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Poor Tom Felton! I don’t know that he’s particularly icky in his own right, but he seems to be typecast playing icky men in historical costume movies. Or maybe he seeks out these roles? No clue, except it seems he pops up in them over and over again! If there’s a slimy, sickly, nasty guy in a frock coat, chances are, Tom Felton will be cast in that role. I thought it started after his portrayal of teenage arch-villain Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, which, while not historical, had a lot of overlap in terms of actors. But upon closer inspection, he’s played sickly, sad little boys and men his whole career. Ew!
Louis in Anna and the King (1999)
Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series (2001-2011)
Viscount Trencavel in Labyrinth (2012)
Camille in In Secret (2013)
James Ashford in Belle (2013)
Lucius in Risen (2016)
Rufus Lancaster in A United Kingdom (2016)
Laertes in Ophelia (2018)
Tony Turner in The Forgotten Battle (2020)
Have you noticed sad lil’ Tom Felton in all these bad-boy historical roles?
I don’t know why he always looks so disheveled in real life – maybe his GAF is broken?
His hair always looks quite confused about his head. Not judging, my hair is challenging too.
I have a big ol’ cowlick on the side of my head, so perhaps I shouldn’t be judgey. :)
I’ve watched him in interviews, and he actually is a very nice, and even really funny! I don’t know why he doesn’t get more nice-guy roles.
Maybe he finds the bad guy roles to be more interesting? Hell, sometimes the villain is more fun to watch than the hero, depending upon who plays that character. I haven’t seen enough of these to tell. I have liked him in what I have seen.
Clearly he was FAR too influenced by Alan Rickman, in his childhood, and has picked “evil” characters … but does not yet have Rickman’s talent at making something redemptive about them.
Ding, ding, ding! Rickman definitely managed to make nasty characters intriguing. But maybe when Felton gets older w/a little gravitas he can portray baddies who seem more, IDK, three-dimensional? Less one-note slimy.
Rickman could also be funny. Sometimes, once casting directors and see an actor a certain way, they get boxed in, and if the actor is good ion those roles, nobody wants to rock the boat.
To answer your question, technically–yes I did recognize Tom Felton in two of these Frock Flicks as I watched them–Belle and Labyrinth–but then I promptly forgot that he was in them until this post! Belle was a wonderful movie and Labyrinth was one of the worst travesties I’ve ever seen in my life. Tom Felton is talented, and I would like to see him in a leading role. He was in at least one season of the superhero show The Flash (season 4), and he held his own with the original ensemble cast. Also, I don’t know what his natural hair color is, but he looks better as a blond/dirty blond than as a brunet, IMO. The pic of him reading “The Art of Getting Even” is hilarious; maybe it was part of his preparation for playing Draco Malfoy. Overall, I’d like to see more of the Harry Potter supporting cast in more roles, Tom Felton included.
That’s a British army uniform Felton’s wearing in the last picture.