a bit late report of-- Tom Felton@Fujieda!
First off, sorry for my delayed posting but well-- here's my report on December 3rd's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part1" movie screening at Fujieda(Shizuoka), Japan, with special guest Tom Felton!!
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Good thing Fujieda city is only about 40-minutes train ride from my hometown(much closer than Nagoya!), only this day it took over an hour because the train schedule was disrupted by the heavy morning rain. The weather recovered in mid-morning but seemingly the delayed traffic affected Tom's arrival at the venue, Fujieda CinePrego (BTW I'm pretty sure this theatre is named after the Italian "prego"="please/you're welcome" and has nothing to do with knocking up someone), and so his stage presentation after the 1st screening of DH1 film started a bit later than initially scheduled.
And when Tom appeared in front of the audience...
Seriously, I heard the girls seating each side of me caught their breath on that moment simultaneously. Wow.
So, if you were there on that day, you may have wondered why the Japanese audience were so strangely calm, like no girls screaming or squeaking, but I can assure you that they're just so enthralled and mesmerized, and collectively turned into shy 13-year-old in love despite most of the audience appeared to be in 20-30s in reality(I saw some school girls in uniform as well, though-- girls, it's Friday, what about your classes??)
FYI, Tom's stage presentation was held twice(the second one was right after the short break), and since we're not allowed to take any pics/videos inside theatre, here's my sketch of his stage interview session scribbled out of my memory.(the real photos taken by several media are collected at Feltbeat.com gallery so check them as well)
(Keep clicking for larger image: FYI 'Fujieda' literally means 'wisteria branch' and I saw several wisteria-motifs in this town so I added that)
Here are some highlights from his two Q&A sessions(hosted by Fujieda-local born actor/short-film creator, Ryo Ishigami) if I remember corretly:
Q: (gesturing the audience)How do you think about all those Japanese girls? [this came out from Ishigami-san as a first question]
Tom: Great! I think the Japanese ladies are the most beautiful in the world! And Japanese fans, they're unique, always look happy and are very supportive.
[good thing the interpretor lady didn't picked up the 'unique' part so they didn't dig into the detail]
Q; The weather was horrible this morning but the rain stopped just upon your arrival. May I ask, Tom, are you a real wizard?
Tom : [1st session]No! (grins) Although I wish I could, I haven't experienced that much heavy rain.
[2nd session] Yes! (also grins) I don't use the magic very often, but today is special.
Q; I heard that you went to play golf during this Japan tour.
Tom: Yes, I played golf in Kawana-- it was the most beautiful course in the world, great natures and scenery. I enjoyed the scenery during the drive from Shizuoka this morning too!
Q; I'll be your guide when you visit Fujieda in private!
Tom: Oh, thanks!
Now, here's IMO quite significant comment from Tom, when asked about his role Draco in "DH1" film.
(SPOILER ALERT!!)
Tom: In this movie, Draco came out of the shadow which his father casted on him,,,he was forced to make a difficult choice, between good and bad. In that scene at Malfoy manor he was given a chance to end Harry's life right there at that moment but he didn't. I think it was his small redemption.
Just how significant you can tell Yes, I heard the word 'redemption'.
(END OF SPOILER)
Also, in the 2nd interview session a local radio station joined in the live interview and asked him about Christmas plan and such. When asked if he has someone special(to spend the Christmas season), Tom stammered for a moment but then faithfully answered about his girlfriend(although not mentioning the name 'Jade' ), drawing collective sighs from the audience.;-)
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After Tom 's second stage presentation(BTW my seat in this session was miraculously next to the front aisle and so I was able to shake hands with him exiting, yay!^^) and our second viewing of DH1 movie, I joined the queue for his photo&autograph session. There, the shopping complex which accommodated the CinePrego theatre on the 4th floor has only an uncrowded public library and a conference room(which his photo&autograph session was held) on the 3rd floor so we made amazingly smooth queue without fuss.(kudos to the facility and staff!)
In the conference room I saw lots of devoted Harry Potter fans, like family who brought their own wands for photos and some ladies in beautiful kimono(made me wonder why I can't find any HP friends offline around me); Tom indeed greeted each one of fans so pleasantly with broad smile!
(as you can see, we're allowed to take pictures freely during this signing session! You'll never know how rare, breakthrough case was it here in Japan ! Wheee!)
As for me, I found Tom signing with glitter pen just moments before my turn and so switched the (prerequisite)purchased portrait sheet to my iphone4 -- ahem, sorry Tom, for the extra work of signing on such small object.(and he did quite earnestly indeed!) Somehow on that moment I felt it was a brilliant idea, having his autograph on something I always carry with myself-- only to find then that back surface of iphone4 didn't quite hold glitter paint well and most part of his sign got smudged fairly soon afterward.^^; Oh well I'll bring my own pen next time!
Now the final note of my report-- I'm sure that all the fans already know very well how modest, pleasant and charming person Tom Felton is, but seriously I think I and anyone there on that day had learned/relearned that fact. When he said "I got a big message on behalf of all the cast members and crew, to all of you Harry Potter fans" or "we couldn't have continued this film series without your support", I could tell he really meant it, being always aware that his presentation affects the whole image of HP production and that not a single fan should not be mistreated. And still, at the same time, he truly enjoyed communicating with fans and entertaining them to share the joy of this occasion. I believe I'm not only one who got good vibes from Tom and was inspired to work harder in our own life too!
Okay, that's about it; thanks for reading!:-)
PS. BTW anyone doing DH1 movie review meme? Like the one I did last year for HBP? I'd love to do that sketch too!:-)