Evanna Lynch Stars in Short Film Released for World Vegan Day

How and when did the concept for You Eat Other Animals? come about?

The idea gestated over a few years. Originally, I jotted down some dramatic – and pretty embarrassing – dialogue about an alien interrogating a human over his eating animals. However, I realised it would work better as a comedy. It would also probably be more persuasive, inasmuch as it wouldn’t be preachy. Even then, it took a little while for me to realise that the aliens had to be female and the humans two men who think they’re going to score.

The film includes Evanna Lynch, who is known for her advocacy for animal rights and veganism in addition to her portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films. How did she become involved with this project?

Once I knew I needed two women and two men, and had a script I was happy with, it was a question of who to cast. I had an idea that I wanted to have an all-vegan/vegetarian cast and crew (though we may have ended up with some omnivores on board) and felt Evanna was the obvious choice. I knew she would get the script based on her social media posts. So I asked a lovely casting director I know to reach out to Evanna’s agent. I then met up with Evanna while she was in rehearsals for a play. Of course, I was nervous because I really wanted to [sic] her to do it. She probably thought I was an idiot, but she agreed to do the film anyway – I think it helped that it combined two of her loves: acting and animal rights.

You Eat Other Animals? is somewhat different from other films that encourage people to rethink their lifestyle choices and assumptions. Who do you feel its target audience is?

The most important thing for me was that I made something that appealed to both veggies and omnivores (as well as Harry Potter fans!), as it would be pointless preaching to the converted only. Comedy is of course pretty subjective, and someone’s sense of humour isn’t defined by their eating habits. To be more effective in changing habits, it would be good to appeal to a young audience (as their choices will last longer). Whether it will appeal to them or not, I can’t be sure. Hopefully.

If you could summarize the message of You Eat Other Animals? in one or two sentences, what would it be?

If you looked objectively at the way we butcher animals – often within weeks of their birth - it would [be] hard to defend. This is the position our helpless humans find themselves in.

What else would you like MuggleNet readers to know?

Just like Harry Potter – and Luna Lovegood – you have to be able to [do] what’s right whether or not the majority agree. Both Harry and Luna often found themselves at odds with the majority. The problem is that people tend to set their moral compass by what society deems acceptable, which is why slavery lasted for centuries and why so many people persist in believing our treatment of animals is just fine and dandy.