Transcribed by Felicia Grady
Dan Fogler: What do you guys know?
Press: You're in it. Grindelwald is in it.
Dan: You guys saw the trailer?
Press: Yeah. You're back with Newt again. What?
Dan: Yeah, yeah. So I'm back somehow.
[Press laughs]
Dan: And I've retained a lot of the memory. And you find out within the first, like, two seconds of seeing me in the film how that's possible. Which is awesome because [unintelligible]. Okay, that's what. And then so I saw it twice, and I'm really excited about it.
Press: [laughs] How was the experience shooting a second movie now, being fully in the world, versus the first time you did it, when you joined the [wizarding] world? Was it more like old hat or [unintelligible]?
Dan: It felt like being a sophomore and coming back to college, where you're not as stressed out and you know the ropes and you know the people. That first movie, everyone just wanted to do a good job. And I was like, "This is my shot, man. I've got to nail this." And I don't want to be the Jar Jar [Binks] on...
Press: [laughs] Oh, you spoke the name. Oh, careful there. That's the name that shall not be spoken in that franchise.
Dan: Yeah, so in that first movie, it was like, "Let's just do a good job and make sure that this is actually a franchise." And then it was. And people dug in, and I knew, coming back to it, people enjoyed the chemistry, so the second time was a lot more comfortable, and I just had a blast. I'm really proud of the work.
Press: Are there any challenges on shooting? Because obviously, it'll be pretty much the same characters, all the cast members all together, but it's a totally bring-to-the-next-level [unintelligible].
Dan: Well, [with the] Harry Potter films, the sequels just got exponentially larger and larger and more ensemble and more characters to juggle, and that's happening here. It's a [unintelligible] piece of art. And you have to go back and see it several times to absorb it all. And that's what [J.K. Rowling] does in the movies. It's like a Shakespeare play or something. It's complex relationships and Easter eggs and things that link to things that will happen down the line. I mean, I had a blast, but the challenge was, going to see the film, I only knew my scenes. And I knew there were a lot of ensemble coming in, a lot of new characters, and I was coming into it, going, like, "I'm pretty sure my stuff is going to be fun. I know that's working." And I was just curious to see if Johnny [Depp] was going to be the great villain that we hope he is, if Jude [Law] is going to be the Dumbledore that we hope he is. I'm going into it thinking, just like everybody else, "Is everyone going to rise to the occasion?" And they really do.
Press: Hey, Dan? And I think you just hit on it now, as a fan, as an actor first but also as a fan, Fanboys/Star Wars universe, Harry Potter universe, Walking Dead universe starting soon, as a fan coming into these large franchises, did you feel pressure like, "Ooh, hey I'm in the big show now?" And I guess, to tack on the end of that, what's another thing as a fan that you'd like to appear in?
Dan: I'd love to be in one of these Star Wars spin-offs. I don't know. I grew up on Star Wars. So that's my love. And what was the first part of the question?
Press: Did you feel any pressure coming into these immense, pre-established worlds?
Dan: Absolutely. Like I was saying, that first movie was... This is a global phenomenon, and you don't want to mess it up. There's a lot of pressure just to show up and do a good job. And then once you do something like Fantastic Beasts, when you go around and you do the press circuit and you survived that, you're like, "Okay, I can surf this." Then you go to The Walking Dead, and you go to the comic cons, and again, it's like coming back to old friends. I just feel very romantic about it. I still read The Walking Dead. I'm playing a character that's in the comic book. So that's so cool to me. It's awesome.
Press: Can you talk a little bit about how that came about? I mean, you premiere tomorrow night with the season premiere, right?
Dan: Yeah. It's awesome. Have you seen it?
Press: Yeah, it's great. But how did that role again? I mean, you're nine seasons in and you just started [on] the show.
Dan: Yeah, I think my representation... Because doing the Fantastic Beasts movies, I was like, "Please look for TV shows for me during my off time on the other side of the spectrum than Goldbergs and Jacob. Which is all very fun and lovable, but I wanted something darker. So they were looking around, and I think they were tapping on The Walking Dead's shoulder for a while. And then out of the blue, they were just like, "Hey, does he have time to play this character? We want him to do this Luke character." And I said, "Absolutely." And I hope it continues. With my schedule, it's hard to work everything out, but I hope I can do it for a long, long time. Riding horses and stuff.
Press: How do you separate your characters when you're doing these things right after another? You go from Jacob to being Luke on The Walking Dead to Marvin on The Goldbergs. How do you separate those? And also, you'll always be Randy Daytona [from Balls of Fury]. [laughs]
Dan: Oh, right. That's unfortunate.
[Press laughs]
Dan: Try to get that out of your head. Yeah, you get there and you learn what the playing ground is, and it's all different facets of my personality. I feel like I'm playing different relatives. Luke is very close to [me]. It's almost like me in a parallel universe if acting didn't work out and I started to become a music teacher or something. It's very close to my own voice. Jacob is like playing an ancestor. Because my great-grandfather was a baker on the Lower East Side, so playing Jacob is like, "Oh my God. Thank you for this wonderful gift of being able to step into a relative's shoes." And then Marvin, I mean, I had an uncle like that. [laughs] An uncle [who] was constantly scheming on the side, needs money. It's always like, "I know that guy. He was in my family." [laughs] And he was in Adam Goldberg's family. And we got to know each other on Fanboys, so he's like a brother to me. So I always try to just use different spectrums of my personality. And then of course, like I said, you get on the playing field, they give you the... [For] Jacob, the costume is very important, that mustache. Once I got that mustache and the hair on the side, I mean, I'm like, "Okay. I'm Jacob." And I come from theater, so there'[re] layers. There's the inside layer, where you're like, "Okay. This is sense memory. I know this guy in my heart." And once you get to the other layers on top of that and the makeup, you really start to fool yourself into believing that you're this character.
Press: Dan, I was lucky enough to see the first film for the first time a few weeks ago when it went back to theaters. And one of the things that struck me almost immediately was how likable [unintelligible] character was. So apart from being a Muggle, why do you think that is?
Dan: Apart from being a Muggle?
[Press laughs]
Dan: Well, yeah. Muggles got a bad rep in the first movie, right? I mean, they were just mean. Most of the Muggles in the Harry Potter series - Harry's [aunt and uncle], normal folk - were not represented well. So I guess in this one, JK really wanted to have a Muggle/No-Maj [who] was likable. [laughs] And I feel like Jacob - and a lot of the characters, but specifically Jacob - you look at him and there's this nostalgia factor where you see me and Newt together [and] it's like "Oh, Laurel and Hardy" and you see me and Queenie together and it's like, "Whoa, that's like Guys and Dolls" or something. And it's [a] hero's journey, classic, iconic, Joseph Campbell's cycle of the myth stuff. He's the [censored] thinker.
[Press laughs]
Dan: That you have read your entire life in fairy tales, Into the Woods, the baker. So you have all that going into it, and it gives you that warm feeling. It's like you know the guy already, right?
Press: Now, it's okay if a switch gears? Talk a little about your character in The Walking Dead?
Dan: Yeah, we were. What do you want to know?
Press: Oh, yes. First of all, please tell us about the character. And working with Andy Lincoln.
Dan: Yeah, Andy, man. I wish I had more to work with him. We crossed paths in the show. We're coming and he's leaving. And so it was really bittersweet to see this world. He was the captain. And he put his brand on that show as far as "we are working in the sauna" and "we're doing this sunrise to sunset, 120% everybody." We're all sweating our brains out here, and we're just going to act our balls off. And you see that in the show. Every single shot that he's in, he's just like, "Ahh!"
[Press laughs]
Dan: He's giving it his all. And he set that standard. And just to say, "Thank you for giving that high-water mark of energy." And then coming in and you see the crew and everybody... Like I said, I'm from theater, so I really love, at the end of the day, your muscles are hurting and you're sweating. You feel like you got your money's worth. And I really appreciate that. It's really a film. We're making an extended zombie movie, essentially, in a sense. My character, Luke, [is] very similar to me. He's a music teacher. And such lovely words they've given me along the theme of holding on to our humanity and our civilization while everything is crumbling. And it's just an interesting message right now. It's like what Shakespeare said. You've got to put the mirror up to society and let them reflect on what's going on. I mean, this is a very entertaining way of having people reflect. And I have these amazing monologues, and he's really cool. He goes around, [and] every time he finds a discarded instrument, he collects them. It's like, "What are you? Crazy? You're going to get yourself killed." But it's like, "That's the point." And so these beautiful scenes. I get to work with Danai [Gurira], and she's just wonderful; [Norman Reedus]; Samantha [Morton], who was in Fantastic Beasts as well. Yeah, I'll have a blast, man. I get to ride horses like it's a Western. And kill zombies. I don't normally do that.
[Press laughs]
Allie Kamel: We know that Rowling changed your character's arc, so how did that change your portrayal of Jacob?
Dan: Say that again.
Allie: Rowling change Jacob's character arc.
Dan: Yeah, how do you know that?
Allie and Lizzie Sudlow: Because we're MuggleNet.
Lizzie: And SpeakBeasty.
Dan: Oh, okay. I got you now.
Allie: Of course! So how did that change how you portray Jacob?
Dan: Well, that's funny because yeah, [before] the first movie, she sat me down and was like, "This is your arc. In the next movie, this happens, and in the next movie, this happens." And I was like, "This is the greatest hero's journey ever." This is what she told. I was like, "Oh my God, if he gets to do all that, I'm going to be so happy." And then we started rehearsals for this movie, and I was like, "Hey, I know you're busy, Jo, but I just wanted to check in about my arc. So for this movie, I'm supposed to go here, and then this leads to that, and that's going to happen, right?" And then she goes, "Oh, no, that's all totally changed." And then she walks aways from me.
[Press laughs]
Dan: I was like, "Oh my God. So how do I play that?"
[Press laughs]
Dan: I just have the philosophy now where I can't get excited about anything she says because it may change tomorrow. So now I'm totally, fully in the moment as Jacob. Because what she has done is basically like, "No, you don't know what happens tomorrow. Deal with it."
[Press laughs]
Allie: She gets to do that.
Dan: Perfect! Because he doesn't know. And we shouldn't know. We shouldn't know our arcs. We should just be totally in the moment, take it step by step like they are.
Press: Just get magical baguettes instead.
Dan: Yes, exactly.
Press: Since we're at Comic Con, do you want to take a minute to tell everyone about Brooklyn Gladiator and your book?
Dan: Yeah, okay, so the reason I'm here is, I've got three books coming out. So we've got Brooklyn Gladiator, which is my dystopian Blade Runner/Akira-style comic book that I have. The other one is Moon Lake, which is my Twilight Zone-style series. And then the other one is called Fish Kill, which is like a noir set today. For Fish Kill, we're still working on a publisher, but it's probably going to be the [unintellgible] House, which is [unintelligible]'s company. And we're very excited about these books. They're coming out in the new year. And that's why I'm here. I'm hawking my wares. And we're sold out, man! People are loving it. And the shirts are DAN FOGLER'S 4d Xperience! podcast. Check that one out. We connected on that. And I think that's it. We touched on everything, guys.
