SnitchSeeker was on hand at Harry Potter: The Exhibition in Edmonton Thursday afternoon, where correspondent Caitlin got the chance to check out the props, and take part in an interview with James and Oliver Phelps. The twins commented on J.K. Rowling's upcoming movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando Resort, their work as Fred and George Weasley in the series, and of course some of the sites around the Canadian town. That can be read here; Harry Potter: The Exhibition opens this weekend at TELUS World of Science - Edmonton, which the twins will attend.

Q: What do you guys think of the “Fantastic Beasts” movie?
James: The what?

Q: “Fantastic Beasts” movie?
James: It hasn’t been made yet has it?

Q: No, but about it being made. What do you think?
James: Yeah it’ll be cool, I guess. I don’t really know too much about it to be honest with you. I think, you know, I’ve been pretty busy traveling so I mean it’s hard to catch up but… I’m really unprepared for that question.

Q: No worries. If there are Weasley ancestors in it, would you guys want to play any of them? Would you be interested in that?
Oliver: Yeah potentially. I doubt that that would happen to be honest with you. But yeah I mean potentially if that was to come about I’d be up to the idea.

Q: Have you watched any of the films since the premieres?
James: Only when their on at like Christmas or something. Yeah, I mean I always get the text message from the friend saying “How high was your voice in the first movie?” Yeah but when they’re on you’ll usually glance and watch them. It’s weird watching them, I kind of find it hard to watch them as a viewer because I remember what happened behind the scenes, so it’s a good memory to look at.

Q: Can you watch yourself?
James: I can do that. I can do that now. I wasn’t very good at doing that at first but yeah I’ve got used to it now.

Q: Harry Potter has essentially changed all of our lives, especially as children growing up with the stories. How has being in the movies changed your lives?
Oliver: I think it’s changed it beyond any, beyond anything I could recollect before it. I think just because we were able to go from obscurity really. All my friends at school, no one had done anything like acting and then to go into that world is totally different. And to be able to travel with it and meet people on a daily basis who appreciate work, what we’ve done, is a pretty cool thing.

Q: That’s fantastic. So Fred in the movie says “I think we’ve outgrown a full time education.” Is that how you guys felt when you auditioned for the movie or..?”
James: No not at all! We just purely went because it was a great opportunity to get in a film and it just so happened to be a big thing and something that we were familiar with because we’d read the books. But I wouldn’t say outgrown an education at 14.

Q: How is it like working with each other?
James: Horrible. Horrible.

Q: Did you go through a period of sibling rivalry? Or is pretty …?
Oliver: Yeah it was pretty even really, even though we’ve always had that. There’s always that twin thing and we’re very competitive with each other. That’s what it is. But I don’t think that was affected at all by us working together or anything.

Q: What do you guys miss most about working on the movies?
James: I think just the day to day hanging out with the guys who we worked, the cast members because we were a pretty tight knit bunch when we were working together but we do keep in contact with a vast majority of them. But yeah I guess just the day to day hanging out.

Q: Is there anybody in particular that you make a point of keeping in contact with?
James: Not really making a point of keeping in contact, you just naturally still hang out and still speak to quite a few. I mean Alfie knocks on our cricket team so we see each other every week in the summer so that’s very fun. And we still play golf with some of the other chaps, so yeah it’s good.

Q: I’ve heard that you guys are living in California now?
James: Yeah everyone keeps telling us that.

Q: It’s on your Wikipedia page!
James: Oh that’s why. It’s gotta be true then (laughs).

Q: If it’s on the Internet, yeah (laughs). So that’s not true obviously.
James: That’s not true, no. I wish.

Q: Well it was if you were asked seven months ago.
James: Yeah we were there for a bit but we’re still in England. Yeah we go out to California every so often.

Q: And so walking through the exhibit there’s obviously a lot of detail paid to the props. Is there a favorite prop that you guys have from the movies, that you used?
Oliver: Yeah, I think, the wands. I know that’s probably an obvious answer but because each wand is different to each character. So yeah it’s cool to be able to see that and it’s a shame I wasn’t able to keep it at the end of filming.

Q: Did you guys have to go through wand training?
Oliver: They tried to once. We literally walked on our way to where there was this chap teaching people how to and he’s very over the top. And we walked through and there was James, myself, Rupert and I can’t remember who else. We were walking and we could see through the window. You could see Matt and Evanna and Bonnie, and this guy really getting into it and we were like “ah forget that” and we turned around and went the other way. Because it’s quite funny though, you see school kids playing Potter in the playground and that’s basically what we were doing on the final battling sequence. And then they obviously added everything else.

Q: Did you guys take anything from the set?
James: Not legally no. So uh, I’ve got a coin from Gringotts which is very unique. Does the set have any of the coins from Gringotts …?

James: That’s why (laughs), it’s 'cause they’re at my house. But that and then something from the art from the Skiving Snackboxes which I know I hid. So that you can see, just the detail that goes into it. So I’ve got those in my office, which is, if Warner Brothers ever wanted them back.

Q: And your characters in the movie, obviously the Weasley twins opened the Weasley Wizards Wheezes, if you guys could bring any of your inventions to life, which one would you do?
James: The pimple cream because that would be absolutely minted. I think that there’s one that they did which is a video of a guy walking up the wall. Yeah the anti-gravity boots or something like that, I think that’d be pretty cool to have.

Oliver: Dark matter would be quite good. Just for dramatic effect.

Q: Since you’ve traveled so much with this exhibition and the movies, what’s some of the ways you’ve seen that the Harry Potter movies have affected people or affected different cities that really kind of surprised you?
Oliver: I think it’s just, the cool thing about the Potter is that everywhere we go there’s an excitement about the tour being here or I mean like, even in non-speaking English countries. It’s certainly a big thing for people to go and see. There’s not many things what can do that, generate such an interest and I think it’s cool we’re able to be here and have a very easy sell. When you’re telling people about the Potter exhibition, two and half years after the final film has come out, that still blows my mind that people are still “Aww, wicked, I have to check that out.”

Q: And how does that affect you guys as actors to be part of that or have a part in that?
Oliver: It affects us in the sense of touring; it doesn’t stop us from doing other jobs or anything. This is only a week of our life kind of thing in certain locations and it is no problem at all because we have great fun doing it.

It’s also cool because we don’t, because we’ve been so close to it we don’t really appreciate how big it is globally, so coming to the other side of the world to -23, or whatever it is outside right now, seeing people checking it out. And I’m sure on Friday and Saturday it’s going to be heaving. I’ve heard they’ve sold out quite a lot already. It just shows us the draw it’s got and how much it means to people, and it’s been so close to us I don’t think we can appreciate it fully for what it means to the audience.

Q: You guys are doing some stuff in Edmonton this week right?
Oliver: Mhm.

Q: What are you doing?
James: Oilers.

Q: Ahh, they’ve got you doing that. What if they lose? Have you watched hockey before?
James: I have yes.

Q: That’s what I’ve been saying. But the past two times on TV they did well.
James: They did well. It’s something we do in most of the cities or places we go. We wanna go and see the local sports team, whatever sport it is. You know try to get involved, because that’s really the best way to see what the cities about, what the people are about, because it’s their natural environment if you will. It’s quite cool; it seems to be the only sport in town.

Q: In the winter.
James: So we get to check that out.

Q: Oh, you’ll see an environment that’s for sure.
Jesse: What he really wants to do is go to a curling tournament.

James: No I would rather watch paint dry than watch curling.

Q: What would you say are, in this exhibit, five of the things, or just any of the things that people must see that’s kind of different that people might walk by but they really have to pay attention to?
James: Well actually, when all the press were in there today I noticed something which I haven’t seen in any of the other exhibitions I’ve been to; this is the 6th or 7th one.

Jesse: This is the tenth.
James: That I’ve been to.

Jesse: Oh, that you’ve been to. Yeah probably the 6th or 7th.
James: And, there was something from the 7th movie, which is Bill Weasley’s certificate which is on Umbridge’s desk, which I never even knew existed or anything. You see it and it’s “Ahh”. So you just, don’t just run through it and only see the big things. If you actually have a look at it you see the detail on things like the Daily Prophet, like the article for example. But my favorite thing is the big dragon from the fourth film that’s in there.

Because a lot of it was CGI but they, what they do, is they still build a full size thing as reference for it and I think that’s pretty cool. I’d love for it to be on my driveway. So maybe I’ll have a word when this is done.

Oliver: There is, on the way out poking out from behind one of Dumbledore’s outfits is Dobby. It’s the model of Dobby, 'cause I think a lot of people thought he was just 100 percent computer animated. Um, so that was quite cool seeing him there, like, you see some people, “He’s really, he’s an actual proper dummy.” So that’s a cool thing that people may, may not be expecting to see. So yeah, look out for that.

Q: Cool thank you. So not necessarily about Harry Potter but I’m also a twin and I know that me and my twin, we get the weird twin connection. Do you guys have any of that at all?
James: Never had any of that in my life.

Oliver: No umm … that must be a Canadian thing or something.

Q: So there’s been rumor of Diagon Alley opening up your shop basically? Have you guys filmed any footage for that?
James: In what?

Q: In Diagon Alley in Orlando, Florida.
James: Oh right.

Oliver: We don’t have any footage for that.

James: Um no. I’m going to, I’m in Florida for a friend’s wedding over in the New Year and I know a few guys from Universal so I may swing by at some point, but umm …”

Q: Do guests go ballistic when you step inside Harry Potter land?
James: Yeah we’ve come in, we’re very fortunate that when we’ve had the full walk through of it, it wasn’t even open so we could fully appreciate it. It was like every kid’s dream sitting on the front of the roller coaster and again, and again and again. Yeah we’ve shot some stuff although since, about a year or two after it opened. And we’d start shooting like 4am before the park opened so we could get it in and then eventually they’d open the gates but yeah it was a bit hairy.

Oliver: Could get a bit hairy yeah.

James: We learnt some escape routes though. The fire escapes and everything like that. On the whole it’s a really cool place as well to check out.

Q: What was your guys’ favorite scene to film in the movies?
Oliver: I think either of the joke shop scenes. Those are cool because you see the buildup and everything to that big scene, the building is three stories tall and packed with people, that was really cool. Or the Yule Ball sequence from the Goblet of Fire.

Again because it was, people were saying the Great Hall looks wicked today, or that whole week, and it was the week before Christmas so everyone was getting into a festive spirit anyway. We’d been taught for three weeks how to do the waltz, which was pretty cool, and then just all that coming together, it was really memorable.

Q: How about any of the Quidditch scenes? Did you guys get to do your own stunts for them?
James: Yeah but to be honest Quidditch was pretty boring.

Q: Really?
James: Yeah after a while cause you’re in a green screen.

Q: I also heard it was really uncomfortable.
Oliver: No it was alright, actually. They developed the saddle so by the end it was a nice saddle but it was, yeah, it was very repetitive, the Quidditch sequences. It was still fun to do to be in on all that technology that was pretty much invented for that sequence, but at the same time, there’s only so many times you can pretend to hit a bludger away.

Q: How did you manage a work life balance filming them back to back or was work just so much fun it didn’t matter?
Oliver: It almost became life, didn’t it? I know it sounds silly.

Q: No, fair enough.
James: When you’re doing a job, I kind of give it, you just got to go for it. You know, it’s like I did a stage show earlier this year and I pretty much lived that from the start. I mean that’s a lot more intense, obviously. I mean you need to remember a lot more all the time, but yeah, you pretty much just get on with it and put it all on board. So you have to make sacrifices and everything but you know it’s not full time sacrifices so yeah. It’s an enjoyable job.

Q: You’ve been attached to a Hamlet adaptation for screen; can you tell us anything about that?
James: Yeah, that’s been going on a hell of a long time that, so we haven’t done anything for it or anything so I can’t really give you any more information on that.

Oliver: Yeah, all we know is it’s supposed to moving next year sometime? But we’ll see when that happens. But excited to be doing it.

Q: And one thing you absolutely want to do while visiting Canada, or specifically Alberta, in 3 feet of snow?
James: One thing that I do want to do?

Q: Or something that you want to try out.
James: That I want to try out? I don’t know. Well, the Oilers is a big thing because that’s one of the only hockey teams I could have named before I actually went to a game a couple years ago. And also I’d love to check out like Jasper or something like that. I don’t know if I’m going to have time on this trip but it’s something I’d definitely like to come back to and see because everyone says how amazing it is.

Oliver: That’d be cool to check out the countryside and everything around here because there seems to be a lot of it.

Q: Do you guys have any real life pranks that you perform that stand out above any of the others? I heard about the switching roles during the rehearsal when you were younger.
Oliver: Mhm. We don’t really. We did pranks. Umm, one I can tell you about. I don’t know. I’m trying to think. We do have fun.

Jesse: They pranked me earlier today. [Oliver’s] friend is an optometrist and I’ve had this red eye for a while. He’s like, “One of my best mates back home is an optometrist,” and so he takes a photo of my eye, sends it over to him. He starts texting him back and all of the sudden he’s like, “Jesse you gotta come here and read this."

And it says, “That’s … umm, I’m not quite sure what this is. I have to show my boss.” And ten minutes later he got another text saying, “He says that looks like EIS, eye implosion syndrome. And it’s basically when the retina muscle becomes detached and you lose all functionality of the eye and it becomes useless.” I’m like “What does that even mean?” And then he keeps on coming on with other texts. “It could also be retinal detachment syndrome, which is very similar except this one causes the eye to completely fall out of socket.” And I’m like, you have to be joking me.

Oliver: And you’re like trying to find it on the Internet and you can’t find it.

Jesse: Yeah I can’t find it on the Internet and I’m looking and I see these horrible, disgusting images online, I’m like, come on. I have the phone; I had a number of an optometrist back in Los Angeles I was going to make an appointment for, and right before I dialed it, he’s like, he uh, actually they took it down, but there was a sign up there that said “Got you.” And I’m like, aww man. So for three hours I thought I was going to lose sight in my eye.

Oliver: So we do do to pranks.

Jesse: But that was to get back at another prank that we can’t really discuss here but, they’re a lot of fun to travel with and they definitely are pranksters in real life.
Oliver: You’ve got to fool around when you’re traveling or else you just get, especially if you’re doing a lot of the same stuff all the time ... If you’re going from environments which are pretty much the same you have to make your own fun along the way. But I’m just waiting for this prank to be coming back at me.

Jesse: That’s the best part. It never ends.
Oliver: That’s the way it always works. But to give a prank you have to be able to take one back.

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