It's been quite a year for J.K. Rowling's wizarding world, and she's seeing out 2016 with a bang: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Potter spinoff set in 1920s New York and starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander. The film will feel delightfully familiar to die-hard fans of the series, but is equally as captivating as a story in its own right.
The cast – also including Katherine Waterston as ex-auror Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol as her enchanting sister Queenie, and Dan Fogler as Jacob, a No-Maj who gets unwittingly involved in the magical madness – are about to be thrust into a whole new level of fame and fandom. So when BuzzFeed met up with them in mid-October, we took the opportunity to find out a little bit more about them with a game of cast superlatives.
Oh, and we made whoever was chosen eat potentially gross-tasting jelly beans. Because that's what wizards do.
Who’s most likely to nail a take the first time?
Katherine Waterston: But that means now that the person has to eat the booger…
Eddie Redmayne: Yeah. I’m just gonna say straight out there, Fogler.
Alison Sudol: Dan! Absolutely.
Dan Fogler: Come on, no! It's Eddie!
ER: That’s the consensus.
DF: I’m just going to avoid the brown ones. I’m taking the red pill.
ER: Wow, that’s bold. Chilli your face off, Fogler.
DF: [eats the bean] Oh good lord, no.
ER: No! Oh, I’m now feeling guilty. But you do always get it in one take, Danny.
DF: It’s asparagus. I hate asparagus.
Who’s most likely to geek out over Harry Potter?
DF: Eddie.
ER: No, it’s Dan!
KW: It’s Ezra [Miller], is the truth.
BuzzFeed: He can’t eat a bean, he’s not here!
ER: In absentia, Ezra, we’ll choose one for you and we’ll place it on a chair. I’m going to go for a really toxic yellow one.
AS: That looks vomitacious.
Who’s most likely to make everyone else laugh on set?
ER: Ohhh, Dan is definitely winning this!
DF: This is not fair.
KW: I like this game! I hope the answers are just Ezra and Dan.
AS: Just do it like a Band-Aid!
DF: This better be peanut butter and yogurt.
ER: Peanut butter and yogurt? Is that some kind of weird American thing?
KW: [laughing] Oh, please let this be peanut butter and yogurt!
DF: It’s salami.
KW: You’re joking!
AS: Well, at least it goes with the asparagus. You have a meal!
Who’s most likely to burst into song on set?
ER: I think this one [points to Alison] who has a properly amazing voice. Although sometimes Katherine bursts into a Katharine Hepburn voice.
AS: Wait, but what about Eddie? When he’s really tired!
ER: Oh, that’s right… [starts singing]
KW: Yes, actually, Eddie! That happened the most often.
AS: I don’t really spontaneously burst into song. Sorry, Eddie.
KW: Alison only really sang when we were singing the song, which was cut mercilessly from the film.
ER: [eating a bean] That’s really lovely!
DF: What?!
ER: It’s a really nice blueberry. Thank you. Thanks, BuzzFeed!
Who’s most likely to be sorted into Hufflepuff?
AS: [to Eddie] Oh, well you actually were, weren’t you?
ER: Yeah. Because Newt’s Hufflepuff, and I’m so method. Maybe if I go for the same blue one, can I do that?
BF: That’s cheating!
KW: Cheating! Just go for it, do the scariest one.
AS: It might be amazing, it might be buttered popcorn.
ER: Mmm! It’s like a custard. It’s so good, I love this game!
KW: Maybe this is like a No-Maj/wizard thing. Or Dan’s a liar.
Who’s most likely to give the best advice?
DF: Not me.
KW: I feel like this is a tricky one to answer, because if you say one, it’s implying that the others don’t, which is kind of insulting.
BF: What about if everyone eats one?
KW: Mine’s grey. I went for the scariest one on purpose.
AS: Bubblegum.
ER: Bubblegum!
KW: Mine’s pepper. Actually it’s kind of good.
DF: I got Brussels sprouts.
KW: He’s been lying. I can smell it, it’s like, tutti frutti. What is it?
DF: [laughing] It tastes pepperminty!
KW: This pepper is really, really good. It’s like a high-end sweet.
Who’s most likely to brighten your day?
DF: [hands beans to Alison]
KW: Yeah.
AS: Oh, that’s so nice!
ER: You are a day brightener.
AS: Aw, you guys. This one looks so nice, I feel like I should eat a terrible one.
ER: It’s kind of a Queenie-flavoured one, though.
AS: OK, I’ll eat a pink one. It’s juicy!
DF: See, it’s messed up when you get the salami and the peppermint still stuck in your teeth.
Who’s most likely to get caught taking a selfie?
KW: Not me.
ER: I had to take one at Comic Con, oh my god. I had to do a massive selfie for Snapchat, and I’m so technologically inept. They were like, “You can’t mess this up,” and I was given a whole technology chat beforehand. I’ve never been more nervous than after having taken the selfie with the whole crowd, they were all doing a spell, going offstage and the woman in charge of technology being like, “Did you do it?!” I was like, “I don’t know, I don’t know if it worked!”
AS: To be fair, that’s a really big jump. Never taking a selfie to taking a selfie in front of like 6,000 people.
DF: It’s hard enough to get yourself into it, let alone a million people behind.
ER: [eats a bean] Mmm, apple! I have to say, guys, as cryptic as you think they are, the flavour you think they’re going to be, they tend to be.
AS: I think that one we have out for Ezra definitely has to be like, snot or earwax. Or toxic sludge.
ER: Perfect. Shall we pocket it and take it to him?
AS: No. No, no, no!
KW: Yes.
Thanks for playing along, guys! Make sure to catch Eddie, Katherine, Alison, and Dan in the magical Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in cinemas worldwide now!
