MuggleCast 234 Transcript
Show Intro
[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]
Andrew: Because we’re live at LeakyCon and reviewing Deathly Hallows – Part 2, this is MuggleCast Episode 234 for July 15th, 2011.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: This special live episode of MuggleCast is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction, and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
And by Hypable.com, a brand new entertainment website from the staff of MuggleNet. Visit Hypable for up-to-the-minute coverage of Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Merlin, True Blood, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Glee, and over thirty other fandoms. That’s Hypable.com – H-Y-P-A-B-L-E dot com.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: Hello everyone!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Let’s wait for Eric. Welcome to MuggleCast Live in Orlando, Episode 234! Very exciting.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: This is actually really exciting, it’s a brand new development, Ben is now an employee here at the Royal Pacific Resort. [laughs] Congratulations, Ben!
[Audience cheers]
Ben: Thank you. About this shirt…
Andrew: Seriously, why are you wearing that?
Ben: Huh?
Andrew: Why are you wearing that?
Ben: Because I saw it in the gift shop and I was like, “Hey!”
[Audience laughs]
Ben: So I decided to buy a shirt…
Andrew: I thought you were like, “Hmm, now that Harry Potter is done, I need a new job.”
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: “I know, I’ll just live next to Hogwarts for the rest of my life.”
Ben: Well, all of my MuggleNet shirts – I had a steady diet of MuggleNet shirts for a long period of time and they’re all – the logo is all worn down and everything, so…
Pottermore Discussion: Earning Money
Andrew: So, just before our panel here, there was a Pottermore presentation here. Actually, what I wanted to do – because I personally had a lot of questions while watching, so I wanted to get anybody’s thoughts who – anybody have any comments or questions about Pottermore? Obviously we don’t have specific answers but I thought it’d be good to have some sort of interactive discussion on Pottermore. So does anybody have any questions or comments about what they saw today? Here, you can come up first. And I have to say – oh, does that work?
Audience Member: Well, maybe.
Andrew: Go ahead now.
Audience Member: Is it on? Yeah.
Andrew: Oh. Awesome.
Audience Member: I just want to know how you can earn more money to buy more things.
Ben: How you can what?
Audience Member: Earn more money, the Galleons in your Gringotts bank, so you could keep buying things.
Andrew: Well, I think what it is, is it’s – well, first of all I don’t think it’s Farmville style…
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: …where you actually have to pay real money to get that. I think what they’re doing is they are giving you a certain amount of money to start, and part of the Beta process is – [laughs] Melissa is going to come out and knock me on the head with something. Part of the Beta process is them figuring out how much money they should be giving you when you start with your account. So…
Ben: Well, what can you do with the money?
Andrew: You’re going to be buying – like what you saw up on there, the potions and the different items. Your school supplies.
Ben: Is it going to be like The Sims where you can just hit “Shift +” and make your money just go up?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Type in “rosebud”?
Ben: Yeah.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Nice reference! We should ask about cheat codes because everybody is like, “Oh my God, this is a video game. This is a video game.”
[Audience laughs]
Pottermore Discussion: JK Rowling’s New Information
Andrew: Okay, here’s another comment about Pottermore. What’s your name?
Audience Member: My name is Hayley.
Andrew: Hi Hayley.
Audience Member: My major concern is the amount of time that you have to spend on the website to get extra information. Do you know if – to get all of JK Rowling’s extra text, do you have to sit there and click around and explore? Or can you just access the information [laughs] in a different way?
Andrew: Well, here’s what I think, and I know they’re going to hate that I’m saying this, but you know what’s going to happen. Somebody is going to create a site called…
Ben: Potterless.
Andrew: AllTheNewPottermoreInfo.com, and you just go to it and you find everything [laughs] just copy-and-pasted from Pottermore.
Ben: Isn’t that called MuggleNet?
Andrew: [laughs] Yes.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: We’re announcing today our new Pottermore section where we’re going to annoy the Pottermore people by just putting all the info. No, but I think the whole point of Pottermore is that you do have to explore, so you are going to have to go through it, of course unless people actually [laughs] copy and paste the info. Did anyone get a good look at the new stuff on the screen? Because it went by so fast.
Eric: I looked at some of it.
Andrew: What’s that?
Eric: I looked at some of it.
Andrew: McGonagall was particularly interesting. I was hoping to see “McGonagall fell in love with a woman and it was…”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Big revelation.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Or “McGonagall and Dumbledore got together, and then Dumbledore realized it’s not his type of thing.”
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Like McGonagall turned him?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Next question here?
Pottermore Discussion: New Book Releases
Audience Member: Hi. I was wondering, did they say when they’re releasing the new books? What’s the time period between them?
Andrew: They said Chamber of Secrets in the middle of next year.
Audience Member: Okay.
Andrew: And then the other books over the next few years. I think that’s actually one of the more exciting things about Pottermore…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: …is that there’s going to be new books coming out for, what, three or four years? Or five?
Ben: New books?
[Audience cheers]
Ben: You mean like you experience the new book…
Andrew: Yeah. The new experience is – yeah. So the Chamber of Secrets experience will be coming out next year.
Audience Member: All right.
Andrew: Sorcerer’s Stone obviously being the one that comes out this year.
Audience Member: Thanks.
Andrew: Thank you.
Eric: And just based on the things that they are going to be able to do, not only sort you but the wizard duels that’s ongoing, it’s going to completely fill the time in between each release of each book.
Ben: Is it going to be like – are they going to have parties?
Andrew: Release parties?
Ben: I don’t know, like people on Skype in their pajamas…
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: …counting down and all that?
[Audience cheers]
Eric: You would be able to get together with members of your own house, so who knows.
Andrew: Honestly though, you would think that would make sense because the night or the eve of Chamber of Secrets release on Pottermore, you’re going to want to – you’re going to be really looking forward to it because you’re about to learn about all this new information.
Eric: They did say, though, that they would not do chat rooms. They said that’s not part of their thing.
Andrew: Not do what?
Eric: Chat rooms.
Andrew: Oh, chat rooms.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, but you can leave comments which is…
Eric: That’s right. Comment party!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Next question?
Pottermore Discussion: Quidditch
Audience Member: Hi, I’m Cyrus from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was just wondering if you guys think there’s going to be any Quidditch involved?
Andrew: Like playing Quidditch?
Audience Member: Anything. Anything at all.
Eric: There was something I read up there that said, “Welcome to Hufflepuff, hope you enjoy Quidditch because we haven’t been that great over the years,” so…
Audience: Oh!
Audience Member: [laughs] Awww.
Eric: I don’t know. Who knows.
Audience Member: Hopefully. Fingers crossed.
Andrew: Hold on, wait a second. Here, do you want to come up real quick? She asked – who was that who was with Melissa? I forget his name. Jamie. Really cool guy.
Ben: Not our Jamie, though.
Andrew: No.
Audience Member: I asked that after his presentation and he said that it wasn’t going to be so much an interactive thing, that it’s not like a game or anything.
Andrew: Right. You wouldn’t be flying on a broom.
Audience Member: Right. But it is a chapter in the book.
Andrew: Cool.
Audience Member: There’s the flying lesson, but I think you might just watch.
Andrew: Okay.
Audience Member: Like there might just be pictures or something.
Eric: Cool.
Andrew: It will be one of the Moments, I think.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: And you’ll probably learn more about Quidditch. And didn’t Jo say you are going to learn more about Quidditch? I think during the press conference, the Pottermore press conference, she had said that she does have a thing, a dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore where Dumbledore explains Quidditch? Someone back me up, I’m not the only one who read that.
Eric: Cool.
Andrew: Yeah? Okay. Just checking.
Eric: It makes sense too, because how many chapters in the Harry Potter books are dedicated just to Quidditch? Or one Quidditch match, the Quidditch final, and things like that.
Ben: So you think Dumbledore is going to make some profound explanation for how Quidditch…
Eric: It’s going to blow them all the way.
Ben: …is really like a metaphor for life or something like that?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: Probably.
Micah: How would that go?
Ben: [laughs] I don’t know. Something about choices and all that good stuff.
[Audience cheers]
Micah: How does that go?
[Ben laughs]
Micah: How does that go?
Ben: [imitating Dumbledore] “It is our choices, Harry.”
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Next question?
Pottermore Discussion: New Merchandise
Audience Member: I’m honestly kind of curious if they’re going to start having new merchandise, because they showed us all the new house crests and I kind of wonder if they’re going to make patches or something, or – I mean, they said…
Andrew: Like actual merchandise?
Audience Member: Like actual merchandise.
Andrew: Physical merchandise?
Audience Member: I mean, they do e-books so they have plans for a shop.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: Well, what if they expand that shop to include T-shirts with the crests or something?
Eric: Now, they did stress that Pottermore was completely free. But yeah, I believe that was…
Andrew: Well, the e-books…
Eric: …when they were talking about the content. They were talking about the content.
Andrew: Right. The e-books are the things that you have to pay for.
Eric: So they’re going to sell e-books. I don’t know, I have a feeling that a lot of this content that’s created specifically for Pottermore is going to remain on Pottermore as a prize, as something special to the following. Because it’s a “thank you,” not a “please pay up.”
Audience Member: Well I mean, the e-books are still paid for, so…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Right, e-books. Yeah, yeah.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Eric: Which will be interesting how they do it, because you’re traveling through the books on Pottermore but then you have the opportunity to buy the e-books. So they’re two separate things, it’s not – because you don’t have to buy the e-books to participate.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And somehow still follow every single scene in each book.
Andrew: Right. Pottermore is Jo’s gift to the fan, but still buy the books. Wink!
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Now, are they going to – is there going to be a leader-board where it’s like, “Oh, this person is our number one fan,” kind of thing?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Well, you’re supposed to be a student, so I don’t think they would call you a fan. You would just be a student.
Ben: Oh.
Andrew: But I remember on the graphic up on the – one of the slides up here, they did show a little leader-board I think on the house pages. And it may be for best duelers, or something like that?
Eric: Yup. You can earn points for your house. It makes sense.
Pottermore Discussion: Moderating Submitted Content
Andrew: House points, that too, of course. Miss Waldo is right here…
[Audience Member laughs]
Andrew: …asking a question.
Audience Member: Hi guys. My name is Aiya, not Miss Waldo. My sock monkey is really excited to see you. But…
Andrew: Well, thanks for coming.
Audience Member: Thank you. I was just wondering how you guys thought they would be able to manage the content, aside from choosing our username for us. Because there’s artwork and comments and…
Andrew: You mean moderating it all?
Audience Member: Yeah. Because it’s supposed to be child appropriate, you know?
Andrew: Right.
Audience Member: There’s just so much.
Andrew: Well, I think they’re going to have a lot of filters in place to make sure that there’s nothing inappropriate that goes up. And then of course they could always delete stuff if something inappropriate goes up, but…
Ben: Wasn’t that what that whole “follow the owl” thing was about? Because they were like, a million special people get to be the special…
Andrew: Beta testers.
Eric: Beta testers.
Ben: Yeah.
[Prolonged silence]
Ben: I forget where I was going with that, but…
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Yes.
Ben: Do you think that they might get to be moderators or something like that?
Andrew: No, I don’t think so. But I think…
Micah: I think Kevin Steck actually worked on that.
Andrew: Yeah, did he?
Eric: That’s where he’s been the last three years on MuggleCast.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: What about Jamie? Where is he?
Andrew: He was just here! He did this presentation, that Pottermore presentation.
Ben: [imitating Jamie] Trust the Brit, trust the Brit.
Andrew: No, he’s in England. Sorry.
Audience Member: Why? [laughs]
Ben: Jamie died.
Audience: Oh!
Andrew: Okay, let’s get – okay, no!
Audience Member 2: Wait, really?
Andrew: No, he didn’t really die!
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: He was on the show a few weeks ago, right?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay, before we continue with this live episode of MuggleCast from Orlando at LeakyCon we’d like to remind everybody that this week’s podcast is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Bestsellers. For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook to give you a chance to try out their great service. One audiobook to consider is Water for Elephants, a book that was recently turned into a film starring Rob Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. It’s an atmospheric tale of life and love in a Depression-era traveling circus. So for a free audiobook of your choice, such as Water for Elephants, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. Again, that’s AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. And now let’s get back to the show!
Pottermore Discussion: House Sorting
Audience Member: Hi. So me and my fiancé were just vehemently debating about this issue of the sorting, whether maybe some fans wouldn’t want the houses that they’ve identified with for years and years sort of messed with. They – it’s kind of personal. Or whether Jo’s method might be the ultimate authority, she devised this way that you’re sorted and whether that should really be…
Audience Member 2: Right.
Audience Member: …what people accept themselves in. So…
Audience Member 2: Pretty much, what are your thoughts on the sorting process?
Andrew: You know what? You bring up a really good point. I mean, some people who started reading the books maybe as early as Sorcerer’s Stone in 1998 or 1997, they read the books – they read the book, that first book, and were like, “Wow, I’m a Ravenclaw.”
Ben: Yeah, but that’s the thing though.
Andrew: And for the past fifteen years they’ve called themselves a Ravenclaw. And then to go on this and be told you’re not Ravenclaw? That’s got to sting a little bit.
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Yeah. I mean, all that goes to show is that you don’t know yourself very well.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: Because if you knew yourself you would know what house you actually are. And I think that so many people are in denial about their house. You can’t just pick your own house, that’s not how it works.
Audience Member: Harry did!
Andrew: Harry did.
Ben: Okay, he…
Andrew: Harry suggested it.
Ben: And he would have done well in Slytherin and all that, but…
Andrew: Eric, are you going to buy new robes if you don’t get into Gryffindor?
Audience Member: Don’t do it!
[Audience laughs]
Eric: I might. I also have a Cedric Diggory outfit, so…
[Audience cheers]
Eric: …I got at least two of the houses covered. So…
Ben: I think Jo has corrupted us.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: Because everybody is like – back when I first read the books, everyone I talked to claimed to be a Gryffindor just because Harry was a Gryffindor, and I think there needs to be more house diversity. And I think if you get sorted into another house, don’t close out your account and retake the test to get into the house you want to be in. Just accept it.
Eric: Yeah, he stressed that there was only one chance at this, so it seems like they’ve had that decision made for quite some time, that like it or not, it is going to be in some ways definitive, and by the only person who can make it definitive, JK Rowling herself. But the other thing is that the books are slanted, they show more Gryffindors, so when he did say that we’d learn more about Hufflepuff – perhaps if I take the quiz and I’m disappointed a little bit at being sorted into Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff actually has the most new content. So to look at it that way – and I’d learn a little bit more about it and maybe understand a little bit better why I was chosen for that house.
Andrew: Next question or comment?
Pottermore Discussion: Usernames
Audience Member: I was kind of wondering if you guys could provide more insight on the username process, because I was wondering why them choosing a username for you would keep us more child-friendly. I don’t really understand that.
Andrew: Sorry, the what process?
Audience Member: You know how they choose a username for us?
Andrew: Oh yeah, how it helps child safety.
Audience Member: I don’t really get how that really works, that’s all.
Andrew: Well because – so you can’t do a username like something we probably shouldn’t mention here. You know what I mean? So you couldn’t use an explicit word, an expletive.
Eric: Well, there’s that but there’s also – you can tell children to say, well, don’t reveal any identifying information like “Lives at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey” at pottermore dot com.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: So in this way they’ve used words like “moon” and “crescent” and “cat.”
Andrew: Right, yeah.
Eric: And it’ll be really cool to be – because it’s also like something you get directly from Jo, too, as another alias.
Ben: She’s naming us.
Andrew: Yeah, but she’s – that’s not really from Jo.
Eric: Well, it’s from the construct that is Pottermore.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And so everything that we see here is going to be tied directly back to Jo, and Jo is responsible for everything we find on there.
Andrew: Mhm. Next question?
Pottermore Discussion: House Cup
Audience Member: I’m a little curious about how the House Cup is going to work in the sense that since we’re following through the books – at the end, will Slytherin be winning and then suddenly Gryffindor wins?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: Are we – I’m guessing – it feels like it’s not obviously going to be the exact same results as the books, or is it just the Internet community that’s actually going to have to fight each other to win? And – what house will actually win in the end?
Andrew: Maybe that just won’t be a Moment in…
Audience Member: Because didn’t he say that the House Cup winner will be right before they release the next book?
Audience: Yeah.
Audience Member: So right before they release in 2012 – when they’re about to release Chamber of Secrets, we’re going to find out who actually wins, whether it’s Gryffindor or Slytherin, Hufflepuff or whoever.
Andrew: Hmm. Yeah, that’s interesting. I don’t know.
Audience Member: I’m curious about that.
Andrew: But maybe Jo will submit an alternative ending…
[Audience reacts angrily]
Andrew: …with the winning House Cup. [laughs] Or the person who wins the – who won the House Cup. That’s just a joke, don’t worry.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Next question?
Pottermore Discussion: Fan Sites
Audience Member: Hey guys. You know, the first time I saw this, when they unveiled the Pottermore thing…
Andrew: Mhm.
Audience Member: I was really afraid about people with websites, or people like me who are thinking about making a site. I looked at this and I thought, “Oh, she’s trying to close down all the people that have their own websites or something like that.”
Andrew: Nah!
Audience Member: Or copyright getting into that. I’m still a little worried about that. What do you guys think about people who just want to have their own site?
Andrew: Well, what do you mean your own site?
Audience Member: This is a substitute for that, right?
Andrew: What do you mean – one of the things they’ve said from the start to the fan sites is that, “This is nothing to compete with you guys. This is something entirely new.” And of course it doesn’t compete with us because there’s all this new information by Jo! [laughs]
Audience Member: Right, there’s the Harry Potter Lexicon and I want to see that going on, yeah.
Ben: It helps all these other sites.
Andrew: Yeah. What did you say?
Ben: Oh, I said, I think Pottermore is actually a help to anybody who is…
Andrew: Definitely.
Ben: …reporting on Harry Potter and the Harry Potter brand online in general.
Micah: Yeah, it definitely gives us more content, more to talk about on podcasts.
Andrew: Right. All right, second-to-last question. Hey!
Pottermore Discussion: Information on Other Houses
Audience Member: All right. You guys are the best, so thank you so much.
Andrew: Thanks.
Audience Member: And my question is about the sorting. If you’re sorted into Gryffindor, will you ever find out about Hufflepuff or…
Andrew: Yeah, that’s an issue, right?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Ben: Check MuggleNet…
Andrew: Check – yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Ben: …for more info on Hufflepuffs.
Andrew: [laughs] We’re going to have all the information right there for you.
Audience Member: Thank you.
Andrew: Yeah, no problem. [laughs]
Pottermore Discussion: Sharing New Information
Audience Member: She kind of jacked my question, but I have another question related to hers. Let’s just say that you are in Hufflepuff, and of course you are going to get more information with Hufflepuff. Let’s say that MuggleCast or whatever decide to take that information. Is that all going to be copyrighted, or are we going to be able to share that?
Andrew: Oh yeah, there will definitely be cease-and-desist letters.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: I kind of figured that there would be, but I was just wondering how we’re all going to be able to find out, like she said, the information. Yeah, like the other houses because I mean, there’s going to be so much information that we’re never going to find out because the accounts are going to be locked to where you can only get one house. Unless you want to share it.
Andrew: You know, with the Internet these days, this stuff is everywhere.
Audience Member: Oh, I’m sure, yeah.
Ben: Yeah, people will find a way.
Andrew: Yeah. And we’d love to post it on MuggleNet and they’ll probably be like, “Haha, no. Take it down.”
Audience Member: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: But yeah, it’ll always be there.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: With leaks these days. When photos from the films leak and they go up on MuggleNet and Leaky and all the other sites, and then they also go up on Tumblr, [laughs] and then WB is like, “Take that down right now!” And we’re like, “But it’s being Tumbled everywhere!”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: You can’t – it’s kind of an unfortunate struggle.
Eric: But do you think JK Rowling – well, I think that’s something they’re probably going to work on through time, figure out how to not isolate the fans by 75 percent if they are only giving them specific house content. That said, it is the Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin logo that you’re going to see when you log in, and they’re tailoring this specific information. So, it really is a question: Are they going to leave it to us to have a hub, which I think they’ll probably find another way, maybe even down the line, to give you the same information but not right away. They’re going to jump-start you with information that pertains to your house to give you a more interactive experience.
Ben: What if there are like house secrets? Where it’s like secret information that pertains to just your house that you don’t want to tell anybody else about because it would be like telling your family secrets. You know what I’m saying?
Eric: Yeah.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Eric: Maybe click the button, take the Unbreakable Vow.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Crying
Andrew: Okay, so now let’s talk about the movie. Everybody saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 last night?
[Audience cheers]
Ben: Who cried? Did anybody cry? Raise your hand if you cried.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Okay, I want to talk about that first, and this is going to upset some people but I’ve heard numerous complaints about the sobbing.
[Audience makes noise of agreement]
Ben: About what?
Andrew: The sobbing. The people crying.
Audience Member: It was so loud!
Andrew: It was so loud, right. [laughs]
Eric: Let’s…
Audience Member: Cry silently!
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Yeah, let’s recount our experience.
Andrew: Well listen, it is justified. It is justified, the sobbing.
Audience Member: How many times did you guys cry?
Andrew: Twice, I shed a single tear.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: But I was also reaching over Ben, consoling someone else, so I was taking care of someone else and then – it was a big ordeal! It was just like – listen, I’m not complaining about the sobbing, but I have heard from an alarming amount of people who are actually annoyed [laughs] at people crying.
Ben: Well, I mean, they kind of started off the film with a double whammy. It’s like, “Here Lies Dobby, A Free Elf,” and then Harry is looking at the mirror, and it’s like, “Wow, this sucks.”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. So, I don’t know. What did you guys – were you guys – was anybody else upset by the sobbing? I feel like it almost – at least in our theater, it got into a competition, like who could start sobbing the most?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: So you would just hear like… [makes sobbing noises]
Ben: Yeah, it’s like, I’m here to watch a film, not watch you cry.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Right.
Micah: It was two completely different experiences because when I saw the movie on Saturday, it was with a bunch of press who had no idea what was going to happen in the film, and there’s no real emotion. And then you go and see it with everybody else who is actual fans of the series. Just a completely different experience.
Andrew: Right, yeah. It was brutal because it started – I would say about 45 minutes to an hour in, was when the real tears started going. It became this competition where at first you would hear [makes sobbing noises] and then… [makes louder sobbing noise]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: And then somebody else on the other side goes… [makes louder sobbing noises]
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: It was just like a chorus.
Micah: It’s like you’re preparing yourself.
Andrew: It’s like – what’s that song called? “The Dueling Banjoes.”
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: What were you going to say?
Micah: I was going to say it’s like you’re preparing yourself. You know the moment is coming when the scene is going to show up.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: And you’re trying to – how much are people going to cry? What are they going to do?
Andrew: Yeah. Somebody told me there was somebody crying even just before Snape died, because they knew what was going to happen, so…
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: …they were preparing themselves. You know when you’re about to go over Splash Mountain, you just start screaming ahead of time?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: At least that’s what I do. I don’t know if everybody else does that.
Eric: Yeah, I mean, can we blame them? [whispers] Yes.
Andrew: No – and on the opposite end – as somebody just said, what about the cheering? I mean, there was a lot of great cheering, too.
Eric: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, but that’s a lot more positive than… [makes sobbing noises]
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, that feels better.
Ben: I mean, I kind of, a little bit, lost it when he’s all talking to his dead parents and stuff. When I read the book, that scene really resonated with me. But yeah, when that happened I was like, “Whoa, this got real,” and what surprised me was how quickly – it didn’t surprise me, this was Part 2, but they just went right into the action.
Andrew: Yup.
Ben: There was no messing around, which I thought was awesome.
Andrew: Mhm. At one point I tried to get the audience clapping with me because I felt like – occasionally, there was – I couldn’t figure out why everybody decided at that moment to cheer for any specific reason, so what I did personally was at one point I just went, “Yeah!” But it didn’t catch on at all and it was really bad.
[Audience laughs]
Eric: In fact, Andrew, the kids were at our screening, and I saw them look at you when you did that.
[Audience laughs]
Eric: You’re very impressionable.
Andrew: Yeah. And I don’t know if anybody else had this issue, but we were sitting in front of Andrew Slack, the guy from the Harry Potter Alliance.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And I love Andrew, but for God’s sake, he’s sitting there – and those chairs, they need some WD-40 on them, they’re squeaky. So he would start leaning back but he does it really slow. And these are crucial scenes, quiet moments, and you just hear… [makes squeaky sound]
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: And you petted his head at one point, and I just put my foot up on his seat to try and stop him because – what are you doing?! Do you not hear this? Sorry, Andrew.
Eric: Suffice to say though, the eighth Harry Potter film moved him.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Favorite Scenes
Andrew: [fake laughter] Door is that way, buddy. Just kidding. That’s funny. So let’s talk about favorite scenes.
Eric: Ooh.
Andrew: “All of them!”
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: Prince’s Tale!
Andrew: Prince’s Tale. I think…
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Is that generally everybody’s favorite scene?
[Audience makes noises of approval and disapproval]
Andrew: A comment – well, we’ll get to them all. We’ll get to them all. A comment a lot of people I have been hearing, and Melissa brought up on the Leaky Mug yesterday, was that Alan Rickman deserves an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And it’s deservedly so because in the other films you kind of see Alan, or Snape, as – the way he – he is a great Snape, but you really don’t see any emotion out of him until this one, and I think it really struck people and that’s why now they’re saying, “Alan Rickman, Best Supporting Actor.” What did you guys think of that scene? You’re crying already. You’re having an allergy attack or something.
Ben: Yeah, I’m just crying thinking about it.
[Andrew and Audience laughs]
Audience: Awww.
Ben: Not really.
Andrew: Not really.
Ben: There’s something with the lights and my nose and all that stuff.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: Honestly, I wish I could remember more of the movie. It was just all such a blur between all the cheering and the clapping and the crying and Andrew Slack moving his seat.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: And then next thing I know, the credits show up, and I’m just like, “Whoa, how did that happen?”
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Micah, what did you think?
Micah: I just thought it was a great scene, an amazing scene.
Andrew: What other ones did you guys want to talk about? McGonagall?
Audience: McGonagall! [cheers]
Andrew: And I assume you’re talking about the moment she walks out onto the steps and says, “Do your duty to the school!” Yeah?
Audience Member: Fighting Snape!
Andrew: Oh, and fighting Snape, too.
Eric: Defending Harry, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Personally, my favorite was the moment when she walks out and brings the statues to life. That was great.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And that was another one of those applause cues, where everybody really applauded.
Micah: What did you think about the line she gave after that, though?
Andrew: Yeah, I didn’t like that. I didn’t like when she said, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to do that spell!” Just because as somebody who’s such an – she’s an older witch, and she’s just doing the spell now for her first time? I mean, granted, okay, this may be the first battle where she has to bring the statues to life. But she’s never brought statues to life before? I don’t know, it’s just – it was just a moment of comic relief that I felt wasn’t needed because she just delivered these really badass lines, and then she has to do this little joke.
Ben: Well, maybe Dumbledore used to be the one who activated all the statues and stuff, and he never let her do it because it was like…
[Audience laughs]
Ben: …it was his thing, so now she’s like, “Finally!”
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Eric: That’s true. Wasn’t he Transfiguration teacher? He used to be. Dumbledore used to be the Transfiguration teacher.
Audience Member: What about the line about Seamus?
Andrew: The line about Seamus?
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: The boom?
Audience: Yeah! [cheers]
Eric: What was it? Was it the “penchant for blowing things up”? Pyrotechnics. P-p-p pyrotechnics.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: She used alliteration, which is great fun.
Andrew: Yeah, it was great.
Eric: McGonagall was really good.
Andrew: What other scenes?
Audience: Neville!
Audience Member: Snape!
Andrew: Snape? Well yeah, we talked about – I mean, we didn’t talk specifically about that one.
Audience Member: Draco and Voldemort hug!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Snape holding Lily’s body, which is not in the book, right? Yeah, that was another one of those sobbing cues. That was a big one. That was a big one.
Ben: Wait, Draco and Voldemort hugged?
Audience: Yeah! [cheers]
Audience Member: Voldemort hugged Draco.
Eric: Well, it was kind of one-sided. Draco was crossing the courtyard.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: He hoped to get away scot-free, and Voldemort kind of suckered him into…
[Audience laughs]
Eric: …a nice little – yeah.
Andrew: Ben turned to me at that moment and he said, “Why is everyone laughing?” And I was like, well, because Snape and Voldemort – Draco and Voldemort are hugging. It was just – but you know what I thought about that? I may have brought this up yesterday to somebody. It was – Voldemort was so good in this film because Ralph Fiennes kind of pulled off this Joker from The Dark Knight where he’s so evil, but also crazy and just silly, and moments like that. And then there’s also a moment, I think a little before that, where Voldemort makes a little noise. He just goes like, “Umph!”
[Audience laughs]
Eric: Yeah, I think that was when one of his Horcruxes was destroyed.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Eric: When it was just a shot of him, and he was like, “Umph!”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And then he like took it all in, but the camera didn’t move.
Andrew: Speaking of that, those realization scenes where you see Harry and Voldemort both realize that another Horcrux has been killed, where Harry experiences Voldemort’s pain. The one part was when that one time when Harry jumps into the lake and then he comes out, and Voldemort realizes that the cup has been stolen and you just see him freak out. And then there was another one later on, which was around that time, I guess.
Eric: Yeah. Each time Harry learns what the next Horcrux is or where to start…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …to find the next Horcrux, which I thought was – I mean, it’s different from the books, where Voldemort – he has that memory where Voldemort first learns that Harry is destroying the Horcruxes, which I think happened a lot sooner in the movie. But just the whole pattern made it really flow a lot better, Harry’s journey to destroying the Horcruxes and kind of explaining how that can realistically be achieved.
Andrew: Yeah. What other favorite scene should we talk about?
[Audience calls out suggestions]
Andrew: Oh, Neville. Okay, yeah, let’s talk about Neville.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And then I think I heard “Bellatrix.” We should talk about her. So, Neville, as in the books, he has this huge comeback and he becomes the hero, killing Nagini. Yeah, what do you guys – anyone want to talk about that?
Eric: He rigs the bridge with explosives.
[Andrew and Audience laughs]
Eric: He’s got cuts and scrapes. He can walk through portraits.
Andrew: Yeah. I didn’t like – you guys are going to hate me for this, but I did not like Neville in this, making that comeback. I don’t know, it just didn’t – I was actually just annoyed by Matt Lewis. [laughs] Sorry.
[Audience boos]
Andrew: Because it just sort of comes out of nowhere. It’s like suddenly he’s the hero. And I know in the book you understand it more, but I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like Matt Lewis.
[Audience boos]
Andrew: Sorry. Sorry.
Eric: Somebody had to do it.
Andrew: Somebody had to do it. Yeah, I mean, it was great. Everybody loved it. Everybody got all fired up, so…
Audience Member: There’s no build-up, though.
Andrew: There’s no build-up, right.
Audience Member: It’s like Dobby in Part 1. It just came out of nowhere.
Andrew: Yeah, the Dobby thing. It just comes out of nowhere. [laughs] I’m just repeating what he said.
Ben: Something that made me unhappy about – not Neville and Luna, but…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: I mean, changing gears here a little bit, the death scene where Voldemort dies, and he just kind of evaporates and turns into confetti. I didn’t like that.
Micah: And what about Bellatrix, too, when she just kind of bursts into pieces?
Eric: Yeah.
Audience Member: Finish her!
[Audience and Eric laugh]
Eric: Fatality.
Andrew: So, how did everybody like Julie Walters’ delivery of the line?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Give it up!
Ben: [laughs] Give it up for Molly Weasley, yeah!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: So she – and in the books it’s all caps, so I think you probably would have expected a giant scream.
Ben: It was more like, [imitating Julie Waters] “Not my daughter.” [back to normal voice] It was really slow and…
Andrew: It was stern.
Ben: …kind of deliberate.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: They did the same thing in the first book, with Hagrid.
Andrew: They did the same thing in the first book, with Hagrid. [laughs] Here, come on up to the mic.
Audience Member: When Harry first meets Hagrid, in the book, it’s all caps when Uncle Vernon insults Albus.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Audience Member: And he’s like, “Don’t you…” all caps, and then in the movie he was just like, [quietly] “Don’t you insult him.”
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: It was the same thing with that.
Andrew: So, did you guys like that more stern change? The more serious “Not my daughter, you bitch”?
Eric: Yeah. Plus – I mean, they’re in a lot closer quarters it seems in the movie. They’re right next to each other. And even though she’s emotional, I thought they really built the performance around that. That line was – the way she delivered it was the way she felt she would deliver it, as opposed to just screaming her head off. There was more sort of a daring, getting a rise out of Bellatrix by intimidating her.
Audience Member: There wasn’t much build-up though.
Eric: That’s true, that…
Andrew: It was very quick.
Eric: They were going between the scenes of Harry chasing Voldemort and the rest of the battle.
Andrew: I heard a report from another screening that people obviously knew the big line was about to come up, and somebody screamed in advance of the big line hitting because it was like, “Oh my God, it’s about to happen! Ahhh!” And then, apparently, that person who heard that was annoyed by that. [laughs] In the trailer talk episodes, the Part 2 trailer talk, we discussed how Voldemort quite frequently in the trailer goes “NYAHHHHH!”…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: …like, what, twelve times or something?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: But not in this movie at all.
Eric: Not once. Nope.
Andrew: Not once. [laughs] They heard all the complaints. They were like, “Let’s cut out this silly sound.”
Eric: That’s – I’m glad they got them all out of their way with the previews. That line, I was so worried about it.
MuggleCast 234 Transcript (continued)
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Harry and Voldemort’s Final Duel
Micah: Well, you know what else they cut to – the whole “Why do you live?” which they used in all the trailers.
Andrew: Yes. And let’s talk about – let’s get into that whole discussion now, and actually, David Yates – I think it was Yates, he brought it up at the US press conferences, there’s a line in the trailer, “Why do you live?” “Because I have something to live for.” And he said they’ve decided to cut it out because Voldemort would kill Harry in that moment. He’s holding him by the clutches, and so he decided to cut it out for that reason. But then that made me think, “Well, this scene still bothers me so much, when Harry pulls Voldemort over the cliff.”
Audience: Yeah!
Audience Member:: It’s not in the book at all, Harry – Voldemort would just kill him, and – they don’t touch each other! That’s what bothered me about it. Harry and Voldemort never physically touch each other.
Eric: But they can. They can touch each other now that they have the same blood, so why not use that to build more tension with – there’s these two worthy adversaries that are just grabbing each other in mid-air and flying. It makes for a good spectacle but it also symbolizes the fact that they can’t kill each other. Ever since they were given the same wand, they just can’t kill each other. And that’s…
Audience Member: Voldemort gets way too much snuggling in this movie.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: And one of the reasons was the cinematic purpose, too. I mean, cinematically you needed this big kind of epic fall through the castle. And their heads merged, that was another goofy thing. [laughs] And then they end up in the courtyard which of course is a change from the book where the big duel is in the Great Hall, which – did that – and nobody was there, either. So did that bother you guys? Hold on, we’ll get…
Audience: Yes!
Andrew: Yes! But we knew it was coming in fairness, at least. So…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I guess we talked about that probably on the first trailer episode. We were like, “Wait, they’re not in the Great Hall and nobody is around them.” [laughs]
Eric: Yeah. I mean, Harry did still get that moment where he calls Voldemort “Tom” which I thought was a big move for Harry. He says it in front of everybody else. He’s kind of just, I don’t know, impersonating Dumbledore where Dumbledore would be that cool all the time to people. I don’t know, I thought it – they found time to make the emotional journey.
Andrew: Yeah. Comment?
Audience Member: In the same battle, the thing that bothered me more than them flying off the cliff and doing the whole face-squish thing which was ridiculous, when Voldemort is choking Harry with his robes and – he’s got him! He should kill him in that moment and then they cut away to another scene, I think it’s Ron and Hermione in the chamber. And then when they cut back, Harry has somehow miraculously come free from the robes.
[Andrew laughs]
Audience Member: And it’s like, “Why wouldn’t the robes just keep squeezing him until he died?” because then there’s no wand fighting and then he’s just dead. [laughs]
Andrew: Right. At what point did Voldemort say, “Okay, I’ll stop.”
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: Exactly! It just didn’t make any sense.
Andrew: [laughs] That’s a good – that’s a funny point.
Audience Member 2: Maybe Harry used magic.
Andrew: Maybe Harry used magic? Yeah, but he seemed stuck at the time.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: What else?
[Audience Member murmurs]
Andrew: Well, hold on, they killed Lavender. And…
Eric: Did they?
Andrew: Which is not what happens in the books, right? It doesn’t happen in the books. And you see Fenrir – if anybody has a comment – I mean, well – okay, somebody has a comment coming up right now. Fenrir, you see him go vampire-style on Lavender, bending over and sucking blood out of her neck or just eating her, I guess, yeah. Something like that. Comment?
Audience Member: I know why Voldemort dropped him.
Andrew: Why?
Audience Member: Because they destroyed the Horcrux.
Andrew and Eric: Oh!
Eric: The snake.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: And that…
Audience Member: And that’s how…
Eric: The cup? Oh, my bad. But when they killed the snake in 3D, wasn’t that really cool?
Andrew: Oh, that was the one part where it kind of jumps out at you a little bit, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: The 3D?
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: King’s Cross
Ben: Can we talk about the Voldy fetus?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: The bloody Voldy fetus at the end?
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: That was disgusting.
Eric: So we’re jumping ahead to King’s Cross.
Andrew: It was shocking because it’s this beautiful, white, clean King’s Cross, in the words of Harry, and then you – there’s just this cut to this disgusting fetus under the bench. And it was striking, and everybody in the theatre went, “Ugh!”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: But you know, great they included it. It’s in the book, so – that was up there, too, I think for me, favorite scenes, King’s Cross. I mean, Michael Gambon has gotten so good. He was – I didn’t like him in Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix. Half-Blood Prince, I thought he was pretty good, but then Part 2 just – he was just a content Dumbledore, really proud of Harry. You just really felt his care for Harry. “My dear boy,” or something like that. Comment?
Audience Member: Yeah, I’ve got something to say about King’s Cross. When Dumbledore changes the line from, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask” to “those who deserve.” I feel like that was – [laughs] why would you change that? I mean, I didn’t like it at all. I was just wondering what your opinion was.
Micah: I wonder if it was because Richard Harris said the first line, and this was more his delivery on it, his take on it.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: I don’t know.
[Audience Member makes unintelligible comment]
Andrew: Yeah. The comment was everybody you helped at Hogwarts deserved it, so that’s why Dumbledore was kind of revising his statement. I just thought it was kind of a touching moment because Dumbledore, right before that, he says how powerful words can be, and then now he’s kind of having this realization of, “Oh wow, I’m changing a statement I’ve said before. I’m revising something after this huge battle.”
Ben: But is Dumbledore God, or something?
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Because I don’t get – he died, and now he’s like, “Anybody who deserves it, I’m going to be there.”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Well, it’s all in Harry’s head, so it may not have happened.
Andrew: Right.
Ben: That was awesome when they put that – was that – no, wait a second, that was Finding Hogwarts.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: When they put that up at the end. Wrong movie. I’m sorry, yesterday was a blur.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Voldemort and Bellatrix’s Deaths
Andrew: Another comment?
Audience Member: Yeah, back to the final battle, I was kind of bothered by the fact that there wasn’t really a corpse for Bellatrix or for Voldemort. They just both sort of exploded. I thought that was kind of weird.
Andrew: Right, because you see all these dead bodies everywhere…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: …and then the bad guys dissolve.
Audience Member: [laughs] Yeah.
Ben: It’s like, where did they go? How do you know they’re actually dead if there’s no body?
Eric: In 3D they went all over the theater.
Ben: Speaking of 3D, I do not like seeing movies in 3D. I had to keep taking off my goggles and wiping the fog off of them.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: All that stuff. It seriously started giving me a headache. I found myself watching part of the movie in the fuzzy 2D version because of that.
Andrew: I had an awkward moment at the beginning of my screening where I put on my glasses and I turned to my friend Kevin and I’m like, “The 3D is not working! Is it not working for you?” and he’s like, “You’re wearing your sunglasses” I’m like, “Oh.”
[Audience and Ben laugh]
Andrew: My sunglasses look just like the 3D glasses. What were we just talking about before? I had another comment about that.
Micah: How Bellatrix and Voldemort died.
Andrew: Oh yeah, I was going to say maybe when they disintegrated, maybe it just came up in a pile of dirt and Filch just swept it behind the veil or something like that.
[Audience laughs]
Eric: He did have the broom.
Andrew: That was a funny moment, wasn’t it, when Filch is trying to sweep up the castle? [laughs] Okay…
[Audience laughs]
Favorite Harry Potter Film
Andrew: Sorry, I’m just looking at the breakdown here. So what is everybody’s favorite film now? [laughs]
[Audience calls out suggestions]
Andrew: Somebody said Part 1 but is the general – applaud if it’s Part 2.
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: That’s actually not as many as I thought. Applaud if it was – okay, let’s just go through them. Sorcerer’s Stone?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Chamber of Secrets?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Prisoner of Azkaban?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Goblet of Fire?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Order of the Phoenix?
[Audience applauds weakly]
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, give David Yates a break.
Ben: Sorcerer’s Stone, yeah!
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: How about Half-Blood Prince?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Part 1?
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Part 2?
[Audience applauds louder]
Andrew: Okay, that’s a lot louder. [laughs] What?
Ben: Did you say “Sorcerer’s Stone“?
Andrew: Yeah, we said “Sorcerer’s Stone” at the beginning of that.
Ben: Oh whoops. Oh, I missed that.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: So, yesterday I talked on the Leaky Mug about Deathly Hallows on Rotten Tomatoes, seeing the overall Tomato score, and now it’s up to 98% [laughs] which is absolutely fantastic.
Eric: Wow!
[Audience cheers]
Eric: So, after so many ticket sales which we have the actual sales figures – they had actually increased in a percentage of reviews. That’s after everybody saw it.
Andrew: By the way, Winnie the Pooh which also opened today, 90% which is very impressive.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: I’m going to “PoohCon” over at Disney and going to that midnight screening.
[Audience laughs]
Ben: That sounds terrible.
Eric: “PoohCon”?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: I will not be at “PoohCon”!
Andrew: Sorry, WinnieCon, WinnieCon.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: One of those. That’s pretty impressive though. I don’t know, now I’m getting ideas for “PoohCon.” What could be at “PoohCon”?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Oh my goodness. Okay, so everybody up here, what is your favorite film now of – Eric?
Eric: My favorite film is probably – it’s so hard.
Ben: It’s like asking “Who’s your favorite child?”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Well, they’re not my children but – yeah, I think Order of the Phoenix might be my favorite film.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Micah?
Micah: I think Part 2.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Benjamin?
Ben: I don’t know. I kind of see – Goblet of Fire! I’ll just pick a random one.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Rooting for the underdog. That one got the least applause out of the crowd.
Andrew: I feel like saying Part 2 is very cliché because after every film there’s a table and somebody puts his hand down on the desk and he says, “Best film ever!” [laughs] But – and like we brought up on the Leaky Mug yesterday, then a couple of days later everybody starts complaining about all the things wrong with the film after calling it the best one yet. [laughs] But Part 2 I really think is the best one yet, partially because it is the end. I mean, it was bound to be fantastic. I think it would have been very hard to screw up this battle scene, and now that I say that I kind of regret that because they really did do such an amazing job with it. Ralph Fiennes just stood out to me so much. I just loved his Voldemort in this one. It was crazy, it was silly. You couldn’t help but laugh at some of the things he was doing. He was just out of his mind.
Eric: You’re right. And it had closure, which none of the other films before it could really have.
Andrew: Comment?
Audience Member: I just wanted to say, I can’t really pick between Part 1 and Part 2, just because I feel like they’re the same movie.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: Because they’re the same book, and just the way it picks up from the beginning, it’s such a smooth transition that it’s just the same movie for me.
Eric: Yeah.
Audience Member: If I was going to watch it, if I’m sitting at home when both of the DVDs come out, I’m probably going to watch them both.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: That’s just what I think.
Andrew: One of the things I’m looking forward to is seeing Part 1 and 2 back-to-back I guess when the DVDs come out. Because that’s what, four and half hours of Potter? And – yeah, it’s going to be great.
Eric: So, does the audience think that together Movie 7 and Movie 8 will make – if we could combine them they make the best movie?
Audience: Yeah! [cheers]
Eric: Oh, we didn’t talk about Aberforth.
Andrew: [laughs] Aberforth.
Ben: Didn’t I say something to you?
Andrew: Yeah, I’ll set it up. Ben – you want even me to say this? I wasn’t going to.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: But Ben – you know when Aberforth casts the Patronus? This is so embarrassing for you but okay. [laughs] Ben turns to me and he says, “Who’s the Dumbledore look-alike?”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: It’s like, “It’s Aberforth!”
Ben: Like I said, I was in a whirlwind. I didn’t know what was going on. So…
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: But you know what? Kind of related to that, he’s played by Ciarán Hinds and if you see pictures of Ciarán Hinds, he does not look like Aberforth at all. They did such a great job with Aberforth’s costume. And you were right, they did their job, he really does look like Dumbledore. And I think that moment where you see him cast the Patronus and the camera kind of sweeps in on him…
Micah: But where was the goat?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: …you’re supposed to have that feeling of, “Oh, Dumbledore is here”. Where was the goat?
Micah: His Patronus is a goat!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Because everybody would have been like, “A goat, what?”
[Audience laughs]
Ben: I still want to know what he was doing to the goats.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: I think maybe we’ll find that out on Pottermore.
Eric: Hey, Pottermore.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: It’s supposed to be child-friendly!
Andrew: Yeah. Oh yeah, Pottermore is child-friendly. We’re not going to be getting any big revelations like that. [laughs] That’s for PottermoreX.com. Pottermore Unrated.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Breaking the Elder Wand
Andrew: Where else are we going with this?
Audience Member: Bellatrix’s wand!
Andrew: The wand. What about the wand? When he snaps it in half?
Eric: Oh okay.
Andrew: Okay, I liked him getting rid of the wand and breaking it in half, because it’s sort of – it’s one of those classic film moments.
Audience Member: He didn’t fix his own!
Audience Member 2: The phoenix wand!
Andrew: Okay, one at a time. Oh, the phoenix wand.
Eric: So, he uses the Elder Wand to repair his previously un-mendable…
Audience Member: Now he doesn’t have a wand.
Eric: Well, he does though. The character up front says he doesn’t have a wand. He has Draco’s. It’s not Draco’s wand anymore. Ollivander says in the beginning of the film that it changed allegiance to Harry’s wand.
Andrew: Was anyone bothered by the fact that he snapped it and just…
[Audience responds in agreement]
Andrew: See, I liked that from – obviously not a book perspective, but it’s sort of like, “I’m getting rid of this item because it’s dangerous and I don’t want it to exist in the world anymore.” I just took it as that way, and I thought it was kind of a noble thing for him to do. But you guys, there is good news, you can go over to the Wizarding World and buy one…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: …still intact.
Ben: Okay, remind me, he just snapped it?
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: The Elder Wand?
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: But – okay, this wand that’s like – has all this lore…
Micah: Were you there?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Micah: Did you see the movie?
Ben: No, I was there, I was there! I swear I was there! But how can you just snap the Elder Wand in half? Surely…
Eric: Well, because…
[Audience responds]
Ben: Oh.
Eric: It was already fractured in the movie.
Andrew: You see it…
Ben: Wow, I need to stop talking.
[Audience laughs]
Ben: I’m shooting myself in the foot here.
Eric: Plus…
Andrew: They…
Eric: I think, also, he had the allegiance of the Elder Wand, and I think only the person with the allegiance of the Elder Wand should be able to break it, otherwise it should have – it would have put up a fight. Maybe.
Andrew: And that was a cool shot, where the camera kind of zooms into the wand, and you can see it – the very small parts of it kind of disintegrating while Voldemort is holding it. That was cool.
Micah: What about Gringotts? What about the actual scene, the dragon, all that stuff?
Andrew: That was neat. And as I brought up, now – everybody can agree with me now because you know I’m right – Wizarding World, first expansion, they’re going to be adding that Gringotts ride.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: I’m telling you.
Eric: That ride comes with a price, which is that they have to build Diagon Alley, and that’s just going to be more shops and less rides.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Didn’t I do the laugh on the show?
Eric: What?
Andrew: No, never mind. Of course there’s going to be more shops! That’s what…
Eric: Oh. Yeah, you did do the laugh.
Audience Member: Do the laugh!
Andrew: The Mr. Universal?
Audience Member: Yes.
Andrew: Yeah, okay. So this is what Mr. Universal would say to Eric, if Eric went in and said, “Mr. Universal, I don’t want Diagon Alley because it’s just going to be more shops and one ride.” [maniacal laughter]
[Audience Member cheers]
Andrew: Because Mr. Universal likes his money.
Audience Member: They put Ollivander’s in Hogsmeade.
Andrew: They put Ollivander’s in Hogsmeade. Yeah, but can you imagine if Ollivander’s wasn’t in that park right now? Because Mr. Universal, again, really likes all that money [laughs] over there. Has everybody done that wand experience?
[Audience responds]
Andrew: I mean been inside? It’s really great because they usually pick a little kid.
Audience: I got picked!
Andrew: Okay, some older people. This – [laughs] he said, “I got a beard and I got picked.” Yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: It’s so good because the kid – or maybe you, or anyone else who got selected – is suddenly kind of coming to life. See you later, Eric. It sort of just – it comes to life. It’s just like him being in the – it’s just like being in the movie. Is there wind too?
Audience Member: Oh yeah.
Andrew: Okay.
Audience Member: It feels like you’re Harry Potter.
Andrew: “It feels like you’re Harry Potter,” he says.
Audience Member 2: It’s like you’re actually doing magic.
Andrew: Yeah, because the light comes up and it’s actually as if you’re there. But yeah, so I really think they’re going to take that Gringotts thing, where you’re riding down that cart, and that’s going to be a ride. And then there’s going to be – through the escape and the fire is going to come out at you from the dragon, all that. It’s all going to be there. Coming in 2013.
Audience Member: They changed the cart.
Andrew: That’s a guess, but – they changed the cart?
Audience Member: From the first movie.
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, from the first movie. Well, they changed the Quidditch pitch too, but that was for the better! There was more detail there.
Micah: What did you think of the sort of Jurassic Park thing that they did with the – as the dragon was coming up through the bank?
Andrew: What do you mean Jurassic Park?
Micah: Well, it’s like everything started shaking.
Andrew: Oh. [laughs] Yeah. And the goblin slowly started noticing, yeah. Do you remember that scene?
Ben: Oh yeah.
Andrew: Okay.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Well, so we’re going to have Evanna come – I don’t think she’s here yet. Eric probably went to go grab her or something. I don’t know, maybe not. But we can still take more questions.
[Audience responds]
Andrew: Oh yeah, this is something we wanted to do. We wanted to have Ben do a Hagrid impression on the show.
Ben: Oh, put me on the spot!
Andrew: What line? Somebody, cue him with a line.
[Audience responds]
Andrew: Oh yeah, “Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Games…”
Ben: What is it again?
[Audience responds]
Ben: [impersonating Hagrid] “Rubeus Hagrid!”
Andrew: Keeper of…
Ben: See, I’m not as good as I used to be.
Audience Member: “You’re a wizard, Harry!”
Ben: [impersonating Hagrid] “You’re a wizard, Harry!”
[Audience cheers]
Ben: I just want to say something about Eric Scull when he’s not around to defend himself.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Ben: I just want to say, he is so dedicated. He’s been wearing those robes since 2004. So…
[Audience laughs]
Ben: He hasn’t changed out of those robes, he’s been wearing them every day since then. But yeah, when he comes out, let’s give him a round of applause for his robes, because he’s the man.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Horcruxes
Andrew: Okay, so let’s take some more questions now, and then we’ll have Evanna come out in a little bit and then we’ll wrap it up. Lots of people coming forth now to complain about various things.
[Audience responds]
Ben: Yeah, it can’t be all roses in here. Let’s…
Andrew: Come on up – go ahead.
Audience Member: What did you think of the fact that he killed all the Horcruxes with the Basilisk fang?
Andrew: Sorry, say that – I can’t…
Audience Member: What did you think of the fact that he killed all the Horcruxes with the Basilisk fang, instead of the sword or instead of the Fiendfyre?
Andrew: People recognize the fang, that’s the one reason I could think of. But to be honest with you, it’s just – comparing these things to the books and films – comparing the films to the books is just – I don’t know. What are you going to do? I’m tired of sticking up for them! I have no excuses anymore.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: The Battle of Hogwarts
Audience Member: Yeah, I was just wondering what you guys thought about – in the final battle, it seemed like they replaced a lot of chaos from the books. In the books, there was centaurs running around, and spiders and giants, and in the movies, it was just kind of like a couple of spiders and a couple of giants. And they replaced a lot of that chaos with just students running around Hogwarts for an hour.
Andrew: I guess you can connect to the students more, really.
Audience Member: Right, but it seemed like that would have been…
Andrew: You did see the giants come in.
Audience Member: Right, a few giants running down the hill and stuff.
Andrew: Yeah. You didn’t see – what was great in the book is you saw the cameos, like the Oliver Wood cameo.
Audience Member: Right.
Andrew: I think there was a Colin Creevy bit in there too.
Audience Member: Yeah. Cormac McLaggen.
Andrew: Yeah, neither of those were in there. That would have been nice to see.
Micah: Right. And the other thing, too, is it was completely one-sided because it was everybody on the bad side. There were no house-elves, there were no centaurs, there was…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Micah: …no people from Hogsmeade coming in. So, I think it was more to show that Voldemort’s side was winning and doing such a good job against Harry and company.
Andrew: Keith Hawk, why don’t you come up for a little bit? This is MuggleNet’s Keith Hawk. He does a lot of content posts on the site. I’m sure you’ve seen him before. He also does a lot of great giveaways. And he saves us when we don’t want to…
[Audience applauds]
Ben: And he was also Dumbledore at a convention about four years ago and he was – boy, was he a great Dumbledore.
Andrew: Yeah, take either one.
Micah: Take Eric’s seat.
Keith Hawk: You didn’t tell me there was going to be people here.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Sword of Gryffindor
Andrew: Next question?
Audience Member: Hello.
Andrew: What’s your name? Where are you from?
Audience Member: I’m Ryan. I’m from Minnesota. I have a question about the goblin and the sword. How did he get in Voldemort’s house randomly? The goblin stole the sword, and then next thing you know, he’s dead in Voldemort’s house and then he’s disappeared. How did Voldemort not notice the sword?
[Audience responds]
Audience Member: Was he in Gringotts?
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: Oh. Well, never mind then.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: It’s cool, buddy.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Eye Color
Audience Member: I have two things but they’re kind of about the same thing. So, this is probably really petty, but we all got over the fact that Harry has blue eyes instead of green, but young Lily had brown eyes.
[Audience responds in agreement]
Audience Member: And they made such a big deal about him having – “Oh, you have your mother’s eyes.” Well, kind of.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: I mean, it’s a petty thing, but she could have worn contacts or something.
Andrew: No – well, you’re right because they do – because that’s the line, right?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Snape’s line, “You have your mother’s eyes.” Or “Look at me,” and then…
Audience Member: Well, they’re not really the same color, but…
Andrew: It reminds me of Sorcerer’s Stone, when that movie came out, and everybody was like, “Why isn’t his eyes blue?”
Audience Member: Which we got over, but then you’re picking a small girl to be his mom and it’s like you could pick a blue-eyed actress.
Andrew: Yeah. Maybe it was a mistake. I guess that’s kind of a mistake. It wouldn’t have been too hard to fix her eyes.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Just digitally.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Harry’s Parents
Audience Member: Sorry. The other thing is – this has kind of bothered me since the first film. Harry’s parents look like they’re about 35 when they died when they’re about 21.
[Audience applauds]
Audience Member: And in the Mirror of Erised, I was kind of thinking, “Well, maybe this is what they would look like if they were alive today,” but in their death scenes they look like they’re in their mid-30s when they died like three years out of school. And I guess it’s not that big a deal, but I wish we could have seen them – they were really young, and I think that’s part of why it’s so tragic and we see them as fully grown people who’ve lived a lot longer than they actually did.
Andrew: Mhm. You know what I liked about that though? Was Lily and James – that shot of them kind of dancing around in front of that fountain.
[Audience responds in agreement]
Andrew: Because that’s what you see in Chamber of Secrets when he’s paging through that book?
[Audience responds]
Andrew: Sorcerer’s Stone? Which one was it? Chamber? Okay, yeah.
Audience Member: Chamber, it’s in the beginning.
Andrew: Which was kind of nice, because I think – that’s also kind of a nice little throwback to the previous films…
Audience Member: Totally, yeah.
Andrew: …because that’s probably the original footage that they shot…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: …for Chamber of Secrets, and then they brought it out again for this film.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: But…
Audience Member: Oh, well.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Helena Bonham Carter as Hermione
Andrew: Yeah, as you heard by that applause, people agree with you. [laughs] Hi.
Audience Member: Hi. I just wanted to know what you thought about Helena Bonham Carter as Hermione.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: What do you think, Keith?
Keith: She did a great job. That was – how she was walking on her ankles and stuff…
[Audience laughs]
Keith: …and stumbling all over the place. Yeah, she did good.
Andrew: And the attitude. Hermione learning Bellatrix’s attitude was really funny too. [laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Peter Pettigrew
Audience Member: Hi.
Andrew: Hi.
Audience Member: I’m Kate from Palo Alto, California.
[Audience cheers]
Audience Member: Yeah!
Andrew: Didn’t you say – you said to me the other day…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: …you trick-or-treated at Steve Jobs’ house?
Audience Member: Yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Audience: Because he lives close.
Andrew: That’s funny.
Audience Member: He lives a couple of blocks away.
Andrew: Apple talk.
Ben: Andrew is going to come visit.
Andrew: I told her…
Audience Member: Yeah, you told me.
Andrew: …”I’m going to go trick-or-treating with you next year.”
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: Well, anyways, what really bothered me from Part 1 was that Peter Pettigrew didn’t die. And I was hoping that he would die in this movie, but he…
Andrew: That was a major disappointment.
Audience Member: Yeah. I – what do you think?
Andrew: Because at the end of Part 1, you see Ron knock him out the way?
Audience: Dobby.
Andrew: Dobby, yeah.
Audience Member: Dobby. And he goes, “Owww,” and then falls.
Andrew: Yeah, he falls over and that’s it.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: There’s no redemption, there’s nothing.
Audience Member: Well, because then – I was thinking, because in Snape’s – “The Prince’s Tale” or whatever, you see Peter Pettigrew, but I think it’s…
Andrew: It’s some dumb shot from a previous movie.
Audience Member: Yeah, so…
Andrew: Yeah. No, I agree, that was a disappointment.
Audience Member: I was really disappointed.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: But yeah, that’s it.
Andrew: I’ll give you the classic director and producer line. [poorly imitating a British accent] “You know, it was just for time. We just didn’t have time to do it.”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: “I’m sorry, we couldn’t do anything else.”
MuggleCast 234 Transcript (continued)
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Early Screening
Audience Member: Hi guys.
Andrew: Hi.
Audience Member: Emily from Melbourne, Australia. I just had a question for – well you, Andrew, and Eric even though he’s not here. What was the biggest difference for you having seen the screening back in Chicago, apart from score and special effects? Any scenes or…
Andrew: They didn’t really change much. Yeah.
Audience Member: Basically the same?
Andrew: Yeah. Honestly, it was the same length. I don’t know if they cut or added much. I don’t know, that’s a boring answer but that’s the truth. And when we saw the test screening, the movie relies so much on those special effects that I felt like I hadn’t even seen it back in April. So it was interesting to see them all complete. And the special effects did look great, but occasionally in 3D I noticed a couple of things that looked kind of cheesy. And one of the things I thought actually did not look good was in – and they called this the most technically complicated scene in the movie – in the Lestrange vault, all the gold.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Did that look weird to anyone, when it started filling up more and more?
Audience Member 2: It wasn’t hot.
Andrew: It wasn’t hot. And they even say it starts multiplying when you touch it, but things were multiplying that weren’t even being touched.
[Audience responds in agreement]
Andrew: Yeah, and I get it, for film it’s more action packed, but they throw that line in there, “Whatever you touch multiplies.”
Audience Member: I think they meant by that, that once they multiplied they started touching each other.
Andrew: And then keep doing it?
Audience Member: And then the multiplied pieces multiplied themselves, and then just kept going.
Andrew: Perhaps.
Audience Member: It actually reminded me of Sonic the Hedgehog, the game, where you’re rolling along…
Andrew: [laughs] Sonic.
Audience Member: …and then you hit something sharp and all your coins just…
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: …jump out everywhere. But – yeah.
Andrew: All right. Well, thank you.
Keith: What’s amazing about that is they made 7,000 of those little trophies.
Andrew: Yeah, handmade.
Keith: Handmade, 7,000.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Character Deaths
Andrew: Hey.
Audience Member: Hey. Back to the confetti – [laughs] sorry. I was wondering why none of the, I guess, good guy deaths were on-screen, and all of the deaths that we saw on-screen were bad guys, and it was them turning to confetti? Do you think it was a ratings thing? I don’t know, because also, it seemed to just make it all more comical, like Voldemort being ridiculous.
Andrew: Well, I mean – again, in the book you don’t see Tonks and Lupin die.
Audience Member: Yeah. But…
Andrew: Which is disappointing. I know what you’re saying, though. Why would you – I think…
Audience Member: But none of the good guy deaths were on-screen.
Andrew: Right.
Audience Member: Even Lavender, by the time you get to her she’s already dead.
Andrew: Yeah. It is – I don’t know.
Ben: Nobody wants to see the good guys die.
[Audience Member laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, imagine the sobbing at that point. Oh man! Yeah, I don’t know – yeah. Sorry, another boring answer but that’s like – I don’t know. What do you think, Micah?
Micah: It could be a ratings thing though, because if you look at how Bellatrix and Voldemort died, it wasn’t as if their dead bodies were right there. I mean, the scariest thing probably in the whole film was that fetus in King’s Cross Station.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Teddy Lupin
Audience Member: Hi.
Andrew: Hi.
Audience Member: First, Evanna Lynch tweeted:
“Lost in the hotel and can’t get to MuggleCast.”
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: [continues]
“Someone in the hotel please tell them and send a Portkey.”
So if we could send a Portkey to Evanna Lynch…
Andrew: Well, thank you for that Twitter update.
Ben: How long ago did she tweet that?
[Someone in audience shouts “Four minutes ago!”]
Audience Member: Four minutes.
Andrew: Apparently Eric is lost, too, right now, so maybe they’ll bump into each other.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: And Teddy Lupin. In the scene in the forest, Harry says to Remus, “Remus, your son,” and I’m like, “Wait, we never mentioned a son earlier in this film. How did Harry know he had a son?”
Andrew: Well, because in Part 1 there’s that half “blink and you miss it” moment where Tonks is about to tell Harry, I guess.
Audience Member: But she doesn’t even say it.
Andrew: Right, she’s about to and then she gets cut off.
Audience Member: So how does Harry know?
Andrew: Because he was told later off-screen.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: Well, why couldn’t it be on-screen?
Andrew: Yeah, I know. I agree, I agree. And if you follow these movies very closely – there’s a great editorial on MuggleNet called “Half-Baked Harry” and it just points out all the differences between the books and films, and why things don’t add up at all. And I would fear the director and producers reading that because they would probably just feel awful about themselves. [laughs] And Steve Kloves, too. But – he got filled in later, that’s the answer. Hi.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Gryffindor Scarf During Snape’s Death
Audience Member: Hi. I was wondering if you guys noticed, when Voldemort was killing or about to kill Snape, the Gryffindor scarf behind Snape. And I was wondering if you noticed how that kind of represented that a) they sort too early, and b) his courage in the moment. And I was wondering what you thought of it.
Andrew: And where was it?
Audience Member: In the boathouse. It was behind Snape.
Andrew: And you saw it in the background?
Audience Member: It was just a Gryffindor scarf.
Andrew: Okay. I didn’t see that. I saw a sweater hanging on a doorknob.
[Audience Member laughs]
Andrew: Do you guys remember seeing that?
Keith: I didn’t catch that at all.
Audience Member: No?
Andrew: That’s really cool though.
Audience Member: Okay. Well…
Andrew: That is really cool.
Audience Member: …I just thought you might want to know.
Andrew: Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. [whispers] I think she’s lying.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Just kidding. I’m just kidding. Hi.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Dumbledore & Grindelwald’s Affiliation
Audience Member: Hi. I was just wondering what you guys thought about how they left out the whole Dumbledore affiliation with Grindelwald.
Andrew: The Dumbledore what?
Audience Member: The Dumbledore affiliation with Grindelwald.
Andrew: It’s never really fleshed out, right?
Audience Member: Yeah. Because I was kind of annoyed because they didn’t do the whole “Is Dumbledore as white as his beard?” Harry never really had a reason to mistrust Dumbledore. And Ariana, yeah.
Andrew: Any comments about that, guys?
Keith: They never really made him think that Albus was bad to begin with. I mean, Harry had some questions about Albus but he didn’t ever feel like he couldn’t trust him. I think they showed it in the movie like they always trusted – that Harry always trusted Dumbledore. So they didn’t have to bring up that thing that they do in the book.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Micah: Doesn’t Aberforth talk about his brother’s quest for power at one point in The Hog’s Head?
Audience Member: Yeah, and they never really explain it.
Micah: That’s the only real reference to it. And also in Part 1, Voldemort doesn’t kill Grindelwald, does he? And he does in the book.
Audience Member: Yeah, he does in the book.
Andrew: But I think they said – and maybe it’ll come more in this scene. One of the scenes they cut down a lot was Aberforth’s talk with Harry, which would have been nice to see. I mean, I don’t know if it would have hurt the film, adding that whole thing in. A couple of extra minutes, maybe, of story? Thank you. Hello!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Potter House
Audience Member: Hi.
Andrew: I cut you off earlier, right?
Audience Member: Yes, you did.
Andrew: Yeah, sorry about that.
Audience Member: [laughs] That’s okay. This is about Snape holding Lily. Wasn’t the house supposed to be destroyed when Voldemort did the Avada Kedavra thing? And the lights were still on, so I was just, you know… [laughs]
Andrew: Emotion.
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Emotion. It was such a striking scene, right? That was another sob moment. That was one of the – that was an awful sob moment. [laughs] I just wanted to leave, I was so depressed. Everybody was so sad in the theater.
Keith: It was only that one part of the house that was destroyed.
Andrew: Yeah.
Keith: Just where the curse rebounded, that was it.
Special Guest: Evanna Lynch
Audience Member: Hi.
Andrew: What’s up, Krum?
Audience Member: My question – uhhh, not much. My question is strictly like on a movie-ism, because throughout the movies Ron isn’t made…
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Evanna! Have a seat there.
Ben: Eric found her!
Evanna Lynch: Sorry I’m late! I got lost. [laughs] I got so lost!
Andrew: It’s okay, we saw your tweet. It’s all right.
Evanna: [laughs] Okay!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: What happened? Were you lost in the back area there?
Evanna: Well you see, they take us through this really secret area in the hotel where you see all the kitchens and everything.
Andrew: Yeah.
Evanna: So I don’t know my way around and I’m just like, “Okay, bring me wherever.” And – yeah, they didn’t come and collect us, so…
Andrew: Oh.
Evanna: I tried to come here and freaked out and…
[Andrew laughs]
Evanna: I’m here, it’s okay! [laughs]
Andrew: Well, thank you for coming. Question for you, we’ve been talking about the movies a lot. First of all, you have the first line in the movie as you mentioned the other night.
Evanna: I do! [laughs]
Andrew: Congratulations! [laughs] Did you – what did you – you are such a big fan of the books. You are a true fan. That’s why everybody loves you.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: What did you think of the scene where Harry pulls Voldemort over the cliff?
Evanna: Yeah, I – that was very unexpected. I didn’t know that was going to be in it either. I think – it’s kind of cool. I mean, it’s for film value, isn’t it? And I just think it’s really raw, and I like it when they just disregard their wands and they’re just sort of clawing at each other. I don’t know. Melissa raised this point: Why did Harry do that? [laughs] Did he expect that Voldemort was just going to fly him to safety?
Andrew: Right.
Evanna: I still think it’s cool, it’s effective. What about you?
Andrew: Well, my thing has always been that Harry and Voldemort just don’t touch each other.
Evanna: Oh.
Andrew: I didn’t like it. And there’s this funny clip on YouTube, somebody re-edited it, and I put it on my Facebook. Harry and Voldemort – Harry starts to pull him over and then it goes really slow, and the Titanic theme comes up.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: And they start falling and it’s like, [singing] “Near, far, wherever you are.”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: It’s really funny. Sorry. I’m sorry, Evanna. You’re very confused right now. [laughs] Trust me, it’s better on YouTube.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: So, did you ask your question?
Audience Member: No.
Andrew: [laughs] Go for it.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Ron
Audience Member: My question was strictly about movie Ron, because movie Ron is never made out to be, frankly, that intelligent. And so, when Harry is about to go into the forest, he tells Hermione, “It’s something that I’ve expected,” and he’s alluding to the fact that he’s a Horcrux. And Hermione sort of understands, but Ron is just sort of standing there. And so, I was just wondering, what were your thoughts on maybe – what was Ron thinking?
Eric: He was – if I could…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I think he was thinking, “I just made out with Hermione.”
[Andrew laughs, Audience cheers]
Evanna: “I’ll let you have this one. It’s okay, Harry.” I think it’s that they have a different relationship. Harry and Hermione are just close in a different way, and – yeah, I thought it was odd as well, but I suppose it was Ron saying, “I won’t do the jealous thing anymore. [laughs] I’ll just stand back.” But – hmm.
[Andrew laughs]
Evanna: I don’t know.
Favorite Harry Potter Movie Scene
Andrew: All right, thank you. Hello!
Audience Member: Hi, I’m Gina from Chicago. I just had a general question. Now that we’ve seen all the movies, do you have a favorite scene from…
Andrew: All of them?
Audience Member: From all of them.
Andrew: [sighs] Well, I guess we can go down the line. Evanna, there was an awesome moment at the UK press conference where everybody went down and each gave their favorite line. That was so good.
Evanna: Some did it in their voice. I don’t think I did, but…
Andrew: Yeah, some did it in their – what was your line? Favorite line?
Evanna: “You’re just as sane as I am.”
[Andrew laughs, Audience cheers]
Andrew: Favorite scene. Eric, favorite scene overall? Of all eight.
Eric: All eight films. “You’re a wizard, Harry.”
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Yeah, that’s kind of a classic, yeah.
Eric: That’s where I started with my journey on Harry Potter, so I think that’s probably fitting.
Andrew: Evanna?
Evanna: I don’t know. There’s so many I love, but I think the one that stood out in the last film was – you know “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” that sequence? It’s animation and – or whatever you call it. I don’t know what that is done in. But – it’s just so nice and it was so out of the blue and refreshing, and no one on the cast knew and I thought that was cool. And I really enjoyed the Time Turner sequence in “3” because it’s very hard to get your head around that in the book, and I think seeing it played out on film just makes it a bit clearer, yeah.
Andrew: I think Steve Kloves, while doing press for his most recent movie, said that was one of his most difficult scenes to write – he’s a screenwriter – because you’re going back in time and balancing time so the characters run into – see themselves. So yeah, that must have been so intricate and hard to work out. Keith?
Keith: Every scene with Evanna.
[Andrew laughs, Audience cheers]
Keith: No, I think my favorite out of all of them is still the battle in the Department of Mysteries. I really liked that whole sequence, the prophecies falling, the Death Chamber sequence. I mean, it’s not like the book but it was good enough. And then the battle afterwards with Voldemort and Dumbledore. I like that whole section. It’s probably my favorite part in the books, too.
Andrew: Micah?
Micah: I think the scene in Half-Blood Prince where Harry is in Hagrid’s hut with Slughorn and he’s trying to get the memory away from him, and I guess Hagrid and Slughorn are both a little bit tipsy.
[Audience laughs]
Micah: But I think there was this piece that got added about Lily and the fish that Slughorn had.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: And I don’t think that was in the book at all, and that was a cool scene.
Andrew: Benjamin?
Ben: For me the graveyard is where it’s at, because with the book – the book, it was just like – to me that was the whole turning point of the entire series, and that was the most well-done part and I think that they did a great job visually with that. And then of course the whole screaming and Cedric’s father, and…
[Small noise comes from the audience]
Ben: Did somebody just bark at me?
[Audience laughs]
Ben: But yeah, the graveyard scene was a good one.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: One of my favorite scenes – I don’t have a specific favorite scene but I think now that all of them are done, I appreciate Sorcerer’s Stone so much now. And especially the end – Harry and Quirrel/Voldemort’s fight was so good because you just see little Harry going up against this guy who he’s going to be dealing with for seven years now and it’s kind of just like, “Wow, how far he’s come.” So watching that again, I think that’s one of my favorite scenes.
Audience Member: Thank you.
Andrew: Thank you! Hi!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Theme of Love
Audience Member: Hi! I have two little things. Before you were talking about how good Voldemort was in this movie, and I totally agree, and I think my favorite part was when he discovers that a Horcrux has been destroyed and then he’s just so mad that he just breaks out and kills somebody randomly.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: I thought that was so fitting. I mean, it’s terrible that somebody just randomly died but I thought it worked so well and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: I don’t know if I’m the only person that thinks that, but I thought it worked really well.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Clap, clap, clap! What was your question, or…
Audience Member: But then for Voldemort and Harry’s duel at the end, I feel like since they cut out the speech you lost a lot of the theme of love conquering, because you didn’t get that explanation of how Lily sacrificed herself for Harry and how his sacrifice was protecting everyone else, and – did you feel that a little bit of the love was lost?
Andrew: I mean, if you look at Snape’s pain though…
Audience Member: Yeah, you got it there, but…
Andrew: You see him holding Lily because he’s clearly lost somebody that he loves so much. I mean – that for me just got the message across.
Audience Member: Yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: How about anyone else? Any other comments?
[Prolonged silence]
Andrew: I summed up everybody.
[Audience cheers]
Audience Member: Awesome!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Cho Chang
Andrew: Hello!
Audience Member: Hello! This may be minor, but I was just wondering – trying to figure out what year Cho Chang was in.
Andrew: Sorry, can you get closer to the mic? What – Cho Chang what?
Audience Member: What year Cho Chang was in. Because when the members of Dumbledore’s Army returned, there were some old faces. Someone mentioned Angelina was there and I thought they had already graduated, but I saw Cho in her uniform in the scene where…
Keith: Yeah, in the book…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Keith: …she’s a year older than Harry, but in the movie they made her the same year.
Audience Member: Oh okay, yeah.
Keith: It’s just like Padma and Parvati are in the same house in the movies, but in the books they’re Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
Audience Member: Okay. Okay, thank you!
Keith: It’s just for movies.
Audience Member: Yup, thanks!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Fenrir Greyback
Andrew: Hello!
Audience Member: Hey guys. I’m just wondering if anybody noticed this, but I think Fenrir Greyback was the first one on the bridge, and when Neville blew it up he plummeted to his death. But then a few minutes later, he got to attack Lavender.
Audience Member 2: It was a Snatcher!
Andrew: “It was a Snatcher,” says the audience.
Audience Member: Which one?
Audience: Scabior.
Audience Member 2: The one that smells Hermione.
Andrew: “The one that smells Hermione,” says Bellatrix who’s very creepily sitting in the front. I thought you were disintegrated?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: How are you back?
Audience Member: So which one – I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
Audience: Scabior.
Audience Member: Was on the bridge?
Audience: Yeah.
Andrew: Scabior was on the bridge?
Audience Member 2: Yeah, then he fell.
Andrew: Then he fell.
Audience Member: Okay.
Evanna: Can I ask, where was the – was that what they were meant to blow up? Remember the bit where Professor McGonagall and Seamus Finnigan are walking through, and they’re like, “Boom?” “Boom!”, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Evanna: Where was the boom? Was that supposed to be the bridge?
Audience Member: The bridge, yeah.
Evanna: Was it? Okay.
Eric: I think so.
Evanna: Thank you. [laughs]
Andrew: I guess that makes sense then, yeah. Hello.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Finding Horcruxes
Audience Member: Hi. There was another thing that really annoyed me both in Part 1 and Part 2, was that since at the end of Half-Blood Prince they said, “Oh, a Horcrux could be anything,” which was exactly the opposite from what they said in the book. It seemed like Harry would go to a place, and then walk in and be like, “My Horcrux senses are tingling.”
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: And then there was like this mysterious ringing noise.
[laughs]
Andrew: Well – but I think that’s to help moviegoers understand that he’s getting close to a Horcrux, and to help understand what’s going on in Harry’s head. They have to do some noise. I mean, how else – what else is it going to do? Glow? Or a light is going to shine on it like, “Ahhh”?
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: But he walks into the vault and it’s like he’s magnetically attracted to it, to the cup. He’s looking around and he’s like, “I see it! My Horcrux senses are honing in on that cup,” and it was just so annoying to me. [laughs]
Eric: It’s true that that was part of – it seemed to be part of his plan, was to just wait for him to hear or detect the Horcrux, for instance when he enters the vault. But I think also that that helped communicate what we find out at the climax – or one of the climaxes – that Harry is a Horcrux, or that he actually has part of the soul that he’s going around destroying parts of souls. So that connection is solidified a little bit more by that development.
Andrew: Thank you, and I’m sorry you were disappointed. Whoever is at the end of the line right now, that’ll be – okay, you’re the last person, so push anyone away who comes up.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No, you don’t have to go back. Or somebody is going back. Oh okay, she was taking pictures. Hi, Team Lupin.
Voldemort’s Soul Inside Harry
Audience Member: Hello. So this is kind of like a theory or a statement. Obviously Harry is a Horcrux and Basilisk fangs destroy Horcruxes, and in the second book Harry gets stabbed by a Basilisk fang, so shouldn’t the Horcrux have been destroyed then?
Ben: Ooh!
Audience: Ooh!
[applauds]
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Do you think that Fawkes came in too soon, maybe?
Audience Member: I’ve had this theory for a while, so yeah, that’s what I came up with.
Andrew: So Fawkes shouldn’t have saved him? Would he have gone to King’s Cross right then and there?
Eric: Well, it’s difficult because Voldemort had to be the one to kill him. But then, I guess the diary sicked the Basilisk on – the diary Riddle sicked the – it’s very complicated.
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Where is the Horcrux inside Harry? Where is it? Is it in his head?
Eric: Is it his scar, though?
Keith: It’s in his scar and he got stabbed in the arm. The blood – the venom didn’t travel up there.
Ben: Yeah.
Audience Member: That’s true.
Evanna: Is the Horcrux that little baby? Because then it’s in his womb, isn’t it?
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Ben: But wait a second, if he had gotten killed – if he had died from it, wouldn’t the Horcrux have been destroyed then, probably? Yeah, because he had to die – or sort of die – in order to get rid of it.
Andrew: Mhm. Good point, though.
Eric: Yeah, very interesting.
Andrew: Thank you. Hello.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Slytherin
Audience Member: Hello. This is another Slytherin thing. I was like – how in the books where they actually gave them a choice. In the movies they kind of just dismissed them, like they couldn’t stay if they wanted to, even. And like how – when all the centaurs are coming back – at the final battle, the Slytherins came back with reinforcements, with Slughorn, and I thought in the movies, since it was like you could miss it so easily in the book, like it didn’t really describe it. It wasn’t until Jo confirmed it that you would actually know that it was the Slytherins with them. I thought in the movies that they would make it more clear that there were Slytherins there, too. Because it kind of seems like they just kept going for the “All Slytherins are bad” in this movie still.
Andrew: I don’t know.
Eric: It’s true, so much is happening in that battle scene, and I think they did, in the movie, kind of go the way of separating Slytherins by sort of having them be the less morally upstanding – or in terms of – but as a listener mentioned earlier as well, some of the Slytherins had parents who were Death Eaters and that sort of thing. So I think there was a good case to be made that the Slytherins – although they did not overtly participate in the films in the final battle, that it’s something that they would – it’s still in the books, but also that there may be other reasons, that it’s not necessarily all bad.
Keith: Somebody told me that they saw Pansy Parkinson in the Great Hall, like maybe when they were licking their wounds in between the battles? Is Scarlett here? Was she in one of those scenes?
Evanna: Yeah, Scarlett. Yeah, she said that. She said that the Slytherins were out, so – they don’t really explain how they broke out, but she said that there’s a scene that’s been cut from the film where Filch goes down to the dungeons and the Slytherins are there, and it sort of blows up and they all get out and scatter. [laughs]
Keith: Yeah, they saw Pansy in the film.
Evanna: Yeah, so it’s not explained, but they do get out. They don’t waste away in the dungeons.
[Audience laughs]
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Harry’s Realization
Audience Member: I was also wondering…
Andrew: Thank…
Audience Member: Oh, sorry.
Andrew: Well, can you tilt the mic up first so we can hear you a little bit better? And then we’ll – go ahead. Yeah, there you go. Okay, go ahead.
Audience Member: In Harry’s – the scene where he – after he just came out of the Pensieve and he realizes what he has to do, I thought in the books it was more anxious than it was in the movies, because he is just passing everything and feeling nostalgic, and doesn’t stop and say anything. And it’s like he’s finally being – it’s like the one moment where he’s being really noble and not having to include everyone. Where in the movies, it seems like they have that more hero aspect of it because Ron and Hermione stop him, and there’s that really big scene where Hermione is crying and knows that he has to do that, and he says that he’s a Horcrux and stuff.
Andrew: I love that scene where Harry and Hermione have the realization that he does need to go kill himself, that Voldemort needs to go – that Voldemort has to kill him.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: What? Yeah, so…
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: I liked it, too, but I just thought in the books he was like – I don’t even know how to explain it, but it was just like – it showed how much mature he was, too, because he just knew that he had to do this alone and he was going to walk to his death without including anyone. And I thought it was maybe a little bit more emotional in a different way because he sees Ginny and he wonders if she can sense him because she looks over, but he doesn’t want to bother her and make her upset by her knowing that he’s going to die.
Eric: I feel like one of the decisions they say that they made very early on in Prisoner of Azkaban, the film, was to tell the story from Harry’s journey, which omitted certain story lines such as the Marauders from those films. And so when you’re watching DH: Part 2 and you see more of a visual Harry – that moment when he leaves the Pensieve and just sits down and breathes among the realization that he has to go kill himself is sort of the way it translated onto film, that he was thinking about Ginny, that he was thinking about the other characters.
Andrew: Thank you!
Audience Member: Thank you.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Protection Around Hogwarts Castle
Andrew: Hey, Xavier.
Audience Member: Hey, guys. Okay, so I wanted to compliment and get your opinions on the protection that was put around the school, because I think in the books it’s very hard and it leaves it up to interpretation of how it would visually appear outside. And in Part 1 they kind of showed where Scabior and Hermione are very close together, but it’s invisible. There’s no visual line there. But in Part 2, all of the teachers – you could see the wand tips and the trail of the spells go up from different areas and build that dome around the school. And I thought that was amazing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: I thought those filmmakers did a good job.
Andrew: Yeah. Absolutely. And cinematically it just looked great because it was this montage of the teachers just holding their wands – teachers and Molly and…
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: I think that was it.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, it looked great.
Evanna: Yeah, I thought it was really beautiful and it kind of reminded me of the way the Patronuses – it’s people who have good in their hearts, so they can make this really strong protection over the school. And it has that silvery sheen to it that the Patronus has which was just really nice.
Andrew: Yeah.
Evanna: Yeah.
Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Discussion: Phoenix Wand’s Protection Against Voldemort
Audience Member: And the other note I had was a friend of mine had mentioned – regarding a part in Part 1 where the wands – where Harry was passed out and his wand acted of its own accord. Someone – and I may need a book reminder, but someone had mentioned – a friend of mine – that because Horcruxes have naturally defensive qualities to themselves, that maybe the wand wasn’t really Harry, it was the Horcrux protecting itself from when Voldemort was attempting to kill Harry. And I wanted your opinion on that, because technically Harry is a Horcrux. It would naturally want to protect itself.
Andrew: You’re talking about at the very end, the final duel?
Audience Member: No, no, no, Part 1.
Keith: No, in Part 1 on the motorbike…
Audience Member: Where Harry is passed out in the car.
Keith: …and the wands meet without Harry actually knowing.
Audience Member: Yeah, Harry’s passed out and his wand acts on its own, and he throws it up and Harry passes out.
Keith: Yeah, it’s just the Horcrux – they can’t kill each other. They are protected from each other. So…
Audience Member: Because it wasn’t really defined in the books.
Keith: …the Horcrux is acting against Voldemort.
Eric: In the books it was very specific that Harry had to know and willingly sacrifice himself in order for the Horcruxes to be – in order for Voldemort to be able to kill him without that sort of thing happening.
Audience Member: Yeah. The wand acting of its own accord, that is kind of what was touched on. Okay, thanks guys.
Andrew: Thanks, Xavier. Just celebrated his twenty-first birthday. It’s a very exciting time.
Keith: Happy birthday, Xave!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: [laughs] It’s a good time to be at LeakyCon for Xavier. Hello!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Luna and Romance
Audience Member: Hi. First of all, I just wanted to say that you’re just as sane as I am, Evanna.
Evanna: Yay!
[Everyone cheers]
Audience Member: But also, my question was for you and I was just wondering if you ever thought that Luna might have feelings for Harry since he was the first person to really befriend her and all.
Evanna: That Luna might what, sorry?
Audience Member: If Luna might have feelings for Harry.
Andrew: Does Luna have feelings for Harry?
Evanna: I don’t think so, no. I think she really understands him. I think when she sees him – and she can’t help but watch him in a way that she knows what he’s going through. She’s very perceptive and intuitive, and she always picks up on people’s feelings, and Harry especially. He’s just someone who never, ever stops thinking, and he’s always got all these emotions raging through him. And Luna is the complete opposite. When I say “not think” I don’t mean she’s not smart. Of course she’s smart, but she just doesn’t analyze things, she lets things happen. And Harry is the opposite. And often when you recognize when someone is the opposite of you, you understand them more than yourself. So I think she’s fascinated by Harry and she’s aware of the massive task, the massive burden, he has. But no, I don’t think feelings are a part of it, no.
Audience Member: All right.
Evanna: What about you? What do you think?
Audience Member: I always thought that they might be together, just because they connected on so many levels and all.
Evanna: Because of what?
Audience Member: Since they connected on so many levels…
Evanna: Yeah.
Audience Member: …with losing their parents and all that. Or at least Luna’s mom, not her dad.
Evanna: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: Speaking of Luna and love, what do you think of at the end of the movie where Luna and Neville…
Evanna: Awww, I thought it – yeah.
Andrew: You like it?
[Audience cheers]
Evanna: I love that ship. I think it’s really cute. I think they have a connection because they’re both sort of outsiders but they’re oddly comfortable with that and they aren’t influenced by other people despite what everyone says about them. So yeah, I think it’s really cute in the battle scene as well, because it’s just all in the heat of the moment, isn’t it? It’s like, “We’re going to die, we have to do something,” and Neville’s like, “Yeah, yeah, okay. I’m mad for her, I’ll go for it!” And then afterward it’s like, “Ooh, I shouldn’t have said that.”
[Everyone laughs]
Evanna: It’s really awkward. Yeah, I don’t think Neville and Luna would go the distance. I think she’s a bit too eccentric for him and she has all these crazy ideas. And Neville just seems to – he wants to just be there with his plants, have a nice, simple life.
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Andrew: Matt Lewis described it as a “summer fling” during the press conferences.
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Evanna: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] I think that’s a good way to put it.
Evanna: [laughs] I think so.
Andrew: Yeah.
Evanna: Yeah.
Audience Member: All right. Well, thank you.
Evanna: Thank you.
MuggleCast 234 Transcript (continued)
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Voldemort’s Eyes
Andrew: Hey, man.
Audience Member: Hello.
Andrew: What’s your question?
Audience Member: Yeah, we’ve mentioned eyes being the wrong color. What’s always got to me is, why is the Dark Lord’s eyes this bright, sparkly blue?
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: What do you think of it?
Andrew: What should they be? Black?
Audience: Red.
Audience Member: Red.
Andrew: Red, right.
Audience Member: What does everybody think about it?
Eric: I think on our 200th episode, landmark episode, we did get to interview David Heyman and he talked about Goblet of Fire, the production of actually creating Voldemort, what everybody in their minds – the books, how they describe him as having slit eyes – or a slit nose but red eyes. And I believe David Heyman said that it was really about making him look more human because he was once a human and that it would be almost comical if he had the red eyes, the slits. And he does have no nose which in itself is a remarkable thing to do with makeup and things like that. But I think the eyes – because the eyes are the portals to the soul and it’s very much about believing in him as a villain that that’s why they made that. I don’t know why he has blue eyes, though. Maybe because Ralph Fiennes might have…
Ben: I think they’re dreamy, personally.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Thanks, man.
Audience Member: Thank you!
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: The Malfoys
Andrew: Hello!
Audience Member: Hi! I’m Alison from Australia.
[Audience cheers]
Audience Member: [laughs] I was just wondering what you guys thought about the stuff that they included with the Malfoys, including what Harry said in the Room of Requirement and what was probably the most awkward hug filmed – one of the most awkward hugs filmed ever on screen.
Evanna: If you can call it that, a hug. Maybe.
Andrew: What’s that?
Evanna: I said, “If you can call it that.”
Andrew: Oh. [laughs]
Audience Member: Yeah, [laughs] I think the intention was there but it was just kind of like really awkward. Anyway, I was wondering what you guys thought about that.
Andrew: Well, one thing interesting about the Malfoys was apparently they shot multiple endings for the Malfoys and they decided at a later time which way to actually end it. And Jason Isaacs said, I think, that one of the ways they shot it was Lucius actually gets trampled by fellow Death Eaters.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Which would be pretty interesting to see and – yeah, and heard. [laughs] But – and your question was, how…
Audience Member: What did you guys think of maybe the hug or what Harry said in the Room of Requirement? Kind of drew the audience’s attention to the fact that Draco kind of knew it was Harry in the scene at Malfoy Manor.
Evanna: I think it shows the difference between Harry and – well, there’s so many, but that Draco – he has a chance at redemption, I suppose, and he’s standing there on the steps and there’s this really tense moment where everyone is like, “Is he going to stay?” and he doesn’t. I don’t know, the hug, it just shows you it’s all – he’s going over to the dark side, he’s cowardly. And I think the Malfoys – my mom actually was saying, they’re quite like the Dursleys. They’re only for themselves, aren’t they? You see them walking away at the end. They just want to be where the power is and they don’t want to get hurt. They don’t want to sacrifice anything. I don’t know, what about you?
Eric: Yeah, I really like – we talked earlier about Ginny and the plot in the films not necessarily being as successful. I think they definitely – the Malfoy subplot, we always see where Lucius is. Even in the books where he may be off-scene or in Azkaban, we see what’s happening. In the opening scenes of Deathly Hallows – Part 1 where Voldemort confronts Lucius and takes his wand and breaks his wand is just exceptional character moments. And the whole Malfoy family is treated to so many of those in the films, especially in Part 2. What did you guys think?
Andrew: I gave my thoughts. Micah?
Micah: I think with Draco, too, it was to show that redemptive quality. If you look at Half-Blood Prince, you know that he’s not going to kill Dumbledore and I think it shows the same thing in Malfoy Manor. He’s not going to give up Harry because he’s so afraid. And I think towards the end, even with Lucius, it seems like he’s lost connection with his son completely. It’s his mother who he ends up answering to at the final battle and walking away with.
Keith: I’d really like to know what happened with Lucius. I’d like to know if Lucius is divorced, paying huge amounts of alimony…
[Everyone laughs]
Keith: …or if he’s actually still in Malfoy Manor and distant from Draco.
Andrew: Yeah, I was going to say.
Keith: I mean, I want to know what the resolution of that is.
Eric: I think they got their son back and that they’re going to try and rebuild.
Keith: What do you think, Evanna?
Evanna: You know what? I was wondering about the relationship between Lucius and Narcissa, because you get the feeling that she just loses all respect for him throughout that film, and his fall from grace, and Voldemort taking his wand. And she only cares about Draco, and you see that when she sort of betrays Voldemort and she says, “Yeah, he’s dead.” And I just – yeah, I’d say Lucius Malfoy never really recovers from that. It’s just – he’s lost all his prestige, hasn’t he?
Keith: Yeah, you can see that when they walk across the bridge and it’s…
Evanna: Yeah.
Keith: …Draco holding hands with his mother.
Evanna: Yeah.
Keith: And Lucius is looking over his shoulder, kind of lost.
Evanna: Yeah.
Andrew: The fan sites asked Jason Isaacs what he thinks Lucius deserves and he said, “Nothing. He deserves nothing.” He’s dug himself way too deep a hole and deserves to have a miserable life.
Evanna: Yeah.
Keith: Well, he has nothing. He has no wand.
Andrew: Well, right. Yeah.
Keith: That’s the wizard’s lifeline right there, is the wand.
Evanna: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Keith: No wand? You’re not even a wizard.
Evanna: Yeah. He’s really like – I love that scene as well with Voldemort, when he says to Lucius, “How do you live with yourself?” You never really see Voldemort considering someone but even Voldemort is disgusted by the person that he is, and there is just nothing redeeming about him and – like Snape. He’s nasty but he’s done this amazing sacrifice for Lily, for love and everything. And what has Lucius done? Nothing really, yeah. He’s a crap person.
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Andrew: Thank you.
Audience Member: Thank you.
[Audience applauds]
Evanna Recites Movie Line
Andrew: Hey, man.
Audience Member: Is this good?
Andrew: Yeah, go ahead. Take it off.
Audience Member: You know what? I’m kind of free-styling.
Andrew: That’s fine, yeah. Do what you want.
Audience Member: Because that’s how I roll.
Andrew: That’s cool.
Audience Member: All right. Evanna? Did I pronounce it right?
Evanna: Yeah!
Audience Member: Okay, just checking. I really enjoy your portrayal of Luna in the movies, just want to say that. I think you really capture the character, kind of how she has an honesty to her, a sincerity but also kind of like I guess a whimsy to her.
Evanna: Huh?
Audience Member: A whimsy. Whimsical nature.
Andrew: Luna is a whimsical character.
Evanna: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: Is that what you’re saying?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: I feel like “spacey” would be kind of derogatory, like offensive, so I chose whimsical.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Audience Member: But anyways, I think one of my favorite lines is something along the lines of – you’re riding one of the carriages with Harry to Hogwarts and you’re saying, “I hope they have pudding.”
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Audience Member: Would you mind reciting that line?
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: Or something along those lines? Not to put you on the spot.
Evanna: Okay.
[Audience and Evanna laugh]
Audience Member: Wait, breathe, breathe. It’s okay.
[Audience laughs]
Evanna: What’s the lead up?
Eric: The lead up is they’re really embarrassed by Neville’s Mimbulus mimbletonia, I think. Isn’t it? And then she…
Audience Member: These guys know.
Eric: Oh, in the books…
Evanna: She’s in the scene with Harry and it’s really awkward. [unintelligible] “Hungry. I hope there’s pudding.” [laughs]
[Audience cheers]
Audience Member: [laughs] Thank you very much. It made my day.
Evanna: I’d say she’s got a real sweet tooth as well because – I’m kind of like this. I prefer to eat the meals backwards. I just want to get to the good bit, you know?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Evanna: She’s someone who doesn’t try and – she just goes with what she feels, so it’s probably just pudding that whole time.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Thank you.
Audience Member: Thank you.
Andrew: You’re a bit whimsical yourself, I have to say.
Audience Member: That’s what they say.
Ben: You kind of look like one of Harry and the Potters.
[Andrew and Audience laughs]
Ben: I thought you were one of them.
Evanna: So did I, so did I.
Audience Member: Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. [laughs] We’ll see. All right.
Andrew: Tell your brother Paul we said hi.
[Audience laughs]
Evanna: Thank you.
Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Discussion: Oscar for Alan Rickman
Andrew: Hello.
Audience Member: Hi.
Andrew: Last question.
Audience Member: Hi guys. First of all, I want to say that y’all are all absolutely fantastic.
Andrew: Thanks.
Audience Member: I have a question about Melissa’s prediction. I don’t know if you’ve spoken about this yet, but do you really think Alan Rickman could get some real recognition for that role that he played?
Ben: No.
Keith: Yes.
Ben: I don’t think he will.
Andrew: Real nomination? Is that what Melissa…
Audience Member: Like real recognition. I mean, she said that he’d get an Oscar.
Andrew: Yeah. [sighs] Man…
Audience Member: I just – I mean Oscar nomination. Yeah, a nomination.
Ben: I think there’s a low probability, but he was awesome.
Andrew: You have to look at the competition, too.
Audience Member: Right. And it’s not even…
Andrew: So that’s what it’s going to come down to.
Evanna: It’s different with Harry Potter because it’s the whole series, you know? And the people – we’re judging as a fandom, knowing all the intricacies, all the emotions that he’s portraying that are in the books, whereas people – I suppose – I don’t know, but people who nominate for these awards, they just look at the film, the one film as a whole, isn’t it?
Andrew: Yeah.
Keith: Yeah, it’s just one film. But he played everything so well. The whole range.
Evanna: Yeah, it was all building up the whole time and he had all these conversations with JK Rowling, so he knew it. It was in all those performances throughout the films, so he really deserves it.
Audience Member: I agree, yeah.
Ben: Unfortunately, I don’t think the Academy is filled with Harry Potter fans…
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: …which would be great.
Audience Member: Do you know how cool that would be? Oh my gosh.
Evanna: It’s a tragedy! It really is.
Keith: How many awards did Lord of the Rings actually win before the third movie?
Eric: Thirteen.
Keith: I don’t think they won many at all. Then they won thirteen in the one year.
Eric: It was all of them. All the awards.
Keith: All on the third one, right?
Eric: All the big ones, yup.
Keith: So, I mean, it can be the same type of thing where we get a bunch of nominations. I think David Yates deserves a nomination, I think Alan Rickman deserves a nomination.
Andrew: Stuart Craig, the set designer.
Keith: Stuart Craig, for sure.
Audience Member: Alexander Desplat.
Evanna: Yes.
Andrew and Keith: Alexander Desplat.
Evanna: Give them all!
[Andrew laughs]
Keith: Eduardo Serra, who did the cinematography.
Andrew: I think one thing that’s going for Alan Rickman is that he’s so well respected in the British film world. I mean, he’s a legendary actor. He’s had quite a few amazing roles outside of Harry Potter, too. So maybe the people, the – what is it called? The Academy will look at it and say, “Wow, Alan Rickman. He’s got quite a great career and he did a good job with Part 2.” We’ll see.
Evanna: I’d also like to say the producers, David Heyman and David Barron, you don’t realize how much work they do. They basically don’t leave the studios during filming and pre-production and post-production. And they make sure the story is protected.
Andrew: Mhm.
Evanna: Everything goes through them. So they really deserve it. They’ve just devoted their whole lives to Harry Potter. And their families, too. They’re just brilliant, they’re really brilliant men.
Andrew: They’re such fans, too.
Evanna: Yeah.
[Audience applauds]
Evanna: Yay!
Dueling Club
Andrew: We had David Heyman on MuggleCast a few months ago and he was just so much fun. Micah and Eric interviewed him and we played a Dueling Club segment with him. [laughs]
Eric: What’s that, Andrew?
Andrew: We played a Dueling Club segment. Yeah.
Eric: We should do that again.
Andrew: You want to do a Dueling Club segment?
Eric: We should do that again.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Evanna, could you do it?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Evanna! No, you don’t want to do it?
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: Well, we could do a live one anyway. Eric, you want to lead it?
Eric: Sorry?
Andrew: You want to lead the Dueling Club segment?
Eric: The Dueling Club?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, sure. We could all take turns off each other or…
Andrew: Let’s just do one.
Eric: Let’s just do one?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: All right, who’s playing?
Andrew: Micah.
[Audience laughs]
Evanna: Can we be teams?
Eric: Oh…
Andrew: You want to do teams?
Eric: Teams?
Andrew: Okay. All right, then you three against us three.
Evanna: Okay.
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: Team Dueling!
Eric: This is – wow, this is brand new.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Does JK Rowling endorse this?
Eric: For those listening, and those in the audience who are not familiar with the segment or could use a refresher, the Dueling Club – it’s very visual tonight.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, I like how we move the chairs.
Eric: [laughs] There are two opposing teams, we decide on a character that we’re going to announce, and when the flag is drawn we both announce a character, more or less at the same time, and then we’re stuck with those characters. We have to defend those characters based on what we know from the films and the book series, who would win in a duel. It’s pretty much…
Evanna: Oh, this is completely different from what I was thinking.
Eric: Oh.
Evanna: Oh okay. [laughs]
Ben: So it’s kind of like rock-paper-scissors but not really.
Evanna: I thought it was like spells back and forth.
Andrew: So let’s…
Eric: [laughs] Oh!
Evanna: Yeah.
Andrew: Who do you guys want?
Evanna: Genuine dueling. What?
Andrew: Who do you guys want for your…
Eric: Just ten seconds, we’ll pick a character. You guys pick a character.
Ben: Who’s saying it? Do we all…
Andrew: What are we doing?
Eric: He’s thinking of a character to defend.
[The panel talks amongst themselves]
Andrew: Okay, we have our selection. Do you guys have yours?
Eric: Not yet. One more – five more seconds.
[The panel talks amongst themselves]
Andrew and Audience: Three, two, one.
Andrew: You got yours?
Eric: Absolutely.
Andrew: Okay, on “three.” One, two, three. Gandalf.
Eric: Neville Longbottom.
[Audience cheers and laughs]
Eric: Gandalf?
[Andrew and Ben laugh]
Eric: Hang on.
Andrew: That was Ben’s idea.
Eric: Andrew Sims is breaking canon!
Andrew: That was just a joke. That was just a joke.
Eric: Okay, who’s your real character?
Ben: The other bearded, white beard guy.
Andrew: Dumbledore?
Ben: Yeah, him.
[Audience laughs]
Evanna: Did you change?
Ben: Huh?
Evanna: You can’t change!
Ben: Well, Gandalf…
Andrew: Well, we’re not really doing Gandalf.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Because he’s not in the Harry Potter books.
Ben: We really meant Dumbledore.
Eric: You should actually – you should have to stick by your – Gandalf versus Neville Longbottom.
[Audience cheers and laughs]
Eric: They chose the rules.
Andrew: Well, you have to do this, Ben. This is all you.
Eric: Now, for clarification, are you talking about Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White?
[Audience laughs]
Ben: Huh? Both, I don’t know.
Andrew: We’re talking about “You shall not pass” Gandalf.
Audience: The Grey!
Eric: The “You shall not pass.” That was Gandalf the Grey. Thank you.
Ben: Gandalf is pretty much a god. He’s like a step below a god. He’s a demigod, isn’t he? Yeah, that’s what he is.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: So how is Neville going to beat a demigod?
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: That doesn’t work like that.
Eric: My vote is that he’s got the spirit. He’s got the sure willingness and the wit to do it. He’s a Gryffindor and Gandalf is not a Gryffindor.
Ben: Yeah, but wit isn’t going to help him…
[Audience cheers]
Ben: The wit will help him none when Gandalf blasts him across the Great Hall or wherever this duel is taking place.
Keith: We hear Gandalf does his staff and he breaks that bridge in half, right?
Andrew: Right.
Keith: Well, didn’t the bridge fall in…
Andrew: Right.
Keith: …Deathly Hallows 2 and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Keith: …Neville came out of that?
Evanna: Neville came back!
Andrew: And they both tried to stop people from passing.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: But honestly, who had the better bridge-destruction scene? I think it was Gandalf.
Audience: Neville!
Keith: Neville!
Evanna: Neville!
Andrew: I think it was Gandalf with “You shall not pass!” Boom!
[Evanna laughs]
Eric: Well – so Gandalf has got his wizard stick, which I’m sure has a better name.
[Audience laughs]
Eric: Neville has got the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, probably older.
Evanna: Yeah.
Eric: And…
Ben: But…
Evanna: And it shows – Gandalf probably just picked up a stick and said, “I’ll use this. This is fine.”
[Audience laughs]
Evanna: But…
[Andrew laughs]
Evanna: It didn’t ever happen, did it?
Ben: Gandalf has the experience though whereas Neville is like twelve.
Andrew: He’s new.
[Audience laughs]
Keith: Gandalf is going after one little Bogrod and Neville is going after a thousand Death Eaters chasing him.
[Audience cheers]
Eric: In fact…
Ben: [laughs] Neville doesn’t single-handedly kill a thousand Death Eaters.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: If he did, then maybe he can beat Gandalf.
Eric: But when Gandalf sees the armies that are coming to Helm’s Deep or he knows there’s trouble, he decides, “Oh, I’m going to go run off. I’ll get reinforcements but you’ll hear from me in about a week.”
[Audience laughs]
Eric: And he just disappears. Neville takes his Sword of Gryffindor out and he slices anything that comes his way.
Andrew: All right.
Eric: So…
Andrew: Well, I think I know the answer…
Keith: Gandalf died.
Eric: That’s okay. We’ll…
Andrew: We’ll let the audience choose. Gandalf?
[Audience and Ben cheer]
Andrew: Goodnight everyone!
Ben: Okay…
Andrew: Neville?
[Audience cheers louder]
Ben: Okay, their argument was not compelling at all!
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: How can you pick Neville?
Audience Member: We’re at a Harry Potter conference!
Ben: Gandalf the Grey, come on!
Andrew: Yeah, because we’re at LeakyCon. We’re not at…
Audience Member: Gandalf isn’t real!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: We’re not at “TolkienCon.”
Ben: Neville isn’t real!
Andrew: [laughs] Gandalf isn’t real?
Eric: And that’s how we play Dueling Club.
Show Close
Andrew: Well, to wrap up today – we mentioned box office before, but I wanted to mention there is a new number out today. Deathly Hallows – Part 2 made $43 million in the midnight box office, which is a new record.
[Audience cheers]
Ben: That beats Twilight? Our Twilight friends?
Andrew: Yes.
Ben: That beats them?
Andrew: Yeah, that beat the $30 million. So that’s what we have, everybody, for today. Thanks for coming out. Evanna, thank you so much for joining us.
[Audience cheers]
[Show music plays]