Pottermore’s Day-in-the-Life of “Fantastic Beasts” Extra

Pottermore started off the new year by giving fans a little extra from the set of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Of course, as the cast and crew and anyone who steps foot on set is still bound to silence in an unbreakable vow, it was only a little extra.

However, being the Potter brainiacs that we are, we take what they give, and we analyze it until there is nothing left to possibly explain. Pottermore gave us a little insight through the eyes of a Fantastic Beasts extra–one of those lucky people who have the opportunity to appear briefly in one of the greatest franchises ever to exist, and be directed by David Yates, as he directs stars like Eddie Redmayne and Colin Farrell, who standing mere meters away. What wouldn’t we give to be a Fantastic Beasts extra?

Pottermore allowed us to live vicariously through one such lucky person, one of the Pottermore Correspondents, as they reencountered their day (with time stamps) as a Fantastic Beasts extra. She did not divulge too many details about the scene in which she was participating, but there are a few easter eggs awaiting.

2.11pm
Shimmy out of modern clothes. Stand still while a girl called Jess drapes you in a black and gold flapper dress, stockings and a fur-trimmed coat. Get in trouble with someone called Joy for calling the clothes ‘old’ not ‘vintage’. Sorry, Joy.

 

6.35pm
Follow instructions from an assistant director, stand neatly in line again for costume inspection. Wrap hair in a purple scarf to protect it from the rain. Walk carefully through shallow mud to the New York set. Wait outside the corner of ‘The Diner’.

6.39pm
Sit in a booth next to two lovely gentlemen extras in suits. Quickly suggest we pretend to be a spy, a professor and a private detective.

6.47pm
Poke the salami sandwich in front of you to check if it is real. Accept a dare to take a sip from a cup of soda to check that it’s real. They are both real.

 

7.12pm
Try not to blush when Ezra Miller and Colin Farrell walk into the room.

This scene is taking place at a diner, cleverly named “The Diner.” The diner is on the corner of two New York streets. The characters, extras, are dressed well. The PMC is dressed elegantly in a flapper dress, complete with a fur coat. The gentlemen beside her are dressed in suits. We can assume that this diner is in a little more affluent part of town.

Colin Farrell and Ezra Miller are together in this scene. Perhaps they are meeting each other? Perhaps they arrive together, and are looking for someone else? The extras and the diners carry the adjective of “No-Maj.” It is a No-Maj diner, full of No-Maj people. What are the “powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world’s president” and “Mary Lou’s troubled adopted son” doing in this diner?

Much conjecture can be made. Graves (Colin Farrell) and Credence (Ezra Miller) are acquainted with one another, how acquainted is the question. Graves is a wizard, an auror in charge of keeping wizards and no-maj apart in this 1920’s magic-paranoid society. Why is he in a diner full of no-maj? Is Credence No-Maj, magical, or somewhere in between? Why is Credence important enough to catch the eye of a powerful government official? Obviously, Credence is important.

Where does Newt fit into all of this? Surely if he were present in this take of the scene, Eddie Redmayne would be mentioned. Is it safe to assume that Graves and Credence are meeting solely on their own? Is it safe to assume that the PMC watching “David Yates direct the actors” only meant directing Colin and Ezra in their roles as Graves and Credence?

More Fantastic Beasts details are sure to be revealed as the movie approaches. After all, it is coming out later this year. To read more of the luxurious costuming and fabulous behind-the-scenes staff of Fantastic Beasts that the PMC encountered, read the PMC’s post here.