Matthew Lewis on Neville Longbottom and Deathly Hallows

Matthew Lewis, who plays the indomitable Neville Longbottom, checked out the Harry Potter Exhibition currently at the Boston Museum of Science.

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He was able to talk a bit about his character, Neville, and gave us a few tidbits about filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Here are a few excerpts (you can read the rest here

Q: What can we expect from Neville in the next film (“Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part One,” to be released in 2010)?
A: I got the final script a few weeks ago. Neville has got a lot of stuff to do. The three main students (Harry, and friends Ron Weasley and Hermoine Grainger) have been away from Hogwarts, but Neville stays and takes charge of Dumbledore’s Army (which leads the charge against Voldemort and his forces.) He is leading an underground resistance. He gets beaten and is a bit bloodied.

Q: As someone who was a fan of the books since childhood, is there anything in the movies so far that you wish were different?
A: I was a little upset when the scene in the book “Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix” wasn’t included where Neville goes to St. Mungo’s Hospital to see his parents (torture victims of Bellatrix Lestrange, follower of Lord Voldemort). That scene was so crucial to Neville’s character. But due to the length of the film, we had to cut that sequence.

I’m sad that they weren’t able to include that particular scene, I thought it was one of the most poignant in the entire series, actually. Lots more from Matthew can be found here; hat tip to Snitchseeker.