DA MAN: How was it working with James Franco, Freida Pinto and Andy
Serkis?
Tom Felton: It was quite nerve-racking at first. I’d never really
worked with American superstars. James was the first. He’s a very charming guy,
he’s very intelligent, very gracious with his time; I bored him for hours with
questions. Yeah, he’s very cool. And Andy Serkis is just the biggest gentleman
that I’ve ever met in my life, I think. He’s extremely nice, and Freida is very
sweet as well. I feel very lucky to have such a nice, generous cast to work
with.
DA MAN: Any fond memories you had from filming the movie?
Tom
Felton: I remembered on the first day of the shoot, Rupert [the director] said,
‘Yeah, it’s great, but I want you to have bleached-blond hair.’ I looked at him,
like, ‘Ah, you are kidding, mate. I just managed to get rid of the blond hair,
how can you possibly want it back?’ So I eventually said, ‘Yeah, fine. Okay,
I’ll do it.’ And then he burst out laughing; he just wanted me to answer that.
That was a nice way to break the ice with the director. From then on, I felt
more comfortable filming with him.
DA MAN: So are you saying that you’re
never going back to being platinum blond?
Tom Felton: [Laughs] Not unless I
have to. I’m willing, but not unless I absolutely have to.
DA MAN: Did you
have to act in front of the green screen when shooting?
Tom Felton: No, it
was completely the opposite. Everything was real, apart from the apes—they were
all played by humans; Andy Serkis was obviously leading the way there. And they
replaced them with digitalized images of what they were acting out. None of
these technologies has ever been used in this way before. It’s kind of taking
the Avatar way of CGI. It’s definitely a first for special effects and, you
know, from what we’ve seen on the trailer; it’s incredible.
DA MAN: What
other projects do you have in the pipeline? Anything you’re shooting at the
moment?
Tom Felton: Nothing at the moment; we’re just promoting at the
moment. But there’s two other films that we’ve already shot as well and they’re
coming out probably next year. One, called From the Rough, which is an
independent film that I shot in New Orleans earlier this year, was a lot of fun.
Another one is called The Apparition, with Ashley Greene from Twilight and
Sebastian Stan from Captain America. It was a very, very cool shoot and [the
movie] is kind of sci-fi/thriller/horror. My character is an expert in
supernatural scientific experiments. It was a very cool role to play and I’m
very excited to see that film.