Fans of Tom Felton know him mostly from his movie roles – whether it’s as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, or from his other films including Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Tonight, Felton takes on a new role — his first in American TV — for a new series called Murder in the First, which is co-created legendary producer Steven Bochco. The series boasts an all-star cast including Taye Diggs, Kathleen Robertson, Richard Schiff, James Cromwell, and more.
Felton plays Erich Blunt, a Silicon Valley wunderkind who is the common denominator in two seemingly unrelated murder cases. We spoke with Tom Felton a few weeks ago at the Los Angeles area studio for Murder in the First.
“Erich was a very exciting character from the get-go,” Felton said about his new role. “It’s this new world of rock and roll stars of today, really – these tech gurus and these computer whizzes. So, it was a different world to me, and a really exciting one, with the backdrop of San Francisco. That was enough for me to get excited about it, really,” he continued.
The first season of Murder in the First will go for only ten episodes, which is a perfect amount of time for Felton to dip into the TV pool. “This is my first experience with this, so ten episodes seemed like a really good chunk, and a good body. They’re very reluctant to tell us what happens in the future episodes, so we’re still learning as we go,” he said. Felton added that he has indeed learned a lot from the experienced cast and crew of the show. “I’ve learned a huge amount, yeah,” he confirmed. “This is very different than anything else I’ve done previously. Not just the very talented cast, but the crew as well, and what it takes to get nine, ten, sometimes more pages done in a day, and to get them done at the best possible quality – it’s been a real learning experience, and a lot of fun at the same time.”
Erich Blunt might be compared to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg when it comes to the type of celebrity he has achieved for the work. “He’s kind of the obvious person, to familiarize yourself with that kind of world and character. I think he’s the poster boy of that whole world; for being [one of] those modern day rock stars, where 20 or 30 years ago maybe the people that sat at their computers all their childhood weren’t deemed to be the cool kids, but Mark certainly changed that for an entire generation, and I think Erich is really a follow on to that, although it’s surely a more gritty world than I’m sure Mark’s story is, it’s definitely in a similar vein,” Felton confirmed.
Murder in the First premieres tonight (June 9) at 10PM on TNT.
