It almost goes without saying that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is infused with the DNA of Harry Potter.
This is, after all, the second Potter prequel to come from Warner Bros. and director David Yates, one which will whisk viewers off on a Parisian adventure later this year. But according to lead star Eddie Redmayne, who’s back as the illustrious (and slightly ditzy) Newt Scamander, The Crimes of Grindelwald is very much in tune with its fantastical forebear.
While out promoting Aardman animation Early Man, Redmayne sat down with Collider to discuss the Fantastic Beasts sequel and, more specifically, J.K. Rowling’s instrumental role in fostering Newt’s next adventure.
I think it may have been ever so slightly longer. It’s a most intricate script and she’s woven these extraordinary threads that pull you back into the world of Potter and collect the beasts lore, the sort of Potter lore. I’ve been so lucky in the past 4 years to work with Jo and to work with Nick Park, who I think are two of the great storytellers.
What is amazing about working with Jo is that she does it because of how passionate she is about her characters. It oozes from every pore of her and you feel so inspired, basically, working on one of her pieces because you know how much she cares about every single character. That’s a wonderful thing.
In fact, Redmayne even went so far as to claim that J.K. Rowling was more hands-on this time around, and we know that The Crimes of Grindelwald marks her second screenwriter credit. It’s a script she penned alongside David Yates, and both creators have come under fire for their decision to stand by Johnny Depp’s casting as the titular Gellert Grindelwald.
Be that as it may, Eddie Redmayne had nothing but praise for the Potter mastermind:
Well, the truth is, to be honest with you, whenever Jo comes to set, which was quite a lot more on Beasts on the second one than on the first film, you will always see a crowd of actors surrounding her, desperately trying to eek out information about information about the characters.
One of the wonderful things is that she responds to what she’s seeing in the rushes and her sense of where the story is going, or what her interpretation of what the characters are. She will then respond to how actors are performing it, and that is a lovely thing. The answer is you get snip-its, but always with the sort of caveat that it could change. It’s pretty exciting.
Viewers will be able to bear witness to The Crimes of Grindelwald on November 16th. And with an additional three Fantastic Beasts movies on the cards, it seems things are just getting started for Warner’s prequel saga.
