Katherine Waterston: “When she said we were doing five, that was news to us… there’s so much that we’re not privy to.”

Eddie Redmayne: “The thing is that it’s Jo's imagination. She has such a passion for it and a specific story that she wants to tell and we get glimpses into that, and as Katherine said, it’s insanely exhilarating when that happens. I think Fantastic Beasts the title and Newt and his creatures are a way into this world, but there’s a much bigger story here about good versus evil that she wants to tell, and you haven’t seen much of it in the trailers and the clips of the film. But it’s really a core of the story that she’s telling and it has an epic, epic quality to it. … So I do see that [Fantastic Beasts] is a macro story that could take more time.”

Redmayne: “I think probably to relax. I hadn’t realized it, but subconsciously it’d been like, 33 years of drumroll to that moment – and so the nerves were pretty high when I picked up that wand. … I would say to myself, relax a bit. But we got quite into it, we went to these wand-work sessions, all of us, it was really funny.”

“The other thing I would tell myself is do what I then did a couple of days later, after my catastrophic first day, which was go and watch what Dan and Rupert and Emma did, and steal their best bits.”

Waterston: “[My movement teacher] said, you know, just point your wand at that cup and imagine you can slide it across the table and I was afraid even to just lift it up.”

“I have a really big hand, I felt goofy with a wand. I made them make my wand heavier so it felt more substantial, that helped,”

Was there a moment during shooting when you thought, "This is not like any other movie. This is a J.K. Rowling wizarding world movie" - did that happen during production?
Katherine Waterston: Every day. It was insane. We'd finish a scene and there'd be a whole new set built that we hadn't seen before ... and you'd go into those sets and there'd be rows and rows of books and you'd open the books and there's stuff inside them - every little detail had been considered. So, it kind of felt like being in a J.K. Rowling museum, or something that was just for us.

Eddie Redmayne: The amazing thing also was this idea that all those things I loved in the Potter films were all those tiny magical things - the moving newspapers. But when you got to turn up on set - and set in the 1920s - you saw the J.K. Rowling equivalent in the 1920s. I remember one day we were shooting in MACUSA and all these wizards are there getting ready for work or doing things. And there was like this shoeshine. You know how in the 1920s, you'd have in the subways the shoe shine things, and here you had a wand shiner. It was an amazing feather boa thing. It was just working all day, doing its thing. And it was those small intricate details - all those things you love about J.K. Rowling - but back in the '20s.

What would you say is the stranger shift for us seeing the wizarding world again - is it the fact that it's in New York City or the fact that its in the 1920s?
Katherine Waterston: That's a tough call, but I think that America because none of us knew that there was more of this world beyond the UK, and I feel like this introduction makes you consider the whole world - magic around the world - in a way that we hadn't really seen before. And there are - just like in our world - there are different laws and rules, and so much to discover. But then, the costumes are really cool, and there's old cars and all the details of the period. Even the language of it. Queenie, my sister in the film, she uses great slang of the period, so it's really cool to hear.

Eddie Redmayne: There's something also about that age, about it being jazz, it being a quite sort of sexy period. You had all the prohibition stuff. There were gangsters. J.K. Rowling does that thing of taking that context and really finding every nuance within it.

Eddie Redmayne: (after viewing the Welcome to NY clip) The best bit was getting to see that Hufflepuff scarf.

EW: Is Newt Scamander going to bring Hufflepuff back to glory?
Eddie Redmayne: Newt Scamander is probably kind of a modest guy, but I hope so. He would never brag about that, but he's definitely having a Hufflepuff moment.

EW: Newt is a Hogwarts man, Tina is an Ilvermorny girl. What do we learn as we meet those characters about what those core differences are in being a young witch or wizard in America and being a young witch or wizard in England?
Katherine Waterston: I think the biggest distinction is actually the way that the witches and wizards interact with the muggles - or as we call them, no-majes - in America because we're forbidden to engage with them at all. We were persecuted during the very real Salem witch trials. Some went into hiding. So there's just a lot more secrecy around witchcraft in America. So when Newt shows up, he's very casual about things that we are very, very strict about.

Eddie Redmayne: Newt doesn't really care about rules that much anyway.

Katherine Waterson: It's quite shocking to me and stresses me out a bit. But also I find him really charming and engaging.

EW: So I think we all know - it's canon - they get together. It is known that your characters do end up married, in an eventual future. So how does that effect the slow dance that you do as actors playing the beginning of a romance together onscreen?
Eddie Redmayne: One of the things I loved about this script when I first read it is I think JK. Rowling had always seen it as telling a larger story. But the film is its own thing. And actually the relationships you see arrive in the film, they stand together as one whole piece. But what I love is that the relationship starts kind of ...

Katherine Waterston: ... combative.

Eddie Redmayne: It's not love at first sight, put it that way. Really there's a bit of chemistry at first sight, but really quite combative. But what was lovely was to play a slow build. These characters are thrown into a world - this quartet together - and they're all outsiders in some ways. And yet they carry really heroic qualities within them. So it's kind of lovely for us to not have to rush that adn be able to play it.

Katherine Waterston: And the audience gets to be in on it because you know that eventually these two people end up together, so you can see and look for when they start to notice each other. You know what I mean? Because you're in on it in a way that I think is really fun. I feel like there's a lot in this movie about us like that tragic moment when you look at someone when they're not looking at you and then you look away and then they look at you. It's got all of that sort of stuff going on.

EW: When we meet Tina, she's an Auror - although not what she used to be.
Katherine Waterston: Yeah, she's been demoted - had a slap on the wrists.

EW: What did you love about where we will see her - especially as she starts out. What struck you about the beginning of her arc there?
Katherine Waterston: It's one of the lovely things that I think Newt and Tina have in common is they're both really passionate about their work and they're interests. It's where they come alive. So for her to have the place where she's most comfortable taken from her is very uncomfortable for her. She wants to be a great auror, but she also really wants to get back in the swing of things because that's where she feels the best.

She's really striving to undo the damage she's done. She has so much heart, and sometimes even there are situations that compel her to maybe bend or break the rules even though all she wants is to get back in good graces at work. So she's got this internal struggle going on there. But what's also amazing in the course of the film is that Newt sees her potential and encourages her to get back into doing some pretty ****** witchcraft.

[Viewed Just a Smidge clip:
The guys' apartment is in ruins with Jacob unconscious on the floor. Tina is running up the stairs toward the room as Newt uses his wand to put all the brick walls back together by the time Tina arrives.
Tina: Mr. Scamander! It was open?
Newt: Just a smidge.
Tina: Are you crazy? You let things on the loose again?
Newt: Uhhh ... maybe.
Tina: Look for it? Look!
Jacob: (groans)
Tina: His neck's bleeding. He's hurt.. My god! This No-Maj is hur ... aaaahhh!
The murtlap is on the loose.
Tina: What is that?
Newt: Nothing to worry about. That is a murtlap.
Newt wrestles the murtlap back into the case.
Tina: What else have to got in there?]

Eddie Redmayne: That was the first scene we shot.

EW: It's one thing to have the first scene just be with another actor, find your chemistry, but you added a creature. How was your creature handling? What was that learning curve like?
Eddie Redmayne: You know what was amazing. I thought when you do a film of this scale they tell you how to do it. But what was wonderful about David Yates, the director, he was like, "You tell me what you need." With the murtlap there, there was actually this really disgusting silicon-y anemone-like thing that we got to fiddle with.

Katherine Waterston: It looked a lot like the real thing. It was really gross.

EW: It wasn't a tennis ball.
Eddie Redmayne: It wasn't a tennis ball. Sporadically there was a tennis ball, occasionally, but there were also puppeteers. You know, Warhorse that was on Broadway? Some of the guys who helped make those puppets did some of the bigger puppets. It varied day to day.

Katherine Waterston: (to Eddie, regarding the murtlap) That one you had, you worked it in the scene. You grabbed it. You were really holding up that thing, kind of shaking it around.

Eddie Redmayne: It was so much fun.

Katherine Waterston: I feel like when it came at me, I didn't have anything there I just had to spazz out. He's so good with the beasts. He did like this amazing thing like he was wrestling it in. He's so talented.

EW: I want to know a little bit about your wandry.
Eddie Redmayne: Wandry? Good word. I'm stealing that.

EW: What advice would you give yourself on the first day of wand rehearsal, knowing what you know now about how to do it?
Eddie Redmayne: I think probably to relax.

Katherine Waterston: Yeah, I was gonna say maybe drink something first.

Eddie Redmayne: I hadn't realized it but, subconsciously, it had been like 33 years of drumroll to that moment. So the nerves were pretty high when I picked up that wand. It was so disastrous when I first picked it up - and this was someone who loved magic as a kid so I did used to walk around with a wand.

Katherine Waterston: I did not know this.

Eddie Redmayne: So I would say to myself relax a bit. But then we got quite into it. We went to these wandwork sessions, all of us. It was really funny.

Katherine Waterston: Yeah, I felt like a real jerk when I first picked up the wand. I was so embarrassed. There was this wonderful woman that worked with us - a kind of movement teacher - and she said, "Just point your wand at that cup and imagine that you can slide it across the table." (notices someone in the crowd) What are you doing with a wand? See, everything you're doing, like these delicate moves with your hand, I don't know. I've got a really big hand. I felt goofy with a wand. I made them make my wand heavier so if felt more substantial. That helped.

Eddie Redmayne: The other thing I'd tell myself is do what I then did a couple of days later, after my catastrophic first day, which is go and watch what Dan and Rupert and Emma did, and steal their best bits.

I know you had met Ralph Fiennes and he spoke the praises of David Yates, the director. Did you guys get to meet others in the Harry Potter cast to get advice?
Eddie Redmayne: When we were in the thick of making it, I did actually. And I've worked with Emma (Watson), and worked with quite a few of the actors who were in the Potter films. I've yet to have a proper debrief with them. But I met Ralph Fiennes just before we started filming and he was just singing David Yates', the director's, praise. Because when you're directing all these films its like being the captain of some huge tanker. There are so many different departments and through all of that chaos he's so specific and sees what the actors are doing. And Ralph pointed that out.