|
It's a few years since we first had our big screen
introduction to Tom Riddle, but actor Christian Coulson still has
fond memories of his time on the set of The Chamber Of Secrets.
 Watch:
Interview with Christian Coulson talking about playing Tom Riddle
As he took a break between shows during his current
UK tour of the play Festen, he was happy to talk about his role
of Tom Riddle and admitted he was excited that the character had
made a return in The Half-Blood Prince.
"I'd love to do it again," said Christian.
"When a friend rang to tell me to read the
sixth book because I was in it again it was exciting - but who knows,"
he added.
The audition process for the role of Tim Riddle
took weeks.
"I hadn't read the books until I auditioned,"
admitted Christian.
"The auditions took six months. There were
filming the first one [Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone]
so they didn't really have time to sit down and work out what they
wanted.
"They saw about a thousands people, but in
the end they got down to three and then they camera tested me and
that was it. By the time the call came it had been going on for
so long it was a relief."
When Christian got that all important phone call
to say he'd landed the part, it was all very exciting.
"The first film wasn't out, but obviously
it was starting to build as an idea. Of course it was exiting, the
part really chimed with me when I read the book and I felt very
strongly there were some things I could bring to it," he said.
"When the sixth book came out last year and
Tom's back in it and I felt those feelings again. I
don't always know why a part jumps out. It's about what fuels the
imagination and what chimes in some way with how you tick.
"The experience is very much like reading
a novel and when you find characters you identify with very strongly
you don't always know why I don't think."
Christian sits down for a chat about Harry Potter |
Happy days on set
"The people on it [Chamber Of Secrets] were
fantastic," said Christian.
"It was the first time I'd had a responsibility
of that size. I was not in a place that I could relax as it was
all new to me. So I was busy exploring and being excited by it and
I remember that time very fondly.
"We spent seven weeks doing a 15 minute scene,
something which I will probably never do again. The scene was so
long and the effects so heavy in the second half of it - to spend
two months doing it was extraordinary.
Filming the scene where Tom Riddle calls the Basilisk
to attack Harry was shot on a fully built set.
"We didn't have to imagine the environment.
In reacting to the creature [Basilisk] they had a mock-up of it,
the head existed as an animatronics model," said Christian.
"In terms of watching things fly around it's
a bit like being on stage and imagining where the walls are if they
are not there. And you know the special effects people are going
to provide the thing that could have created that reaction,"
he added.
When it comes to meeting the fans at Potter events
and conventions, Christian always finds it fun - if a bit weird.
"I know there's a whole group of people who
are huge supporters of the books and films - it's a contained world
of fandom," he said.
"It's great to meet the fans and hear how
they respond to the films as a whole, but it still feels very odd
after a day of doing that as it feels they are talking about somebody
else - not me," he added.
Watch:
Interview with Christian Coulson talking about playing Tom Riddle
|
