Ralph Fiennes Went Off Script as Voldemort for One Memorable Harry Potter Moment

Harry Potter fans were shocked when Voldemort hugged Draco Malfoy in one of the final scenes of 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. But they weren't nearly as surprised by the gesture as Tom Felton, the actor who played Draco in all eight of the Harry Potter movies.

As Felton explained during a recently resurfaced interview from the 2011 DragonCon, there were about 25 takes of the scene in which Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort, calls Draco down to join the Death Eaters.

“The hug was never in the script for that scene and Fiennes only decided to do it once during all of the takes,” Felton said. “I was standing there like ‘What the hell is he doing? Why is he hugging me in this weird fashion?’ It was very strange; it was a surprise for me.”

Felton described the memory of filming it as “pretty menacing.”

“It was pretty terrifying to be honest with you. That wasn’t in the script ... it was a one-off thing that he just threw at me,” Felton continued.

Not only was Felton surprised by the hug during filming, but also while watching the final Harry Potter film for the first time. “I was baffled," the actor said. "I mean, more baffled that that was the take that they used."

During the same interview, Felton spoke about how audiences in various countries reacted to the scene in very different ways.

“In England it’s considered a very chilling moment. The whole audience kind of goes dead quiet and nobody knows what to say or do, but over here [in the U.S.] it’s hilarious,” Felton explained. “Literally the audience bursts into laughter, which is great. I love that. I love how you guys seem to find humor in all sorts of places.”