Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman Bond Made Tom Felton Jealous
Writing memoirs is a common pastime for famous people, film and TV stars included.
And just last week the memoir of Tom Felton, who portrayed Draco Malfoy in all eight Harry Potter films, titled Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard was released. As the title sufficiently indicates, it is primarily dedicated to Felton's experiences as an actor in the Harry Potter saga, and it includes his opinions on many of his co-stars.
Among other interesting information, Felton wrote that the cast and the crew of the films were jealous of the real-life bond between Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, and Gary Oldman, who joined the cast as Harry's godfather Sirius Black, starting from the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Felton wrote: "Just as Sirius became a father figure to Harry, I had the sense that Gary became something of an inspiration for Daniel, helping him to navigate the tricky path of growing up in the spotlight as well as hone his acting skills."
"They seemed to me to share a very similar sense of humor and approach to the other cast and crew. I think some of us — myself included — were a bit jealous of that bond," Felton added. "We could see that, in part thanks to Gary's influence, Dan was really starting to learn the craft better than any of us. Who better to have on your side in that respect than Gary Oldman?"
Radcliffe himself confirmed in an interview that he and Oldman shared a deep bond, and that Sirius Black's death in Order of the Phoenix hit him harder than any other death in the series: "At the time, I didn't know if I'd be working with Gary Oldman again, and that was very sad, and I adored Gary, and working with him was an incredibly formative experience in my life."
Other actors and Alfonso Cuarón, who directed Prisoner of Azkaban, also mention that Gary Oldman played the same role of mentor for Daniel Radcliffe in the real life, which Sirius Black played for Harry Potter in the films, doing his best to include Radcliffe, who was 14 years old at the time of their meeting, into the acting process.
Radcliffe and Oldman later reunited in the Harry Potter 20th-anniversary special released on HBO Max in January.