Irish "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" castmates Domhnall Gleeson and Evanna Lynch say they remain enchanted with the magical world created for the film franchise even though they have glimpsed what really goes into conjuring the illusions.
"You can tell the new guy on the set, if it's me, because he's got a wand in the corner, going, 'Poof!' and doing the sounds," Gleeson said at a recent press conference in New York.
Asked to describe his first day of work, the 28-year-old Dubliner confided: "I was really, really nervous. At first, I was in Wales and there were scenes to be shot out on a beach .
. . and I was told: 'It's OK. They've got a skeleton crew, they've got a really small crew for this, so it'll be a nice, small start.' And there was like 150 people there, but it was really lovely. Everyone's just incredibly welcoming."
Best known for his work in the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," Domhnall Gleeson is the son of beloved actor Brendan Gleeson, who plays Mad-Eye Moody in the "Potter" flicks. The younger Gleeson joined the ensemble as eldest Weasley brother Bill in the seventh "Potter" movie, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1." He will soon be seen in the finale, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2."
"It was lovely," he recalled of his initiation into the "Potter" acting company. "I arrived for the second-to-the-last film and everyone was very welcoming and it was like being welcomed into a family. And then I was working with my Dad. I had worked with my Dad before [on McDonagh's Oscar-winning short 'Six Shooter,'] but it just makes it extra fun. [The 'Potter' set] is such an amazing place to be. The sets are incredible, everybody's really nice and to share that with a family member is great. And then to announce his character's death is also really sweet. So, it was great."
So, what did he think when he discovered his father's character was going to be killed off shortly into Part 1 of "Hallows?" "The first thing I did [when I read the last book, which was split into two films] was call my Dad and say, 'You're dead by page 20, sorry.'"
Lynch , a 19-year-old Termonfeckin native, joined the film series in the fifth installment "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." She plays Harry's friend and classmate, the kind-hearted, new-agey Luna Lovegood.
"I wasn't an actor. I was just a huge fan," Lynch recalled of how she started out in the film series. "My first day was on the screen test and I hadn't gotten the part at that point . . . I was meeting all these people and telling them, 'I know you; I know your birthdays.' I had to tone it down because I really wanted the part. But they were so nice. Daniel [Radcliffe] knew I was a nervous wreck and he showed me around. I was just staring at him, wondering how is he walking and talking to me at the same time and I had to ask him, 'Can I just touch you to check?' And he was very good and humored me. But it took me ages to settle in there. I was just so stunned and awestruck."
Lynch said she thinks the legacy of the films and books can be boiled down to the very important lesson Radcliffe's character Harry ultimately realizes.
"He's the main character, but there isn't really anything extraordinary about him. For half the books, Harry's like: 'Why is this happening to me? Why am I the chosen one?' And we [his friends] are like, 'Yeah, why?' Because he's a teenager and he's fumbling around and he's always saying he couldn't do [what he does] without his friends.
"I think that's what the message is: he's a normal boy, but he has this need that he wants to do good and he respects everyone else and everyone joins in and you see what he achieves. And it's just because he wants to and has the will to do good. I think that's the message the books send. If you have the will inside you and you do it with all your heart, you can do anything."
