The
LA Times' Hero Complex blog has been updated with their Michael Gambon interview, where the actor spoke about working off the movie scripts rather than the actual books (which he has not read), Dumbledore's intimidating nature and how he plays off Draco on the Astronomy Tower, starting
Deathly Hallows next February, and having worked with Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe.
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The choice not to read Rowling’s book series, he explains, is deliberate and he points out that costars Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman haven’t taken up the books either.
“You’d get upset about all the scenes it's missing from the book, wouldn‘t you?” Gambon said via phone from New York, where he was promoting the opening this Wednesday of the sixth "Potter" film. “No point in reading the books because you’re playing with [screenwriter] Steve Kloves’ words.”
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He’s got to be a bit scary," Gambon said of his Dumbledore. "All headmasters should be a bit scary, shouldn’t they? A top wizard like him would be intimidating. And ultimately, he’s protecting Harry. Essentially, I play myself. A little Irish, a little scary. That’s what I’m like in real life.”
Gambon said he wasn’t terribly emotional upon learning of Dumbledore’s death, and he viewed it a bit as an Obi-Wan Kenobi sorta-kinda death. “Wizards can’t die, can they? They’re always a bit there.”
Still, he said his demise is the film’s most powerful scene. Atop Hogwarts’ Astronomy Tower, Dumbledore is confronted by a determined Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), the Voldemort disciple who has been tasked with killing the headmaster. The youngster's confidence is shaken when it’s time to do the dark deed. “He goads Draco," Gambon said of his character. "He knows he isn‘t going to do it."
On having attended last week's London premiere:
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“I was really moved by the number of children there. It was raining and everyone was drenched, some of them had been there for hours. You feel responsible for them in a way. All their books and pieces of paper for autographs were all wet, the pens wouldn’t work. It was so sad. It makes you realize how big this thing is.”
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Watching stars Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint grow up has been especially fun. “They’ve become worldly, wise and strong actors. That’s been nice to see. You can say things to them now that you couldn’t say to them then.”
Like what? “Oh I don’t know. I dare not say,” he said, chuckling. Should we assume the worst? “Yes,” he answered with a cryptic bit of sass.