Pierre Bohanna has had his talented hands on props in everything from all eight “Harry Potter” movies to “Ready Player One.”
You’ve done props on a dream set of franchises. What sets the Wizarding World apart from the other franchises?
Yes I have been very lucky to of been involved is several franchises (not that I expected to). The wonderful thing about the Wizarding World is how imaginative the world Jo [J.K. Rowling] has created is. The possibilities are endless but the reader or viewer can easily imagine being part of the world. That makes it all the more interesting. So as a prop maker you can create and expand ideas in a magical way but also think of the very human aspects to those pieces. It makes for great opportunities and work that is convincing on many levels.
What was the most challenging prop you had to make for “Grindelwald”?
The word challenging can apply in many different ways. Also we are trying to visualize and create the ideas of the filmmakers. So even pieces that seem simple when seen on the film often have been very painful in their creation. Grindelwald’s vial by example went through many stages because it is such a important part of telling the story. So all the key creatives (Rowling, David Yates, David Heyman, Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock, etc.) were very involved and had an opinion on the result. But in our world we had several thousand challenges to resolve in the 12 odd months that we had. One challenge, to provide an example was the 1,200 art deco file boxes we had to produce in under six weeks! We had to rely on materials usually applied to car manufacturing to be able to produce the number in time.
What is your favorite prop from “Grindelwald”?
Ha ha! One of the most common questions I am asked but one of the most difficult to answer. As I say we had many pieces to make for the film. We have a prop making crew of 50 with a wide range of skills all working very hard to produce wonderful work. But to try and give you an answer I did enjoy making the pieces for Dumbledore’s Defence against Dark Arts classroom.
Dumbledore’s office in the Potter series had lots of astronomy equipment and we were able to use again some key pieces normally kept in the Studio tour at Leavesden. So then we added new pieces such as a giant telescope, sundials, mathematical sculptures and other curious pieces. A very enjoyable journey. –Ruel S. De Vera