The British actor, who played the rival of the wizard of Hogwarts in the films of the saga, told himself in the round in an autobiography entitled Without the wand
I’m lucky with the life I have. A life where love, family and friends come first. It is not lost on me that their importance is indeed one of the greatest lessons of the Harry Potter stories. Realizing that is what really makes me a very rich man. In the famous film saga based on the novels by JK Rowling, the British actor Tom Felton embodied Draco Malfoy, the rival of the wizard of Hogwarts, on the big screen. Once the spotlights were turned off for him, he had to deal with a very harsh reality, which also made him question his acting skills.
Felton, now 35 years old, spoke about it without filters in an autobiography, Without the wand (published in Italy by Vallardi), released in the same year in which the saga celebrates its twentieth anniversary. In the volume, the actor revealed that he ended up in the spiral of alcohol abuse, and that he attended various rehabilitation centers before being able to leave the addiction behind thanks to the constant support of his lifelong friend Emma Watson (who in Harry Potter played Hermione Granger).
I went from not being particularly interested in alcohol to regularly drinking a few pints a day before the sun even went down, and even a few shots of whiskey to wash it all down – reads the book -. My alcoholism got to the point where I even drank while working. I showed up on set unprepared. I was no longer the professional I wanted to be.
It all started when, now of age, Felton moved to Los Angeles, a decision taken to try to carry on his career in Hollywood: Los Angeles made me feel particularly alone and dissociated from myself: feelings which, of course, could trigger mental disturbances in anyone. Perhaps it is easier to disguise them sitting behind the red velvet rope or behind the wheel of a bright orange Lamborghini.
To this general sense of bewilderment were added the numerous failed auditions, rejections that sent his self-esteem into a crisis: First of all, I found myself faced with the fact that I wasn’t that good at acting – said the actor -. Auditioning at 12 is one thing (sort of making sure you don’t look down on tape or forget your lines) but as an adult it’s very different. There were three auditions a day in Los Angeles, different scripts, different accents and dialects, skills I hadn’t put to use […] I got a lot of no’s, and before I’d even said a word, I could often see them thinking, “Don’t take him, one of the Harry Potter children.”
November 23, 2022 (change November 23, 2022 | 1:13 pm)
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