Before he was Draco, Tom Felton tried out for Harry Potter.
When that part went to Daniel Radcliffe, he tried for Ron Weasley. Both auditions came with a new hair colour.
He was 12 at the time.
Here is how a boy who had never opened the books ended up as Hogwarts’ snootiest student.
Did Tom Felton Audition For Harry Potter?
Yes.
In a 2011 interview with MTV News he said he auditioned for Harry and Ron before Draco.
For the Harry audition, director Chris Columbus had his hair dyed dark brown.
For Ron, it went ginger.
At a Dragon Con panel he joked that after Harry and Ron he went for Hermione as well, and also missed that one.
How Close He Came To Playing Harry
Closer than most fans think.
Tom Felton arrives for the world premiere of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” November 4, 2001 in London – @Getty
Columbus said Felton was a strong actor, so they tested him in the full look.
The plan was to dye his hair, “give him a scar, give him the glasses and let’s see”.
His Harry audition went well.
Columbus’s worry was the hair: on a boy that age, dye is easy to spot.
He also felt Felton’s Malfoy was impossible to pass up.
He Had Never Opened The Books
Felton walked in without a clue about the story.
Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright and Tom Felton attend the Grand Opening of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter on March 31, 2012 in Watford – Dave M. Benett / @Getty
In a 2021 interview with Square Mile, he recalled a group audition where Columbus asked 20 kids what they were most excited to see on screen.
His thought as the question came down the line: “I have no idea what Harry Potter is!”. So he copied the boy next to him.
His memoir, Beyond the Wand, tells the same story about how he bluffed through the question of how well he knew the books.
Why He Got Draco Instead
Felton thinks his attitude won him the part.
Columbus, he said, saw “this slight disinterest and arrogance in me, which he thought could work for Malfoy”.
He gives his family some of the credit: “with three older brothers, you learn to be confident quickly”.
Evanna Lynch, James Phelps, Rupert Grint, Oliver Phelps, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright attend the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” photocall on July 6, 2011 in London – @Getty
Other kids sweated through long scripts.
He told The Guardian he did not need 10 pages of dialogue, he only had to “turn up as a snotty kid who looked right”.
The Hair That Stayed Blonde
Draco meant a decade of bleach.
Felton joked that “the fact I still have hair at all is remarkable”.
As adult Draco in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, he wears a wig.
At 15, he said his classmates left him alone because “they knew me as Tom before they ever knew me as Draco”.
His memoir tells a rougher version: he says kids at school bullied him over the bleached hair.
For me, the best detail is the colour chart.
Brown for Harry, ginger for Ron, platinum for Draco, all by age 13.
READ THIS NEXT: Tom Felton’s Thoughts on the New HBO Draco
I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.