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When Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling first saw you, she said it was like looking at her long-lost son. How did that feel?
You can't really get a bigger compliment can you? She is so nice. I've maybe met her two or three times, and I've spoken to her on the phone - and she said she wanted to adopt me, which was quite nice. After that, I kind of passed the phone back to (producer) David Heyman and went all shy. She is a really nice person.
Did you ever imagine yourself playing him when you were reading about Harry Potter?
I think it's the same for me and lots of my friends: whenever you read a book, you always visualize yourself as one of the characters. But that was kind of the only book that didn't happen to me. I had no idea I could play the part and that I would play the part. I never dreamed that in a million years.
Do you identify with Harry?
I think I'm going to have to have therapy one day. When I read the Potter books, I find out more things about myself that Harry has in his personality too.
Such as?
We have curiosity, loyalty and get in trouble. We don't break the rules, we just kind of bend them.
What do you like best about Harry Potter?
His loyalty to his friends and his bravery. He is very mysterious as well. And the magical element, too.
Do you like the Harry Potter action figure?
I think it's cool. I had to go in this lycra suit and stand on this platform and they scanned my body up and down with these lasers to get all my facial features and things. The oddest thing was seeing myself as a Lego action figure. It was so strange seeing my cylindrical head.
Do you believe in magic?
I think I definitely do believe in magic, and I think, if I had a house elf like Dobby, he'd do my homework for me!
Is there anything you don't like about Harry Potter?
No, I think I would like to be his friend. He would be cool as a friend.
Do you wear glasses when you're not playing Harry Potter?
I'm supposed to but I always lose them or a lens falls out or something. So after we went through three pairs, we stopped buying them. I even managed to break my Harry Potter glasses at one stage. But there were a lot of pairs, a whole row of them in the prop department.
What's the story with the contact lenses?
I don't have green eyes, like Harry's, so I tried to wear green contacts, but they were so irritating that I stopped. Computer animation painted my eyes green during post-production.
During filming, were you ever scared?
Sometimes you do have to have a quick glimpse over at the crew to remind yourself that you are filming because the other actors are so real that they really make you believe that you are actually at Hogwarts, having these experiences.
So does that explain why you really enjoy doing your own stunts?
I guess so. I love doing stunts. I love doing gymnastics, and I'm well into all the stunt work and things. It's so hard to be a stunt man, though. You have to get seven qualifications: canoeing, sky diving, things like that.
There were rumors that in the Chamber Of Secrets your voice was dubbed. True or false?
False. The voice you hear is mine. My voice did break during the filming, but it didn't go up and down. It went from one octave to another. Harry's also at an age when his voice might start to break, so I don't think it's that big a problem.
We heard you pulled a practical joke on Robbie Coltrane, back when you were making The Sorcerer's Stone...
Oh, that! Well, everybody on the set has a mobile phone. I found that by pushing a few buttons, they could be programmed into different languages. I fixed Robbie's to speak in Turkish! One time, I hid a frog in his boots too.
If you could use one magic spell in real-life, which would it be and why?
I think it would be having that Invisibility Cloak, so I could get into concerts and things.
Are you a big music fan?
I like music a lot, and I want to learn to play the drums. I like writing a lot, lyrics and things. I like lots of bands. I like Ash, JJ72, lots of different music. Punk. I like the punk attitude and stuff and the actual way the music sounds. In punk, my favorite bands are the Sex Pistols, the Damned, the Stranglers, the Undertones, the Clash, the Jam, bands like that.
How has life changed for you since you became Harry Potter?
I think my life has changed surprisingly little. I mean, obviously, I'm recognised sometimes when people come up to me on the street, but that's actually kind of fun. And it's really cool because they just talk about the film and they're really enthusiastic about it, and it's really great to hear what they have to say.
Do you get treated differently now that you are a star?
The assumption by a lot of people is that we can't do anything without being mobbed by photographers and people coming up to us in the street - that's really not true. We all go out to the cinema, we hang out with our friends. As far as our friends treating us differently, for me, they're just exactly the same. They're perhaps crueller to me! No one, like, sucks up to me or anything.
How much are you able to have a real life outside the world of the movies?
I do normal kid stuff all the time. I think I just, like, have pizza parties - you know, have some friends round to eat pizza and just be lazy boys, which is fun.
Tell us about your friends.
They're good. I'm very lucky. My friends are mainly from school, and I have a friend called Will outside of school. We were both born in the same hospital and we had the same nanny. A lot of my friends have been out to the set, and I see them every weekend. When I'm away on location, I keep in touch with them by e-mail.
Do you enjoy receiving fan mail?
Yes, that's really fun. I always answer them. It's really funny, but there were a couple of people at school - and they had never talked to me before - but as soon as I got the part, they started e-mailing me and pretending we were best friends.
What's the craziest thing a fan has done for you?
I did an MTV interview, and we looked outside and there was a girl in a Harry Potter towel and nothing else. It was November in New York! She was out there for one and half hours. She was holding a sign that said, "Nothing comes between me and Harry Potter". And then, later, I went from that studio to David Letterman's and she was standing there. But she had full clothes on this time. I actually got to say, "Hi" to her again, which was cool.
How do you feel about the stories that are written about you?
My mum and dad don't let me read any of the articles about me. They just told me to enjoy what I'm doing and I think that's the best thing.
Do you think about what you will do with the money from the Harry Potter films?
I think I will just save it. I don't know how much I'm getting, and I don't want to know because I don't really think it's that important. It's not about the money. It's about having fun and meeting people.
Are you ever afraid that you will be typecast as Harry Potter?
Not really. I guess it's a possibility because Harry Potter is so really cool. I don't think I'd mind that at all.
What was the best part of going to the premieres?
Meeting celebrities. Ben Stiller and Robin Williams were the coolest. Ben waited until afterwards to congratulate me, which was unbelievably cool. Ben's a genius.
Who would be your dream premiere date?
Cameron Diaz! Kirsten Dunst. I am in love with her. Catherine Zeta-Jones. Julia Roberts. Or maybe Nicole Kidman. With the first Harry Potter film, it was good because Rupert (Grint) is a friend and he comes to the premieres and Emma (Watson) too. When we're not working, I don't get to see them that much.
Finally, when you grow up, what do you want to do with your life?
I love English, reading and writing. I might like to be a writer when I grow up. Or I might like to be a director.
You can't really get a bigger compliment can you? She is so nice. I've maybe met her two or three times, and I've spoken to her on the phone - and she said she wanted to adopt me, which was quite nice. After that, I kind of passed the phone back to (producer) David Heyman and went all shy. She is a really nice person.
Did you ever imagine yourself playing him when you were reading about Harry Potter?
I think it's the same for me and lots of my friends: whenever you read a book, you always visualize yourself as one of the characters. But that was kind of the only book that didn't happen to me. I had no idea I could play the part and that I would play the part. I never dreamed that in a million years.
Do you identify with Harry?
I think I'm going to have to have therapy one day. When I read the Potter books, I find out more things about myself that Harry has in his personality too.
Such as?
We have curiosity, loyalty and get in trouble. We don't break the rules, we just kind of bend them.
What do you like best about Harry Potter?
His loyalty to his friends and his bravery. He is very mysterious as well. And the magical element, too.
Do you like the Harry Potter action figure?
I think it's cool. I had to go in this lycra suit and stand on this platform and they scanned my body up and down with these lasers to get all my facial features and things. The oddest thing was seeing myself as a Lego action figure. It was so strange seeing my cylindrical head.
Do you believe in magic?
I think I definitely do believe in magic, and I think, if I had a house elf like Dobby, he'd do my homework for me!
Is there anything you don't like about Harry Potter?
No, I think I would like to be his friend. He would be cool as a friend.
Do you wear glasses when you're not playing Harry Potter?
I'm supposed to but I always lose them or a lens falls out or something. So after we went through three pairs, we stopped buying them. I even managed to break my Harry Potter glasses at one stage. But there were a lot of pairs, a whole row of them in the prop department.
What's the story with the contact lenses?
I don't have green eyes, like Harry's, so I tried to wear green contacts, but they were so irritating that I stopped. Computer animation painted my eyes green during post-production.
During filming, were you ever scared?
Sometimes you do have to have a quick glimpse over at the crew to remind yourself that you are filming because the other actors are so real that they really make you believe that you are actually at Hogwarts, having these experiences.
So does that explain why you really enjoy doing your own stunts?
I guess so. I love doing stunts. I love doing gymnastics, and I'm well into all the stunt work and things. It's so hard to be a stunt man, though. You have to get seven qualifications: canoeing, sky diving, things like that.
There were rumors that in the Chamber Of Secrets your voice was dubbed. True or false?
False. The voice you hear is mine. My voice did break during the filming, but it didn't go up and down. It went from one octave to another. Harry's also at an age when his voice might start to break, so I don't think it's that big a problem.
We heard you pulled a practical joke on Robbie Coltrane, back when you were making The Sorcerer's Stone...
Oh, that! Well, everybody on the set has a mobile phone. I found that by pushing a few buttons, they could be programmed into different languages. I fixed Robbie's to speak in Turkish! One time, I hid a frog in his boots too.
If you could use one magic spell in real-life, which would it be and why?
I think it would be having that Invisibility Cloak, so I could get into concerts and things.
Are you a big music fan?
I like music a lot, and I want to learn to play the drums. I like writing a lot, lyrics and things. I like lots of bands. I like Ash, JJ72, lots of different music. Punk. I like the punk attitude and stuff and the actual way the music sounds. In punk, my favorite bands are the Sex Pistols, the Damned, the Stranglers, the Undertones, the Clash, the Jam, bands like that.
How has life changed for you since you became Harry Potter?
I think my life has changed surprisingly little. I mean, obviously, I'm recognised sometimes when people come up to me on the street, but that's actually kind of fun. And it's really cool because they just talk about the film and they're really enthusiastic about it, and it's really great to hear what they have to say.
Do you get treated differently now that you are a star?
The assumption by a lot of people is that we can't do anything without being mobbed by photographers and people coming up to us in the street - that's really not true. We all go out to the cinema, we hang out with our friends. As far as our friends treating us differently, for me, they're just exactly the same. They're perhaps crueller to me! No one, like, sucks up to me or anything.
How much are you able to have a real life outside the world of the movies?
I do normal kid stuff all the time. I think I just, like, have pizza parties - you know, have some friends round to eat pizza and just be lazy boys, which is fun.
Tell us about your friends.
They're good. I'm very lucky. My friends are mainly from school, and I have a friend called Will outside of school. We were both born in the same hospital and we had the same nanny. A lot of my friends have been out to the set, and I see them every weekend. When I'm away on location, I keep in touch with them by e-mail.
Do you enjoy receiving fan mail?
Yes, that's really fun. I always answer them. It's really funny, but there were a couple of people at school - and they had never talked to me before - but as soon as I got the part, they started e-mailing me and pretending we were best friends.
What's the craziest thing a fan has done for you?
I did an MTV interview, and we looked outside and there was a girl in a Harry Potter towel and nothing else. It was November in New York! She was out there for one and half hours. She was holding a sign that said, "Nothing comes between me and Harry Potter". And then, later, I went from that studio to David Letterman's and she was standing there. But she had full clothes on this time. I actually got to say, "Hi" to her again, which was cool.
How do you feel about the stories that are written about you?
My mum and dad don't let me read any of the articles about me. They just told me to enjoy what I'm doing and I think that's the best thing.
Do you think about what you will do with the money from the Harry Potter films?
I think I will just save it. I don't know how much I'm getting, and I don't want to know because I don't really think it's that important. It's not about the money. It's about having fun and meeting people.
Are you ever afraid that you will be typecast as Harry Potter?
Not really. I guess it's a possibility because Harry Potter is so really cool. I don't think I'd mind that at all.
What was the best part of going to the premieres?
Meeting celebrities. Ben Stiller and Robin Williams were the coolest. Ben waited until afterwards to congratulate me, which was unbelievably cool. Ben's a genius.
Who would be your dream premiere date?
Cameron Diaz! Kirsten Dunst. I am in love with her. Catherine Zeta-Jones. Julia Roberts. Or maybe Nicole Kidman. With the first Harry Potter film, it was good because Rupert (Grint) is a friend and he comes to the premieres and Emma (Watson) too. When we're not working, I don't get to see them that much.
Finally, when you grow up, what do you want to do with your life?
I love English, reading and writing. I might like to be a writer when I grow up. Or I might like to be a director.
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