Rhys Ifans talks Xeno Lovegood & Harry Potter films
 

Actor Rhys Ifans was interviewed on BBC Radio in Wales last week, where he talked about working in Deathly Hallows as Xenophilius Lovegood. Although the entire interview was in Welsh, an English translation has been received, thanks to Mynwy, which can be read here:

Photos of Rhys during the interview can be seen here:

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For anyone interested, Rhys's interview can be heard here, where he begins talking at 13 minutes in about his other roles; he discusses Harry Potter 20 minutes into the segment.

LOL! "a cross-eyed wizard" Funny :)
Can't wait to see him in DH!

Not a fan of Harry Potter hmm...Hope the dude aleast reads the chapters hes in.

I Can't Wait To See How He Does With the Part!

Maybe he should read the parts he's in, so he can relate a little bit more. I must admit; I imagined Xeno as being a little 'bigger' if you catch my drift.

He looks like he would fit the part okay, but I'm not impressed by the "not a fan of Harry Potter" comment.

How can he not be a fan if he hasn't read the books? Hmmm... I understand that an actor doesn't have to be avid fans of the source material like we are, and that they have a job to do whether they're fans or not, but it would probably be helpful if he did all he can to understand his character.

He looks younger than I imagined, but other than that... lets hope he at least glanced at his main chapters... :whistle:

He seems young for the part but I am sure he will do a good job! He actually looks like Luna's father, except for he is missing his white hair!

He sucks...not a fan of Harry Potter. Oh Well, I HOPE he does a great job. He's not how I pictured LUna's father. I always thought Bob Hopskins was going to be cast in that role so that's who I pictured when I read the book. :P

You know I didn't like what he said but he is a good actor... he was in The Replacements with Keanu Reeves and Little Nicky with Adam Sandler...So I believe he'll be able to pull it off well cause he seems a little wacky...

*Happy music plays*
He looks PERFECT for the role! Just how I imagined him!

But *record stops and makes that "ERRRRRPPP!" skiddy like sound*

HE'S NOT A FAN!!! RAWR!

:)

LOL. xDDD

Not how I imagined Xeno, but he'll have to do. =]

Leavesden Studios used to be a factory, that's what he meant.

Lol...you need to read the books Sonny Jim.
Haha, I was right...He plays Spike in Notting Hill...He's so funny!

I don't have a problem with him being quite young. If Harry's parents were about 21 when he was born (I forget), they'd only be 38 now, along with Snape and Remus. Taking into account the fact that wizards seem to frequently marry far younger than muggles, and Luna is a 16 year old only child, why shouldn't he be still be relatively young? I know his hair was white, but that doesn't necessarily indicate old age. He just has to look like wildly eccentric!

What I don't like about this interview is when he said he wasn't a fan of Harry Potter. That could be taken negatively (as indicated by some of the responses on this thread). He may have simply meant that he didn't read the books and follow interviews which is fair enough. However he should have left it at that - admitting he hadnt read the books was enough indication he wasn't a fan, he didn't have to state it so clearly. He frequently acts in 'edgier' roles, maybe he felt HP uncool? That could be unfair, but when he stated his opinions so bluntly, he opened himself up to interpretation.

It just came across as unprofessional. He doesn't need to read the book, Xeno isn't that important. However I certainly hope he read the few chapters his character was in, to get the right flavour. Michael Gambon's character was far more substantial yet apparently he just read the script and based his Dumbledore on that. Bearing in mind how various Hollywood execs always mangled Steve Kloves serviceable first drafts, in order to target various audience groups, it explains how his performance veered away from the books so wildly.

I really hope Rhys Ifan made the effort and read the few pages JKR wrote about his character and didn't depend on WBs script by commitee that is so sub-par.

That might not be true, given Michael Gambon's notoriety for lying in interviews, because he loathes the whole process.

^ That's true-in that Top Gear interview he said he pretended to be gay for years :P

I personally don't like Rhys Ifans as Xeno. Too young, too 'cool', definately not right for the role.


*don't hate me!*

That's true - I've seen both of his appearances on 'Top Gear', as well as 'Have I got News for You' and 'Room 101'. All shows where he's been very amusing about his attitude towards interviews/journalists.

I just hope he was telling the truth when it came to Dumbledore. Otherwise I can't imagine why his interpretation, especially in the earlier films, is so different to the books, when he knows how important the character is to the story and the fans. I know some people prefer him to Harris, which is fair enough, but in my opinion, JKR wrote a self controlled, quirky old man with a good sense of humour hiding vast inner strength. That self control and strength is what Voldemort feared, not an ability to start shouting and panicking at the first sign of trouble. I just can't see how Gambon's performance can have been inspired by the books.

Sorry, a bit off topic! Back to Rhys Ifan. I don't know enough about him to judge fairly, but from what I've seen, he plays groovy, cool characters or stoners. Apologies if I'm wrong. Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith etc are strong character actors who can submerge themselves in their parts - become their parts. I hope Rhys Ifan is that sort of actor, who won't just play a variation of the character he always plays. Unless that character suits Luna's father, of course!

Rhys Ifans has always impressed me in interviews and I think based on past performances, he'll make a great Xeno Lovegood