Tom Felton says he mistook 'Harry Potter' costar Gary Oldman for a cleaning-staff member and even complimented him on the set's polished floors
- Tom Felton recalled mistaking costar Gary Oldman for a cleaning-staff member on the "Harry Potter" set.
- In his new memoir, Felton said he "cringed with embarrassment" when he realized his error.
Tom Felton said that "Harry Potter" costar Gary Oldman was so unassuming and dressed casually on set that he mistook the veteran actor for a member of the cleaning staff.
"There were certain actors on the set who you'd never really recognize out of character, even though they were absolute legends," Felton, who starred as Draco Malfoy in the franchise, wrote in chapter 19 of his memoir, "Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard," released on Tuesday.
"They just looked — and I mean this in the nicest possible way — like slightly scruffy older men," Felton continued, naming costars John Hurt (Ollivander) and David Bradley (Filch) as actors who fit that description.
"I was on set one day when I saw another slightly scruffy older bloke wearing an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt," the actor said. "I'd occasionally seen him around and I thought he was one of the cleaning staff. What can I say? He just had that look."
Felton said that, while standing outside the Great Hall, he complimented the man by squeaking his shoes on the polished floor, giving him a thumbs-up, and saying, "Top work, mate!"
"He turned around to see if I was talking to someone behind him, gave me a slightly odd frown, and said nothing," Felton recalled.
The actor said that he encountered the same person later that day in the hair and make-up department.
"He seemed to be showing family and friends around," Felton said. "Bit weird, for one of the cleaning staff. I had a horrible feeling I might have made a faux pas, so when he'd left I asked someone, 'Who is that?'"
Then, Felton was informed that the scruffy-looking man was Oldman, the actor who joined the franchise as Sirius Black in the third film, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
"I cringed with embarrassment when I realized I'd mistaken him for the cleaner," Felton wrote in his memoir. "I wanted to apologize — not that he'd really have given a monkey's — but in the end I took the easier route of totally ignoring my mistake and pretending I'd known who he was all along."
He added: "In my defense, for such a big star, he was hardly starry at all. He was unassuming and down-to-earth, likely to be seen making a cup of tea for everyone, rather than playing the room."