Thousands Turn Out for “Fantastic Beasts” Modesty Auditions

by · July 18, 2015

It’s been an exciting day in the Harry Potter fandom; Warner Bros. hosted an open casting call in London for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They were looking for Modesty, a “haunted” 8-12-year-old girl with “an inner strength and stillness. She has an ability to see deep into people and understand them.” In all likelihood, they found Modesty today among the thousands of hopefuls who turned up to audition.

We posted this morning to share some of the frenzy with fans around the globe—even those of us much older than 12 and halfway across the world were anxious to share in the excitement of this day!—compiling tweets and videos of those auditioning. Reports say that approximately 14,000 young girls and their families showed up to audition, most of them waiting for hours in line before getting the chance to strut their stuff in front of the casting directors. Each girl who auditioned received a certificate, and reportedly 100 girls were invited to move forward with the audition process.

We asked our readers to share a bit of what the audition process what like, and here’s what they had to say!

One young actress, Amy Newey, even wrote to share what her day was like:

After recently finishing recording with Glenn Close & Gemma Arterton for ‘She Who Brings Gifts’, which is released next year, I saw the news story about the open casting for Fantastic Beasts and wanted to give it a go.

After a 5[-]a.m. wake up alarm, hour and a half cat journey and an hour on the tube, we finally arrived at the London Excel […] at 8:30 a.m. to be met with one enormous queue. It seemed to go on forever, but we joined the back of it, and it quickly started moving. We were luckily sheltered from the sun initially, but after a while, we were out in the open and beginning to bake. We went from one queue to another before finally making it into the cool arena. By now we’d been in the queue for just over 2 hours, and the one inside seemed even longer. There were no moans from everyone. We were all just too excited for the potential dream of getting the part of Modesty. After weaving up and down the hall numerous times, we finally made it to the casting area. By now, we’d been in the queue for a total time of 5.5 hours. I was called through to the casting area where my photo was taken. A few other girls were then released while we were taken through to another area where we had to say our name, where we were from and then answer a question that had been posed to us. I was then taken to the finish area where I received a certificate so unfortunately didn’t make it through to the final call back. Not to worry. I had a fab day, and it was an experience I won’t forget. Onwards and upwards. #PQACoventry #QuirkyKidZ

Amy Newey (9)

She also shared some photos of her experience:

Although Amy won’t be playing Modesty, we’re sure she’s got great things ahead of her! You can visit her IMDb page here.

Hopefuls continued to share their experiences on Twitter throughout the day. Check out more of their photos and stories below:

https://twitter.com/TAZLOU74/status/622472068324544512

https://twitter.com/AliStrange/status/622512540489285632

One lucky family even had a very magical end to their day:

All in all, it seems a magical day was had by wizards and Muggles alike! As soon as we know anything about the outcome of the auditions, we’ll be sure to let you all know. Congratulations to all the brave girls who auditioned today – it sounds like the experience of a lifetime.

If you were there, and you’d like to share your experience with us, please let us know!

Jessica J.

I've been making magic at MuggleNet since 2012, when I first joined the staff as a News intern. I've never wavered from the declaration in my childhood journal, circa October 2000: "I LOVE Harry Potter! If I clean my room, my mom says she'll make me a dinner a wizard would love!" Proud Gryffindor; don't hate.