Phil Wright in his role as a giant in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two

by Rebecca Hughes

rhughes@thekmgroup.co.uk

A strongman from Grain has smashed up Hogwarts while trying to kill heroes Harry, Hermione and Ron in the final Harry Potter film.

Phil Wright, of Nore View, got the giant part of playing a Lord Voldemort henchman after running towards the director and screaming like a “wild nutcase”.

At 6ft 3in, weighing 24 stone and having run the Allhallows Strongman contests as well as Britain’s Strongest Man qualifiers in St Mary Hoo, he was perhaps the perfect candidate.

Mr Wright said: “I went to the audition and the director, David Yates, said 'you look good – can you walk towards me like a giant?’

“So I ran at him aggressively and I just screamed like a wild nutcase and he was petrified – so I got the part.”

The 52-year-old – who is married with five daughters – saw his TV career take off when his wife, an actress who has been in films such as Sleepy Hollow, landed him a part because of his size.

He said: “I have been doing a lot of films for a while now. I was in the Golden Compass and I did a lot of stuff for TV like Britain’s Dumbest Criminals. I always play the gangster and hard nut roles.

“What I’d really love is to play the main role in a romantic comedy.”

Mr Wright plays a baddie who works for Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two – the last film in the series.

His character says to Harry Potter: “Sorry for trying to smash your head in, no hard feelings old boy, it’s just that Lord Voldemort pays more than Dumbledore and I have a mortgage, little giants to put through school etc, you know how it is...”.

Mr Wright, who has already watched himself on screen three times, said: “It was absolutely brilliant to get the role. It was just a fantastic experience and working alongside all the characters was brilliant. They are just fantastic and they are all really normal people.

“My trailer was next to Hagrid and they fed us very well. They encouraged us to eat as much as we could so that we got protruding bellies to go with our giant roles.”

He now hopes to play the role of the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk in a pantomime.