The cast of the "Fantastic Beasts" bring J.K. Rowling's imagination to life on the big screen

Record ID: 79779

  • Title: The cast of the "Fantastic Beasts" bring J.K. Rowling's imagination to life on the big screen
  • Date: 7th November 2016
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 7, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDDIE REDMAYNE, ACTOR, SAYING: "The other amazing thing about J.K. Rowling is that she's written characters and all, their back stories and lives are so thorough in her imagination. But for actors she gives us the complete freedom to come up with your own ideas. And to try things and fail and try again. So she was super collaborative." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KATHERINE WATERSTON, ACTRESS, SAYING: "And she's so enthusiastic about it too. I mean I think, I mean I can't imagine. But she just seemed so excited that she's seeing everything that she already saw in her mind out in front of her. I was so touched just to see that when we all met her, because Eddie got to meet her before we all started shooting, but the rest of us met her on set. And she just seemed so genuinely happy that we were all the people doing the parts. Which is exactly basically all you need when you're making a movie. You just want to see people who are like, 'yes, it's you and thank God.'"
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2016 17:41
  • Keywords: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Colin Farrell Eddie Redmayne Katherine Waterson Ezra Miller Dan Fogler Alison Sudol J.K. Rowling Harry Potter
  • Location: UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA00857G507H
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:"Harry Potter" fans will be welcomed back to the wizarding world next week with cute and mischievous magical creatures causing havoc in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," but there's deeper, darker unrest in the magical world.
    "Fantastic Beasts," opening in theaters on November 18, is the first of five new films from "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, penned exclusively for the big screen and preceding the Potter stories by around seven decades.
    Set in 1926, the new film centers on Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander, an introverted 'magizoologist' who arrives in New York City with a case full of magical creatures that quickly escape.
    Oscar-winning British actor Redmayne, 34, said he and Rowling had a "riveting" discussion on the quirks and mannerisms that would define Scamander.
    "Getting the opportunity to talk to an author about where their characters come from is so unique. And for her Newt comes from a really personal place, actually," Redmayne told Reuters.
    "It was really lovely to hear about his genius in her imagination," he added.
    "She's so enthusiastic about it too," added actress Katherine Waterson, who plays a witch and former Auror in the movie.
    "She just seemed so excited that she's seeing everything that she already saw in her mind out in front of her. I was so touched just to see that when we all met her, because Eddie got to meet her before we all started shooting, but the rest of us met her on set. And she just seemed so genuinely happy that we were all the people doing the parts," she added.
    Warner Bros' "Fantastic Beasts" begins with newspaper headlines documenting the growing power of a dark wizard named Gellert Grindelwald and fear and unrest among the magical community. It echoes the rise of the dark wizard Voldemort in Rowling's Potter stories.
    Scamander's escaped creatures threaten to expose the wizarding world, which lives discreetly among oblivious non-magic humans. Meanwhile, Manhattan homes are being demolished by an unseen creature, causing non-magic humans to speculate and fear that witches live among them.
    Scamander becomes a suspect for the magical ministry, but he is helped by ministry agent Tina Goldstein, her mind-reading sister Queenie and a non-magical baker named Jacob Kowalski to recapture his creatures.
    Scamander's story is woven into the growing influence of Grindelwald, who believes that the wizarding world should rule over non-magical humans.
    Potter fans will know Grindelwald from his friendship and eventual 1945 duel with Albus Dumbledore, the popular wizard headmaster from the Potter stories.
    "There is a lot of darkness that is coming up and also the characters, you see them growing so much throughout the film and there is still so much room for them to grow," said Alison Sudol, who plays Queenie.
    "It will be really interesting to see when you spend more time with them how they will change, how they'll evolve. Where they find their way, will they lose it?" Sudol said.
    Actor Colin Farrell, who appeared in one of the Potter films, and plays a member of the American ministry of magic in the new films, said the movie will appeal to fans of all ages.
    "I think it has cross cultural reach. And I think it has a reach that can satisfy many different age groups, I really do. I think there is enough substance in it. And even if there wasn't the substance that I speak of, the profundity that I know J.K. always has in her work, with regards to the interactions between human beings and notions of the other and differences and being an outsider or being included in the human experience or society, or community and all those things," he said.
    "Segregation is a big theme in this one. Even if those things weren't at play, as a 40-year-old man I could go and just get soaked in the expression of the imaginistic world that she's created. So I would imagine that kids and parents and adults can all enjoy it, I hope," he added.
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