Harry Melling talks about his stunning transformation

Harry Melling, whom we all know and love as the dastardly Dudley Dursley, gave a great interview in which he talked about his incredible transformation from the “fat kid” to someone who’s being looked at as a serious actor.

Talking about his weight loss, Harry says:

“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.”

Looking back, he now sees that at the age of 11, when he landed the Dursley role, he ate “ridiculous amounts”.

“Toffee Crisp was my downfall. I once ate five at a sitting.” He wasn’t fat, he says, because he was unhappy, just self-indulgent. “Do you really need that third helping, Harry?” his mother would say, but leave it at that. “My parents didn’t overfeed me, nor did they make an issue of it. That’s when things go wrong. It doesn’t have to be a problem for children to be fat, but it does affect you: you aren’t as happy in that skin.”

He also talks about how the producers literally did a double-take when they saw how changed he was, and the change IS quite startling. Also, his movie mom Fiona Shaw, an accomplished actress in her own right, took him under her wing while filming, teaching him different speeches, methods, tips, etc., and truly believes that while he is a marvelous character actor, that he is now looking at becoming a truly fantastic leading man kind of guy.