Redeem now - "Harry Potter" star Tom Felton spoke about filming a scene with Ralph Fiennes in the last film.
- In his memoir, Felton said that Fiennes improvised Voldemort awkwardly hugging Draco Malfoy.
- "It gave me goosebumps then, and the memory gives me goosebumps now," Felton wrote.
Tom Felton said that "Harry Potter" costar Ralph Fiennes improvised Voldemort's chilling, awkward hug with Draco Malfoy in the final movie.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Felton, who played Draco in all eight "Harry Potter" films released between 2001 and 2011, wrote about his experience working with Fiennes in his memoir released on Tuesday, titled "Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard."
Felton described Fiennes, who portrayed the franchise's villain, as an actor who had a "weighty presence" and an "otherness that set him apart from everyone else on set." Fiennes' unique disposition was on display when he and Felton filmed the Battle of Hogwarts in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."
The actor said that the "big moment" for him was when Draco ditched his Hogwarts schoolmates and professors to join his parents Lucius (Jason Isaacs) and Narcissa (Helen McCrory) on Voldemort's side.
As Felton's character crossed the floor to change sides, Voldemort said "Ah! Well done, Draco. Well done," and pulled him into a stiff hug.
"I must have done that walk 30 or 40 times," Felton wrote in his memoir. "For many of the takes I did the same thing: walking past Voldemort, keeping my distance, pacing slowly, head down, slightly terrified. Ralph would look at me differently every time. Sometimes he'd smile. Sometimes he wouldn't. Sometimes he would break off his monologue and tell me to go back."
"In the middle of one take, as I was pacing towards him for the umpteenth time, he lifted his arm just a fraction," Felton said. "It was the slightest movement, but enough to stop me in my tracks and think: is he trying to hug me?"
He continued: "Uncertain, I shimmied towards him, my arms down by my side. He put his own arms around me and gave me perhaps the most uninviting hug ever captured on film. Even on set it chilled me. A hug from Voldemort was scary for Draco, and it was equally awkward for Tom. It gave me goosebumps then, and the memory gives me goosebumps now."
Felton said the hug that made the final cut of the movie wasn't scripted, and he "had no idea they were going to use it until I saw the film for the first time at the premiere in London."
"That was one take out of 50," Felton said. "I had no idea they were going to use it until I saw the film for the first time at the premiere in London. The audience was completely silent. There was something so very twisted about that moment, something so wrong about watching Voldemort's warped display of affection, that I could sense everybody around me holding their breath uncomfortably."
Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know. Subscribe to push notificationsWatch:
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyprdGrsGaon6nBpr6Mq5ilqJhis6qxzaecrGWZor2zu9Wiqp6cXau8rbDEpqarrF2Zv6Kvzmafrp9doa60wIympq%2BhlWJ%2FcX6RZmhp