TIFF Red Carpet: Gugu Mbatha-Raw looks stunning and Potterheads go mad for Draco Malfoy at the gala for period flick Belle

By Chris Hampton | September 9, 2013

By Chris Hampton | 09/09/2013

TIFF Red Carpet: Belle

It was a full-scale British invasion at Sunday afternoon’s red carpet gala for Amma Asante period drama Belle. Beautiful Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who you may recognize from the short-lived J.J. Abrams series Undercovers, stars in the film as Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-raced daughter of a British Naval officer and African slave who’s taken to England to be raised among aristocratic Britons. While co-star and hometown pride Sarah Gadon couldn’t attend, fans outside the Elgin Theatre did catch glimpses of legendary thesps Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson as well as Miranda Richardson, who plays Rita Skeeter in the Harry Potter franchise. The fan-favourite wizard, though, was definitely Tom Felton (looking much less creepy without the Draco Malfoy scowl), whose arrival was accompanied by frenzied, ear-splitting screams. Felton, who plays an aristocratic lord in the film, found his role more physically taxing than expected: “It was all about learning how to walk with my arm crooked in the right place and where to put my little finger on saucers and cups.” Turns out Felton’s more of a regular English bloke: he asked if we know any good spots to grab a beer. (We suggested Bellwood’s Brewery. His response: “Maybe I’ll see you there.”)