would like to do more films that are like The Rise. I absolutely love making movies, and I love being involved from beginning to end. I even went in when I was doing my ADR for The Rise and I was sat down talking to Rowan about scenes and the editing process.

F3S: How do you feel about the next movie that JK Rowling is going to be working on?
ML: I don’t know much about it. I haven’t read the book, and I’ve only glanced at the story for a moment but yeah why not? It was such a vivid world that she created, and there was so much there to explore. It was such a massive universe. I think the fans would welcome any new addition to the world. Star Wars has done it for nearly 40 years, with all their spin-offs because that the world was equally vivid. I’m sure I will see it.

Here’s another new interview with Matthew Lewis where he and co-star Luke Treadaway, along with director Rowan Athale, talk about The Rise which was released in theatres this past Thursday.

Yesterday Matthew was a guest on Soccer AM along with his The Rise co-stars; Luke Treadaway, Iwan Rheon and Gerard Kearn. A video may be watched below:

In another new interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Matt discusses the differences between filming on a big production like Potter compared to smaller films, like The Rise.

“It was hard work. We filmed it in about five weeks – we didn’t have the budget or the money for more. It was a new experience for me,” he said. “On Potter, we never had time constraints. We would spend days doing the same thing again and again, but on this, we couldn’t do that so we had to be on it and get it right quickly. It was close quarters and people stood on each other’s toes but everyone pulled through together.”

We sat around in the pub having a discussion about the title, music, cinematography and editing – stuff I never would have got involved in on Potter. I loved it. Doing a movie like Potter is fun and there is nothing like it, but sometimes you do feel like a small cog in a big machine.”

He also talked about the difficulty of night shoots:

“The long days were tough but the night shoots were the worst,” the actor admitted. In one scene, he had to punch someone. “It was tough. The sun was setting and we had 40 minutes max. Everyone was getting more stressed, and I had to work with the stuntman to punch him without punching him. I actually punched him in the nose three times and kneed him in the balls twice,” he said.