Dan and Alison: Their Favorite Fantastic Beasts Scenes and Acting

We always have a great time with Fantastic Beasts’  Dan Fogler (Jacob) and Alison Sudol (Queenie). Dan, the class clown, and perfect for comic relief during the film, came in joking about his clothes. We had just been discussing Ezra’s interesting outfit with Ezra as he departed, and Dan spit out a joke off the cuff, catching the tail end of our conversation. Dan and Alison together have a balanced dynamic; they’re very complimentary of one another.

As with snitches, we opened this interview at the close–asking a question about the very last scene for Dan and Alison. It has been known for a while that they are an on-screen couple, but the last sequence of scenes left us with so many emotions–both good and bad.

SnitchSeeker: You guys had the most heartbreaking scene at the end of the movie. Can you tell me how you filmed the dynamic between the emotional scenes you did, and the humorous scenes you guys have filmed?

Dan: Oh, wow. That scene was… everything was kind of building up to that scene, and that scene was very emotional with the rain. I thought it was very specific to me because it reminded me of… you try to find things in your life that you can equate it to and make it real for yourself. It reminded me of when I went to sleepaway camp, and I had a lot of my firsts. [Everyone laughs] You find your motley crew, and then your parents come and drag you away, and you don’t want to go. I remember a few summers just blubbering my eyes out, and that’s what that moment was for me – not wanting to leave the party.

Speaking of their relationship, I opened up the floor to one of the biggest themes in Potter films: love. Dumbledore always said that love was the strongest form of magic. I wanted to know if Queenie and Jacob’s love was that true, strong, magical love.

Leaky/Catherine: In the wizarding world, love is the greatest form of magic. And there’s that kiss at the end, is that the kiss that breaks the remembrance or the obliviation?

Dan: I like to think that it’s like a combo of the bite, and the strudel, and the coco, and the medicine, and the magic peaches, and then the kiss. I think the combo helps him remember a little.

The conversation then turned into techniques and the essence of acting–especially with imaginary elements that are added with CGI later. Dan and Alison’s tales from set had us clutching our sides, laughing.

Other Interviewer: So I was talking to the Davids about this being an imaginary world, and you not necessarily having everything all the time. Is there a particular scene where that was like a ton of fun for you guys, or really hard – just not having everything in front of you all the time?

Alison: It takes a lot of imagination, but that’s a wonderful thing to tap into as an adult. The cooking scene was–

Dan: Oh, yeah.

Alison: It was the first time that there was any sort of magic in the movie for us as actors. It was really early on in the film that we did that, and I sort of assumed that someone would be telling me what was going to happen. [Everyone laughs] It got to about two days before, and I suddenly realized that that was not the case. I sort of needed to know what I was cooking, which meant I needed to have a recipe, because with doing magic. you don’t just get dinner. You’re casting all the different spells for everything to do the work, but you’re still doing that.

So, I had to think how do you even make apple strudel and what am I cooking. What’s cutting what? And where does the potato go? And then also we all had to coordinate that between us a group,so that we’re not like in different scenes. And it was really amazing as an exercise. Like a ballet or something to really tune into each other. We all had to really get on the same page visually, and David obviously was really brilliant at that- at helping us get a feel for the scene. We just all connected in that moment in how we were going to do this from that moment on.

Dan: Yes. [Everyone laughs] Yeah. The creature…

Alison: … because you’re meeting all these characters – all these fantastic beasts for the first time – and you’re like, “That’s really cute,” or “Oh my God, that’s frightening. This weird rhino thing wants to have my babies.”

Other Interviewer: Which he really wanted to have your babies.

Dan: Oh my God.

[Everyone laughs]

Alison: But you can’t see them, so…

Dan: Well, yeah. They do an incredible job of helping us see them. They have puppets. A lot of them were just elaborate faces on sticks and actors acting like [Mimes the sound]. But the Erumpent, he had an actual body and he was almost a skeletal version of him. He is light weight. It was a she.

Alison: Her, yes, I was going to say it was definitely a her.

Dan: And you had a team of people inside this thing. It was like The Lion King…[Everyone laughs]… inside this giant thing and they are all acting and making it live. And you go to acting school and they train you to imagine stuff. [Everyone laughs] To give physics to stuff that is not there. But the question you asked was what was hard or which one was hard?

Other interviewer: Did you have a favorite scene? Or just one that stood out to you?

Dan (snickering): The scene where I open up the case and they all stampede out and a Murtlap jumps out. In that scene I am working with this little (Dan begins laughing) squishy weird albino [Everyone laughs] rabbit and it is squishy. They make it feel like it is moist. [Everyone laughs really hard] And I was like: ‘Where do I look? Where do I look? They are all coming out of the box, where do I look?’ And they were just like: ‘No, no, no, you look wherever you want and the technology is so caught up now they can just work it to how you are looking, paint it in later. And that was so freeing. I was like: ‘Oh my God.’ And then suddenly you are improvising and adding bits. It is unheard of. And there was a great bit that was added which was with the Murtlap, he is trying to get me and then I noticed, wanted him to smash down the street and I look down and then he is loose and then we look at each other.

[Everyone laughs]

Dan: I love working that bit out. That was great.

Another interviewer: My question is in direction but I have to set it up first with a compliment. As much as I went into this  thing knowing I am going to love the beasts, because they are fantastic and that is why I am there…

[Everyone laughs]

Dan: It’s in the title. You knew where to find them because that is where they were.

The interviewer continues: I fell in love with the four character and of the four characters the you’re the ones that stuck with me, and you guys did such an amazing job giving them life and form, that I wish: ‘Oh my God, what if they made a Netflix series. I would totally follow them. What if they had a baby, and then the one baby can have magic and the other baby doesn’t have magic.’

Dan: Wow.

Alison: A whole spin off.

The interviewer continues:  You gave life to them and I left the theatre wondering about the characters you guys created. So the question is…

Alison: Thank you!

The interviewer continues: You’re very welcome.

Dan: Good job.

The Interviewer continues: You will read this over and over on people’s reviews. The question is: With the director, what kind of notes did you get, if any, while you were working? Any tips, any notes, any encouragements?

Dan: We mostly got, “You guys are delicious. Keep doing what you are doing.”

[Everyone laughs]

Alison: Just your instincts. I actually got a really amazing note from David right at the get-go which I found so empowering because I am, in real life, I do not necessarily do my nails all the time. I am not a girly girl, you know what I mean? And when I was doing all the screen tests and everything I was always focusing on Queenie’s empathy and her heart and her wants and her love because those were all things that I felt. And I had crazy hair at the time, it was brown and in my face and I was wearing a weird onesie and stuff. [Everyone laughs] And then I got into the costume and the hair and the make-up and the nails and all of these very feminine clothes.

And there was a tiny moment of a wobble for me at the very, very beginning where I felt like I needed to be more feminine than I was comfortable with. Was I being feminine enough in myself? And so I lost my center a tiny bit, right at the start and was being my idea of what a beautiful woman would be. And he was just: ‘You do not need to do that. You do not need to do that. Just focus on the Queenie that you know. Just focus on her. Focus on what you are doing. Trust your instincts, your actual instincts. You do not need to be more than what you are.’ And my goodness, I think as an actress, that was such a beautiful note but also it was quite healing for me on a weirdly deep level of just being is enough. And I think as women sometimes we feel like we need to be more in order to be enough and I do not know, it is liberating when you just realize: Just be yourself and that is lovable. And I carried that with me throughout the whole film.

Other interviewer: I have to compliment both of you but especially you, Alison, because the history of this film, the period, I think, was on point. But you do not realize how different personalities are from period to period to period and you both, but especially you, did a really good job with the voice, with how you carried yourself.

Alison: Oh, thank you.

Other interviewer continues: And like what you just said what you felt a woman was supposed to be in that era was a very specific thing. And you and your sister, the character of your sister, two polar opposites of that and she is the Chanel man and you are super feminine and it was just really nice to watch both of you in that period.

Alison: Thank you.

Leaky/Catherine: Queenie is beautiful and she sometimes uses that to her advantage but she also reads minds and is incredibly smart. [Everyone laughs] She tells Jacob too that he has the same reaction when sees her, as a lot of men do when they sees her, so what makes him different for her? What makes him more enduring?

Dan: Well, he’s human.

[Everyone laughs]

Alison: He is just a really good person and he is really kind and he is interested in what she has to say and there is just a sweetness to him. There is not a duality going on. He is a whole person. What you see coming forth is actually what he is thinking and feeling. There is an innocence to him as well. And Queenie just sees all that, and he is really brave as well. You know, he is going on this adventure and he doesn’t have a wand like we all do and he is just right there with them and there is just so much to love for her and he does not look at her like a thing. He looks at her like a human being and she knows that because she can see what he is thinking.

MuggleNet/Amy: Can you talk a little bit about the chemistry between you and Katherine? What was that like coming on set? Did that click right away?

Alison: It did, yes, it clicked in the screen test, actually. When they were doing the screen test they had a lot of different actors paired up and they put us on a couch together and they said: ‘Okay, you two, you are sisters. Go.’ And we were like: ‘Hi, I am Alison. Hi, I am Katherine. Okay, here we go, we are sisters, let us do it.’ And she shifted the minute that the scene started and there was just this tremendous vulnerability in her face that she was trying to hide. And it was so clear to me and I said something like: ‘I know you had a hard day. They just do not see you like I see you. It is going to be okay.’ And she looked like she was going to cry and I did not know how to comfort her so I started to braid her hair and I do not have a sister, but it was such a natural moment. I have sisters in my life that I have chosen and it felt like that but instantaneous. I wanted to take care of her and I felt like she let down her guard and trusted me in that moment. And it was a really special moment for both of us. In fact, we both sent messages through our managers. ‘I thought that was so beautiful. Thank you for going there with me. Thank you for being so vulnerable and open.’ And it just carried through throughout the rest of the movie. We did not even have to work on it.

We were all having such a good time, that we were almost taken by surprise when we were told that the table of us interviewers had a chance to ask one last question.

Other interviewer: So first time you guys met J.K. Rowling, what was that like and did you get any extra information about your characters that you would like to reveal?

Alison: The first time that we met her we were … You had already met her once so the first time that Katherine and I met her all four of us stood around her in a semi-circle. [Everyone laughs] Hopping from foot to foot. I could not say anything at all. I was just like: ‘When in doubt, do not talk.’ But she was really warm. She hugged us all. She said how excited she was, how happy she was with what we were doing. Trust your instincts. Again, that same message. And then the second time that she came to set she told us about where our characters are going in the next film and it was like: ‘… Guys.’

Same, Alison, we feel the same! Stay tuned with us: Thursday is the big day! Tomorrow we will be attending the press junket and red carpet premiere of Fantastic Beasts. See you there!