Exclusive: 'Harry Potter' star: 'Last day on set was like a movie'

Matthew Lewis has admitted that his final experience of filming Harry Potter was "surreal".

The actor reprises his role as Gryffindor student Neville Longbottom in the highly-anticipated conclusion to the eight-film series. Before shooting his own final scenes, Lewis told Digital Spy that the last day of principle photography on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was "a film in itself".

Lewis recalled: "It was a courtyard scene towards the end of the movie. It was a very odd, but fitting scene to end on really because the courtyard is reduced to rubble, all destroyed. It was very weird to suddenly look around after everyone had cleared the set and they'd said, 'That's a wrap'.

"There was just a couple of us left - me, Tom Felton, Emma Watson and David Yates. We just looked around and it was a very surreal moment where everything was destroyed, but it was really quiet - there was nobody around, just us. It was very, very odd. It was weird to think that we weren't coming back. It felt like a film in itself."

However, Lewis revealed that his "real last day" had been on a nightshoot with the second unit, where he was "running up and down a bridge".

"Unfortunately, the second unit were going on until about four in the morning," he said. "So as soon as I finished at about one, they just said, 'That's Matt's last day. Okay, very good - move on'. It was a bit of an anti-climax really!"

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opens in cinemas on July 15.

> Click here to read the full chat with Matthew Lewis
> Matthew Lewis: 'I owe Harry Potter for sticking with me'

Watch the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 below: