Back in August it was confirmed that Harry Melling and Richard Griffiths would be returning as Dudley and Vernon Dursley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. TimesOnline has confirmed that Fiona Shaw will be returning to play Petunia.

Oh, and there are the last Harry Potters to film. It’s a breathless schedule and she barely draws breath relating it, or much else, during our lunch. Thoughts and words flit, germinate, scatter.

The Telegraph has a new interview out with Harry Melling who plays Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films!  It is a wonderful interview with a lot of information we never knew about Harry.

“It was nearly two years ago,” he says, refusing the offer of breakfast. “I was doing a show at the National Youth Theatre, playing an old man. Before that I had played fat clowns and I thought, ‘If I want to have the career I would like, I am going to have to lose weight.’ I was just starting drama school, and found I was moving around a lot. I also started to eat sensibly. The weight just dropped off. I went from 16st to 11st 5lb.”

His illustrator mother, Joanna Troughton, was keen to give Harry a chance, too. “She sent off my photos to the producers of the Potter films when I was 10, thinking I might be an extra. A year later I was asked to read for Dudley. When I got the part, I thought: ‘Ooh, I’m in a film’, not that I was cast as fat and ugly.'”  Wasn’t being associated with the hateful Dudley a curse? “I kept quiet about it. Nobody ever recognised me.”He minded more about not being one of the Hogwarts’ children. When people asked him about the films, and what Michael Gambon or Julie Walters were like, he would have to say, “Dunno, I’ve never met them.” But, stuck in Privet Drive, he did get to work with Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw, who play Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, Dudley’s parents. “Just watching them was an education. Fiona taught me a Caliban speech, which I later used to get into drama school.”

In the meantime, he had changed almost beyond recognition, to the producers’ alarm. “They did this double-take, ‘Oh my God, we are going to have to do something,’ and I felt very guilty. They could have recast, but instead they padded me out.”  The seventh film, the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, won’t be out until next year. But Melling has plenty of work to keep him busy as the simple-minded son of Mother Courage – and with Fiona Shaw as his fictional mother once again.  “I always thought he would be a marvellous character actor,” Shaw says, “but he’s turned into a marvellous leading actor. Suddenly I feel I’m looking at Hamlet.”

You go Harry!! 😀

Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley) and Harry Melling (Dudley Dursley), are playing mother and son in the theatrical production of Mother Courage and Her Children in London.

Fiona Shaw, who has won three Olivier Awards as best actress and who plays Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, has the title role of a mother of three children caught up in the 30 Years War in Poland. She brings her usual bravura strength to the part but also perhaps too much swagger in the early scenes that feature her singing, making the resourceful character something of a rock chick.

Harry Melling as her simple son, whom she calls Swiss Cheese.

You can view some photos of the pair, here!

Thanks SS!

Harry Melling, who plays Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films has had his agency profile page updated to state that he will be returning to play Dudley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Richard Griffiths has also been confirmed as returning for Vernon Dursley and it is assumed, but NOT confirmed, that Fiona Shaw will return to play Petunia Dursley!

Dan, Emma and Rupert have made it on to Empire magazine‘s 20 Stars Who Weren’t Even Born When Empire Started list.

Daniel Radcliffe – #1
You know him from: A little series called Harry Potter; December Boys.
Why’s he good? Because he brought one of the world’s most popular characters to life over five movies (to date) and has largely been acclaimed for his efforts.
Will he have an adult career? Well, if he doesn’t he’ll still never have to worry about money, which is something, but the endlessly curious Radcliffe has barely gotten started on an adult career. His decisions outside of Potter – TV drama like My Boy Jack, his stage turn in Equus – suggest that he’s not one to be typecast, and will be pushing boundaries for some time to come.

Rupert Grint – #10
You know him from: Driving Lessons. And there was that little role in Harry Potter.
Why’s he good? He’s supported Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter through thick and thin, and has a likable everyman quality which should allow him to avoid typecasting.
Will he have an adult career? Well, so far out of the HP triumvirate Grint has the most solo-projects under his belt. That said, he is ginger, and anti-redhead sentiment remains the last socially acceptable prejudice, so he’ll have to keep working at it.

Emma Watson – #19
You know her from: HP Alumnus, Ballet Shoes.
Why’s she good? Having grown up on the big screen as struggling muggle-born Hermione Granger, Watson has shouldered immense pressure to come out smelling of roses. Now she has started to make a niche for herself outside of the franchise with a leaning towards costume dramas and a rumoured leading role in Napoleon and Betsy.
Will she have an adult career? Will she want one? Judging by her sickeningly good exam results and place at Cambridge, she may crave something a bit more challenging.

According to IMDb, Fiona Shaw, will be reprising her role as Petunia Dursley in Half-Blood Prince.

A while ago, Richard Griffiths, Vernon Dursley, said that he will sadly not return to be in Half-Blood Prince. It is not known whether Harry Melling, Dudley, is returning.

Thanks SS!