Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is not only properly introducing Johnny Depp’s dark wizard, after his cameo in the first movie, but it’ll also see the debut of Jude Law’s portrayal of future Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Law’s the third actor to play the professor, following Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, but we’re expecting a very different take on the character due to the prequel sequel being set many decades before he becomes the ol’ Albie that we’re familiar with.
While speaking with The Toronto Sun, Law talked a bit about how he got into the mindset of the character, saying that writer J.K. Rowling, as well as director David Yates, proved to be a huge help as she gave him a “clear picture” of who Dumbledore was as a person at this time in his life and the “demons” he carried around with him in his younger days.
“When you have the opportunity to work with the creator of a character, and a novelist at that, it’s like having a well of inspiration and detail. She was very generous with her time and she gave me a very clear picture of who he was from childhood; his motivations and the pivotal moments from his life and the scars that were left. So she and David Yates gave me a real sense early on so we could redefine that period before Dumbledore became the man we know and love from the Potter movies. I was able to dig into the demons and the turmoil and the drama of a younger man and the stuff that he has yet to resolve.”
Fans know something of Dumbledore’s dark past already, of course. As revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the book, the films skimmed over it), Albus’ sister Ariana died in her teens. He always blamed himself for her untimely death, too, as it happened when she got caught up in a magical duel he was having with his brother Abeforth and Gellert Grindelwald.
In the same interview, Law went on to discuss a bit about what separates his depiction of Dumbledore from those who’ve come before him. He doubled down on his explanation that Albus has a lot of skeletons in his closet that need to be dealt with before he can become the wise, all-knowing Merlin-like figure that Harry will get to know.
“I guess one of the things that makes him different is he’s 45 and not 112. The calm and sense of self that the old Dumbledore has is yet to be achieved. He’s a man still going through and figuring out his path. Also, he’s still living with demons that are unresolved. There are still issues that he carries that he needs to confront and work through.”
Of course, another thing that fans know about Dumbledore is that he’s gay, though we’ve been told not to expect this to be spelled out in the upcoming movie. Regardless, we’ll get to see how Law’s version of the character fares when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald lands in cinemas on November 16th.
