The main guests for the preview night, will make a lot of Potterheads (including us) jump for joy! In the movies they are part of the most lovable family of them all, they are identical and they are up to no good! Yes... the Weasley Twins are coming to Utrecht. James and Oliver Phelps will be the exclusive guests on the Preview Night of Dutch Comic Con on Friday June 21st... In this article we will tell you all about these two brothers. Normally we would discuss them separately, but they worked together on almost all of their projects, so lets talk about the Phelps twins!

Oliver Martyn John Phelps was born on 25 February 1986, just 13 minutes before his twin brother James Andrew Eric Phelps. The boys were born in Sutton Coldfield, England (United Kingdom) as the only children of Martyn and Sarah Phelps. Growing up in Sutton, they attended Little Sutton Primary school and the Arthur Terry Secondary school. The twins had no acting experience at all, when they skipped school to travel to Leeds to go to an open audition which required a set of twins (among others). The year was 2000 and the boys were 14 years old. They saw the advertisement for the open audition and  thought 'why not?', so they made their way to Leeds. In later interviews, they recall that thousands of people turned up at the hotel in Leeds, where the audition took place. Many of them were wearing fake glasses and had lightning bolts drawn on their foreheads. They soon realised that they were the only set of twins that did not wear identical clothes, as they had avoided that their entire lives. The boys decided to pay a quick visit to a nearby clothing store and bought identical shirts. After a two hour wait, they went into one of the audition rooms and the casting director thought they had the right looks and charisma. Click the video below to see the video of James, talking about the audition process at FACTS 2017.

After five more auditions and a six week long course, they got a call and were invited to come in and do a screen test. At that time the family was on a holiday in Crete and after the call their mum covered them in sunblock for the rest of their stay. The casting crew wanted two pale ginger boys and that is what they would get. In later interviews, James recalls that he never was as nervous as he was during that screen test. But the boys did a great job and eventually they were cast for the roles of George and Fred Weasley in "Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone". When they sat down for their first table read, it was decided that Oliver would play George and James would play Fred. The twins recall that they were absolutely starstruck during that first table read. 

At one point before filming the first movie, Chris Columbus asked them if it was ok that their hair would be dyed. James recalls answering that he could shave his head and he wouldn't care, they were just happy to get the part. Eventually Oliver and James would play the roles of George and Fred in all eight "Harry Potter" movies.

In 2009, The Phelps brothers were actively involved in the Harry Potter Exhibition, which toured around the world for years. James and Oliver toured various cities and countries to promote the exhibition (including Utrecht and Brussels). After their time on the "Harry Potter" movies, the twins kept on working together in multiple areas of the entertainment business. They acted together in series and movies, like: "Danny and The Human Zoo" (2015), "King of The Nerds" (2015) and "Last Night in Soho" (2021). Since 2022, they present a travel program called "Fantastic Friends". In this show (which consists of 2 seasons up until now), they travel around the world with some of their acting colleagues, like: Bonnie Wright, Haley Joel Osment, Alfie Allen, Natalia Tena and many more.

Besides all of this, they are also very active on the charity front, they have a podcast together and the list goes on. In 2015 Oliver married Katy Humpage (they have two daughters) and in 2016 James married Annika Ostle.

James and Oliver Phelps will be special guests on the Preview Night (Friday June 21st) of Heroes Dutch Comic Con only. 

Prices:

Duo Photo Op: €110

Autograph: €100

Selfie: €100

Combo Selfie and autograph: €190

Times:

Q&A: 19:45-20:15 (Main Stage)

Signing: 19:00-19:45 & 21:15-22:00

Photo booth: 18:00-19:00 & 20:15-21:15

Schedule is subject to change.

The Hindi sisters were born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada (United States). Contrary to popular belief, the sisters are not twins and Hannah is older one of the sisters.

Hannah Hindi was born on April 1st, 1986. Almost 4 years later, her sister Hilly was born on March 2nd, 1990. The sisters were born into a middle-class family. Their father, Robert, worked as a police officer and their mother, Emily, was a stay at home mother. The girls were home schooled and both of them were very creative from a young age. 

Both sisters had an interest in acting and directing, but they couldn't afford to attend film school. The sisters started doing home videos with their friends. In 2006, this led to them creating a web series spoofing characters like Jack Sparrow. In 2006, they entered AOL's "Being a Red Star" contest in New Zealand with their videos. Out of almost 100000 entries, they ended up 3rd in this competition. They built up a small and loyal fanbase and created more videos spoofing Johnny Depp - characters (among others). Hannah would direct the videos, while Hilly would play the protagonist. Their lives changed, when they watched the box office hit movie "Twilight" and decided to do their very own parody on that one. The video went viral and they became a YouTube sensation overnight. The rest is history! The Hillywood Show has been going strong ever since and their (almost) 2 million subscribers, can see a broad spectrum of parody videos of movies and series like: "Supernatural", "The Dark Knight", "The Vampire Diaries", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Stranger Things", "Doctor Who", "Good Omens" and many more. Both sisters write, act and direct the show and they have a lot of fun doing that! Over the years they welcomed a lot of guest actors to the show. What to think of Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Osric Chau, Neil Gaiman, Jim Beaver, Samantha Ferris (and so on)? Besides spreading their humor all over the internet, they are also touring the world, making people laugh (which was their mission in the first place). And now Hilly and Hannah will return to Utrecht for Heroes Dutch Comic Con Summer Edition 2024.

Hilly and Hannah Hindi (The Hillywood Show)  will be at Dutch Comic Con on all three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)!

Prices:

Photo booth: €40

Autograph:  t.b.a. at event

Times:

Q&A Friday: 20:30-21:00 (Main Stage)

Q&A: Saturday: 16:45-17:15 (Main Stage)

Q&A Sunday: 16:40-17:15 (Main Stage)

Signing Friday: 18:00-19:00, 19:45-20:30, 21:00-22:00

Signing Saturday: 10:30-13:00, 14:15-15:15, 16:00-16:45

Signing Sunday: 10:30-13.00, 14:15-15:15, 16:00-16:45, 17:30-18:00

Photo op (Friday): 19:00-19:45

Photo op (Saturday): 15:15-16:00

Photo op (Sunday): 15:15-16:00

Two years ago, we met Dylan Haegens and Marit Brugman in the press room at Dutch Comic Con. They were preparing to hit the floor of the con, to do research and recruit people for their upcoming movie adaptation of the book "Superkrachten voor je Hoofd" (which translates to "Super Powers for your Head") by Wouter de Jong (who was also there with his wife and actress Elise Schaap). Last year (in November) they shot at the floor of Dutch Comic Con. Now the movie is set to be released on July 10, 2024. To promote their movie, they are back at Dutch Comic Con on the Preview Night, for a special panel about the movie on main stage and a masterclass on the Cozy Corner stage.

Times: 

Q&A: 18:30-19.15 (Main Stage)

Masterclass: 19:30-20:00 (Cozy Corner)

Hopefully we will be seeing you there. Tickets for the preview night are still available at the website of Dutch Comic Con.