Matthew Lewis talks about playing Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter 7 Part 2
Was it fun to play the hero for a change?
Absolutely! When you grow up as a young actor you wanna be the hero of the piece. You wanna be the James Bond or whatever. And Neville's been a fantastic character to play over the last ten years. I feel very fortunate that I was able to bring that character to life. Because I think he's got a very crucial role to play in the story. But being able to play the hero in the end was a lot of fun. It's something I really, really enjoyed. I got a bit of attention for it as well. And I'd like to do it again.
Was it nice to see Neville develop over the series? Do you think J.K. Rowling has a soft spot for him?
Definitely. I think she does. And it was a lot of fun. I was a huge fan of the books anyway, before. So I knew that Neville had something about him that was a bit different. He was in Gryffindor, but he didn't seem like a Gryffindor. There had to be a reason. And we saw sort of aspects of it. Little glims of it when he stood up to Ron, Hermione and Harry in the first film. And he got the ten points at Gryffindor. And he turn up again with the Gillyweed in number four for Harry. And he's always just been there and for him to finish up on this high... I think for Joe Rowling the character of Neville was the one that a lot of people can relate to. He's the every-man, who doesn't have a particular good time at school. He doesn't have that many friends. He's bullied by Malfoy and gets into lots of scrapes and things and yet, he comes good at the end. I think that's a really nice message, that you can start of slowly in life and still end up being the hero and grow up to be whatever you want to be.
Matthew Lewis also talks about his first day on the set of the first film and the lasting legacy of Harry Potter.
