Harry Melling on the Queen’s game and his post-Potter career

Harry Melling.
Photo: Matt Crossick / PA Images via Getty Images

The most romantic statement of The queen’s gambit could come from Harry Beltik, the former Kentucky chess champion who Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon defeated early in her career. He later reappears, offering to help him regain his life after a major loss, and says that she changed him too, admitting that he even “got my teeth healed” because of her. Beth and Harry go their separate ways (he starts a more practical career, she remains obsessed with chess), but he continues to be one of the support men who end up in her corner as she moves up the ranks.

In addition to The queen’s gambit, Melling has put together a series of recent performances from notable character-actors, including playing an evil technician in The old guard, a mad preacher The devil all the time, and an “artist” without legs and arms The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Yet many may recognize him first from his work as a child actor, playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry potter movies. With the continued popularity of The queen’s gambit since its release, Vulture has met Melling to talk about his post-Potter career, how he understood Beltik’s style of chess and how the false teeth he wore for Beltik’s transformation helped him “shift to another gear”.

Beth beats Beltik early in the story, and I kind of expected him to be resentful, because so many men can be women who are better than them at something, but he ends up being by being so supportive. What were you interested in playing this bow?
I thought that was one of the most fascinating things about her. Not only does she make him question his chess game, but also question his life and what is important. He realizes that he can help Beth and he puts his life in perspective when he meets this amazing human being. I found it touching, how he reevaluates what is important.

That’s what grabbed me when Scott Frank, the director, started talking about the project. I first met him on Skype, and we talked a lot about the arc. When he starts out there is a real boost in him and then as the series progresses he is completely in love with Beth and in a way is a perfect match for her, as he is there. ‘balance in a certain way.

There is something charming about the way he returns to the show after being gone for a few episodes with a completely different life he attributes to him.
The car he rides in, the public would never have guessed was Harry Beltik’s car. There is a real effort there which I found endearing about it. He really tried to change to feel more attractive and to see Beth. But then he realizes that it’s not him and also has to reassess him. There is a real dance that they do with each other. He’s trying to figure out where she is, and she’s sort of ahead of him. It was fascinating to sink my teeth in.

Speaking of which, did you really have to change your teeth?
You are the first to ask this question! I was a little nervous about this, but I did. There were false teeth from, I believe, episode four. It was a fantastic way to subtly change… me, basically. It literally changes the way you speak and where your face falls. I’m still fascinated by those little tweaks you can make that won’t be so obvious, but as an actor it helps you shift to a different speed.

I spoke to the show’s chess coach Bruce pandolfini and he talked about training actors to move their pieces in a believable way. What was it like learning to do that?
I was really nervous because I didn’t know how to play! Which was rather worrying. So I had to quickly learn to play and then I was introduced to Bruce, who was fantastic. He was wonderful at articulating the choreography of the pieces. We didn’t really need to know why we were moving pieces to different parts of the board, we just needed to make it look like we’ve been doing it our whole life.

Did you model his game after someone? Was there a Harry Beltik style of chess?
We each choose a character. I focused on a real chess player, Magnus Carlsen. He is very interesting because he is very fast and his hands are very straight in the direction of the pieces. You slowly build the way you move. I remember Bruce said at one point, “It’s a very Benny gesture, it’s not for Harry.” I wanted my hand to be very angular with the pieces so that there was some agility in the way he maneuvered.

The show has a sort of sports movie ending where all the boys in Beth’s life help her over the phone in the last game. What was it like filming this scene?
It was pretty weird because me and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who plays Benny, never had scenes together. So it was very strange to have separate trips and meet Beth at different times in her life and meet at this very important point in the series. There was a feeling in the room that it was a very special time. What the show does well is talk about what it means to form a family, and this scene was about family. Especially when Benny gets the phone call and says she’s won, there was a moment of jubilation. In the script, it says “They’re going crazy like banshees” or something, and it was really a blast of joy.

You’ve also been on two other Netflix projects this fall playing much darker characters, including a tech CEO in The old guard. Did you look at real guys as inspiration for this?
I looked at a lot of young CEOs who had a lot of power and were very motivated, to see what made these people work. I tried to determine when they enter morally questionable territory [laughs], so it was fascinating. Then with The devil all the timeI became obsessed with finding preachers, especially in West Virginia, and in particular handling snakes and what it meant to them and why they did it. I find the research fascinating, and certainly my main line in the projects.

You have spoken in numerous interviews of Dudley Dursley’s role in the Harry potter films and then go to drama school and concentrate on stage work. Has it changed the way you approach roles?
At the beginning, do the Potter movies, it was a very simple equation. I knew what I wanted to do. And then the drama school shook him. I wanted to bridge that gap between children’s play and adult play, and the theater felt like a place I wanted to explore. A process was developed in drama school, and before that … you know, being 10 years old and being told to stand somewhere because that’s where the light is, and then you say that your line, then you go away, it’s happiness! Often when you are on the set you leave, I should just think like this at 10. But at the same time, it’s good to have a process to fall back on.

From what I understand, Scott Frank has thought of you for The queen’s gambit after seeing you The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Has working with the Coens changed your approach as an actor? I mean, it’s the Coen brothers.
It was a huge moment for me as an actor, simply because, on a personal level, I grew up watching their movies. Then get to know a little bit about how they work, which is so specific, but at the same time, they really invite you as an actor. I was very lucky that this happened when this happened, and I think it allowed different artists and directors to see my work that might not have been aware of it.

You worked with Joel Coen again playing Malcolm in his version of Macbeth. Is there anything you can say about this, or is everything under lock and key?
What I will say is that in true Joel Coen style, it will be completely unique. When they were talking about the cast they were putting together for this project, it was so exciting.

Moses Ingram, who played Jolene in The queen’s gambit, is also in Macbeth, so you have a nice little repertory troupe of the Scott Frank – Coen brothers.
It’s good! Reading Macbeth, Moses was there, and we met very early The queen’s gambit shoot, so it was a nice event. And I think where we turned Buster scruggs was pretty much on the same set they shot Impious, which was Scott’s previous show. There’s this weird connection between Scott and the Coens.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster was also in Impious and The queen’s gambit, so a lot of connections. I was curious, because he was also a kid actor, in stuff like Love, in fact, who has become an adult like you, have you ever talked about these similarities?
Strangely, no. Obviously I knew Thomas started young, but we never really talked about our beginnings while doing so. We only had this last scene together. But we haven’t talked about ourselves at 10 years old.

I guess it’s a little awkward to talk, like, “Hello, nice to meet you, I’ve known you for…”
It might be a bit strange! It’s funny, though, when you play those roles where people have such a strong affiliation with you when you’re 10 years old. It is as if the whole world has access to your home videos.

You’ve built some distance with this me, but it must be weird to be constantly pinned to it, which I guess is what I’m doing right now.
It is! This is the strange thing about cinema. Here in the UK every Christmas Harry potter is coming. For the friends who have had kids and are of an age who can watch these movies, suddenly Uncle Harry is someone else. These are generational movies, they keep coming and catching new audiences, which is just amazing, but with that comes the idea that you will always be that 10 year old. Obviously this is wrong and not so so you fight a bit but at the same time you are proud to be a part of something that has captured the imaginations of so many.

Do you intentionally find yourself taking on roles that will take you in a different direction? Looking at your most recent stuff, that’s it.
I’m trying not to set a strategy for myself, but if I’m being completely honest you’re right. I think what I really like about this job is its transformation. When I play with this, I get really excited. The job I just did, filming the movie Please baby please, is another that pushed me to a whole new territory. I think it keeps me alive and keeps me focused. The chameleon effect is something that I’ve always admired in other actors and something that I’ve always wanted to try and try to do.