"he delightfully beat the s**t out of me": Tom Felton recalls an intense movie scene with Chadwick Boseman in 2016

Tom Felton, known for playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, recently spoke to The Guardian about an intense action scene he shot with Chadwick Boseman in the film Message from the King (2016). Felton said that during that scene, there was no need to “act” because Boseman’s performance felt so real, and he even jokingly said that his one-on-one scene with him “delightfully beat the s**t out of me.”

Tom also compared Chadwick Boseman’s performance in the movie to Andy Serkis’ role as Caesar, the chimpanzee in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Since he had action scenes in both films, Tom said that the way Boseman threw him into the car reminded him of Andy Serkis, who “would turn into a whole different beast the moment they said 'Action.”

Tom Felton praised Chadwick Boseman and Andy Serkis for their exceptional, intense performance 

When the interviewer asked Tom Felton what it was like working with Chadwick Boseman in Message from the King, he replied, “Crikey, that was a few years back. Chadwick was such a professional and definitely cut from a different cloth.”

Tom further explained that working with Boseman reminded him of Andy Serkis, his co-star from Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He called Serkis “a real gentleman,” just like Boseman.

He said,

“He reminded me of Andy Serkis, who was a real gentleman when we were doing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but who would turn into a whole different beast the moment they said ‘Action’, and drag me across the floor as Caesar the ape.”

In that scene, Andy Serkis’ character, Caesar, drags Tom’s character across the floor. Similarly, in Message from the King, Boseman, who plays Jacob King, throws Tom into a car while searching for answers about his sister’s death. Tom plays Frankie, a drug dealer who is connected to the truth behind Jacob’s sister’s murder. The film is packed with intense action sequences, bringing Boseman’s powerful on-screen presence as a determined brother seeking justice.

Tom added jokingly,

“The ferocity with which Chadwick threw me into a car! There was very little acting needed, because he delightfully beat the s**t out of me.”

What is Tom Felton and Chadwick Boseman’s Message from the King all about

Message from the King is a 2016 action-thriller directed by Fabrice Du Welz, starring Chadwick Boseman as Jacob King, a man who travels from Cape Town to Los Angeles to search for his missing sister. Within a day of arriving, he discovers she has died under suspicious circumstances, pushing him into a violent journey through the city’s criminal underworld for revenge. 

Tom Felton plays Frankie, a drug dealer connected to the truth behind her death, while the cast also includes Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer, Alfred Molina, and Natalie Martinez. Written by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell, the film was produced by The Ink Factory and other international studios, beginning its shoot in Los Angeles in February 2015 and premiering at TIFF in September 2016 before releasing on Netflix in August 2017.