Harry Potter star Tom Felton was paid unbelievable amount for films despite surprising screen time
Topics: Harry Potter, TV And Film, Entertainment, Money, Books
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Topics: Harry Potter, TV And Film, Entertainment, Money, Books
Tom Felton appeared in all eight Harry Potter films as Draco Malfoy - a snobbish, pure-blood heir whose magical father and mother were known as Death Eaters, followers of the fantasy series’ antagonist Voldemort.
37-year-old Felton has previously revealed he’d initially tried for the titular role in the film adaptations of J. K. Rowling’s seven-part children’s book series.
However, he was knocked back for being the Boy Who Lived and also failed to snatch the role of his best friend Ron Weasley, with Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint going on to win the parts, respectively.
Eventually, the actor was cast as the controversial Slytherin student instead - and the rest, as they say, is history.
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“I reckon I got the part because I was nonchalant,” Felton told The Guardian in 2022.
“[I] had no idea what anyone was on about. Wizards in cupboards under the stairs? And with three older brothers, you learn to be confident quickly.
“I think Chris Columbus, the director, recognised this slight disinterest and arrogance in me, which he thought could work for Malfoy.”
Despite appearing in every Harry Potter film, Felton’s screen time is criminally low.
According to IMDB, the British actor only appeared for just over half an hour - 31 minutes and 45 seconds, if we’re being exact.
That’s less than three percent of the overall series’ runtime, according to Totum - and he got paid a stunning £14 million for it.
We’ll crunch the numbers for you: it’s £451,613 per minute of screen time. Not bad, right?
Felton’s face-time is much lower than his on-screen compatriots, including Radcliffe’s 539 minutes, Emma Watson’s 205 minutes portraying Hermione Granger and Grint’s 211-minute stint.
Amazingly, he even spent less time on screen than Ralph Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort for just 37 minutes and 15 seconds - starting with the character’s resurrection in Goblet of Fire and ending with his demise in Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
In 2022, Felton revealed he’d never binged his wizarding days as Hogwarts’ resident bully.
He told BBC’s The One Show: "They have been on over Christmases and when my friends ever see them and I'm in the room, they quickly flick it over to take the mickey out of a younger Tom.
"I haven't rewatched them in their entirety in the sort of marathon-esque way that I look forward to and I hope to do, I just want to save that moment for when I'm slightly older... and possibly with Muggles of my own.
"So it's not a case of indifference, I'm just saving them for a special occasion.”
All of the Harry Potter films are currently available to stream on Netflix.