In real life, Lewis empathises with Zoe’s outlook. The film is a refreshing reversal, a change from stories in which the man thinks that life will carry on as normal after having kids. Tim, Lewis’s character, embraces the situation while Zoe (Matafeo) runs away from it by suddenly doing all of the outrageous things she wanted to do before she became pregnant.
The film follows a couple who react very differently when they find out they are going to be parents. “I struggle to split the lines between Matthew and the character.” This struggle isn’t apparent in Baby Done, in which he stars – using his own accent – opposite the stand-up comedian Rose Matafeo.ġ0 of the most comforting films to watch in lockdown, from Paddington to Working Girl Acting in his own Yorkshire accent is difficult.
Interestingly, he says it is the roles in which he is dramatically different from himself in which he feels most comfortable. He wants to be known as “more than” that character, but insists he’s never consciously chosen roles that are a departure from him. Has he deliberately tried to shrug off the Longbottom baggage? “Yes and no,” he says. It was a world away from chubby Neville – possibly the most famous glow-up. He was in incredible shape, six-pack exposed in an open green cardigan and only Armani boxers underneath. In May 2015, the internet went wild after photos of him appeared in advance of his cover shoot for gay magazine Attitude. Like a lot of child stars, he had a public and eventful transition into adulthood. Lewis grew up in Leeds and has been acting professionally since the age of five, with his early roles including appearances in Heartbeat and Dalziel and Pascoe. “And if that’s the trade-off, there’s a lot worse films that you could be forever attached to than some of the most successful films of all time.” Matthew Lewis and Rose Matafeo in Baby Done (Photo: Vertigo Releasing) “I know that I’m not doing that because I was in Bluestone 42 on BBC Three,” he says with a smile, referencing the military comedy he appeared in several years ago. Right now he is a presenter on the official Leeds United podcast, which, to a football-mad 14-year-old Lewis living in Leeds, would have sounded “mental”. “I am acutely aware that every opportunity that I’ve really had in the last 10 years, it’s all come about because of Harry Potter,” he says over Zoom, wearing Apple earpods and passing what looks like a baseball between his hands. Lewis, now 31, describes this predicament as “a double-edged sword”, a satisfying choice of words for anyone familiar with the way in which he saves the day at the end of JK Rowling’s books. Even so, it’s likely that to a certain generation – not to mention to casting agents – he’ll always be the hapless Neville Longbottom, the role he played from the age of 11 to 21. Matthew Lewis has racked up a string of acting credits since his days in the franchise, not least his likeable, understated turn in the New Zealand romcom Baby Done, which opens in the UK this week. Being famous because you were in Harry Potter has its drawbacks.