Tom Felton discusses his new film Altered, feeling like a superhero, and how this movie also tells a human story we can all relate to.

The 2025 sci-fi thriller, Altered, plunges viewers into a near-future dystopia that feels disturbingly close to our own reality. At the heart of the action is Leon (played by Tom Felton), a brilliant bioengineer who has been confined to a wheelchair his entire life. To level the playing field against a world designed to disadvantage people like him, Leon takes matters into his own hands, developing a sophisticated bio-exoskeleton suit to manipulate the very genetics of the system.

Felton brings a compelling mix of vulnerability and determined genius to the role, anchoring the high-stakes, action-packed narrative with a deeply human story of love, loss, and heroism.

Mama’s Geeky recently had the chance to sit down with Tom Felton to discuss what initially drew him to the script, the dual challenges of filming in both a wheelchair and a massive carbon-fiber suit, and the joy of smashing up a movie set kitchen.

Tom Felton Says Altered Is A Dystopian But Human Story

Tessa Smith: Is the near-future, dystopian aspect what initially drew you to the script?

Tom Felton: If you take out the dystopian future part, it’s still very much a human story of family, friends and loss, love, and heroism. So that’s the bit for us, as an actor. And then when Timo [Vuorensola] started painting this world for me about what it looks like, I asked him at one of our early meetings, Timo is our director who also wrote it. I said, “So what do these things look like exactly?” And he had drawings for days. He had loads and loads of things. This world was already fully formed in his head. So that made things a lot more convincing and easier to say yes to.

Tom Felton On Acting In Two Extremes – The Chair & The Suit

Tessa Smith: You spend much of this movie in a chair and the rest in a suit that I imagine is not comfortable. What was the filming process like for you?

Tom Felton: It was two extremes, definitely. One’s in the wheelchair, which is certainly a workout on the arms. And our wheelchair was somewhat modified for the film, which didn’t necessarily make it easier to use. There was a lot of time practicing down the corridors of my hotel that we were staying in, trying to get used to it. The actual suit was the one I was more worried about because it looks so cool in the pictures and on the cameras. But how do you put it on? And while you’re making sure you can move, actually, otherwise you’re just going to feel like a robot. So the team made such an amazing, 18-piece carbon fiber suit, I think it was. It did take quite a while for them to put it on me and off, and did get rather warm at times. But we managed to not break it. That was our big concern. He gets thrown around quite a lot in the film.

Tessa Smith: What was your reaction when you first saw yourself in the mirror wearing the suit? It’s like being a superhero.

Tom Felton: I won’t lie. I’ve had many, many times looking in the dressing room mirror thinking, oh, this is pretty cool. But you just took the words right out of my mouth. The first time you see yourself dressed as a superhero, really one with a bio exoskeleton, it’s pretty, pretty effing cool.

Tom Felton On Filming The Action Sequences

Tessa Smith: Was there a scene you were most excited to shoot when you were reading the script?

Tom Felton: The big action sequences, all the fight sequences are really those are the things you’re in. A nine-year-old boy comes out and goes, “Yeah, this is really cool.” But actually, so much of that takes a long time. It’s very methodical in keeping us all safe while also making it look cool. Timo would have these huge ideas and actually putting them into practice was sometimes a little harder than expected. But there’s a great first scrimmage, if you will, when Leon first tries out the suit in the kitchen. And in the kitchen, in case you don’t know, children, there are lots of dangerous things to hurt oneself with. So throwing around plates and China and basically smashing the entire kitchen. There were lots of times I had to stop myself from smiling, because if you told my nine-year-old self I’d be doing that one day, he would have been very happy.

Who Is Leon?

Tessa Smith: How would you describe Leon to someone who hasn’t seen the movie yet?

Tom Felton: Well, to sum him up, he’s a bit of a genius, a bit of a savant genius when it comes to practically finding his way around because he’s been in a wheelchair his whole life. He’s always had to find ways of getting around, excuse the pun, but. And in this, he is always a bioengineer, essentially, that’s taken things into his own hands and managed to manipulate various parts of what we know helps the G, the genetics, that’s what we call them in the film, and managed to give hope and chance to people that don’t have the advantages of others. That’s at the core of who he is. I think he’s also an orphan or at least estranged from his father and has no real support other than his chippy best friend, the lovely [Elizaveta Bugulova], who was so much fun to work with. Leon might seem quite surly, but actually he’s got a good sense of humor as long as she’s around to keep poking him.

Working With Elizaveta Bugulova Brought Tom Felton Back To His Early Acting Days

Tessa Smith: You and Elizaveta Bugulova are so fun together. What was that collaboration like?

Tom Felton: It’s one of the most fun bits about it. I think she was only 12 when we did it. It reminded a little bit my blast from the past, working at such a young age. But she was annoyingly good at everything. She knew the script, but back to front, she corrected me on a few times, lines that I got wrong. And also, I forgot what it was like when you’re 12 years old on set. You have long, long shooting days. And then obviously, in between the filming, you have to go back to tutoring, which was not one of the things that I liked doing when I was a youngster. And yet she always seemed very full of energy and chipper and happy, happy enough to do both at the same time.

Tessa Smith: Yeah, I would be like, I don’t want to go back to school. I was just doing cool stuff.

Tom Felton: Literally, that was my life on Potter.

Altered is playing in select theaters and is available on VOD from Well Go USA now.

About Altered

In an alternate present where genetic enhancements have become the norm, those who cannot take advantage are pushed into the underground. It’s up to a few brave souls to level the playing field for everyone, but every revolution has its cost. From Timo Vuorensola, visionary director of Iron Sky, and Tom Felton (Harry Potter Franchise) comes an exciting new tale of a dystopian Earth in need of a hero in Altered.

Next: Watch Tom Felton Uncover a Shocking Attack in This Intense Altered Clip [Exclusive]

In this interview, Lizzy Caplan discusses her surprise return to the Now You See Me franchise, the prosthetics process, and more.

The Now You See Me franchise is easily one of my favorites because you are sure to always have a great time watching them. These films, built around the art of misdirection and grand magic shows, offer a thrilling cinematic experience. They are a blast, but always have a lot of heart to them as well. To no one’s surprise, they are filled with twists and turns as well.

The third movie, Now You See Me Now You Don’t, promised to up the ante, but for fans of the second film, Now You See Me 2, one major question lingered: where is Lula May? The sequel not only brings back the core ensemble but also delivers a shocking, perfect reveal that sees Lizzy Caplan return as the fan-favorite illusionist, Lula, proving that in a world of magic, nothing is as it seems.

In this interview, Mama’s Geeky sits down with Lizzy Caplan to discuss her top-secret return to the franchise, the wild prosthetics required for the big reveal, and the special bond she shares with her fellow Horsemen. Caplan shares the excitement of keeping one of the film’s biggest secrets.

Lizzy Caplan On Keeping Her Return A Secret

Tessa Smith: I love these movies. I went into this one, and I sat down, and I looked at my friend and I said, if they don’t explain why Lula is not here in the perfect way, I’m done. And I literally screamed when you showed up, I was so excited. What was that like for you?

Lizzy Caplan: It was great. It was a blast. I was so happy that they were up for the idea of keeping it a secret and really leaning into this reveal that hopefully the audiences got a thrill from. Everybody was on board with the idea from the beginning. And I’m just happy in this day and age that it’s possible to keep secrets like that. And so it was really fun. It was really fun to get to do it that way.

Lizzy Caplan Discusses The Prosthetics Process

Tessa Smith: What was the prosthetics process like?

Lizzy Caplan: Crazy. I mean, the Hungarian prosthetics department were amazing. They did that with so little practice, and it was like perfect the first time. I saw the, I did a makeup test with all of it, and they had already, they had already been shooting for a few weeks. So I went on to set to say, “hi.” And nobody knew that it was me. Like people, even other friends happened to be on set that day and nobody had any idea. It was really exciting.

Lizzy Caplan Talks The Five Horsemen Reunion

Tessa Smith: What was it like for you to get back with everybody? And to have all five horsemen together?

Lizzy Caplan: Yeah, it was really special. Totally agreed. A dream. I love these people. I met them… Well, I met Isla [Fisher] on another film called Bachelorette because she was in the first Now You See Me, I was in the second Now You See Me. This third one we’re in together. And now coming back for the third movie, I know all of these people so well. They’re my true friends. I love them. So getting to do a third one was really just like going on vacation with my buddies.

Tessa Smith: One of my favorite things about these movies are the illusions. What is like reading the scripts, though?

Lizzy Caplan: Definitely. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of like stage direction explaining what’s going on with all of the tricks. So I think probably watching the movie is a more satisfying experience than reading the scripts. But yeah, I mean, I’m always amazed that it works at all with this many characters and this many like plot twists and how much bobbing and weaving is required from the script.

Be sure to check out our full interview with Lizzy Caplan to see if she would return for more Now You See Me films.

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In Your Deams‘ writer and director Alex Woo dives into the film’s ambiguous ending and the deeper meaning of Nightmara, in this interview.

Netflix’s In Your Dreams is a must-watch animated film that is sure to steal your heart. It tells the story of a young girl named Stevie and her brother Elliot as they journey to find the Sandman, hoping to make their dreams come true. The terrifying Nightmara stands in their way, as they must tackle their nightmares as they try to keep their family together.

Spoiler Warning: The following Q&A discusses key plot points and the conclusion of the film, so be sure to stream In Your Dreams on Netflix before reading on!

Mama’s Geeky sits down with writer and director Alex Woo to explore the film’s deeper themes, including the deeply personal inspiration behind the ending and the unexpected role of the character Nightmara.

The Importance of In Your Dreams’ Ambiguous Ending

Mama’s Geeky: I love how the end is ambiguous and it’s just the parents willing to try. Can you talk about the importance of including that in the movie?

Alex Woo: Yeah. It was a really tricky ending to land, and I’m so happy with where we landed with this film. A lot of it was just inspired by my own family. Again, when I was a kid, my parents almost split up, I was like six or seven. My mom, eventually she came back, you know, they, my parents stayed together. Then when I went off to college, she went away again. They were empty nesters at that point. My brother had gone off to college and my parents were living in Hong Kong and she moved to LA.

My mom was a bit of a dreamer. She wanted to be an actress. And so she tried to make it in LA as an actor, but it was hard. She was, at that point, in her late forties or early fifties. And it’s hard enough for women to get roles at that age without any established career. But she tried it for a few years and then it didn’t work out. And she ended up coming back, moving back to Hong Kong.

And then again, when I was making this movie during the pandemic she wanted, she thought about leaving my father again. So it’s just been this ebb and flow with them and our family. And I just thought, you know, that it doesn’t, ultimately at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what the labels are, what their official status is. My mom’s always going to be my mom, my dad’s always going to be my dad. They’re always going to love each other in their own way.

We’re always going to be a family, no matter where they are geographically or what their official status is. So that was the inspiration for the ending of leaving it. Like, you know what, it doesn’t matter. No matter what happens, where life takes them, they’re always going to be a family and they’re always going to be there for each other. That was where that ending came from.

Alex Woo On Capturing the Messiness of Real Life

Mama’s Geeky: It’s so real, and I love it. I think it’s important not just to be like, oh, and now everybody’s happy in the end, because that’s not life.

Alex Woo: Yeah. At the end, when the parents are bringing out that last box, it says fragile on there, and that’s sort of a metaphor for their relationship. They’re trying to move that final box onto the back of the truck, and they’re just not on the same page. Mom’s going left, Dad’s going right. They’re trying to communicate, but they’re not quite in sync.

And then at the very end, they both get in separate cars and are driving off, and it feels like, okay, this is the happy ending that everybody’s been waiting for. And then the back of the truck opens up and all the boxes fall out. And that is just the way life is. It is constantly a mess. I love how we captured that in the ending of the film.

The Unexpected Beauty of Nightmares

Mama’s Geeky: I want to talk about Nightmara. She’s gorgeous. I love her, but I love how she’s not super scary for kids. And then, turns out she’s trying to protect the kids. Can you talk about making her that key part of this story?

Alex Woo: From the very beginning of this film, what I wanted to do thematically was flip the charge on dreams and nightmares. I think, especially in American culture, there’s so much pressure on people and kids to be perfect, to make their dreams come true. And I think some amount of that is healthy, but there’s a dark side to it because if you don’t achieve your dreams, if your life isn’t perfect, you feel like something’s wrong with you or that you failed or that you’re a loser or something. I just think that’s so untrue.

Because there’s so much pressure to achieve your dreams, you can get lost in that pursuit and neglect everything else around you in your life. I wanted to ground dreams a little bit. And nightmares, obviously it’s challenging, and you want to avoid nightmares in your life, metaphorical nightmares. But when I look back on my life, the things that have changed and shaped me the most have been the times when I’ve been at my worst and life has been really down on me.

I’ve learned a lot from those moments. I’ve changed and I’ve grown. And then more importantly, whenever that happens, the people in my life who love me, my family, my friends, they come to help me and get through all those things. And that is the beauty of nightmares. They really help prepare us for life’s challenges, life’s unknowns, and its uncertainty. So I feel like there’s a real purpose that nightmares serve in our lives.

In Your Dreams is a beautiful, thoughtful film that offers as much heart as it does adventure. If you haven’t yet, be sure to stream the film now on Netflix. For more details and insights from Alex Woo, don’t forget to watch the full interview video.

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