Fred and George Weasley actors didn't know which twin they were playing until 5 minutes before first scene

• James and Oliver Phelps asked the casting director who was playing who just before the first movie's table read.
• Janet Hirshenson spoke with JK Rowling, Chris Columbus, and David Heyman and it was quickly decided.

James and Oliver Phelps, who starred as the Weasley twins Fred and George in the "Harry Potter" movies, didn't know which brother they were playing until five minutes before the first movie's readthrough.

The Phelps twins were speaking to fellow Potter alumni Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, on their podcast "Normal Not Normal." The brothers told Lynch that they didn't get to clear up who was playing who until the last minute.

"We're talking five minutes before we're supposed to start, we still had no idea who was Fred and who was George," Oliver said.

The twins told Lynch that they were about to do the table read for the first movie, "The Sorcerer's Stone," when they decided to approach casting director Janet Hirshenson to ask her who was playing who and clear up the confusion.

At first, Hirshenson thought the twins were joking. When she realized they weren't, Hirshenson pulled JK Rowling, director Chris Columbus, and producer David Heyman into a "20-second discussion" to clarify the situation.

Then, James was told he was Fred and Oliver was told he was George. The movies themselves play on the running joke that people, including Fred and George's mother Molly (Julie Walters), can't tell them apart.

"Now we always like to think they just, 'Oh, you didn't get the memo about the huge meeting we had in Burbank with like 50 people on the call. But in hindsight, it was probably either Chris, David, or J.K. Rowling just saying, 'James is Fred,'" Oliver said.

The twins appeared in all eight movies and remain friends with some of the movie's cast members, including Lynch. Another actor they are all still close with is Tom Felton, who recently rewatched "The Sorcerer's Stone" for the first time in 20 years.

Conversely, the Phelps twins' on-screen brother, Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint, recently said that he hasn't actually seen any Potter movie past the first three.

"I've probably seen the first three at the premieres, but after that, I stopped watching them," Grint said. "But now that I have a daughter, I will probably have to watch them with her."