Dear readers, we'd like to discuss sexual awakenings for a minute.
We've all had them; that moment when you're watching Casper or Now and Then or Little Giants when suddenly you notice Devon Sawa or Devon Sawa or...Devon Sawa. You start to feel a little differently about movie characters, and then nothing is the same. (And, more importantly, you never look at Devon Sawa the same way again). You realize you are a charged being and that there is a whole, beautiful world out there just waiting for you to cut out Tiger Beat posters of it and practice French-kissing on your wall.
But that phenomenon can also happen in regards to specific people long after you've wised up to the laws of nature, when you suddenly become aware that out of nowhere that guy or girl you never thought twice about is actually smokin' hot. For anyone who ever watched a Harry Potter movie, we felt that about one Matthew Lewis, a.k.a. Neville Longbottom. For seven long movies we knew the boy wizard as this:
Then, all of a sudden, with the eighth and final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, he emerged a beautiful swan. A beautiful, snake-killing, Hogwarts-saving swan. A beautiful, snake-killing, Hogwarts-saving swan that the entire world had very, very dirty dreams about.
It was all anyone could talk about, until he posed in nothing but his skivvies, bulge and all, for Attitude. The image of Neville Longbottom and his chiseled, chiseled body became burned into our collective memories.
And now, he's back on the big screen for all to see. The movie is Me Before You, the tearjerker romance that has everyone talking. (For those who need a quick catch-up and aren't afraid of spoilers, the flick centers around Will Traynor, a wealthy man who becomes a quadriplegic after an accident and the woman hired to help take care of him. They end up falling in love, despite the fact that Will has already decided to end his own life because of the struggles of living with his newfound disability. As one could imagine, that storyline is causing a bit of a stir with a lot of people, particularly disability activists.)
But that's a debate to have on an entirely different day—call us when you've seen it so we can discuss, eh? Today, we're here to talk about one Neville Longbottom. Since the release of the trailer and all of the movie's press tours, the movies biggest stars, Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, have gotten all the buzz. But Matthew Lewis is the real star here. And by star, we of course mean that it's both fascinating and hilarious to watch the guy we used to only know as a member of Dumbledore's Army acting in a romantic movie.
And it gets even better when you find out the details of the role. Longbottom Lewis plays Patrick, the boyfriend to Clarke's Louisa (a.k.a. the caregiver who falls in love with Will). That's right, he is a man scorned. But not only is he a man scorned, but he is a man who wears lots of lots of spandex. Seriously, his entire wardrobe consists of clingy pants. Patrick is a bit of an athletic enthusiast, and (basically) every single one of his scenes sees him training for some sort of race—or, rather, the Viking Triathlon, which is a very real race that he convinces Louisa will make for a great and romantic couples getaway. (Can you see why her heart strayed to the hunky, rich guy who lives in the castle?).
Just check out the above photo for a little bit of a taste of Neville's onscreen persona. As you can see, the studio cropped it at the waste so as to keep things family friendly; the running shorts are that tight.
But in addition to his outstanding spandex-wearing skills, Longbottom gets to flex more than a few comedy muscles. Yes, Neville makes a funny! Playing someone who gets left (emotionally, at least) for his girlfriend's boss is a bit of a downer, but Lewis keeps the laughs flowing with his adorably dopey grins and utter confusion as to why a gaudy necklace with his own name emblazoned on it might make for a bad birthday present.
Now, to the real question we know that everyone has been waiting for: Does he take his shirt off? You didn't think we were going to spoil everything, did you? We've already told you that one of the main characters dies, for gosh sakes, we're not going to give even more away. Just know that while the movie posters and trailers and talk show interviews will lead you to believe that Sam Claflin, what with that chiseled jaw and tousled hair, is the one you should be watching when you head to the theater, you should really keep your eyes trained on ol' Neville. You won't regret it.