Just Finished Reading… Beyond The Wand: The Magic And Mayhem Of Growing Up A Wizard by Tom Felton. Penguin, 2022

 From Borrower to wizard, Tom Felton's adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame saw him catapulted into the limelight aged just twelve when he landed the iconic role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

Speaking with candour and his own trademark humour, Tom shares his experience of growing up on screen and as part of the wizarding world for the very first time. He tells all about his big break, what filming was really like and the lasting friendships he made during ten years as part of the franchise, as well as the highs and lows of fame and the reality of navigating adult life after filming finished.

This is Tom Felton’s memoir, beginning with his first work in a commercial and his first film The Borrowers and going on to his career in Hollywood, during which he needed to go into rehab treatment. He is honest about the problems for which he needed help, which were, he admits, his own fault.

Tom began his acting career very young, with a TV commercial filmed in the US. As a little boy, he was understandably more thrilled with the room service and such than with the job. Once, he was surprised to see crowds waving and cheering for him because they thought he was Macaulay Culkin! He enjoyed the attention anyway.

He admits to his cockiness and naughty behaviour, even during the filming of the Harry Potter films, when he hung out with Jamie Waylett and Josh Herdman(Crabbe and Goyle). It wasn’t always on purpose, but usually disastrous. 

He also hung out with Michael Gambon(Dumbledore), who used to hide a cigarette in his beard, and they announced they were going out for a “breath of fresh air” between takes, but were having a smoke together!  

Tom says that, because he wasn’t always having to film, unlike the main  trio, he was still able to live a more or less normal life, riding his bike to school when not filming. Emma Watson, who was cast at only nine years of age(who knew that?), never went back to a normal school. She became a dear friend (and wrote the foreword to the book). There is something sad about this aspect of child actors’ lives. 

He says positive things about everyone with whom he worked, and mentions his excitement about working with some of the big name cast members, especially Alan Rickman, whom he had seen as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves. 

He played in some very strange films after Harry Potter and describes them in great and humorous detail.

In fact, the book is filled with humour; I found myself smiling and chuckling all the way through, but also touched by his honesty about his later problems. It is very readable and chatty, as much for teens as adults. 

If you are interested, it’s available on all good web sites. I bought my ebook on Apple Books.