AFTER ten years growing up at Hogwarts, wizard school is now out for the young stars of the Harry Potter movies.
Shooting for the eighth and final film wrapped last Saturday, bringing down the curtain on the much-loved characters.
And just days after filming his final scenes for the second part of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Tom Felton – Harry’s sworn enemy Draco Malfoy – revealed his hopes and fears for life after the blockbuster franchise.
The 22-year-old said: “It’s crazy being back on the shelf. I forgot all about that. The last time I auditioned I was about 12.
“It was a very unusual situation we were all in. For the past ten years we have known every year that we were coming back to do the next film.
“I’ve just filmed my last scenes. They thanked us for our service, gave us a round of applause and told us we were dismissed. It was sad and very weird.”
Tom tried to encourage his Potter pals to take a drastic step to immortalise their time in the films, just as the stars of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy did when they had special tattoos done to remember their time on set.
He said: “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but we’ve all got lightning bolts on our ar*es. No, I’m joking. But I did try and talk them into it.
“I thought it was a nice idea. Maybe not on the ar*e – but a little something. We talked about it but all wimped out.”
Tom is not sure where his career will take him now Harry Potter has finished. He said: “No one knows what is going to happen. It’s pretty exciting – but nerve-racking.
“I’ve never had any professional acting teaching but I’ve learnt from top actors.
“We did scenes the other day with Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman and Jason Isaacs. Doing the films has been like ten years of lessons.
“But I am sure there are equally exciting things ahead. We’re going to have a big wrap party. It’s going to be off the scale – I’m expecting all sorts.”
Tom said his co-stars – including Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe – talked about their futures in the final weeks of filming.
He explained: “We did the whole thing of where we thought each other would be in five years.
“There were some shocking answers. There were some in rehab, drama teachers, Harry Potter convention runners.”
And he joked: “I’m a keen musician, so apparently I’m going to be doing Harry Potter The Musical.”
While Tom would not reveal who were the candidates for rehab, he did give his own verdict on the young stars he has grown up with for the past decade.
It seems 21-year-old Rupert Grint – Ron Weasley – is the serious one and 20-year-old Emma – who is studying English literature at Brown University in the US – is the studious one.
The Weasley twins – played by 24-year-olds James and Oliver Phelps – are the class clowns. And 20-year-old Matthew Lewis – Neville Longbottom in the films – is the laid back one.
Tom said: “We are all great pals. We’ve shared a common experience.
“Emma is doing her own thing. She has dived into her education. She’s a smart girl with her head screwed on.
“Rupert is pretty solemn. He’s in his own groove. But we all love him. The Weasley twins are jokers through and through. If you fall asleep, one of them will slap you round the face while the other records it on their phone. And Matthew is the most down to earth.”
But top marks from Tom goes to the franchise’s 20-year-old main star Daniel.
And far from their on-screen rivalry, he is one of Tom’s closest pals.
Tom said: “Daniel is very witty, he’s the young Stephen Fry. He always has a book in hand and is full of anecdotes.
“He can do whatever he wants – he is so driven. When he is not filming he is in acting and voice classes. He loved doing Broadway and showed a lot of people he wants to take his acting career seriously.
“Daniel is a good friend of mine. He is very inspiring to me.” It is clear that charming Tom is very likable and popular with his young chums. But on screen he has nailed the role of the bully and won Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month.
He revealed: “I’ve had lots of hate mail. It says stuff like, ‘Leave Harry Potter alone you p***k’. Or ‘What’s Harry ever done to you? You sh*thead’.
“I get a pretty negative reaction from kids in the street. They are always hugging Dan, kissing Emma then running away from me. A lot of them think it’s real – I take it as a compliment.”
Like Daniel, Tom is among the most likely to succeed of his former Hogwarts classmates. He now has his eyes on a role in The Hobbit, but he is currently back on the gruelling auditions circuit as he looks for his first job after Harry Potter.
Tom said: “Auditioning is much harder in Los Angeles than in London. People are much more cut-throat.
“I’ve had some terrible auditions. I went to one and they were all emailing in the middle of it. I knew I’d lost them and was shaking like a leaf. But it was character-building stuff.”
The bright blond hair that became Draco Malfoy’s trademark is what Tom remembers most from becoming a child star – along with being mocked at his Surrey comprehensive school. He said: “My main memory is going in to get my roots retouched. I remained at a normal school, which was important to me. But I got a load of hassle.
“My hair was bright blond and Harry Potter wasn’t cool back then. I had name-calling and stuff. But I remember buying copious amounts of Nintendo 64 games!”
Now Tom’s luxury purchases include a fleet of BMWs and a posh Surrey pad. And he is even the star of the type of computer games he spent his early film wages on.
This weekend, he will be in the US for the official opening of the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando.
Tom said: “We’ve had the dolls, the Lego, the video game and now the theme park, which is the ultimate.”