15 things we learned about the making of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

Warner Bros.

This post includes spoilers for 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

A lot of hard, No-Maj work went into making the magical world of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." J.K. Rowling's universe was transported to 1926 New York, and the filmmakers had to make period-accurate sets and make sure even the smallest of details was consistent with the rest of the "Harry Potter" franchise.

HarperCollins published three books that go behind the scenes of how the movie was made, and they're chock full of interesting details. They include "The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by Mark Salisbury, "Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them " by Ian Nathan, and "The Art of the Film: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by Dermot Power, who was one of the movie's conceptual artists.

We read all of them. Here are some of the most interesting things we learned.

Jacob originally had a fiancée who dumped him, and Queenie was his rebound.

In an earlier draft of "Fantastic Beasts," Jacob had a fiancée, Mildred (played by Sinead Matthews, who "leaves him when he unsuccessfully returns from his bank meeting without a loan," according to "The Case of Beasts." She handed his engagement ring back to him and walked out.

In that light, the relationship between Jacob and Queenie would be totally different. Jacob would still be a bit of a sad sack, but Queenie would become more of a rebound for him.

Director David Yates decided to cut the scene because the audiece "didn't need a reason to fall in love with Jacob." He's right!

A random electrician on set provided the face of the barkeep elf in the Blind Pig.

At some point during the movie, the characters go to the Blind Pig, a speakeasy for wizards, to get some information about the escaped magical animals. There's a bartender who serves Jacob some Giggle Water.

Because the bartender is an elf, its face had to be animated. To cast the face, animation supervisor just picked a random electrician he saw on set.

"What a great face," animation supervisor Pablo Grillo said when he saw the electrician, according to "Inside the Magic." "Paul looks quite good, doesn't he?" he asked director David Yates. Yates told him to ask if he could scan the electrician's face.

"So they ended up scanning him in and 'Paul the spark' became their bartending elf," Ian Nathan wrote in "Inside the Magic.

Visual effect supervisor Christian Manz joked that "he's going to dine out on that for a few years." Unfortunately, we only get to see half of Paul's face. Elves are very short.

The original interior of Newt Scamander's briefcase was way too ambitious.

One of the early concepts for the interior of Newt Scamander's briefcase was for it to be a mysterious, all-expansive "Eden-like environment," according to "Inside the Magic."

"With hints of the wardrobe from Narnia, the steps would lead Newt into a perfectly realized forest, and across a certain boundary you could see rolling waves and surf, and the horizon going on forever. It was an entire world."

J.K. Rowling pointed out, though, that "it would take a wizard more powerful than even Voldemort to create such a place." So the animation designers scaled it back, creating fewer habitats, making Newt's magic seem more rickety.

"What we came up with was this slightly dysfunctional magic," conceptual artist Dermot Power said. "Newt loves animals so much he's gone through great trouble of creating these worlds, but he doesn't see his career as that. He's just pleased the animals are happy."