Interview~!!

Interview with Evanna Lynch.

Question: I’m curious if you could talk a little bit about when you first got the seventh book. Where were you? What was your reaction to reading it?
Evanna Lynch: Yeah, I was invited to J.K. Rowling’s big thing in the History Museum. You know in London. And yeah, I went all dressed up and everything as usual and didn’t get recognized. Lucky. And, yeah, I read it in my hotel really quickly. My reaction, yeah, I was a bit overwhelmed. You know when you’re a fan you want to take it all in but you feel guilty when you put the book down because it’s like, there’s stuff I don’t know in there. I read it in a rush and sort of cried for ages after.
You’re sort of the ultimate dream come true fan because you became a character in the films and now you’re seeing it to the end here. What’s that like for you? I mean, this was kind of your first acting job. You’ve been with this franchise for a while now and now it’s coming to an end, what does that feel like for you?
Lynch: Yeah, weird I know. Someone asked me on set do you still get excited coming on – and I don’t get used to it at all. And I feel really sad because I don’t feel like I was one of the actors. I feel like I was a really big fan. You know, sure I could act but I don’t know what will happen, whether I’ll be back in films again. You know I hope so. Yeah it is like it’s a dream. What’s going to happen after? My whole life has been structured around it.
Has it sunk in quite yet?
Lynch: It did a while ago because in all the interviews we do people ask us how you are feeling now that it’s ending. But then one of the days we were watching the Half Blood Prince, the DVD, and I was watching it and there was just loads of scenes of us together and I just started crying and I just couldn’t stop because we were doing these at the moment. We were in the Room of Requirement and it feels like there was sort of symbolism because my first scene when I started was in the Room of Requirement and I was just really shy and everyone was learning. That’s the thing. Everyone has their wands [casting] the Patronus and that time we were doing the last scenes in the Room of Requirement and I just feel that it’s like a room where they learn everything, where they all grow up. They all leave the room, they are all sort of going into battle and it’s sort of like … to me it seems like leaving childhood, like leaving Harry Potter and going out into the adult world and battling. So yeah that really upset me.
We can see already that you have filmed Dobby’s death scene it looks like with Harry – Dan actually – when Book 7 came out it was the big question, who’s going to die, who’s going to live, were you as surprised as many of us were at how it ended up?
Lynch: At the death scene?
The death scene … everything.
Lynch: I suppose but she [J.K. Rowling] did say it was going to be a bloodbath or something. I was expecting everything, a massacre. I didn’t really predict any deaths; I didn’t like to do that. I was not surprised that Snape died, that was one thing I was pretty sure about. I was surprised in that it was a really nice ending. You know the way at the end of most books authors feel they have to have a massive sense of regret and everything, to complete it or something? You weren’t left with that. Sure everyone died but Harry, he finally got away from being such a, you know, freak and being looked at by everyone and he just has a normal life. Yeah, that was a surprise but it was nice.
Now, we were told that you sort of came up with a dance that Luna does with her father. Can you talk about that and what’s the dance?
Lynch: Yeah, it didn’t take much coming up with [laughs]. In the book, the day before the wedding scene, it’s Luna and her Dad I think, and I was wondering what we were going to have to do. I read through the chapter and it said that she was off in the corner by herself and she’s spinning. Harry thinks she’s batting away Wrackspurts. I was doing a few things how it could be and the next day we were on set. We do this whole thing where her Dad is talking to Harry and I have to drag him away, embarrassing Dad. Although it doesn’t really matter because we then go on to the dance floor. We just do this thing where we’re spinning and closing our eyes and everyone clears, you know. Everyone is sort of doing this step, this ballroom dancing thing, and they had this choreographer there and he was saying, what could we do? Because he was too experienced to put something that wacky [laughs]. We just did it, yeah.
What was it like working with him as your father?
Lynch: Oh, it was brilliant. Yeah, I thought he was just perfect. Sometimes when I’m playing Luna I feel like, in her clothes – she’s always wearing all this purple and her hair and all these funny things – I sometimes feel a bit like everyone else is in their Hogwarts robes [and I’m] a bit of an outsider and that’s how she’s meant to feel. And then when he came along it was like we were alone together because he’s in this yellow mad stuff. Yeah, it felt really relaxed. It was nice.
You also play a prisoner in this film, could you talk a little about filming those scenes and how intense are they?
Lynch: Yeah, it was with John Hurt, who plays Ollivander. It’s a really spooky place because the ceilings are so low. Oh, and he has to be sort of frail and everything. And Harry comes down and then there’s Bellatrix torturing Hermione – you can hear the screams. You just get the feeling like how can you get out of here and none of them have their wands. Yeah, it’s horrible.
Do you prefer playing the Luna that gets to dress up, for example Slughorn’s party and the wedding, or being captive and in battle? Which side do you prefer?
Lynch: I find it weird playing her in battle because … she’s so sort of Zen, she’s really calm and when she’s in battle like does she struggle? I think she really believes in fate and she doesn’t worry so much and yet everyone else is. I think she’s more in her zone. Yeah, being there and it’s not like dressed up for her, it’s just her. Yeah, I asked David Yates a few times what does she do when she’s worried? And he’s like, well she’s not worried about her own death but she’s worried for her friends. So we kind of played with that a bit but it still feels a bit weird.
Is this your first time seeing a lot of these photos [the Deathly Hallows promotional stills that were in the room]?
Lynch: Yeah, I’ve never seen them. I want to go around and see them [laughs].
So you’re just as much of a fan as all of us looking at photos like this?
Lynch: Yeah.
Have you seen any footage? Do you watch playback when you’re acting? Did you watch that stuff or is this your first time really seeing it?
Lynch: We don’t really get a chance to, no. I don’t think they like you doing that. Sometimes we see it when we’re doing ADR, the voiceover, we see it then. Most of it’s a surprise. Yeah, it’s nice to keep it to the premiere. When you have to do interviews on the red carpet they’re like what was your reaction to this and when you’ve just seen it you really do feel excited and so it’s nice that it’s all a surprise then.
Is Luna much different in these two films than she has been in the past couple or is she sort of still the same?
Lynch: She’s always going to be the same [laughs]. Yeah she doesn’t change, that’s the thing about her, she knows herself so well. Most of them, they go through all these stages, where they’re like battling with themselves, but she’s so happy with herself that I think the only thing that changes is her surroundings. Like, you know, she has her friends this time and it makes her happier but it doesn’t really change her.
One of the most touching scenes early in the book is when Harry looks up and sees the ceiling that Luna has painted in her house with all of her friends. Is that in the movie?
Lynch: I don’t think so. The house is in there … I think Harry knows by this stage how much it [the friendship] means to her and like the way she sort of brushed it off in the last film where she says it’s a nice feeling that we were friends. I think he realises then but it was a pity that scene got cut out.
I guess the question I had is: she seems to be one of the few calming influences that Harry has in this book where she can bring him some relief, like after Dobby dies. Do you have a couple of key scenes with Daniel like that?
Lynch: Yeah, when Dobby dies everyone is really upset and everything. She says something like, oh he’s only sleeping, you know, if you close his eyes it looks like he’s sleeping. He worries so much, they’re sort of opposites in their attitudes to life and whatever because he’s always worried [with] things that don’t concern him. He thinks he has to [worry about them] and she just lets it breeze by. There is one scene where she’s not like herself actually, back to your other question. She feels she has to do something when she knows about where the Ravenclaw Horcrux is. Harry is getting distracted and he is running up the stairs and she’s like, Harry I need to show you something and he’s kind of thinking, here we go again I need some space because he’s in a hurry. She knows he’s going wrong, so I have to scream at him because he just keeps going and I have to actually shout. I thought it was really weird. I didn’t know how to shout.
A little out of character.
Lynch: Yeah. When needs be.
At the end of the day, how much of your own personality do you feel you’ve been able to inject into Luna or is it completely from the novels or is it sort of a marriage of both?
Lynch: Yeah, a marriage of both. I still would read the books and think I’m not playing her exactly the same. We’re not the same and you sort of have to find a balance. If I was too much like her I just wouldn’t be able to be objective. I think in the films a lot of the lines are trying to bring out the funny side in Luna. I always notice that kids always love Luna’s character. A lot of kids say she’s my favourite because she’s really kooky. I just think she’s really wise as well. It’s not that her head’s in the clouds – she sees that everyone talks about her. She knows she’s a bit weird and she’s so settled in herself and I think that’s really mature. Wise, yeah, I try to push that a bit but sometimes it’s impossible with the lines.
What’s something that you’re really going to take away from your several years now of being here and what are your plans for the future?
Lynch: I think more of a sense of belonging now. I’ll take that away because before when I came onto the set I really idolised the others and I just kept feeling unworthy. I didn’t know how to talk to them or anything. I used to be like, when people would say are you going to do more work, I’d be like no, I’m just a fan. I’ve seen more of the actors and you don’t have to be perfect all the time, it’s not like you’re born knowing all this stuff. Acting is just like having life experience. I’ll take that and feeling like I’ve been a part of this film. When I watch the film I’m proud because I had something to do with it and, yeah, I’d love to do more acting. I don’t know yet, I’m going to go to a performing arts college. I just feel like I cheated my way in a bit [laughs].

Audio is here

Evanna Lynch, 19, from Leinster, Ireland, who plays Luna, is one of the finest examples of casting in the entire franchise. With her huge eyes, wonderfully guileless approach and charm it is easy to see why producer David Heyman picked her out of 15,000 other Luna-wannabes. “The others could play Luna; Evanna Lynch is Luna,” he said at the time.
“I’m not Luna, although a lot of people think I am,” Lynch says. “When I was younger I used to be a little more like her. I’m like her in that I don’t like to judge people and I keep an open mind. She’s so free spirited, she wouldn’t judge someone by their clothes or demeanour and I like that way of looking at life.”
Lynch went along to the audition as a “professional Luna fan” and made her first appearance in the fifth Harry Potter film. She seems to have had a lot of fun with the character and tells me she particularly enjoys wearing Luna’s oversized cork hat and radish earrings.
Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna’s father, makes his debut in Hallows – Part 1. After huge deliberation Rhys Ifans was cast to play him. “They were casting my dad for ages and then someone said Rhys. I was like, ‘Oh my god this is perfect,’ why did no-one think of this before?”
Lynch tells me that all her friends really fancy Ifans: “It’s because of Notting Hill and his grey underwear,” she explains grinning. “Ifans was great to work with. Just nice, you know. We had fun. And he was totally up for the Lovegood dance. He had no reservations.”
The billboards advertising the final Harry Potter films are emblazoned with the words “It all ends here…” The Phelps twins, Lewis and Lynch all express their deep sadness that after a decade of attending wizard school they’re being booted out into the real world. But it also sounds like a bit of a relief.
“There are two sides to it,” Lynch explains. “On the one hand I love it and don’t want it to end. But then again you’re tied to it. It’s a contract. Yeah you can try and do other things at the same time, but Harry Potter has to come first.”
The four actors have all expressed a desire to stay in the film business. Lewis has been acting since he was five years old (“It’s all I know”), the Phelps twins would like to try a Bond film (“I’d be the evil twin,” Oliver says. “Just like real life,” James adds) and Lynch says she’d happily drop her studies for another year for the right role.

She may have spent the past five years playing an ace magic student in the Harry Potter movies, but there's no spell that can save Evanna Lynch from a fate even more terrifying than facing down Lord Voldemort: sitting the Leaving Cert.
"I'm supposed to be starting today in the Institute, but I had to call and explain that I needed another week for work," the 19-year-old said when the Irish Independent met her in London in September.
"I decided to repeat the Leaving Cert because I was so distracted with these films. I knew I wasn't studying hard enough. We'd be on set, having a laugh in the green room, and I'd be saying to myself: 'I should be studying.' But then I thought: 'I can re-sit the exams -- I can't re-sit Harry Potter.' Besides, there'll be no more filming this year, just a bit of press, so now it's all about the exams."
The Termonfeckin native's time starring as ethereal spacer Luna Lovegood is now coming to an end with the premiere next week of part one of the final movie in the series, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (with part two to follow next summer).
It's a bittersweet moment for the young star, but she admitted that there are also positives to finishing up the series.
"I can dye my hair now," she laughed, and indeed she's quite unrecognisable today, her trademark blonde mane now replaced by long, red curls.
"I'm doing things now that I should have done a few years ago, like getting braces on my teeth, and learning to drive a car, and being with friends in one place for a fixed set of time."
Lynch's last day of shooting on the movie series was on June 1 this year.
"It was a big crowd scene that we had started in January, but had to re-film because Emma (Watson, who plays Hermione) was away in college. All the cast was there for it, so it was lovely.
"I'd always hoped my last scene would be one like that rather than just a shot of my hand or something. They took a huge photo of the whole cast and crew.
"It didn't really hit me until I was going into the producers to say goodbye and thank them that I felt this big rush of emotion. I couldn't contain it. But I felt like it had come full circle: my first encounter with Harry Potter was going into the producers' office to introduce myself and explain why I was suited for the role."
Lynch was discovered by the series producers at a casting call in London in early 2006 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth movie adaptation. She was 14 at the time, and after doing a screen test with Daniel Radcliffe, she beat out 15,000 other girls to land the role.
"My best memories from all four movies are ones that involve the young cast," she said. "It's like school, though they're probably not the people I'd sit with in school. They'd be way too cool for me, and I'd be one of the weird people.
'But those scenes are just so much fun. We played jokes all the time. Like in the Hogwarts train scenes, they have this odd food that looks nice but tastes horrible. We'd convince new actors on set to try it -- one girl drank this tomato juice thing that had been out on the set for about three weeks. She spat it all over the place. You forget you're on a job and it's just fun."
She added that the movies' three main stars never expected, or indeed received, special treatment.
"When I first came on set, I expected to be told 'You can't talk to or approach them', but it wasn't like that. They're not precious about themselves. They are like normal people, and the people around them treat them normally too.
"Rupert has a great laugh with everyone, while Daniel (Radcliffe) is just a cool guy. There's no pretension with him, or strategising when it comes to careers and things like that. I really admire Emma for going to university in New York. She's doing that, even though she doesn't need to. She's realised that she doesn't know enough about the world or herself so wants to study more."
Although the series author JK Rowling had no say in casting, she later praised Lynch as being perfect for the role of Luna. However, the multi-millionaire writer stayed clear of the set during filming on the final movies.
"She trusts the film-makers," Lynch explained. "If they change any little thing in the script, they send it out to her for her approval, so she doesn't need to be there. I think she's busy. I write to her now and then, and she'll say, 'I've been writing' but she won't tell me what.
"It's cool for her because she can come to the premiere and see what people have made of her books. Besides, when she was on set, she couldn't stay long because she was too distracting. Everyone was looking for autographs. It was like the Queen coming to visit."
As for what comes after her exams, Lynch is staying open-minded. Has she considered drama school?
"I thought about it for a while," she replied. "My agent said to me that I've gotten a lot of great experience on these movies.
"It's not just the acting, but being on a set and meeting all these people, as well as doing interviews and learning to be confident enough to talk about yourself.
"So I think drama school is not for me personally. I know some girls who have experience in movies who then audition for these places and they're picked apart for every move they make. They're told 'Sorry, you've learned all these bad techniques from film', and I don't like that. It's good for some people, but I'm critical of myself enough already. I don't need that."
Anything that Lynch does will be borne of her passions and interests. She loves jazz and ballet dancing, and is a voracious reader; right now, she's reading Nabokov's Laughter In The Dark.
"I'd like to go to art college," she added. "I like art because you don't have any instruction for it. That's something that you have to be confident to do. It's not methodical, where something is right or wrong. It's scary, but you have to be your own judge. That's very freeing."
She paused before continuing: "A lot of young actors are trying to have it all. They think: 'I want to go to college, have a career, have a life.' This year will just be about studying. It's not like I'm going to be off the radar because the second film comes out in July and I'll be finished my exams then.
"After that, I might take a year out and try acting. You have to pursue it. You can't just be sitting on your ass crying over the phone because your agent isn't ringing. You have to be quite pushy."