John Lithgow has given fans their first real look at what it takes to become Dumbledore, and it turns out the answer involves a lot of untangling.
The 80-year-old actor appeared in the Today show on Friday, April 17 to promote her role on Broadway in Giantbut the conversation quickly turned to his role as Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series.
The beard, he revealed, has been a source of unexpected difficulties.
“My beard reaches my knees,” he said. “It gets tangled in my buttons and my fly. It’s just impossible.”
Costume challenges aside, Lithgow described walking onto the Hogwarts set at Leavesden Studios as truly overwhelming.
“You can’t even imagine it,” he said.
“They’ve created Hogwarts at Leavesden Studios. A lot of it is leftover from the film era, but they’ve just expanded brilliantly, created a world. And to step into that world is awe-inspiring.”
He was candid about the nerves that accompanied his first days of filming.
The pressure of knowing he was setting the tone for a character he would play for years was not lost on him.
“The first time I worked on the show it was two night shoots in a row and you’re always a little confused doing that at three in the morning,” he recalled.
“I knew this was my first thing and the first scene on Privet Drive and I knew that whatever I do now, I’ve set the template for years to come. I better do it right.”
He added simply: “I’ve acted a lot in my time, but I still have stage fright.”
The series, which began production in July, will adapt each of JK Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books in separate seasons, with the eight-episode first season covering The Sorcerer’s Stone.
Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, Arabella Stanton is Hermione and Alastair Stout plays Ron Weasley. The first trailer was released on March 25.
Lithgow previously revealed in an interview with The New York Times In March he had considered leaving the project due to his connection to Rowling and her anti-trans views, although he ultimately decided to stay.
He disagrees with their rhetoric, he said, and described the series itself as “clearly on the side of angels, against bigotry and bigotry.”
He acknowledged that it is a topic he hopes to address “in every interview I do for the rest of my life.”
