Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan): anecdotes from a wizard during #WTTMS4

“Eye of rabbit, heartstring hum, turn this water into rum”. Devon Murray, the actor behind Seamus Finnigan in Harry Potter, was in Paris mid-january to meet Potterheads thanks to People Convention’s Welcome To The Magic School 4 convention. The Irish actor, very liked by fans, stole the show during his Q&A. He even had tears of laughter on stage. Why ? The answer in our report.

Anecdotes from the shooting by Devon Murray

The Irish actor was very honest and didn’t hesitate to talk about several anecdotes from shooting starting with his screentest. Not having read the books, Devon Murray didn’t know who Harry Potter was. During his audition, he walked by Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe – the future actors of Hermione Granger and Harry Potter – and stood in front of Chris Colombus, the director, and said “Hello Harry”, thinking his name was actually Harry. The next day he got the role and he thinks this clumsiness helped him a lot to have it. Speaking of clumsiness, it’s actually one of the things Devon Murray loved about Seamus Finnigan. Another feature he loved: his ability to blow everything up and even more when he is allowed to do so in the seventh movie.

Devon Murray also spoke about the scene where the young wizards eat candies that make them do animal noices. While imitating the chicken on screen, the production decided to put a monkey’s noise in post-production. A decision he still doesn’t understand. If you had never paid attention to this scene, this is a perfect opportunity to watch it again.

Among his favorite scenes, there is the one of the ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They trained for 8 weeks for the dance and Devon said that if himself was not bad at it, it was not the case for everyone. Right Oliver and James Phelps ?

Did you ever dream of a real fight between Seamus and Harry during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? It almost happened because Devon Murray and Dan Radcliffe asked the production to do it. Unfortunately, for security reasons, it was not possible. The Irish actor told us that the hardest part of the movie was not to sulk Harry / Dan but it was not to laugh when Rupert Grint, Ron Weasley, was trying to have a very serious face (which had the opposite effect according to Devon Murray).

Devon Murray said he is a big fan of the character of Peeves and is sad that this character was not in the movies. However, he confessed that Rik Mayall was so good in the character that nobody could stay serious around him and that’s why the scenes they shot were difficult to use. He took advantage of this anecdote to tell us about his first meeting with Rik. In the first movie, he wanted to have his copy of the first book signed by everyone and no one had told him that Ryk Mayall should not be disturbed. He knocked on his trailer, Ryk Mayall opened the door without a shirt on and Devon Murray asked him to sign his book. After getting the autograph, he was told that Ryk Mayall didn’t want to be disturbed because he had a late night shooting and needed to sleep but the damage was done. Later, when reading the autograph left by the British actor, he couldn’t believe it. The autograph said: “Dear Devon, you’re a complete bugs. Love and Kisses. Kicks on the buttocks”.

Devon Murray and his relationship with Seamus Finnigan

During his solo Q&A, we found out that, like the other actors present for the convention, Devon Murray was very attached to his character and sees himself just as awkward as him. During his question-and-answer session, the Irish actor admitted that he would have liked to see Seamus and Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave – the report of her Q&A) going out together.

But that was before imagining a much more extravagant / disturbing relationship that caused him to cry with laughter on stage and made the audience burst into laughter. Devon Murray has indeed imagined a relationship between Seamus Finnigan and Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith in the movies) in the Forbidden Forest while Dumbledore gets in the way of their love. A fan then asked him if Seamus would be willing to go out with Moaning Myrtle just to have a girlfriend. For Devon, his character is not as desperate as that but if she had been alive, it could have been different.

Answering the question, who is the most interesting character, the actor choose Seamus Finnigan before saying that he loves all the bad characters and especially Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) and his son Drago (Tom Felton). And what about Dolores Umbridge? She is a b*tch but a fun b*tch.

Devon Murray has one regret about Seamus Finnigan: it’s not knowing exactly where he came from in Ireland, JK Rowling having never wanted to reveal it to him. Regarding the future of his character after Hogwarts, he think of him as a defense professor against the forces of evil or maybe in Australia making everything explosed in mines.

More info

• His favorite movies are Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone because of all the magic and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II for the quality of special effects. Devon Murray is disappointed by the fact that he didn’t had the opportunity to see again the actors who were introduced in the 4th movie.
• Devon Murray read some fanfictions about Deamus and about the couple Dean / Seamus.
• The actor has spent a lot of time with the “animal department” on set and still does not understand how it is possible to train a cat.
• According to Devon Murray, collectors of Ford Anglia were sick when the production bought a lot of these cars just to destroy them during the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
• He did not go to The Making of Harry Potter – London Studio Tour because, for him, it would not be the same atmosphere that he had on set for 10 years of his life.
• Devon Murray sang and danced when he was young. He signed quickly with an agency and got a role the next day. Back then he did not understand the difficulty that actors got to find roles because everything was going well for him. He realized that it was not always the case afterwards.
• The Irish actor advises not to get a tattoo while being drunk because he did it himself in Spain with his ex-girlfriend and he is not happy with the result.
• He was addicted to Lost while shooting The Harry Potter’s movies like many other members of the cast, but he never watched the last episode because he has imagined a precise ending in his head.
• He listens to a lot of Irish bands.