"SHE HAS SOMETHING REALLY GREAT TO OFFER"

KATHERINE WATERSTON is Porpentina

We don’t know that much about Porpentina. Who is she?

Tina works at MACUSA, where she has recently been demoted at work. She was an Auror but she broke the rules and got demoted to a sort of lowly desk job in the basement. So at the beginning of the film she’s feeling pretty insecure and frustrated. But she also has this suspicion that she has something really great to offer. She wears a sort of mask of confidence to cover up her insecurity which sometimes makes her a little bit brash and bossy.

How did you find playing her?

It was a process of reconnecting with that child‑like part of myself. I mean, we have to do that as actors all the time obviously; to use our imaginations. But I was struck by how far away from playfulness I had gotten. It took practice to be able to have freedom with my wand and stuff like that. It took work. And when I started to feel that connection, I thought, “I don’t want to let this go when this job ends.” It’s insane how much we disconnect from that as we grow up.

Do you have a favourite moment from shooting?

Well, one of the things you have to do sometimes, for eye‑line, is to look at a stick with an X on it and imagine it was a creature. It was a challenge to engage with. Eddie and I were sitting between set‑ups and I said, “Man, sometimes I just look at these Xs and it’s tricky trying to find something to connect to. I look at them and I don’t feel anything.” And Eddie went, “Yeah, yeah. Do you stay in touch with a lot of your exes?” And I was like, “Eddie, the X on the stick!” He thought I was getting really deep!