Jude Law prepared for his magical role in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald by waving around a twig.
The British actor first learned he had been cast as a young Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter prequel franchise while he was on a family vacation, and he was so eager to start getting into character, he turned a small tree branch into his makeshift prop.
"I found out from Jude... that when he got the part, he was on holiday with his family and he just went and picked up a twig and just spent the entire holiday walking around with a twig," lead actor Eddie Redmayne revealed at a recent special screening event for fans at Universal Studios Hollywood.
"It was good practice," Jude shared, according to The Wrap. "So Eddie's right - I did carry around this stick for most of my summer holiday practising and then I only got to say one spell in the whole of the film!"
Unlike Eddie and co-star Katherine Waterston, who portray Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein, respectively, Jude didn't receive any formal training in how to wave his wand onscreen - they were put through their paces ahead of production for the first movie, 2016's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
"I think some things changed between the first and second film," Katherine explained. "It turns out Jude didn't get wand school, but the rest of us, I think, did."
When she found out a couple of other castmembers also missed out on the sessions, Jude joked, "I like to think it's because we didn't need it."
However, not everyone was granted permission to skip class - actor Callum Turner, who plays Eddie's onscreen brother Theseus Scamander, spent months perfecting the wizarding act after his first attempt went a little awry.
"I don't want to throw my brother under a bus here, but he broke his wand on the first test!" Redmayne recalled.
Callum's mishap may explain why new castmember Zoe Kravitz, who portrays Leta Lestrange in the sequel, didn't get to keep her prop during the shoot.
She said, "The best moment is when they hand you your wand, and the worst moment is when they take it away at the end!"
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which also stars Johnny Depp, opens in theatres next week (begs12Nov18).
