Warner Bros. Pictures
- Neville Longbottom actor Matthew Lewis lost weight in between filming “The Chamber of Secrets” and “The Prizoner of Azkaban.”
- To keep looking like Neville, he had to wear false teeth, plastic behind his ears, and cheek padding.
- Lewis told Metro he hated it whilst shooting at 14 years old but would “love that stuff” now.
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Neville Longbottom actor Matthew Lewis had to wear cheek padding in the “Harry Potter” movies after he lost weight in the gap between filming “The Chamber of Secrets” and “The Prisoner of Azkaban.”
In an interview with British newspaper Metro, Lewis said that he lost a lot of weight between these two movies as there was a longer gap between the films than usual.
“When I came back I was much taller than everyone else and, I guess, thinner than I had been,” Lewis said. The actor, who was 14 years old at the time, said that producer David Heyman assured him that they weren’t going to recast him but that something would have to be done to keep Lewis looking like Neville for the films.
“So they tried stuffing my cheeks with cotton wool, which was disgusting, then they cut these bits of sponge from creature effects and put them in there,” Lewis said.
“But they just absorbed saliva so after a full day that was f—ing vile! Then I had the shoes that were two sizes too big, the plastic behind the ears to make them stick forward, the false teeth.”
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage/Getty Images
Lewis said that he would likely "love that stuff" as an actor now, as they would help him to get into character, but as a 14-year-old he couldn't help but think "f--- this! This is not part of the deal!'"
Lewis previously told EW that he wore a fat suit in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth "Harry Potter" movies on top of the false teeth and cheek padding.
Lewis said: "I didn't mind it - until I was 14 or 15 and there were girls on set. I was a bit like, 'Why me?'''
However, he's not the only "Potter" actor to dislike certain aspects of filming the movies. Harry himself Daniel Radcliffe didn't enjoy filming the quidditch scenes, saying "it does hurt quite a lot," while Fred and George actors James and Oliver Phelps hated filming scenes in the Room of Requirement because it was too hot and stuffy.
Read more: 11 things the 'Harry Potter' cast loved about making the films, and 8 things they hated
Lewis recently told the New York Times that he finds it "painful" to watch the "Harry Potter" films back as all he says is himself in the character.
"At times it's painful how much of me there is in Neville. When I'm watching, I'm like, 'that's not Neville; that's you,'" Lewis said.
It has recently been announced that a new live-action "Harry Potter" series is in development, although it is not clear what the story would be. It remains to be seen if Lewis would ever reprise his role as Neville Longbottom.