Best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, Tom Felton has penned a brilliant memoir about growing up playing an iconic role in the series. He reflects on his time shooting the movies with a wide cast of talented actors, detailing behind-the-scenes shenanigans and trouble he got into while on set. While filming Harry Potter is the bulk of this memoir, Felton also gives readers a taste of what it was like growing up the youngest of four brothers (and how one of those brothers wasn’t exactly the best on-set chaperone), night fishing when he should have been sleeping in preparing for shoots the next day, and getting his acting start in movies like Anna and the King and The Borrowers. And with the type of honesty that comes with time and self-reflection, Felton also writes about his past struggles with alcohol and his time in rehab. It’s a beautiful memoir — with a forward by Emma Watson herself — that captures the heart, charm, and wittiness of the man beyond the wand. BuzzFeed had the opportunity to chat with Felton about his book, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard — out wherever books are sold. Tom Felton: I’ve always written my whole life, really. Poems, doodles, notes — and bits and pieces. And I’m constantly reminded that details tend to get lost and blurred into one, the more time passes. So, originally, it was inspired by doing Comic Cons around the world and being asked questions about how we were all brought together to make the films. All that sort of stuff. I used to tell brief answers, and then, I’d go back to my hotel room or home, whatever it was, and just start furiously scrambling down all the bits and pieces that I didn’t have the time to say. This is certainly three or four years of compiling, but about 10 years in the making. Probably more than that. FP: The title is very fitting, of course. Is it something that you came up with? TF: It was a bit of a joke with a running friend of mine, Derek. He suggested it many, many years ago. Slightly tongue in cheek. When it actually came [time] to sit down and compile the stories, I thought it was quite fitting. So, I think he was joking at the time, but I think it’s just right. TF: I’ll make it an easy answer. No. They weren’t impressed then. And they’re not impressed now. There’s a nice, healthy blasé-ness between my friends and family and all of this, and that’s how it should be, really. FP: What was your favorite part of the book to write, and what part was the most challenging for you? TF: It was all written really, without thinking too much about someone else reading it. So, none of it was too challenging on that front. I thought it was quite interesting cross-referencing stories with other people. My family, and obviously the other Potter cast members, when I sent them the stories to say, “Remember this?” Some of them were like, “Wait a minute, that’s not how it happened. This is what happened.” So, it was quite funny doing a lot of that. And obviously, I was right all the time, and everyone else was wrong! That was a fun part of it. The only tricky part was putting it into an accurate timeline. You know what it’s like, when you go to school, it’s hard to really tell one year from the other when you were 12, or when you were 14, or when you were 16. Trying to put that into a timeline took a little bit of time, but with a little bit of help from my friends and family, it was achievable. TF: I find writing pretty similar to talking to a friend. It’s nice to put it down on paper. So, you can imagine Penguin and Ebury’s surprise when I walked up with a stack of little scribbles on pieces of paper and not some organized document. Because it’s quite difficult to put it into format. But, yes and no. None of it was written down with the full preparation of other people reading it, which I hope will really lend itself toward the genuine nature of the book and my voice. Because it’s written conversationally, and it’s supposed to sound like me talking to you. Because that’s exactly what it was. Trying to put it into context and processing all those difficult times I had, especially what I mention toward the end of the book, is from the encouragement that I had from other people. A lot of my Potter cast mates, my family, and Emma specifically, gave me a lot of bravery to feel comfortable sharing. I don’t know what the response is going to be. But I’m more than comfortable to share my vulnerability in the hope that other people that are going through similar things won’t feel so confined to have to keep them to themselves. So, fingers crossed that [this] will help them through their moments of darkness.FP: It was very moving and powerful to read.TF: I was quite keen to not leave it out, but I didn’t really feel the need to talk about it too much. It was only through the encouragement of others who said that it’s quite uplifting to hear other people talk about their own struggles. I’m hoping that it will be empowering to other people that they get a chance to know that they’re not alone.FP: I do feel like I need to ask, since at BuzzFeed, we work to provide a safe space for our readers — and Hogwarts has been such a safe space for so many readers and fans throughout the years. But highly criticized anti-trans statements from J.K. Rowling has caused so many to feel excluded, to say the least. I wondered if you had any intention of echoing the sentiments of your cast mates, Dan, Rupert, and Emma and advocating for and standing by trans and nonbinary individuals?TF: It’s difficult to weigh them with specificity because I don’t know. My dog and my family and friends keep me far too busy to go into exactly what people have said or not said. All I can say is that I’m very pro-discussion, pro-love, pro-people, and so, in that regard, I’m very pro-Potter, because in my experience, at least, I’ve been so lucky to travel the world with Potter through Comic Cons. And I’ve not seen a single part of the world that hasn’t been positively influenced by these books, and [it] has brought more people together than anything else that I know. So, for that reason, I’m really, really grateful for the Harry Potter stories. I’m really grateful that Jo woke up one day and chose to write them down. All of the others’ specific politics, I couldn’t speak to, and I think it would be irresponsible for me to wade in on something that I just simply don’t know enough about.FP: What do you hope readers take away from your book?TF: I hope they know a little bit more about me, I suppose. But again, I’m encouraged to bring it back to Potter. I think we all — in fact, I know we all — when we finished the filming, we fully expected the Potter fandom to sort of start dwindling a bit and maybe start to sort of die down. Clearly, that hasn’t happened. Most fans that come up to me now and ask me to say “Potter” or whatever, weren’t even born when we were making those first films. And I’m reminded, especially with the sad passing of Robbie Coltrane, that these are fantastical tales. And they’re all fun and games. But actually, there’s so many positive, moral elements of the story that keep bringing people together. So, I can only hope that this book will be an extension of that. FP: I truly am so sorry to hear about Robbie’s passing over this past weekend and wanted to just express my deepest sympathies to you and your cast mates.TF: I talk about it in the book, but he set the tone very fast. He sat next to Emma [at the table read], and he whispered in her ear before they started. So, I was like, “I’m Tom Felton, and I play Draco,” and Emma Watson and Robbie obviously switched, so Emma was like, “Hi I’m Emma Watson, and I play Rubeus Hagrid” — and you had Robbie Coltrane saying the opposite. That set the tone for how much fun we all were allowed to have on the films. So, I will always be very grateful for Robbie’s influence.FP: Tom, thank you again for your time. My last question — what’s next for you?TF: Well, I’ve got a very hungry Labrador, so she’ll be needing attending. I just finished doing a theater run in London, and I sort of purposefully sort of carved out the rest of the year to sort of enjoy talking about the book. And I’ve got music on the way. I’ve got more literacy. But mostly, I’m just trying to keep spreading the good vibes.
