Dan Fogler at Leakycon

#Interview: Dan Fogler at Leakycon 2017

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend Leakycon. For those who aren’t aware of Leakycon, it is an event that celebrates the wonder of J.K. Rowling, the boy who lived and the incredible fandom that worships them. During Leakycon I was able to sit down with several notable names that have been a part of the Harry Potter franchise including storyboard artist Jim Cornish, who worked on several of the Harry Potter films, Dan Fogler one of the stars of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and finally Evanna Lynch aka Luna Lovegood.

Check out a portion of the interview with Dan Fogler below and if you’re interested in the uncut audio version then click on the link to the Speakin’ Geek podcast and you’ll be able to hear the full interview in all its audio glory.

There’s a scene in the trailer that always stuck out to me when Jacob says, ” I want to be a wizard,” and it’s not in the film but I wondered was that an improv type moment?

Well, the first day we thought it was very precious but because it didn’t come from novels that she (J.K. Rowling) was just writing and changing it every day herself they said,” yeah play and try out whatever you want.” I would improve all of the time, and that was one of them, and then it became the ad campaign. So it’s funny, and it’s funny how these little things suddenly become how they’re selling the film. And there were a lot of great improv moments that made it into the film, and they really allowed us to contribute from day one. I felt like every scene had a little bit of that improv. My favourite one was the giggle water, and that wasn’t in the script, and I loved that bit.

Were you a big fan of Harry Potter before you joined the expanded universe?

I grew up in the 80’s so I was Star Wars, and my introduction to Harry Potter was through Gary Oldman because I love Gary Oldman, so I saw Azkaban (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) first. So I watched them all in a weird way, so I saw that one and then I thought well I have to go back, saw the first two and then I skipped over, and I hadn’t seen all of them how you were supposed to see them and there’s never enough hours in the day and then suddenly oh my god I’m playing a muggle so then I thought maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t know how this whole thing ends and so I stayed away from it. Finally, I made a pact with myself that as soon as I was done the filming, I’d go back and have a mini-marathon for myself. So I watched all the movies in a row and was literally wiping a tear about Snape as I was heading to see Cursed Child (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). So that’s a lot of Potter, and I loved it, and it was so cool to see the play after coming off a marathon and now being in it, and I always compare it to Star Wars because they’re two heroes journeys. Star Wars is a galaxy far, far away and this is so much more tangible because it’s right next door. It’s this fantasy just beyond the veil, right beyond this wall here is another world which makes it I think even cooler and tangible also the fact that kids have learned to read from this. It just makes it a very classy franchise.

Were you surprised when you were asked to return for the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

I had a little glimmer of hope, mostly because of the contract I signed that I’d be in some films so I knew he’d have a journey I just didn’t know what it was. Then I had another glimmer of hope when at the end of the movie where he didn’t get fully obliviated obviously because he still has that remnant in his dream state that’s coming out in his creativity, in his work. So obviously there’s a little something, and then he see’s her and how do you interpret that smile at the end?

Dan Fogler Fantastic Beast Image

There is a difference with this interview as it wasn’t a one on one, I was part of a press conference so there were several other voices within the podcast and they all brought an incredible sense of community from several areas of the fandom. The full interview with Dan Fogler and several other guests is available to listen from the Speakin’ Geek podcast here. If you were at Leakycon this weekend be sure and let us know how you got on.