Behind-the-Scenes Rift on Harry Potter Set Was Disturbingly Real, According to Tom Felton
Turns out, Gryffindor and Slytherin were more than just on-screen rivals.
Although Tom Felton has more than 30 projects to his credit, he is best known as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies.
It was this role that made him world-famous. Tom recently published a memoir, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, in which he shares stories from the set.
Even though everyone saw the videos from behind the scenes of Harry Potter, where the atmosphere seemed to be exceptionally friendly, Tom Felton admitted that the enmity between Draco Malfoy and the trio was not only on screen at early days of filming.
Initially, the young actors decided that they are going to be divided into houses to which they belonged as characters, and relations between the houses were strained.
At one point, Tom even insulted Emma Watson, which was very much in the spirit of his character.
"We were just being s***** boys, largely out of awkwardness and because we thought taking the piss was cool, but Emma was visibly upset by our thoughtless reaction. I did feel like a bit of a d***, and rightly so," Felton wrote in his book.
Tom also reveals that he apologized to Emma and she forgave him, but the memory of that act still makes him feel guilty.
Emma was the only female lead star, and it was her first time filming a big movie, so the whole situation was pretty hard for her.
But Tom also revealed some less saddening details. According to the actor, there was a system of fines that would put young actors in place in case they went too far.
The director would give the kids red cards if they messed up a take. Getting a red card meant putting £10 in a bag, and when filming ended, all the money were donated to charity.
Felton named Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, to be the worst violator. The actor parted with more than £2,500 in the first two films alone.
During the filming of the Quidditch scenes, to keep the young performers' eyes from wandering around the frame, a member of the film crew held a tennis ball on a long pole with an orange ribbon.
And to keep the kids from getting confused and looking at the ball, they soon replaced it with things that were meaningful to the actors.
Tom himself expressed his love for fishing and chose the image of a carp, and Daniel Radcliffe turned out to be a fan of Cameron Diaz and it was her photo that replaced the ball.
Despite the conflict, Emma and Tom maintained a warm relationship even after filming ended. She was one of the first people he showed the manuscript to.
Watson wrote a touching foreword to the book. The other person who read the draft was Tom's on-screen father, Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy.