Dragon Con Returns with a Roar: Matthew Lewis Admits to Costume Theft and Bonnie Wright Reveals Cut Scene

Transcribed by Jennifer Rapp and Marissa Osman

Host: This is Bonnie's first Dragon Con.

[Audience cheers]

Host: Are you enjoying it so far?

Bonnie Wright: Yeah, it's been amazing. It feels like everyone is excited to be back. [unintelligible]

Host: Matt hasn't been here since 2008. We're glad to have him back.

[Audience cheers]

Matthew Lewis: 13 years ago. It's crazy. But you guys are still turning out in droves and supporting us. It's fantasying; thanks for being here.

[Audience cheers]

Host: Alright!

Speaker: This person wants to know if you've stuck with the body-building?

Matthew: Clearly not.

[Audience laughs]

Host: He broke his leg!

Matthew: Yeah! I spent the last five weeks laid on my sofa eating pizza and playing PlayStation because I couldn't walk. I've just gotten rid of the boot and the crutch in the last couple of weeks. I hope to go to the gym next week and try to repair the damage I've done.

Host: Would you like to share that story, or is it too boring?

Matthew: About breaking my leg? It's incredibly boring. I was playing [American accent] soccer.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It was the first game of the season and I went on the pitch. In the first two minutes, I split my eye. I got a brand-new scar, so that's fun. But then we were losing at halftime, so I convinced the referee to let me back on. They tapped me up and I went back on, and the first two minutes of the second half I broke my leg.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: One of the most eventful games I've had. We lost, as well. It's been a rubbish few weeks but hopefully, I'll be back on the pitch by next season. [Maybe I should] stick to Quidditch.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: Over here we'd like to know, have you ever improvised during a scene that made it to the final cut?

Bonnie: Short answer: no. We talked about this a bit yesterday. There are so many layers of screening of the scripts and producers that you have to go through. By the time we got on set there wasn't that much freedom to ad-lib. At the time - Because Harry Potter was my only experience with filmmaking - I didn't really realize until I went to other productions that improvisation and ad-libbing and on-the-day mixing the scene up because it doesn't really work and we have to shift it happens a lot more spontaneously than [on] Harry Potter. If we ad-libbed, it was probably a lucky mistake if it ended up in the cut. Or they just left it because they were trying to get it done. [laughs] There was the odd thing. Obviously, if there was no audio or if it was having fun in the Great Hall. I believe a lot of those scenes probably didn't have the audio on. [unintelligible] things that were out of character. [laughs] I used to like those scenes. They'd be like, "Just be loud in the Great Hall. Look like you're having fun."

Matthew: Anyone who can lip read can probably [unintelligible]

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Bonnie is right. It's something I didn't realize either. When I was off of Harry Potter, I would go for an audition and I would meticulously learn the dialogue. Every syllable that was written in the script. I didn't realize at the time [that] you don't have to do that. You've got to stay true to it as much as possible but there's much more freedom on most projects. They're all different, but most places appreciate a bit of [improvisation]. You can have a bit of fun with it as long as you stay within the context of the story and the character. Harry Potter wasn't like that. We had to jump through so many hoops to get to a final script - it had to be approved by so many people - that we just didn't have the opportunity.

[Unintelligible]

Speaker: This lovely person would like to know if there are any scenes with your characters - in Harry Potter, specifically - that you would like to add or have changed in the movies.

Bonnie: Well that's a long list, I think.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: There was just so much, as we all know, in the books that unfortunately didn't make it to the movies. Maybe if every film was Part 1 and Part 2, Deathly Hallows style, that would be cool. For me, what was hard was that the relationship between Ginny and Harry went from zero to one hundred.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: With the books, there's this tension that's building and it makes sense. There's this story that's been evolving over time. There was more friction in the early ones, and then it jumped to the fifth one. I would have loved - just for ease of performance, maybe - to have a few of those little moments for it to develop [selfishly]. But there are also loads of scenes, as a fan of the books, that I wish were in the movies. There was just so much of all the characters, even some characters that didn't even end up in the films themselves.

Matthew: There are so many moments of Neville's that I would have liked to have seen, purely for selfish reasons. But also for the character. I love Neville so much and I thought the story that was created for him and his journey was one that resonates with me in particular but [also] with so many people. I would have liked to have done that a little bit more justice by including more of it. So that's always a shame, but it is what it is. We had time constraints as all films do. The wonder of the books is that people get to read those - either before or after - and take a whole different journey. There's so much in there that people get to explore, so [they] get to do it twice which is nice, I suppose. I know that [with] all the directors we had, it wasn't a case of them not wanting to, we just didn't have time. I think David Yates had a real soft spot for Neville, as I do. We tried to get more of him in. Particularly the scene with his mother in the hospital at St. Mungo's. That was a thing that David really wanted to get in. He would come up to me repeatedly throughout that film saying, "We've written it! It's there. We're going to shoot it, I promise. We'll do it." it kept getting away from us. He said, "Next week!" "Next month, we'll do it!" And then eventually he just went, "I'm really sorry, we're not going to get there." It wasn't for lack of trying. It really wasn't. It's impossible to get everything in. But people can read the books and experience it anyway, so it's fine. Maybe we should do an extended Peter Jackson-type [version].

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: The question over here is, do you have any souvenirs from the Potter sets, and if so, what?

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: I actually don't. [to Matthew] In the signing area earlier, I overheard you speaking to someone saying, "I got this. I got that."

[Audience laughs]

[Unintelligible]

Matthew: I think there's a statute of limitations. I don't think they can get me. It's been ten years. I think I'm good. I stole a few things.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Not as much as a lot of other people! I did [well]. I wasn't more of a thief. But I did steal some stuff. The biggest one is Neville's costume from the final movie. It's covered in blood and burn marks. It's really cool. On my last day, my dresser - because we have dressers; it's really pretentious - came into my dressing room on wrap and was like, "Do you want this?" And I was like, "Yes, I want that!" He was like, "Put it in your bag right now!"

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: So I did. I put it in my bag. It was like going through airport security. I was so nervous we were going to get pulled over and they were going to grab me. But they didn't! I've got it. It's at my parent's house. When you go into the studio tour and they're like, "That's the costume Matthew wore!" No, it's not.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I'm putting together a Harry Potter tour at my parent's house. I stole more stuff, but I'm not going to tell you anymore.

Host: You didn't take anything, Bonnie?

Bonnie: No! I didn't take anything. Actually, I truly accidentally walked out...

Matthew: Yeah, right!

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: ... with a Gringotts coin. Turns out you can't use it for anything.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: Honestly, I literally don't have anything. The one thing a lot of us took was on each film we would get a book on our last day. Like on the last day of school you get a t-shirt or jersey to sign. I got every single book signed by the whole cast. I have each book with nice little messages inside.

[Unintelligible]

Speaker: That sounds like a way cooler yearbook than any of the rest of us have. Which actually is a great segue to her question, which is what was it like growing up on these sets all through your childhood?

Matthew: It was incredible. It's surreal in many ways because I lived a double life, really. I frequently went back home to where I'm from in England and I went to regular school for six months a year. The other six I was working on Harry Potter in this Hollywood film studio. It was odd. I was very fortunate. Dan, Rupert, and Emma carried a lot of weight throughout that film. The spotlight was very much on them. They found it very difficult to go many places. Everyone knew who they were. I didn't really have the same experience. I could go and do the films and have really great premieres, and walk red carpets, but when I was back home I led a very normal life. It was this very definitive line between the two. To be on set with all of those people and learning from all [of] those wonderful actors - not just the older guys, all of my younger co-stars - I created some friends for life. Doing schoolwork on the side was weird. You'd come off set from doing Transfiguration and then you would go do English Language both in the same day. It was a fantastic time and I've got no bad words to say about it. It was wonderful.

Bonnie: [My experience is] similar to what Matt said. When I wasn't filming, I would just go to school. I was even in the same city [so] it was even easier. I would go to the studio, and then the next day, I could take the train back to school.

[Unintelligible]

Bonnie: I had that normal life. There were definitely moments [where] you go back to school and you feel totally behind and outside of friendship groups. And then other times you go back and it [felt] exactly the same. I think the growth we go through [during] those years is so different. It was obviously very formative years. Also, sometimes when people ask me that question I'm like, "Well I don't know anything different." So I also don't know what to compare it to. That was just the life and experience I had. I'm very fortunate that I got to have a normal life. Working on the film sets really inspired which choice of studies I went to go do at college. I went to film school. I went and studied directing and writing. I was so fascinated by all the departments, and I was just so curious and so pleased that all the people on the sets - not only the actors but all the crew - were so giving to my curiosities and questions. Like, "What does that button do? Why do we put this here," and different things like that. I'm super grateful for just how formative for my education it was.

Matthew: I should say as well - and this is quite hard for people to believe - it was quite normal on the set. It sounds ridiculous because we're in this fantasy world of Hogwarts and Harry Potter, but one of the questions people always ask me is, how did everyone stay so grounded? How come nobody went off the rails and did anything completely crazy? I think it was unique for us in that we were all in it together. We were all in the same boat. Although, as I said earlier, Dan, Rupert, and Emma really [unintelligible] it was like a school. We had our own classrooms. We had an English classroom where we would all do our English together, or science, or whatever it was. We weren't just kids on our own like Macaulay Culkin who was leading the whole film on his own, surrounded by adults. We got to have a relatively normal school life. It just happens to be a film studio. We still did dumb shit kids do.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It was pretty normal.

Bonnie: When we started the film, social media, and the way that we interact with people in films and the agency level, or just that belief that you have to have a profile. All those things we just didn't have. So we grew up in a way that wasn't... Literally, until we got to the premiere, you wouldn't have even - unless you meet them on the street - had the opportunity to meet people such as yourselves and meet fans and feel the energy. Every time you go to the premiere you're like, "Oh, yeah, this is a big film." But other than that, you're just like, "[The set is] just the same nice place. Familiar." I'm sure it would have been quite different if we had done it today.

Matthew: That's a fair point.

Bonnie: Thanks for that question.

Speaker: This question is for Bonnie. What was it like meeting Daniel for the first time knowing about what was coming with your characters, and being these kids who have this coming but you haven't yet gotten there?

Bonnie: Well, luckily I didn't know what was coming.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: When we started the first movie, I think three books had come out. I had absolutely no idea [about] the fate of my character. I think for all of us it was probably quite nice to not know. It was useful going with it and you have to enjoy every moment because you didn't know what was going to happen to your character. You could die. I think I knew in the first film that my character was going to grow a bit more in Chamber of Secrets. There's quite a bit more to the story there, but with the first book, I had no experience filming, so I was so relieved that my character had one scene. It was always weird when the books came out because, as a fan of the story, I wanted to read the books just to enjoy the story. I wanted to know what happened to everyone. You couldn't help but every time Ginny comes up [be like], "What's that mean?" Friends who would be faster readers, or my brother who is so much faster than me, would be like, "Oh, have you got to page 260?"

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: It was always a weird thing. Maybe you're on a TV show and you read your favorite character through the script or maybe a producer talking to you. You read about your character in a book and then it's going to be adapted into a screenplay, so you also don't want to get too attached to the book because some things aren't going to make it to film. It was always nerve-wracking finding out what would happen. I was [unintelligible] for sure that Ginny ended up with Harry, but I was also pretty scared of that. Just the pressure of that interest that constantly surrounds that love story was not... Mixed emotions, but super fun. I was so pleased Ginny had the story she did.

Speaker: The question over here is: if you could play any other character in the series, which one would it be and why?

Matthew: We talked a bit about this yesterday. I think we're both very attached to our characters. But if we had to choose somebody else I think I'd want to play someone slightly more nefarious on the downside of the Wizarding World. I've been fortunate enough, in the years since Harry Potter, to play some unsavory characters, let's say. I've realized it's really, really fun. Looking back, I appreciate that all those guys did seem to have a lot more fun. I play someone on the dark side.

Bonnie: Like Lucius Malfoy.

Matthew: Yeah, that'd be a good one.

Bonnie: I also think their costumes and mannerisms were very flamboyant. There's something quite physical about their performance.

Matthew: They got to ham it up!

Bonnie: Yeah. We had to be bumbling teenagers.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: Andy Serkis became a very famous creature actor with motion capture. I love that at the end you see his name so many times because they brought him to do different characters, as did Warwick Davis. He played Professor Flitwick. He also played more roles, which I think was so fun for them to be like, "Okay, what other roles will he play?"

[Bonnie and Matthew speak over one another]

Matthew: Although the novelty wears off quite quickly.

Bonnie: I remember the scene where we're aged. We had wrinkle aging and stuff. After a couple [of] days of that, I was like, "Wow. I have great respect for people who do this." Your skin is raw from it. That was very trippy, seeing us age.

Matthew: Do you see yourself slowly...

Bonnie: Becoming that?

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It's only 19 years! It's not that long!

Bonnie: I think if we re-shot it we'd see that some people were aged too far.

Matthew: If Tom looks like that I don't know what to say.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: [unintelligible]

Speaker: Over here the question is: there are obviously a lot of really incredible sets from the Harry Potter series. Which one was the most awe-inspiring?

Matthew: That's a good question. The Chamber of Secrets was my absolute favorite set. I wouldn't quite say "awe-inspiring," but it was my favorite because there was something so atmospheric about it. They built the whole thing up at what we called the flight ship. It was at the end of the runway at an old airfield. At the end of the runway, you had the flight ship. Because it was at the end of the runway, whenever I visited it, it was [silent]. There was no one up there. There was no work going on up there. So it was really quite eerie. I don't know what it was like when you were filming up there.

Bonnie: It was eerie, too. When they needed wide-shot sounds completely cleared of the set [unintelligible].

Matthew: That was one set I walked onto and was like, "This is cool. This makes me feel like Harry Potter right now." But the one that was awe-inspiring was the Ministry of Magic.

Bonnie: Yeah. It just kept going on. You'd go around the corner and you'd go to where the elevators were. And it was so glossy, those green tiles they had there. It was so different [from] Hogwarts. Obviously, it's like a "power and money" space. Stuart Craig who did the production design Space, but like even the design I mean stroke Ray who did the production design on Harry Potter is an incredibly talented guy. He fully built so much of that world. So much of Harry Potter [as we understand it], is his mind.

Matthew: I don't know if they do too much of that these days. I think it's probably green screen. But they built it and it was incredible. And they blew it up! Which is even better.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: They blew up parts of the Great Hall for the Deathly Hallows Battle of Hogwarts. The set I love the most is The Burrow. It's how they described it in the book. A home that's almost alive. It doesn't even look like it can stand up, it looks like it's about to topple over, and [there are] all these additional rooms tacked onto it. They did genuinely stick to that idea. Each film usually added some extra thing to it so it was changing. Nothing was straight. So the floor was like this and everything would angle. It was a very Weasley house.

Speaker: The question over here is, do you have a favorite funny behind-the-scenes story from the Harry Potter films?

Bonnie: Where to start. [unintelligible] We fully lived out the stereotype of children actors. Difficult to keep quiet, sending notes to each other. [unintelligible]

Matthew: It was always exciting. Something new. I liked night shoots.

[Bonnie agrees]

Matthew: That was always exciting. They had to ban Coca-Cola.

Bonnie: We had this green room-type thing that had table tennis and other stuff like table football. They had this refrigerator that had snacks, sodas, candy, and things like that. That soon had to go. If we had any sugar we wanted, we would crash.

Matthew: They couldn't figure out after lunch why we'd all be bouncing off the walls. Devin Murray would be trying to set fire to everybody. They were like, "What's wrong with this kid?"

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It was because we were all drinking so much Coca-Cola.

Bonnie: The parents and chaperones found out and were like, "Okay. Banned."

Matthew: They banned that. No more Coca-Cola. Just water until we're 21.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I do remember that night, though. Very well. It was the infamous Alfonso Curaron fart machine. It was supposed to be deathly quiet, we're all asleep, Dumbledore and Snape are walking through having an intense conversation, and then suddenly someone just lets rip.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It echos through the Great Hall. [laughs] And then it goes again. [unintelligible] They were sticking to it. Not missing a beat. By the time they get to their marks the whole room is in hysterics. Alfonso was behind the monitor laughing because he was doing it! Those big Great Hall takes would cost a fortune.

Bonnie: We shot everything on film, which is very unusual now.

Matthew: You can [imagine] the accountants freaking out.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: We all know the golden trio, but the silver trio - Neville, Ginny, and Luna, of course - is very beloved. What she wants to know is what did you like about their dynamic, their friendship, and what were some of your favorite scenes to film with them?

Bonnie: The Ministry of Magic was so fun because [there was an] action-packed journey. It was special to suddenly be the six of us. It was just so enjoyable to be a part of that narrative, at the forefront of the action and what's going on. Just leaving all those places we were used to filming in: the common room, Great Hall, all those moments. I loved working with Evanna. It was so lovely to have her character come on. So many people loved Luna. She represents really great traits and personalities. I loved the strange bunch of the three of us that were definitely not the... There's a type of antihero thing about them. I think they make a good team. They needed us. And then all the Dumbledore's Army stuff. I loved doing that. I think it was right at the age where we all were becoming more independent and really did want to have more to perform. When you're young, you're there, you're showing up, you're doing some acting. But as you get older you're like, "Oh. I'm acting. I want to act." So I think that was really enjoyable and happened at exactly the right time.

Matthew: Yeah. There were real parallels between us as actors and young people, and with what was going on with the characters actually on screen. We got to this point where Dan, Rupert, and Emma were carrying this movie and then suddenly they get to share the burden a little bit, we take a little bit of the story lines. That came through a bit with the Dumbledore's Army stuff and the Ministry of Magic. That's exciting for us and there's a level of nerves that come with that. You think, "Bloody hell, I'm going to be in the big final set piece of this movie. I'm a big part of that now." But then you look and you go, "Oh, Bonnie is there as well. Evanna is there as well." We're getting to do all this together. It was all teamwork and cooperation. It was just immense fun to be able to do all that and not be alone, and have other people around you doing it as well. People you can talk [to] about concerns and worries, and also aspirations and what you enjoy. It was just really nice to be able to take that journey with other people on the same road. It would have been a lot less fun if we had been on our own, so I love the fact that we get to do it all together. The three of us as the silver trio? I've never heard that before. That's fun. And they did need us; that was a good point.

Speaker: Mckayla would like to know what your favorite line from the series was and why.

Bonnie: Does it have to be my line?

Speaker: Nope. Any of them.

Matthew: That's more fun.

Bonnie: Mine is in the Battle of Hogwarts. It's between Mrs. Weasley...

[Audience cheers]

Bonnie: Bellatrix is going for Ginny, and Molly - my mom - says, "Get away from my daughter, you..."

[Audience shouts "bitch" collectively]

Bonnie: What I love about that is in the hallway off set, any time that Julie Walters and Helena Bonham Carter pass each other in the corridor, you can see that they're...

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: You could tell they were so excited. Being in the middle of that performance was amazing. Their performance was so good.

Matthew: [unintelligible]

Bonnie: It wasn't actually that many. All those scenes in the Battle of Hogwarts are so high-energy but I really loved all those scenes. The adrenaline was high. [unintelligible]

Matthew: This is so sad. Me and my best friend Nick, we had this running joke that whenever anyone asked us to wait for whatever reason... Maybe we were outside of a bar or we were on the phone like, "Would you wait for a minute?" And I'd go, [aggressively] "I did my waiting!"

[Audience cheers]

Speaker: [Were] there any skills that you picked up while filming Harry Potter that you were able to take and use on other films [or] some other projects?

Bonnie: I've already spoken a bit about how filmmaking, in general, was what I then went to study, and acting-wise [I made] my own stuff. At that point, I definitely probably wasn't gathering any skills. I was more being exposed to other people's skills. I really respected the craftsmanship behind everyone's roles as creators on that, and understanding how it's so collaborative. Every single part of a film set is this machine working, and anyone [taken] out of it [makes it] fall apart. A skill, I guess, was just that team-playing element, and collaboration, and just observing. I think I learned a lot from how much you gain from listening and observation. Also, when you're young, too, you're not really going to jump up to be the first person with the idea or [to] say something. That definitely wasn't my character. I just learned a lot from watching other people [participate in] the team-playing elements. I like the attention to detail that everyone had. I don't know if that's really a skill, but those things.

Matthew: It is a skill. As a performer, I learned most of my stuff that I use today after Harry Potter. I don't think that I was in the right mindset as an actor at that age, for various reasons. I'd done it since I was five, I didn't have any formal training, and there was nothing that was forcing me out of my comfort zone that made me feel like I needed to change anything or adopt any new skills to learn. I only [unintelligible] when I realized how shit I was.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I'm still learning now. To this day, every job I do, I try to learn more and more. But the thing I did learn on Harry Potter is set-craft. How to be on a film set. How to carry yourself and appreciate [that] even if you're the lead actor, you're a small cog in a very big machine. Everyone on that film set had a big, big role to play and they're not just there to facilitate your performance. We're all there to help each other do our best work, and there's no bigger thing to see that in action in than in a film like Harry Potter. So many people have to come together to just make one [unintelligible] work. People have to be able to do their best work. I [learned] all of that stuff, but one thing I really took away from those films was to watch all the actors. They were at the top of their game, the best the profession has to offer. [There are] no better actors in the world. You're looking at these guys who are so affable, so generous with their performances, so approachable, not got any airs and graces about them. I realized when I went on to other stuff, smaller stuff, later on, you get the odd person who's difficult and it creates an unhappy environment. I'm just now so aware that I know the best actors I've ever worked with don't behave like that. You don't need to behave like that. It's a collaboration.

[Applause]

Matthew: The ones that are there? They don't need o do that stuff. I realized then that you don't need to pretend to put that on to try and convince people you're good because the best don't do it. I suppose that I took that away because that's exactly how those guys were with us. They were fantastic.

Speaker: Our question over here is if you saw Daniel Radcliffe's performance dancing leather-clad in Miracle Workers?

[Audience jeers]

Matthew: [laughs] What kind of dancing is it? Is it like cabaret? Okay.

Speaker: Watch it and get back to us.

Matthew: Yeah!

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: So the question over here is: Do you ever have friends or family who [don't] watch the projects that you make or that you're in? How do you deal with it?

Matthew: I'd rather that than they did. Honestly. [to Bonnie] How about you?

Bonnie: It's like when people come up to you and they're like, "I'm so sorry! I haven't watched Harry Potter." And I'm like, "That's absolutely fine."

Matthew: It's a religion!

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: I don't know. Everyone hasn't seen everything and that's cool. My boyfriend hadn't watched any of the Harry Potter films. We started watching one of them the other day; we watched the first one. And I was like, "Wow, that's so good!"

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: I was finally able to watch it as an audience member. I hadn't seen any of them since we had the last premiere, which is what? 10 years ago? It takes a long time to remove yourself from the story [and] the layers of all that experience. Watching it was actually so nice to enjoy it as a totally removed, separate, audience member.

Matthew: I don't watch the stuff that I do. I'll talk to my therapist about that. [laughs]

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I don't mind it at all. I would prefer that they hadn't, I think. My wife... I think she might have seen one Harry Potter film? But she hasn't seen anything else I've done. My family have, I guess. They probably have seen stuff. My parents do like to watch. Mind you, I did this show called All Creatures Great and Small and my parents were really enjoying it. I was actually in England at Christmas when the Christmas special was on, and they watched it. I made them go upstairs to watch it because I don't like watching it. So I was like, "If you don't mind, in your own house, can you go upstairs?" They did. They came down and were like, "That wasn't great, was it?" And I'm like, "I don't know, I haven't seen it! But if you say so."

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Rather than take the pressure of a bad review, I'm just like, "Don't watch it, then!" I guess if a lot of people didn't see it, it's probably bad for me. [sarcastically] If you could all just stop watching my stuff!

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: You mentioned a lot of great scenes that you enjoyed filming, but do you have a favorite across the eight Harry Potter movies that you enjoyed filming the most?

Bonnie: As [far as] things I was not in, things that I loved because I felt like it really captured... As I said, I watched the first one again, [and] I loved seeing everything for the first time in Harry's eyes. Finding out he's a wizard, going to Diagon alley, and all those moments with Hagrid and him. I just think it's so special because you're really taken into the wonder that is the magical universe. I love those scenes in Diagon Alley, and when they go to Gringotts for the first time.

Matthew: I like anything where the whole cast gets together for the big final act. Like when you have the penultimate number in a musical when everyone comes in and there's like a big number before the interval. I always like that in films. Like in Avengers when the Avengers assemble and they all come out of the thing and everyone gets all goosebumpy like that. And so in Deathly Hallows Part 2, that bit happens. They put the big shield up around the school and everyone [is] getting ready to rumble. I always thought that was really exciting. I like it when the culmination of so many years is all about to go down. I like that.

Speaker: So you mentioned goofing off behind the scenes earlier. She would like to know: did anyone pull any pranks?

Matthew: You mean beyond the fart machine?

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Uh... pranks.

Bonnie: [unintelligible]

Matthew: Isn't it? I remember Dan changed Robbie Coltrane's phone language to Turkish.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: For everyone who knows Robbie, he doesn't speak great Turkish.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: So he struggled with that for a while.

Bonnie: He probably found it pretty funny.

Matthew: Yeah, no, but he literally couldn't use his cellphone.

Bonnie: Yeah. I don't know any pranks.

Matthew: Rupert threw a dart at my foot once.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: It's Rupert. Everything, [like] his infectious giggling. I know that's not a prank, but you'd be in a scene and you're like, "Why are you laughing at me?"

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: He'd be giggling away.

Matthew: He used to waste so much film.

Bonnie: So much film. Or he'd try [to] hide behind me...

Matthew: Yeah.

Bonnie: ... and laugh.

Matthew: You need to be in this scene, Rupe.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: There was this one time, I remember, he tried - this is genuinely true - to hide his laughter with a slice of toast.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: He already had a bite of it.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It was ridiculous.

Bonnie: There was a scene in The Burrow. It was Christmas time and Ginny and Harry sat on the couch near the Christmas tree about to have a little moment. And then Rupert comes in with a tray of mince pies [unintelligible]. And he's meant to sit down, get between us, take a big bite out of mince pie, and break us up. But he couldn't literally get across the room without giggling, spraying us with crumbs.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: But he couldn't sit down [unintelligible] break us up.

Matthew: Do you remember when he had to say, "Unless you want a fistful of Weasley?"

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I don't think it made it into the movie. It was a bit of a [unintelligible] between, Seamus was [unintelligible] Harry saying all that or whatever. And then Ron steps forward, and he's like, "You better shut up unless you want a fistful of Weasley."

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I mean, that's a funny line.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: But he just couldn't get it out. For the life of him, he could not do it. [unintelligible] Didn't shoot it in the end. We wasted a whole morning on that.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: All right, I have one question here and then we're going to be running out of time.

Matthew: It's a long one.

Speaker: It is. Are you ready? Okay, so this girl just got married last Thursday.

[Audience applauds]

Matthew: Pretty happy about that.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: And she's thinking about love, so she wants to know if you have a favorite Harry Potter couple.

Bonnie: Mine is Lupin and Tonks.

[Audience applauds]

Matthew: Um...

Bonnie: Ginny and Harry [unintelligible]

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: No!

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I'll just say Arthur and Molly Weasley.

[Audience applauds]

Speaker: Okay, to close us out, what are your own characters' favorite lines?

Matthew: Ugh.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: There's one scene where I just shout "Shut up!" Or "Shut it!" "Shut it." I come in and everyone's not respecting Harry as the captain of the Quidditch team and I just yell, "Shut it!" I just remember being [unintelligible]

Matthew: I hate everything that I said.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Yeah, people like that one. "Why is it always me?" The one I hate the most...

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: To answer my own question instead of yours, it's "Oh my God! I've killed Harry Potter!"

[Audience laughs and applauds]

Matthew: I remember vividly having to say it like 20 times and just wanting to die.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I said to Mike Newell, "I can't do this. I just don't think it's very good." And he was like, "No, it's brilliant! No, it's brilliant! Just put your back into it more. It's brilliant." And I was like, "Okay." And I said it 20 more times. And I just really... It still makes me cringe inside out.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: But I guess he was right because it's a really popular line. If I could do it again... Well, I wouldn't do it again, but if I could it again, I would do it better than that. It was not great. But yeah, that's my least favorite, but apparently quite a lot of people's favorite.

Host: Let's give a big round of applause.

[Audience applauds]

Transcribed by Marissa Osman

[Applause]

Bonnie Wright: Good morning.

Matthew Lewis: How [are] we all doing?

[Applause]

Host: While we get people lined up, I've been selfish and had a question. I want to know more about your production company, Bonnie.

Bonnie: Oh, yeah! "Production company" sounds a bit grander than it is. In my undergrad program that I went to while I was in film school, I majored in directing and writing. Afterward, I continued to make my own short films, music videos, commercials, different things. I just put them under the umbrella of a company.

Host: Say the name.

Bonnie: It's Bon Bon Lumiere. Sweet, light, and it's a homage to the Lumiere brothers, who were early filmmakers. The last thing I made - which we've finished, it should be out soon - you might all like it. It's a short horror film.

Audience: Ooh!

Bonnie: It's called Consumed and it's basically about this monster that hunts this couple in their home. You never actually see it, but the monster is essentially made of trash. And as we consume, it's coming to consume them. [sarcastically] [A] very light subject!

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: That's the company and that's the next film.

Host: Matt, tell us about [the] projects you're on.

Matthew: [to Bonnie] The Lumiere brothers, they shot a bit in Leeds. Did you know that?

Bonnie: I did know that.

Matthew: That's where I'm from, and Bonnie has got some family from there as well. They shot a bit on Leeds Bridge, the Lumiere brothers did. What did you ask me? Right. I just finished the second season of a show called All Creatures Great and Small.

[Audience cheers]

Matthew: It's very nice. It's about a vet in the north of England. A Scottish vet. We did the first season last year, and we managed to get that finished about a week before everything shut down and. It's quite a nice little quaint show. It's period. It's set in 1937, and I think it just resonated with a lot of people. Everyone thought it was quite charming and that feel-good drama that people were after last year. So we did season two. We might get that finished this year as well, somehow. We wanted to get it done. I think it's on PBS in [the] winter of this year or maybe early next year.
Coming soon.

Host: Awesome! Alright, who's ready? Go ahead.

Speaker: We have a fan here who first wanted to thank you guys because about 15 years ago, his sister wrote the cast of Harry Potter to ask for autographs. You guys responded and even wrote a nice personal letter, so he wanted to thank you both but also ask: do you guys still get any fan letters? Do people write that anymore?

Matthew: [laughs] Yeah.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: The pandemic obviously has made it quite difficult with all that stuff. But immediately before, yeah, we're still getting quite a lot. I talk about the Harry Potter fan base, and I've said this a couple of times over this weekend: You guys are genuinely one of the [best], if not the best, fan bases in the world. To be now 20 years after the first movie, 10 years after the last film, to still be receiving the level of fan mail that we get? It's extraordinary. And look at this room, for crying out loud! Look at all these people in here! It's ridiculous.

[Applause]

Matthew: You guys have stuck with us since day one and are still doing it right now. I don't know why, but you are.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I appreciate it very much. You should all give yourselves a pat on the back. [to Bonnie] Do you still get fan mail?

Bonnie: I do, yeah. As you say, it's incredible. I think, too, how far and wide the films reached. When you just think, every corner of the world seems to have known something about the Wizarding World, Harry Potter, the book has been translated into so many languages. I feel like you meet people, and so many people found their friends through loving Harry Potter, or maybe their partners, or they're passing up on to their children. I just think it's so special. I think that's why it continues, because there's this friendship element to it, which I love. Yeah, just echoing what Matt said. I'm grateful for everyone's continuing support and just keeping it alive. I think it does feel still fresh for so many people.

Matthew: [to the audience] So thank you and your sister.

Speaker: Thank you.

[Applause]

Speaker: Our question is for Matt. What's your football team, and can we have kits [pronounced as "kids"]?

[Nervous laughter]

Host: Okay, do the football team.

Matthew: What was the second bit?

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: The football team you play for, and can they get jerseys somewhere.

Matthew: Oh, kits!

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I did think it was rather forward. [laughs] The team I play for, we're a terrible little six aside team called the AFC Misfits and we are exactly that. I've played one game because I broke my leg in the first game of the season. So it's not something you want to aspire to, honestly. The team I support is Leeds United. I host the official Leeds United podcast as well, which comes out on a Thursday, normally. If you're not into soccer it's extraordinarily dull. So Leeds United is my team, and the guy did the podcast with, Pat Bamford, actually just got picked to play for England today!

[Applause]

Matthew: And can you get kits? Yeah, I guess you can get kits online from Addidas. I don't know. I'm not into selling, so find them yourself. [laughs]

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: Alright, so the question here is: out of the cast of Harry Potter, who are you guys the closest to?

Bonnie: That's like if you're a parent choosing your favorite child! It was such an ensemble piece that there wasn't anyone I could single out. I obviously, spent a lot of extra time with my Weasley family. But there [were] always fresh new actors in every film. That made it exciting because it mixed the group up a bit. I'm so thankful that we all did it together. I imagine acting as a child actor around only older, adult actors would be quite challenging, but we were still able to do everything that you would do, and feel, and say as a child by having other children around you. So I couldn't single anyone out. You can't shake that 10 years of that experience; it's so unique, and [how] ever much we try to describe it to you all about what the experience was like filming, I think there's this unspoken thing that you've just been through, there's this understanding. You can get each other when you see each other after all these years have gone by. It's a nice relief and like family. But no one I could single out. I loved everyone.

Matthew: Yeah, I really have to echo that, honestly. We were all just on this same journey together and trying to figure it out. A lot of us had worked before, but nothing on the scale of Harry Potter. We were all very much trying to piece this all together amongst ourselves. Luckily we had each other to rely on and we were all doing it together and we could talk to each other about our aspirations, but also about our concerns, and our worries, and everything in between. I wouldn't be able to single anybody out either. It's very much a collective and we were all a real team together, all of us. And as Bonnie says, when we get together again, you just click together, right? We just assume the position, as it were, as we know each other really, really well. Family. Exactly that.

[Applause]

Speaker: The question over here is: I know we asked yesterday what characters you'd like to play, but the question would be, if you were going to do any position behind the camera, which would you choose? And if it's directing, which movie would you most like to have directed of the Harry Potter movies?

Bonnie: I don't think I'd ever want the challenge of directing one of the Harry Potter films. Even though I would have liked a woman to [have] directed one of them, that's for sure.

[Applause]

Bonnie: I was so obsessed and in love with the art department on Harry Potter. I mentioned this a bit yesterday, but Stuart Craig, who was the production designer on the film, so much of what we've grown to love and understand as Hogwarts was his imagination. I had the fortune to spend a few days helping out and [doing] work experience. I tried to work and do different days in most of the departments while I was on the film sets because I already had this feeling that I was interested in behind-the-scenes stuff. So I think if I were to do anything, it would have been working in the art department and just try to absorb as much of that creativity as I could. I don't know what film I would choose. I feel like the last ones were all about blowing up what we'd already built. [laughs] The earlier ones were more about establishing these places. Gosh, I feel like the Chamber of Secrets would be fun because you would have built the Chamber of Secrets, which was amazing. Also, it's the first time we see the Burrow as the Weasley set, which I love.
So maybe Chamber of Secrets in the art department.

Matthew: Wow, I couldn't direct because it's a tremendous amount of effort, and I'm too lazy.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: The guys behind the camera work so much harder than the people in front of the camera, so the idea of going into any of those roles fills me with dread. But I did my work experience on the set of Harry Potter. So for two weeks, I got to go and experience various roles. I saw a different one each day. I was assistant directing where I was just getting Rob Pattinson his cornflakes.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I did a bit in the art department, in production, just photocopying scripts all day. But the one that I enjoyed the most, actually was animals. I worked in the animal department. We had so many at any given time and the animal trainers that we had, had so many of their animals there. Whether it was dogs, cats, foxes, owls, and insects. The whole spectrum of the animal kingdom was in there. I got to spend the whole day in there feeding them, cleaning them out. I love animals, so that would be wicked to do something like that. And take your pick. Any of the films. Whichever film has the most animals in [it], that's the one I would like to have done that on. But they were there the whole time! The whole eight years we had them, they had their little building just off outside the studio. They'd be out there training the owls, and all the birds, or all the dogs, and you could go visit anytime you want. It was wicked. I miss that so much. So yeah: animal department.

[Applause]

Speaker: So the question here is: if Neville and Ginny were at Dragon Con, how do you think they would react, and what do you think they would do?

Bonnie: Obviously everyone is in wonderful, incredible costumes and outfits. I think the key Neville and Ginny moment was obviously when we went to the Yule Ball together. So I think we could dust off our Yule Ball outfit and wear that. I had a particularly interesting peach, pink, and green dress. But I remember, at the time, thinking like, "Everyone's got these cool, pretty, feminine dresses and I'm wearing this Weasley hand-me-down, strange outfit." But I love that. I was talking about this earlier. We all did ballroom classes for the Yule Ball, but there's meant to be this whole story line - which is in the book - that Neville has really taken to dancing. And we learned this whole separate dance routine. There was tango...

Matthew: Tango!

Bonnie: And we were practicing way more and then we never even filmed the scene.

Matthew: We never shot it. Weeks! Weeks of my life.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: So I feel like if we were to come here, I don't know how we would experience it.

Matthew: Do you remember any of it?

Bonnie: No! I was just thinking about that. I don't remember anything. But I definitely have an outfit.

Matthew: We were pretty good at tango, I'm not going to lie. I don't remember the waltz that we did.

Bonnie: I just remember the step, which is a classic.

Matthew: Right. Because we proper nailed it. It would have been great.

Bonnie: It would have been so fun.

Matthew: Was it supposed to be in the snow? Or was it...

Bonnie: No, I think it was going to be inside.

Matthew: Inside? Okay. We just never shot it. We never did it, which is a shame.

Bonnie: [unintelligible]

Matthew: When I was last here 13 years ago, you had a Yule Ball.

[Audience claps over Bonnie trying to speak]

Matthew: Damn my broken leg! What a shame. But that's what they do!

Bonnie: Yeah! Just sitting in his room I'm getting some ballroom vibes. That's what we would do if we came here.

Audience Member: Bring your dress next time!

Bonnie: I didn't steal that one from the set.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: Alright, [the] question over here is: what was your favorite line of your characters?

Matthew: We got asked this yesterday; I refuse to answer it. I said the one I hated the most instead. You can have that if you want.

Audience Member: Alright!

Matthew: "Oh my God, I've killed Harry Potter!"

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I just couldn't make it work. It's not the fault of the line, it was just I couldn't make it work. There's a thing with acting where you're supposed to commit. You have to really commit to it, and I couldn't commit. It just felt it felt ugly in my mouth when I would say it. Mike Newell was repeatedly telling me, "It's gonna be brilliant. It's gonna be amazing. You've got to do it." We must have done it about 20 times and still, now, if I ever hear it, it's unbearable. But people seem to like it. I guess he was right and I was wrong, and I should have just committed a bit more. That's my least favorite and that's the answer I'm giving you.

Bonnie: Yesterday, I said one, and then as I said it, I actually remembered another one which I find quite funny. In the second movie when I run down the stairs and I say, "Mum, have you seen my jumper?" It's more my expression after I say that line than the line itself. [It's] where I widen my eyes.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: I find the jumper/sweater discussion between English and American English [is something] that people seem to love it. People who don't have an English accent will say it because they really enjoy saying the word jumper. People seem to enjoy saying that line to me for some reason. I've unfortunately had friends... You know when you're texting a friend and [there are] GIFs? On Apple? That expression is one. I've had that a couple of times from friends. Once, I will accept. I will find that funny. Twice? Too far. Even made it to a GIF.

Matthew: I've had a change of heart. I'll give you mine.

[Audience cheers]

Matthew: I thought, "I'll be less miserable today. I'll be nice." [laughs] [This is] entirely self-serving because I wrote it. In Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the "That went well," when the bridge blew up.

[Applause]

Matthew: We didn't have a line there originally and David Yates said, "Just make something up." And I just went, "That went well," thinking that they would obviously cut that. But they didn't! So that was nice. That was all mine.

[Applause]

Speaker: So right here, she wants to know: how did you feel when you got cast in the roles? Were you excited?

Matthew: Pretty excited. I remember my friend Anthony Waterhouse was at my house. We were playing... PlayStation? I don't know. We were playing something, and my mum got the call. I went in because she'd taken this private phone call and [I was like], "This is interesting." So I snuck into the kitchen, and she just went, "[vocalizes]." I was like, "Oh, man." I just ran into the living room, and me and Anthony Waterhouse jumped on the sofa, up and down, for about half an hour. And then it all got overwhelming and I cried that night.

Bonnie: It's funny, I have a similar story of suspicion. When you see your parents acting weird and you're like, "Something is up." I remember I was in the car with my brother and my parents. My parents were whispering something funny in the front seat the whole time. My brother and I were like, "What are you talking about? What's up?" I think it was a message or something and they were worried that they had heard it wrong. So they called them back to check and then they told us. We were driving on the motorway - which is like the freeway - in England. We rolled the windows down and just screamed as loud as we could. [laughs] My brother was really why I even ever went for an audition [for] the films. He was older than me by a couple of years and he had read the first two books. He was already a fan of the series and I hadn't read any; I was nine. He was like, "You should go and audition for the Ginny role." And he was really specifically like, "That's the role you should play." People were beginning to hear that they were making these movies, so I was like, "Okay. Cool. I'll do whatever you say because you're my older brother." [laughs] That's why I went for an audition.

[Applause]

Speaker: Right, the question over here is, given how long you played Ginny and Neville, in growing up in these characters, how much of those characters' traits have influenced the adult you've become?

Matthew: For me, it happens with every job I've ever done. If you play any character for any length of time, invariably, stuff gets mixed up in the middle. You end up giving them traits of your own, and you absorb some of theirs. It's always happened to me. I mean, less so when I'm playing a sex offender or whatever.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: It tends to be a blurred line where you exchange threads a little bit. When I was a kid I didn't really know where Neville began, and where he ended, and Matthew began, and all the rest of it. We were one and the same for a long time. That's because when they cast me, I was Neville, honestly. I resonated so much with him and his whole story as a kid. I didn't have to do very much. So as we got older, we both evolved together. Neville, as a character, went on a journey and so did I. Growing up, and maturing, and having a lot more self-confidence, and all the rest of it. Definitely, as I've [gotten] older I've certainly taken on parts of all my characters, and Neville is no exception.

[Unintelligible]

Matthew: Absolutely, no. None of that. I only did that for a few weeks, so I didn't have time to absorb any of that, thank God.

Bonnie: Yeah, same. We played those roles for so long that the lines definitely blurred. I think I more looked up to Ginny. There are so many parts to her that I loved. I feel like she was fearless and unapologetic in [being] herself. She was kind, and she wasn't... Apart from the language. She shouts, "Shut it." That was quite out of character. I really loved playing her. I loved how she was written. I feel like I more looked up to her most of the time and hoped that I could potentially be as cool as her. The lines blurred and I think even after finishing filming it was an interesting untangling from the whole series, the character. Yes, obviously people will first know as those characters before ourselves, but it wasn't so much other people's perception of that [and] being type-cast so much, it was more just literally my time that I had spent with her and the whole series and just separating from that in a really positive way. I was able to see it, and her, for much more, afterward.

Speaker: You talked earlier about how when you guys get together it's like no time has passed. Do you still have any inside jokes or references you have with the cast that you maintain to this day?

Bonnie: They wouldn't be inside jokes if we told you.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: Like you say, [there are] just roles that everyone still... While we've grown and moved on, we're probably all quite similar. Like when you see family you haven't seen in ages and you slip into those positions and roles.

Matthew: Yeah. It's not so much inside jokes, it's just a level of familiarity that you have. You can't fake that kind of thing. When we get together I'm so content to take the piss out of Tom, or Alfie, or whatever. And they'll be the same with me even though I've not [spoken] to them for years. It's fun. It's that level you have with a family that you can be entirely comfortable around these people that you may not have seen for a long, long time. You're just going to slip into the old brawls, I guess. When you shared something like that, that's unique, that no one else in the world understands... No one really understands what it was like to be there at that time, at that moment, and we know each other inherently understands it. It just forms a bond that is... It's unlike many, many other bonds, and the only way I can describe it is "familial." You have that a lot with a lot of projects, a lot of film and TV and theater. You form a family for the 12 weeks, 16 weeks, that you're together. You just become as close as anyone can possibly be. And then you might not see them for years. But that never goes away, that in the trenches feeling that you had. You knew that you, and you alone, shared this unique moment and the pressures that come with being on stage or creating a film. You can only share that with your co-stars, or the crew behind the camera. I don't think that bond will ever leave us. [to Bonnie] Do you agree?

Bonnie: Yeah.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: First, thank you for being here and for being a part of many of our childhoods. What was a favorite memory from filming the Harry Potter films?

Bonnie: That's difficult. I know I've said this before, but being part of the Weasley family and all the moments that we shared definitely were super fond memories of mine. Just because I felt well, A) I loved everything the Weasleys represented as a family. [You] really felt that warmth and acceptance that I think family is really about. I was just so happy when we filmed those scenes. It was like always fun. Most of the hysterical laughter, for me, happened in those moments. It was this extra thing. Not only was I able to be a part of Hogwarts, I was also able to be a part of the Weasley family. My fondest memories are those. I'm so thankful to Julie Walters who played my mum because she saw that I was very scared and out of my depth on my first day. [She] held my hand and I felt safe and protected by her. So I would say a lot of fond memories from the family.

Matthew: It's very difficult to narrow down. Every time I answer this kind of question I always change my mind. Just because there were so many moments that were so fantastic. Right now, I would probably say the final premiere in London. The whole thing was coming to an end, and we'd finished filming several months earlier. This was our last little reunion. This was going to be it, and the turnout was just unlike anything I'd seen before.

Matthew: The fans had turned out that day and it was unusual from what we normally did because the red carpet was separate from the theater. It was a big, long walk from Trafalgar Square and it just felt like everyone in the country had turned out. It was bizarre. It was probably the first moment after all of those years that I had to stop and go, "Savor this one." Everything else you just go with the flow of it and you don't really appreciate it, and then it's done and you're like, "Oh, shit. Wow. That really flew by. But this is the first time I said to myself, "Just stop and savor this because it's the last one." So I did. Seeing everyone there, the cast and crew, and then all the fans all together for that last moment, there [were] tears of joy, really, more than anything. Everyone was upset to be finishing and not seeing everyone again, but we were thrilled that we got to finish this journey together, and that was a really happy, happy moment for me, that that entire evening.

[Applause]

Speaker: You mentioned not taking the Yule Ball dress. He would like to know if you did take anything from the set, and if you did, what was your favorite?

Bonnie: This is Matt's question. [laughs]

Host: Bonnie is a good girl.

Bonnie: I didn't take anything. I now wish I did, hearing Matt's little things he took.

Matthew: I'm a dirty thief.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I stole a few items. Not as many as I would have liked, but in hindsight...

Bonnie: Not as many as other people did!

Matthew: Not as many as some other people. In hindsight, I should have stolen more.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: God, I'm probably going to get in so much trouble. I did steal Neville's outfit from the final film. The cardigan, bloody shirt, and trousers which was great because I really wanted them. I would have liked to have stolen the sword, but I couldn't fit it in my bag. So I got that. My parents have recently got hold of a mannequin from somewhere.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: Is it in the house as you walk in?

Matthew: It's in the study at the back and it's dressed in the thing. It looks like the studio tour, but it's at my parent's house.
The reason I say, coincidentally, is because I just found a photograph on my phone, yesterday, of me in it a few years ago. I've got this big old mustache because I was doing Ripper Street at the time. I'm behind in Neville's clothes. I just found that. I didn't know it existed. I stole that, and I'm not telling you what else I stole. They'll make me give it back.

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: Of the merchandise that has been made after the movies, what is your favorite representation of yourselves that you've seen.

Bonnie: Gosh. None of them. [laughs] It's so strange because, as you can imagine, I don't scour the internet looking for what's the freshest new merchandise out there in the Wizarding World. So the only time I honestly get to see anything is when people bring them to either be signed or maybe sometimes a friend would have seen something. But, honestly, most of the time I see things when people want them signed or they tell you about them. I love that the wands, as they were actually in the movies, became available for people to purchase and interact with because they're all so special and there was this idea of it choosing you, and that process of the wands I love. In the book, I loved Ollivanders and that whole idea. I feel like there's a real excitement when people are holding their wand that they chose. It's cool that you see Ginny wands out and about. But in terms of photoreal representation things, it's pretty creepy. I feel like they've stopped doing that so much. I think it's more [about] the accessories around it because that feels more real than buying a figurine. I think it's more fun to buy like a Quidditch outfit, or a Gryffindor robe, or a wand. I can't say I enjoy that part of it, but I like the wands and all the other things.

Matthew: It's certainly improved over recent years. We did hours of cyber scanning for the video games, and then it's this little blockhead, ugliest little thing. And it's like, "What? Why did we spend hours in that room being cyber scanned if that's what was going to end up on the video game?" But anyway. I do enjoy the little Funko things. They're fun.

Bonnie: They don't look anything like us, which is great.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I drew a mustache on mine. What's the other thing I quite like? Oh! LEGO! LEGO is fun. That's a bit of a dream, isn't it? To have a LEGO figure of yourself. And again, it doesn't look anything like me so it's great. To have a little LEGO of me is cool.

Speaker: Out of all the historical characters in Harry Potter - anybody who was not part of Harry's era - which do you find the most interesting, and who would you want to meet or talk to?

Bonnie: You mean like in Fantastic Beasts?

Speaker: Yeah. Fantastic Beasts, or Merlin, or anybody like that.

Matthew: [unintelligible]

Bonnie: Newt Scamander [with] the animals. I was jealous of all the animals and creatures those films got to interact with. I thought they were so cool and special. I loved all the creatures in that. They felt quite... Obviously, they were made more recently, but I love when older things feel slightly more futuristic. I love that kind of thing. It's obviously a technique used in loads of sci-fi and different things, that distorted time. So I like how it's back in time but you have these quite futuristically drawn and animated characters. I like all the creatures in that. He gets to interact with them the most.

Matthew: [makes a noise of discomfort]

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Did you say "Merlin"?

Speaker: I did.

Matthew: Because he exists in the Harry Potter... He was Slytherin. He was King Arthur's wizard.

Speaker: Presumably.

Matthew: In Harry Potter he was.

[Indistinct chatter]

Matthew: I don't know anyone!

[Audience laughs]

Speaker: This question is for Matt. Considering the fact that Neville tends to be a very cowardly character, how did it feel to you for the last movie when he has that big impact? How did you read that, and what did you think about Neville's impact on the end?

Matthew: It was fantastic. The great thing about Neville is his journey. It's the evolution that his character takes and it's the idea that no matter what humble beginnings you come from, you can still achieve greatness. Harry obviously faced adversity, that's a given. But he was the hero; he was meant to be the hero. He was meant to overcome his obstacles and all the rest. Neville was never meant to but did it anyway, and that's what I really enjoy about him. Anyone who's written off but refuses to let that stop them. I think it's John Wayne that says, "Courage isn't being fearless, it's being scared out of your mind but saddling up anyway." That was the kind of thing that I always appreciated about Neville. At no point was he really fearless, but he just knew it was the right thing to do, and so it had to be done. I love that. It's so much more human. It's so much more believable. To be able to play that was really interesting for me as an actor. I just feel like Neville and I were so similar. My wife thinks this phrase is hilarious, but I wouldn't have said "boo" to a goose when I was a child. I was very shy and I grew with Neville as he grew in confidence. Because he resonated so much with me when I read the books, it was such a privilege to be able to put that on-screen and hopefully make that journey and that character accessible to a whole bunch of new people. It was a real honor and that whole final payoff that we got in Deathly Hallows Part 2 was exactly what I wanted to do with him. I'm so thrilled. David Yates had a real soft spot for Neville and I knew that from the moment I met him on Order of Phoenix. We wanted to make sure we did as much justice as we could. It was a privilege and I'm really glad that we got to do it.

[Applause]

Speaker: We have a request and a question. The question is: were there any practical effects for movies that you found particularly impressive, and if so what were they? And then, Bonnie, if you would not mind, he would like to hear you say, "Shut it," in your best Ginny Weasley voice.

Bonnie: I don't know about being asked to say lines. I'm going to give you another line because I don't want to shout. I did it on Friday, and I'm actually quite proud I can still open the Chamber of Secrets.

Matthew: That was dead good as well.

Bonnie: So I can give you that. [speaks Parseltongue]

[Applause]

Bonnie: I feel like the "shut it" line... I'm too soft for that. [laughs] For the question: the sets. They built so much of it. As we were saying before, they didn't do a lot of green screen, so it meant that [for] so [many] of the things, we actually had eyelines and we could see things for. [It's the] same with some of the effects. There was obviously the animal department that Matt spoke about, but there was the creatures department that was incredible. They made animatronic Dobbys, for instance. Different Dobbys were built to do different things. There's one Dobby that could blink its eyes really well, but another one that could move its arms. They brought different ones on for different scenes. Those were just incredible.
You were just amazed, not only the technique of them being able to move animatronically but also the skin texture and painting on the veins of his translucent skin. [For] the centaurs, there's a process called flocking which you see sometimes on display cabinet units. When you electrically charge the two parts - maybe the paint is positive and the model horse is negative - they literally brushed these particles on to make it look like how a horse's hair will move. Just the attention to detail was just incredible. Going in there and just looking at everything that they did. You sometimes wish more of that had been seen. I guess some of those things are available to be seen at the studio tour, but I was really impressed by the practical effects of the creatures department and everything they did.

Matthew: It was. It was like Willy Wonka's factory, or like [Q's] department in James Bond. There would be people testing stuff when you walked through, and mad stuff would be happening, and spider's legs would be coming out of a wall, or there be a giant basilisk head coming down from the ceiling and people putting individual feathers into Fawkes to create the whole phoenix. There was just something going on all the time when you walked through there; it was so exciting. As Bonnie said, the animatronics all really came to life and I'm such a huge fan of real practical effects over CGI. I think there's no substitute for it. Seeing these people work and all the things they created, Bonnie is absolutely right. It's a shame that we didn't see quite a lot of it because they made so many things. Even the [Monster] Book of Monsters. That was a working prop that literally was spring-loaded and would open and snap its jaws. There was so much stuff like that. The whole creature effects department was amazing. I hate spiders, and I quite like scaring myself, [so] to go in there and see these giant spiders that all moved - a giant Aragog - it was incredible. It was a real skill that I'm worried we might be losing in the film industry these days. I hope to see it make a resurgence.

[Applause]

Speaker: Do you have any pets, and if so, what are they?

Bonnie: Oh, good question! And I know you've been plucking up the courage to ask your question. I've been seeing you back and come up to the microphone. So well done for going up.

[Applause]

Bonnie: I know it's really quite scary going up to ask, so thanks. I do have pets. I have three pets. I have a dog called Billy Blue who's three, and I just got two kittens. One is a ginger cat and one is a black cat, so I feel like they're both representing two sides of me. As you can assume, a black cat is quite a witchy cat and a ginger cat is quite obvious. [laughs] They're Hugo and Frank. They're seven months old. Do you have a pet?

Audience Member: Yeah, I've got one dog named Darcy. He's a Jack Russell [Terrier].

Bonnie: Cute!

Matthew: I've got two dogs. I have a... Okay, let me get this right. She's half Yorkie which is nice because I'm a Yorkie. [laughs] Then she's a quarter Dachshund and a quarter Chihuahua. She is as insane as that sounds. She's called Nellie because my wife named her before I met her, after the rapper.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: Don't ask. And then I have a Toy Poodle. Who's a little shit and I love him with all of my heart. He's called Luke after Luke Skywalker.

[Audience cheers]

Speaker: So This fan is going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter soon, and she wants to know if you have any recommendations or must-sees from the experiences going.

Bonnie: Well, I love theme parks. I love rides. I love the thrill of things. It's pure escapism. You enter this world, and I think what's so good about the theme park is they got a lot of people from the production department that we talked about earlier who designed a lot of sets to come on and make it as authentic as possible. I think the journey of taking the Hogwarts Express is genius. It's photoreal video going by of London, and that moment felt really cool. Even just the London element of Kings Cross in Florida. It's like, "This is unusual." [laughs] There are so many parts of the theme park that we obviously haven't gotten to do [working on the movies]. We didn't ever get to go into all these actual, [fully] operating shops. I love Diagon Alley in the films and the books, so I was so pleased when they extended it to Diagon Alley. I would say my favorite is just exploring the streets. The rides, obviously, are incredible, but I just think [of] the little details of the alleyway, walking through, [and] going into the shops. You're going to have the best time.

Matthew: That's it, really. The rides are fantastic. All of them. The new one, the Hagrid one. Gosh, I was hungover on that.

[Audience laughs]

Matthew: I don't recommend that. Go on that stone-cold sober because [otherwise] you're going to have a bad time. But it's really good. What they do really, really well are the reveals of some of the stuff and how they really do a great job of making you feel like you're taking that journey that the characters took. You go to London, and London is reimagined incredibly well. I did play a few years ago, and I used to get off at Leicester Square tube station every night for 12 weeks. And it looks identical; It's incredible, the attention to detail that they've done. And then Kings Cross looks uncanny. You do that, and you go there, and you go through Kings Cross station. You get on the train. Well, you go to Diagon Alley first. It's got this clever illusion when you go through the wall and suddenly you're not in London anymore. You're in Diagon Alley. It's just an incredible reveal. Then you get on the train to go... I don't want to spoil the train journey, but it is one of the most immersive, clever pieces of theme park magic I've really ever seen. It's brilliant, and it's different both ways. When you take one way to Hogsmeade and one back to London, it's different. It's just so clever, and so great, and you're going to have a wonderful time. And then you come out of Hogsmeade and you go into Hogwarts! It's all there. It's all happening. It's brilliant. You'll have a great time.

Speaker: Of all the things from the book that didn't make it into the film, what is something that you wish had.

Bonnie: Wow. I've wanted to re-read the books for a long time just to remind myself just how much wasn't in the movies. I think I'll remember things and I'm like, "Wow." There's definitely a lot more than even my memory can think of. All the obvious things of my character. I've already [spoken] about those things and I feel like a lot of people would have loved more of all of our characters, just to help that evolution of the roles and why they ended up where they are. But I feel like I always wanted to see more of Hogwarts. I feel like in the book, they end up in different corners of Hogwarts and I always wanted there to just be some more corners. Even when we were performing, there was the courtyard, the Great Hall, the Gryffindor common room, and that was the main set. There were some classrooms too. I just wished we genuinely could have wandered around and had more moments of the general feeling of the scale of Hogwarts. Even though I wouldn't have liked to perform more Quidditch, because it was an uncomfortable thing to do, I wish there had been more Quidditch in the film. As my memory remembers different things every day, I'm like, "Oh, this bit! That bit!" I also just loved all of the characters like Lupin, and Tonks, and Sirius Black, and all those more adult roles in the story. Particularly in Order of The Phoenix. I just feel like they could have literally had their own series on top of the children's story. That's not a very precise answer to your question, but so much I feel was missed out.

Matthew: I have a couple. One, specifically for Neville, is the one I've always said - and we were desperate to get it in - was when Neville visits his mother in St Mungo's Hospital. Just because it was so crucial to his character. When I played Neville after reading that, it influenced so much of what I did. When I was dealing with Death Eaters, or when I saw the Cruciatus curse on that insect, it influenced so much of what I was doing. I wanted everyone else to partake in that and see it. It was a shame that we never got to do that because it's so crucial to his entire being at that stage in his life. I alluded to David earlier, having a soft spot for Neville, and he was desperate to get it in, and we just ran out of time. We never got to do it and that's always been a bit of a regret of mine. Aside from me, Peeves the Poltergeist was always a favorite of mine reading the books. Having read the book so long ago and having seen the films relatively more recently, you forget just how much of Peeves is in the books. He's so good and so funny. In the first movie, we had the late Rik Mayall who is one of the greatest comedic performers of all time, and who was a personal hero of mine now but even then at 11 years old. I adored Rik Mayall, and he was played Peeves. He was utterly majestic. He was fantastic. He would have been the one where you all went, "That was the best casting that there ever was in those movies." Alas, it had to go for a couple of reasons. We shot it, but it went for timing issues. We have to shoulder some of the blame for it because we could not stop laughing. He's supposed to be terrifying us, and we just found him the funniest guy in the world. I mean, [he's] Drop Dead Fred. It was just incredible, and I hope one day it sees the light of day because you would love it. So brilliant. It was so great.

Host: Alright, we have time for one more. It's already been an hour.

Speaker: Our question here is: if Neville and Ginny were Animagus like Mcgonagall, what do you think their animal forms would be?

Bonnie: It's probably more about what I would like to be, as Bonnie, as an animal. I spend a lot of time in the water. I love the water, so if I could become a dolphin and jump right into the ocean and swim around, that would be good. I always think, too, it would be hilarious if your Patronus is a whale because it would just fill the room.

[Audience laughs]

Bonnie: I was like, "They could be to scale. That would be good. Dementors would probably leave." But Ginny, I don't know what she would be. A word that David Yates gave to Ginny quite a lot when we talk about her as a character was this "warrior" role. So I think something almost like a stag or a horse feels quite right because I feel like there is this "Onward!" to her character. She just keeps going. I don't think she dwells in the past so much. That would be probably quite fitting for Ginny.

Matthew: Neville would be a little turtle who is quite content in the safety of his shell. But in the open ocean, he would fly. When no one's around, when no one's looking, he would be beautiful. He would come out and enjoy his time.

[Audience laughs]

Host: Wonderful.

[Applause]