The Portable Door: Miranda Otto and Sophie Wilde talk the 'magic' of their whimsical new fantasy film

gamesradar.com:

When Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) and Sophie Pettingel (Sophie Wilde) start interning at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., they quickly realize that it's no ordinary job. When Paul is tasked with finding a portable door, he uncovers the magical secrets that lie within the company – and uncovers a corporate plot to manipulate free will by way of ancient magical practices.

Directed by Jeffrey Walker (Difficult People) and based on the book of the same name by Tom Holt, The Portable Door is a whimsical fantasy film with stunning visuals – and creatures crafted by The Jim Henson Company. Total Film sat down for a brief chat with stars Miranda Otto and Sophie Wilde to discuss the movie's magic and whimsy.

What drew you both to the script?

Miranda Otto: I was working on another project that was all about the bushfires in Australia, which was really great, but a really tragic story. In the middle of that I received this script and it was such an escape to read about all these worlds and all the magic within the JW Wells company. I was just really attracted to something that was light and bright and hopeful.

Sophie Wilde: Yeah. It felt really quirky and fun. And similarly, I'd been working on like a really intense, BBC gang crime show and I was like, I really wanna do something fun and I wanna come to work every day and play and get to be a kid. So yeah, it was exactly that.

I really enjoyed Sophie's character and the way she warms up to Paul gradually throughout the film.

SW: It's so sweet – that love story at the heart of it. I feel like we didn't even realize how much that was a part of the film really until I watched it and I was like, 'Oh, this is a love story!'

MO: No, that's what I thought, too. I