Tom Felton has revealed that he had no idea that his mocking pronunciation of the word Potter It would become one of the most celebrated moments in Harry Potter history, and he credits his older brothers for unknowingly teaching him how to do it.
Talking about the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Thursday, March 26, the 38-year-old actor said about the now famous installment.
“I don’t know how that has become iconic. I certainly had no idea.” He traced the pronunciation back to the dynamics of his childhood as the youngest of four brothers.
“I have three older brothers, so everyone always called me something like worm or runt. Runt of the pack. Because I was the youngest and the shortest by a lot. So I don’t remember thinking about it for a second. But ‘Potter’ became more and more poisonous.”
He marveled at the reaction it still provokes.
“All you have to do is say that in the company of a Potter fan and… goosebumps and, like, applause, something happens,” he said.
“I never knew any of these things were going to be iconic lines.”
Currently, Felton is back in Slytherin robes on Broadway, playing Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Childwhich begins 19 years after the events of Deathly Hallows and follows the next generation of Hogwarts students.
He told podcast host Josh Horowitz that he has smuggled at least one of his most famous film lines into theater production, not by planning, but by instinct.
“I said it spontaneously once in rehearsals and John Tiffany, our fabulous director, who’s been doing it for ten years, I could see his eyes light up and say, ‘Yes. Play that again.'”
The public response has been predictable.
“Needless to say, it’s a huge hit every night,” he added.
