The wand, we’re told, chooses the wizard.

But when starring in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, actors got to help design their characters’ wands themselves.

Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays magi-zoologist Newt Scramander, put a lot of thought into his.

“I sort of assumed that I would have a wand sort of plopped in my hand,” Redmayne tells EW. “But the reality is that these amazing props designers come and then you have really a quite intricate discussion with [director] David Yates about what qualities Newt has. He’s not a showy guy, Newt, so I wanted it be to quite simple. So we decided to have the wand be made out of ashwood and it has quite a few scratches and sort of burn marks – so that you could get the sense that he’s been traveling the world with it and it’s got quite a history to it.”

Continues Redmayne: “But for the handle, they were sort of talking about whether it should be horn or leather, and I didn’t like the idea of like animal products being used, given that he’s a zoologist. So in the end they came up with this idea of sandworm shell and it has a slightly mother of pearly-feel. So we had all these discussions and went back and forth with designs and when the thing arrived I was pretty excited. My inner nine-year-old was having a disco and then I was actually presented with it!”

(Source)