Q:When we first see Jacob, it’s clear that he and his bakery have fallen on hard times. Can you talk about where he is at the start of this film?
DAN FOGLER:
When you first see Jacob, he is down on his luck; he’s very sad. He is depressed about losing Queenie and he feels kind of abandoned. He’s back in New York and you get a hint that it may be the beginning of the Great Depression, because things are starting to get rundown and he’s in a state of loss: he’s lost Queenie, he’s lost his appetite, and it looks like he’s losing his bakery. He is at the point where he is just so tired and rundown and hungry that he’s done. He’s done with the whole wizarding world situation. He just wants to get past this point, get on with his life. And that’s when they come knocking again.
Q:When he sees a total stranger being harassed, he steps in. What do you think that says about Jacob’s character despite his present circumstance?
DAN FOGLER:
Jacob is just like an eternal classic gentleman in the sense that if he sees anyone in distress, a damsel in distress in this scenario, he’s going to help. He’s a soldier. He does not like bullies. He despises bullies. So he becomes the bullies’ bully. And that’s just his personality, growing up on the streets of New York, helping the little guy.
Q:Of course, we learn that the perfect stranger was quite capable of taking care of herself. What is Jacob’s first reaction to learning Lally is a witch?
DAN FOGLER:
He gets tricked by Lally to come out and show his true stripes. And then he sees that she is not a damsel in distress at all—that she is manipulating the whole situation, totally in charge. And when he sees this and sees that he’s been duped, he says, “No, no thank you. I want out; I don’t want any part of this,” and he’s done with it. He feels like he got involved with these witches and wizards, and it was such a rollercoaster and he wants to get off. He just wants to get off the ride, but she knows that he’s this very noble, loyal individual deep down and that, no matter what, if she mentions Queenie, that’s going to pique his interest. Any chance to get back together with her makes him reconsider. And he obviously eventually says yes, and goes with her.
Q:The film soon reunites Jacob and Newt. What do you think is so special about their friendship and what was it like for you to be reunited with Eddie Redmayne?
DAN FOGLER:
Eddie and my relationship is a lot like Jacob and Newt in the sense that we have these adventures together and we have a great time. Then we go off and we live our lives and we have our own families and our own projects…but when we come back, we have another adventure and it’s just like we never left. And that’s what it is for Jacob and Newt. In the first movie, they made such an impression on each other; it’s like you’re connected forever after you go through something like that. And Newt trusted Jacob enough to bring him along, to introduce him to all the creatures—I mean, that’s huge. And then Newt did the ultimate kindness by basically helping Jacob buy his bakery. That’s more than friendship. That’s like a brotherhood. And so in the second movie, when they met up again, it was just like old times. It was instantly back into the adventure, back into the fun. And that’s what it is for this movie. You see them meet on the train and it’s right back into it again. They have a shorthand that only comes with true friendship.
Q:In addition to Eddie, can you talk about being part of this ensemble and what it was like working with the whole cast?
DAN FOGLER:
It’s always so fun to work with Eddie. I always learn a lot from just watching him because he’s very subtle, he’s very meticulous and he’s like a dancer, just physically, the way he moves. And Jessica (Williams)… Man, I loved working with Jessica. I mean, I loved working with everybody, but I hadn’t worked with Jessica before. And my chemistry is pretty good with a lot of people, but we immediately had really great chemistry and I think it shows in the movie. I love our scenes together. And she’s hysterical—I’m a clown and I like making jokes in-between, but she was right there with me. It was really fun. And I love her character in the film. Lally is so strong and so smart and regal, and I love seeing her in action.
Callum (Turner), he’s great, he’s always fun, and he’s silly, too. Ezra (Miller) has become a great buddy over the years, and it’s cool to see how Credence has progressed from the first movie, where the character was so timid, and then this movie it’s like, he’s really coming into his own and Ezra is so great with the battle scenes and all the physicality there, throwing magic around. And of course, I mean, come on, Alison Sudol is like an angel. She has become like a sister to me and a great friend to my wife. Everybody gets along and we created our own little family on these sets. And when we come back together, it’s like a big family reunion basically. And it’s really cool to see everyone step up and be a warrior in their own right.
Q:Newt presents Jacob with a special gift from Dumbledore: a wand. What did that mean to Jacob? And what did that mean to you?
DAN FOGLER:
The first two movies were like being in a Western, but I didn’t get a gun. But despite that, Jacob is right in the middle of it, and it’s very brave of him to jump in there without a weapon. So when I got my wand, it was suddenly like a step up. I felt like I graduated somehow. And it was so cool that it was bestowed to Jacob specifically from Dumbledore. It’s just incredible. I cherished that wand. And if you see some of the clips from the trailer, there’s a moment when Newt just gives me the wand. And I don’t really have any training, so I hold it like how a soldier would hold it; I just thought that was interesting because Jacob was a soldier. I really enjoyed having that wand.
Q:Let’s talk about the love of Jacob’s life. Do you think he sees this mission as a chance to get Queenie back? And how does that impact his approach?
DAN FOGLER:
Queenie is just his end all and be all, and if there is any chance to get back to her… But when you first see him in at the beginning of this film, it’s almost like that fire has burned out. He’s just so tired and at a point where he’s like, “All right, I guess I just have to forget about this. That was a chapter in my life and it’s over.” But when Lally comes in, there’s maybe an opportunity for him to get her back, then the flame is rekindled and he jumps back on board again. And I think that’s beautiful. He’s been through hell for this woman, but still there’s a little glimmer of hope. And you know, J.K. Rowling says that the most powerful magic in the whole wizarding world is love. And I tend to believe that’s right. I mean it just conquers all…and all reason. Everything in the world is telling him not to jump back onto the carousel. But he does because of Queenie.
Q:This film spans the globe more than any of the previous Wizarding World films. And yet it was all built at Leavesden. Can you talk about the sets and what it was like to step into these worlds?
DAN FOGLER:
The sets are for me, some of the coolest parts of being part of this big franchise. For the first film, walking on set and seeing that they built 20 blocks of Manhattan, I was just in awe because I’ve always wanted to be transported back to the `20s. My great-grandfather was a baker on the Lower East Side, which is what they had recreated. So I felt like it was a huge gift that they were giving me just to be able to walk back in time like that. And I spent a lot of my lunches just walking around the streets of New York. And when I say the streets of New York, they could have very easily built a facade, just the outside of the building. But no, you open the door, you walk in, it’s fully fleshed out. It looks like a restaurant—you expect waiters to come and wait on you. And especially when you go into the magical part of town and you walk into a magical pharmacy and a magical candy store, and the detail is just exquisite.
And then the second movie, they pulled up a couple streets in New York and they put Paris in. So on that movie, I would go and stand on this little Meridian and basically teleport: I’d look one way and I’d look to New York and I’d look another way and I’d be in Paris. And it was just like, I’m in New York, I’m in Paris. It was like a crazy time machine. That was really cool.
And then in this film, we have Berlin, and I’ve never been to Berlin, but it looks like they did a great job recreating that. We go to the Himalayas, and that’s gorgeous with these little village towns. The scope of it always is amazing. Once they yell action and you’ve got the smoke coming out of the grates in the street and the Model Ts driving back and forth and all the extras, you really feel like you’re there. And so that’s real movie magic that they create by hand.