LONDON (AP) — If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of chocolate frogs flying through the air aboard the Hogwarts Express.
Hermione Granger gasps with joy as Ron Weasley catches the sweet treat thrown at him Harry Potteras all three return home after an eventful first year at wizarding school.
These are not the now vintage films of the Daniel Radcliffe era, this is not the “Cursed Child” play and it is also not the upcoming HBO TV series. What you’re hearing is an all-new cast in a new Audible recording of J..K. Rowling’s seven pounds.
The legacy of Harry Potter may have been overshadowed by headlines surrounding Rowling’s comments on gender and opposition to trans rights, but that hasn’t stopped the production of new projects set in the wizarding universe. The Associated Press visited the London recording studio for a “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” session this summer, as young actors Frankie Treadaway, Max Lester and Arabella Stanton posed walla – background noise used to bring the stories to life. The young trio played Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first three audiobook adaptations, before an older cast took over.
Instead of listening to someone like Jim Dale or Stephen Fry telling the entire story on its own, this new audio production – the first book comes out November 4 – has a full, high-powered cast. As Cush Jumbo narrates, Hugh Laurie is Albus Dumbledore, Rice Ahmed portrays Professor Snape and Michelle Gomez brings Professor McGonagall’s Scottish vibe to life. Matthew Macfadyen voices Voldemort and Keira Knightley appears later in the series as Dolores Umbridge.
But it’s Stanton who pulls double duty in the Potterverse: the 11-year-old also plays the role of the studious and courageous Hermione Granger in the HBO series.
“I can’t say much, because they cast a Mimblewimble spell on me,” Stanton apologizes. “But I just started filming, and it’s great right now.”
AP spoke with Treadaway, 14, Lester, 13, and Stanton to learn about the snacks needed to keep them alive, their introductions to the wizarding world and what they think about acting. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: How did the auditions go?
TREADAWAY (Harry): You really got a taste of what it was going to be like, also in the studio and even on stage.
AP: Have you ever done anything like this?
LESTER (Ron): I’ve done audio before, yes, but I don’t mean anything as professional as that.
AP: How does this compare to your stage work?
STANTON (Hermione): It’s just very, very different, but I guess the same thing is that, because you want to bring your voice to life, I think you… sort of act as you say the lines to give color to the words.
AP: How is the recording going so far?
LESTER: Lovely people, good food and a great experience.
AP: What is your favorite food when you work?
TREADAWAY: The snack cupboard and the chocolate fridge.
LESTER: The chocolate fridge is dedicated to chocolate.
STANTON: It’s filled with snacks.
TREADAWAY: They have to restock every time I go.
AP: Do you remember the first time you heard about Harry Potter?
TREADAWAY: I think maybe it was when my sister was watching the movies in chronological order and for some reason I decided to only follow the last one.
AP: Did you go back to the beginning?
TREADAWAY: I don’t think I did, because I was like, “Oh, I can’t watch that, it’s a 12 (rating),” so I had to wait until I was 12 to watch them.
STANTON: My friends had started reading all the books and everything and they were like, “Oh, have you heard Harry Potter this, Harry Potter that?” And so I said to myself, it’s true, I’m going to start reading the books. So I think when I was 8, I started reading the first one. I kind of worked my way through them and yeah, it was great, I loved Harry Potter. I love him.
LESTER: I saw this book in Waterstones and everyone said it was very popular. It was like one of the best sellers. So my mom bought it for me and I read the book and it was just great.
AP: So what do your friends and family think of you voicing these characters? Were you able to tell them?
LESTER: I haven’t really talked to a lot of them about it, not really.
TREADAWAY: I think those who know will never really know what it is about until they listen to it.
STANTON: I think I talked to some pretty close family members about it, kind of keeping it in a bubble. But they’ll never really understand because so much effort – I mean, the teams, all the great people behind it, put so much effort into making the audio series amazing.
AP: Do you have a favorite part of the stories?
TREADAWAY: I can’t wait to hear how the battle scenes work because of all the sound effects and all the sounds and all the grunts and oohs and ahs and all that because I think it will look really cinematic. …It was very weird because I stood there for a minute groaning and felt so stupid.
STANTON: I can’t wait to hear all the spells because I think Hermione usually says so many spells and I can’t wait to hear the sounds of people casting them, I love spells.
LESTER: What I’m looking forward to is literally hearing it all come together and everyone talking to each other because I feel like it’s going to be amazing.
AP: Do you resemble your characters in any way?
TREADAWAY: That’s how I found it quite easy to get into character because I think I identify with them and I’m sure you do too. …I’m not the biggest ego ever. …Sometimes you’re the smallest person in the room and sometimes you just blend in. I feel like I relate to Harry that way.
AP: What about you and Hermione?
STANTON: I love books. I love writing, I love reading, I love doing all that kind of stuff. I mean, I like school, but I don’t like school. And I think… books are the main connection between Hermione and me.
AP: How are you like Ron?
LESTER: I think we’re both related because we’re pretty cheeky and we love food. We love food! … In some moments, we’re both serious and we’re also not afraid to stand up for the people we love or stand up for our friends because we always do what’s right, and that’s kind of what I identify with, because I go to the deeper side of Ron, and not just eat food and be cheeky.
AP: What is your favorite type of magical element?
LESTER: My favorite type of magical element is spells. I think they’re really cool. Like “stun” (the stun spell) – I think it’s very, very cool.
STANTON: One of the main props that Hermione uses is the Time Turner. I like all the magical items like the invisibility cloak, the time turner, all those things because… (they’re) things you wouldn’t be able to use in real life, but in the magical world it transports you to a completely different world.
TREADAWAY: The Polyjuice Potion, because when you record that, it’s like you really have to focus on the actual sound of transforming into someone else, and that was one of my favorite magical parts.
AP: Do you know how much love there is for Harry Potter?
TREADAWAY: I guess that’s kind of why you take a little pride in knowing that such a big name and such big characters allow you to associate yourself with them. If you know what I mean, it gives you a little feeling in your heart.
AP: What does it mean to you to portray Ron?
LESTER: It makes me proud, honestly, to portray such a great and funny character, but also, I don’t know, it just makes me…feel like I’m part of this community.
AP: And who do you represent Hermione?
STANTON: I’ve dreamed of it since I was very young and I’ve always admired all the people who have played Hermione, like Emma Watson and all those people.
AP: Do you know how huge this is in the world?
TREADAWAY: I don’t think we’ll really feel that until it comes out, I guess, because it just makes it more unreal.
LESTER: It’s so popular all over the world, which makes it even more unreal that so many people are interested in it and we don’t even realize it, yeah, we can’t even understand it.
AP: So, is acting the way forward for you now? Would you like to continue doing this?
TREADAWAY: Yeah, definitely – I mean about that, I never really felt like pushing myself to do something, it wasn’t work, it was like an enjoyable experience and you got something to see at the end.
STANTON: I would love to play, yes, definitely. And I think, like Frankie said, just being a part of the audio series is amazing. And yes, I can’t wait to do more.
LESTER: I think it’s for me because I always say it’s not work if you’re doing something you love and, honestly, I love acting so much. It makes me happy and makes me feel like I’m really myself and… I think that’s the way to go and hopefully do a lot of work.
AP: And you’re all related now, right?
ALL: Yeah.
LESTER: The good trio.
