This past week the new addition to the many magical pieces of J.K. Rowling’s legacy, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” held their NYC junket.
If you’re not familiar with the genius work of J.K. Rowling here is a bit of info to catch you up. She is the amazing author behind the entire Harry Potter series and that should be enough to have your jaw drop.
This movie is one of five additions that she plans to add to her wizarding world. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, directed by David Yates, is a drama fantasy meant to take place years before we are introduced to Harry Potter. It takes place in 1926 New York City when something mysterious is leaving a path of destruction in the streets and is near exposing the wizarding community. In the midst of the chaos young Newt Scamander, a Magizoologist, comes to NYC to capture any loose creatures. Disaster strikes when No-Maj (non magical human being) Jacob Kowalski accidentally releases some of Newt’s creatures. Newt and Jacob then band together with former Auror, Tina and her sister Queenie. The unlikely group face the odds as the search for the creatures end up being harder than they imagine while also being branded as fugitives.
We got the chance to sit down with some of the stars of the movie, Alison Sudol who plays Queenie and Dan Fogler who plays Jacob as they talk about working with David Yates, being introduced to the wizarding world and more!
Don’t forget Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes out November 18!
For your feature film debut, you chose a small indie movie. How did that come about? You’re a wonderful discovery for audiences, I must say.
Alison Sudol: Thank you. One could say a lot things. I think, fate, because this is a crazy thing to have happened. I don’t really know how except it was meant to. I went to a general meeting with Fiona Weir, who’s casting the film, but I didn’t know she was doing anything like this. I just thought I was going to go meet with her. We had a really wonderful discussion. She’s an amazing woman. We were talking about empathy and kindness, which is a strange topic to have in a general meeting. Within a few minutes, she said, “I would like you to read something for me, but first I need you to sign an NDA.” She told me about Queenie. I actually, to be honest, didn’t even know that this was part of the Potter world. She said the people that made the Potter films, but there’s plenty of producers who have worked on something, something completely unrelated. She told me about Queenie, and I fell in love with this idea of this woman, who’s this extraordinarily compassionate, warm, loving, fun, mischievous, free-spirited soul, who happens to be able to read minds. She’s magical. I went, “Yes, pleases, sign me up.” I did not get the size of magnitude until the screen test. I had about a week and half long panic attack before going to New York. I loved Queenie so much. I just wanted to get out of the way of my own nerves. I wanted to be here. That was stronger than the fear. Can I do this, which is pretty great.
Dan, I’m a pretty big fan of Fanboys. The fact that I see you in J.K. Rowling’s wizard world …
Dan Fogler: Does it upset you?
No. I really like Fanboys.
Dan Fogler: I thought your track was, “How come you weren’t in the Star Wars movie?”
No, how does it feel to go from that, then being introduced into the wizarding world? What was going through your mind when you were hit with those news?
Dan Fogler: I was at Comic Con when I heard the news. It was crazy. I had my comic books that I was selling. Brooklyn Gladiator, you should check it out. I had my boxes of comic books, so I was pulling them upstream through the cos-players and feeling very low about myself, because that’s the only reason I was there, was just my comic books. Usually you want to go because you’re selling a movie. I was told last screen test that I had that if I got another call that it would be for another 50,000 screen tests. When I got the call, I was expecting them to say, “Okay, you’re coming to London for another screen test,” but the said, “Where are you right now?” I said, “I’m at Comic Con.” They said, “Well, Comic Con is going to be a lot different next year.” I started floating, as I remember, throwing free comic books at people.
Can you each speak about David and what you admire about him as a filmmaker?
Alison Sudol: David is an incredible director and a really, really genuinely wonderful human being. He’s able to do this really difficult juggling act of having tons of choreography happening, so many extras and green screen and creatures and things happening. Yet, he’s able to hone in on the tiniest little emotional details between these characters. He never raises his voice. He is unfailingly gentle with us and with everyone, and also is very particular about the kind of people that he brings together, so the set is very calm. Everybody was just nice to be around all the time. He’s also an amazing storyteller. He would kind of bring us together at the beginning of the scenes and remind us of where we were going through at the time and what it felt like. Just consistently kept it about the human heart at the center of the story. He is just a joy to work with, and it made it really easy in a situation that could be overwhelming.
Dan Fogler: He would, the direction he would give me … He would also say, “I love what you’re doing, I love what you’re doing. Bring it down 20%.” I knew that I was totally off, but he was like, “I love it. I love it. Bring it down 80%.” Stop with the eyes. He was, my God, I was just so impressed because I’ve directed before, little independent films, and I have blown a gasket every five seconds, screaming. You can’t help it. You try to maintain, but being the captain of a ship in general is so hard. Then to steer this massive star ship, that he’s steering is so impressive. He surrounds himself with beautiful, creative, top-notch people. It was just a pleasure to work with the guy.
Obviously, it’s left up to interpretation, but it’s very interesting that obviously at the end of the film, we’re kind of left a little unsure if your character was fully obliviated.
Dan Fogler: It’s interesting, isn’t it? It’s kind of like what happens in a dream or something. That’s his art. Your dreams, whatever is happening, buried in the id seeps out in his pastries and he can’t quite forget this dream he had. A lot like Bottom from Midsummer Night’s Dream. He remembers everything. He had a really good time. As I was going through it, because I always constantly had wand envy. I wish I was a wizard. I want to be a wizard. That was an improv, that was me.
This is what I think happens. This is what I’ve kind of made up for myself. It was between the bite and eating the magic strudel, the medicine he puts on and hanging out with all the creatures and everything and the kiss, I think it maybe gives him some kind of protection against the obliviation spell.
Do you think your characters’ romance is going to deepen in the next one?
Alison Sudol: I don’t know. It remains to be seen.
Obviously, she likes the guy.
Alison Sudol: What’s not to like, right?
Alison, we heard you wrote a song, but it didn’t make it in. Can you speak about that?
Alison Sudol: Yeah. I think it might be in the DVD extras. We shot so much for this movie that not everything could fit in, and understandably so. What is in the movie is so special. They asked if I would write a school song for Ilvermorny. Just whoa, that was a songwriting assignment like I’ve never had before. It was really fun. It was just a really nice experience to do that and to do that with Katherine as well. I hope that people find it, it’s such an honor just to be apart of the wizarding world and connect that with music. I really don’t mind that it wasn’t in the film because, like I said, what’s there is so special.
Dan Fogler: It’ll be on the DVD extras.
Alison Sudol: Exactly.
Eddie had said about when he working on it, it felt much more like an indie kind of film. Do you agree with that?
Dan Fogler: Due to David, he really made this behemoth feel very intimate. He made it all about the chemistry and the character relationships.
Was there room for improvising?
Dan Fogler: Yeah.
Alison Sudol: There was.
Dan Fogler: I want to be a wizard, it’s in the trailer, it’s not in the movie. That was improvised, man. From day one, I was like, “You know, he says, ‘I’m sorry.’ Wouldn’t it be great if he says, ‘I’m sorry, Grandma,’ then he looks at the wall and he sees a portrait of his Grandma.” I was imagining a picture of me with a big gray wig on. That’s how my mind works, but they did their version of it. All these little things made it into the movie. It was so special.
Alison Sudol: There was also freedom because the characters were still kind of forming as the script went through different iterations in the beginning. We got to have input because they said, for me, David said, “You really know Queenie. Trust your instincts.” There was room for a lot. I thought, when we went to wand school, which I mean, right there, the things that I never thought that I would say. I thought that they were going to say, “Okay, this is how you wield the wand. Don’t do it wrong. You’ll upset that millions” I just said thousands of fans. We worked with Alex Reynolds, my coach. It was much more about what is natural to the way that your character moves. Queenie, every bit of her is about enjoying life. She dances through life. She’s so elegant and enjoys every little bit. She loves to make life beautiful. The way that she wields her wand, she doesn’t just point it, it’s a ballet. It’s fun. It’s delicious. Also, her empathy and her stillness and the way that she reads with people, they allowed that to be from how I saw it. I just got really still when I read minds. I didn’t feel like Queenie had to do any … she just listened, basically. They allowed for that, as well. It was just a really nice thing to have that freedom and that trust.
Were there any reference points for your characters or the relationship that you had, that your characters have, that you’d looked up for the past and movies and stuff?
Dan Fogler: For them, I thought of, “You know, they’re classic.” Seymour and Audrey or Nathan Detroit and Adelaide. Ultra feminine bombshell … it’s the classic. With Newt, it’s like Sherlock and Watson. That’s what she writes so well, these iconic characters that feel familiar. My great grandfather was a baker, so this was very ancestrally in my DNA, this character. Of course, it was the 20’s, so I wanted to pay homage to my favorite 20s actors, Chaplin and Buster Keaton. I know Eddie did the same thing. You see me and Eddie together, it’s also Laurel and Hardy. With the short tie.
Alison Sudol: Clara Bow was my main inspiration. I just thought she was the most magical woman on screen. She lit up the screen. She was from Brooklyn. She was a real girl. There were no errors and graces about her and yet she just lit up the room. She could be overflowing with giggles and then, in moments, have her eyes welling up with tears. You felt every single thing that she felt. She was so genuine. It was mainly her, and it was, frankly, drawing off of really small children, as well. Because when we’re small, we’re really intuitive, and kids just look at you and they just see. They listen and they pay attention. They are really, deeply themselves. They haven’t put on the façade that we do when we get older. Queenie is so herself and she’s so innocent and pure. She’s innocent by nature because she is not, she hears everything. She sees everything. It’s not like she’s some rube, she knows what humanity is like, but she just is here. I really tried to just protect that with her.