My grandfather is a genius. His name is Nigel Anstey and he is a geophysicist by profession. A recognized and award-winning geophysicist, after whom one of the industry awards was named. When it came time to go on Philosopher’s Stone and I needed an adult guardian, Grandpa got the part. Mom couldn’t take time off work again, so Grandma Wendy came over to help her run the house, and Grandpa and I hit the road.
With his full gray beard, Grandpa looks like Darwin, or if you prefer, a wise old wizard, so when we walked to the make-up room and Chris Columbus saw him for the first time on the stairs of Leavesden Studios, he thought Grandpa would be a perfect teacher at Hogwarts.
STAIRCASE, LEAVESDEN STUDIO. DAY.
An elderly bearded man leads a scruffy blond child to the make-up room. They meet Chris Columbus, who pauses for a moment, blinks twice and cocks his head.
COLUMBUS (with typical American director enthusiasm): Have you read this book?
GRANDFATHER (with British academic restraint): I’ve been reading.
COLUMBUS: You’d make a great wizard! Have you ever thought about acting?
GRANDFATHER: I didn’t think so.
COLUMBUS: We’d love to see you at Hogwarts! Will you consider it?
A moment of silence.
GRANDPA: I’ll think about it.
It’s unheard of for relatives of cast members to make guest appearances on screen. My grandfather was an exception. In the first video, you’ll spot him at the right end of the teachers’ table when the students first enter the Great Hall, and when Professor Quirrell announces that a troll has appeared in the dungeon. Grandpa also sits next to Lee Jordan during the first Quidditch match. Moreover, he was very similar to Richard Harris who played Dumbledore, so he often acted as his understudy. But Grandpa’s influence on film was not limited to a few scenes on screen.
My grandma likes stories about fairies, ghosts, magic and goblins. I inherited this passion from her. Grandpa, on the other hand, is a born scientist. He always analyzes everything thoroughly and is extremely rational. My brothers and I used to play chess with him often and we always lost badly, although there were times when he took five minutes to think about his next move. Half the time we lost out of boredom. Despite his rationalism, Grandpa loves art. She loves opera, classical and contemporary music, theatre, poetry and cinema. That’s why I think he was happy to be in the film and he was happy that he could help me prepare for the role.
I had a tendency to confuse words. Under the influence of emotions, my speech became slurred and I even started to stutter slightly. Grandpa taught me to speak slower. He taught me the secrets of clear and precise articulation. This is an important lesson for any young actor, but he did not limit himself to vague advice. I owe him the development of one of Draco’s most distinctive traits: the mocking smile.
Draco would be nothing without that expression, so Grandpa insisted I practice it. We would sit in front of the mirror in a small boarding house near the film studio and try to perfect the mocking grimace. My grandfather used to tell me to imagine that I was smiling because of something terrible. A smile that is too wide will suggest joy, so I should smile slightly and worryingly. Once I mastered it, he taught me to flare my nostrils wider as if I smelled something disgusting. “Excellent, now only one hole.” Finally, he encouraged me to convey with a smile the frustration I felt at being the youngest, smallest, and weakest of my siblings. It was an inexhaustible source! Every youngest child feels they’re getting hurt, and Draco was supposed to treat the rest of the cast the way my brothers sometimes treated me.
I listened to my grandfather’s advice. I would sit in front of the mirror and remember the times when my brothers called me a worm and a dick. I remembered how they took away my TV remote and didn’t let me play with them. I remembered Jink teasing me when we played pool on the battered table my dad had bought at the Dorking flea market. I grabbed a stick and threw it at my brother as if I were throwing a javelin. Jink selfishly dodged, and the javelin shattered the glass in the back door.
My brothers will always be my best friends, and my house was nothing like Malfoy Manor, full of joy, fun, and love. Draco is the product of a dark, toxic family, and I grew up with loving people. But practicing with my grandfather in front of the mirror taught me something important about the work of an actor. He brings a bit of himself to the role, working with elements of his own life and making them something else. I’m not Draco. Draco is not me. But the border between us is not painted in clear black, but marked with shades of grey.
On the other side of the wand – cover promotional materials of the Albatros publishing house
The Other Side of the Wand by Tom Felton has been translated by Robert Walis. Excerpt provided by Albatros Publishing House.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
