Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
For years,Harry Mellinghas been perhaps best known for his role as Dudley Dursley in theHarry Potterfranchise — but he now says things seem to be changing.
In a new interview with NME, the former child actor, 33, said he’s “always amazed at the generational power” of the franchise since first appearing in 2001’sHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but he’s recently been noticed for his work as an adult.
“My friends have kids now who are [into the books] and they’re like: ‘Uncle Harry’s Dudley!’ If someone mentions Harry Potter to me then of course it’s something that I’ll engage with,” Melling said. “It does feel like that narrative’s changing though, which is great.”
Now playing a fictional version of Edgar Allan Poe in Netflix’sThe Pale Blue Eye, Melling has recently appeared inThe Queen’s GambitandThe Devil All the Time.
Melling said that he isn’t ashamed to have played Dudley and he understands “it’s always going to be there,” adding: “I would just like the conversation to be about what I’m doing now as opposed to something I did when I was 10.”
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“I’ve always said to myself that if I focus on the work then hopefully everything else will fall into place,” Melling added.
TheTragedy of Macbethactor previously told PEOPLE that “one of the blessings” of his appearance changing since being a child actor was that he “didn’t get recognized” as an adult.
Earlier this month, Mellingdiscussed transgender rightsduring an interview withThe Independent, three years afterHarry PotterauthorJ.K. Rowlingcame under fire when sheexpressed anti-transgender sentimentsin a series of June 2020 tweets.
Melling explained that he doesn’t see himself as the “correct spokesperson” for the topic, but he thinks it’s “very simple.”
“I can only speak for myself, and what I feel, to me, is very simple, which is that transgender women are women and transgender men are men,” he said. “Every single person has the right to choose who they are and to identify themselves as what’s true to themselves.”
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“I don’t want to join the debate of pointing fingers and saying, ‘That’s right, that’s wrong,’ because I don’t think I’m the correct spokesperson for that. But I do believe that everybody has the right to choose,” Melling added.
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FellowHarry PotteractorsDaniel Radcliffe,Emma WatsonandRupert Grinthave all previouslyspoken out against Rowling’s much-criticized remarksregarding the transgender community, with Radcliffe, 33, stating definitively in a previous essay for The Trevor Project that “transgender women are women.”
source: people.com
