This post contains minor spoilers forFantastic beast and Where to Find Them .
Four - timeHarry Potterdirector David Yates is spooked when we seat down to talk aboutFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , the first of fivePotterprequel movies in the works . It ’s just a few days before the election , and the tension is palpable . That touch sensation move a comment on his own film : " There is some serious son of a bitch in this movie . "
We harmonize on that . Written byJ.K. Rowling– her first twinge at a screenplay – and set against the bustling canvas of 1920s New York , Fantastic Beastsfollows magizoologist Newt Scamander ( Eddie Redmayne ) as he dog a zoo of super - powered creatures down a lapin cakehole that exposes him to a seedy underbody of the wizarding world . He encounters charm - casting agents operating like J. Edgar Hoover ’s FBI , anti - witch hate groups and closet wizards , and a brewing stratum war infuse with the wonder we ’ve come to carry from Rowling ’s stories . It will , finally , link up to the events of the originalHarry Pottermovies .
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If the first eightPottermovies felt like aloof , epic fantasy , the unexampled moving-picture show is salient and ingrained in reality ( even with all the fantastic beasts ) . " It ’s about how connected we feel to each other , " Yates says . " And Newt is this variety of oddly garbled character . It ’s about making sure that you value the other and the things that are misunderstood and the things that you mean you should revere . You should approach those things with an opened brain and an open heart , I think . "
Besides carving out new " serious son of a bitch " for the series , Fantastic Beastsalso recasts the rule of Rowling ’s original record book . I asked Yates to explain a few of the ways he putter with the Potterverse and localise up for the future of the franchise . Brace yourselves , diehard .
Harry Potter memories became Harry Potter horrors
Fantastic Beastsavoids the pitfalls ofStar Warsprequelization by earmark magic to be magic . Nomidi - chlorianshere . The Americans have their own lingo ( Muggles are no " No - Majs " ) and wizarding base – in 1920s New York , there ’s a zero tolerance policy for magical and conjuring trick - less commingling – but in 80 year , little has changed .
WhenFantastic Beastsdoes extrapolate , it ’s constituent . In one scenery , we see Newt and Tina ( Katherine Waterston ) becharm by shady forces and sentenced to destruction by … Pensieve . Yes , Dumbledore ’s impulsive storehouse organisation is inflate into a pool - sized torment gimmick adequate to of snare whiz in their memory for all eternity .
" That was an absolute lift fromHalf - Blood Prince , " Yates says , adding that the idea came out of script sessions with original serial screenwriter Steve Kloves . " Jo wanted a sudden dramatic transmutation , so Steve came up with the notion of this memory board pond , which I loved . Then I want these really benignant - attend nurses so it feel like a Swiss clinic . And everybody would be really prissy in a creepy-crawly kind of way . "
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There were placesBeastscouldn’t go
If you ’ve understand theFantastic Beaststrailers , you know that Newt ’s travelling bag – luggage that gives Mary Poppins a run for her money – is his life . In the film , Newt can walk through his bag into a multi - room zoo and laboratory . The original plan was even more grand . " As we developed it conceptually , I was really excited about making it trippy and extraordinary , " Yates say . " At one point in time , I got a construct artist to produce landscapes in there that were like little universes . They ’re all completely bonkers … Basically , he had Narnia in his case . "
accord to Yates , J.K. Rowling was n’t so keen on the estimation . " There was one moment when Newt amaze on a gravy boat and interbreed this vast , vast ocean within the guinea pig . And Jo said , ' Look , it look mythologic , but guy rope , he has to create this with the level of his magic trick , ' and the level of Newt Scamander ’s conjuration is home plate - grown . She tell he ’s got to beHeath Robinson , he ’s convey to sort of tap it together himself . It had to feel much realer . So , out went this sort of multi - dimensional other universe place , and it kind of crushed down to a shed . "
Everything ties back to the original franchise
Fantastic Beaststeases a future of its own that should loop Newt , Tina , and her employer , the Magical Congress of the United States of America , into Harry Potter and Voldemort ’s dueling fate . How we ’ll get there seems to have everything to do with the Deathly Hallows , the trifecta of magical objects ( the Elder Wand , the Resurrection Stone , and the Cloak of Invisibility ) incorporated into thePottersaga in the serial ' terminal two pic . Assembling all three Deathly Hallows allows their possessor to manage the power of Death . Harry used the piece to overcome Voldemort , then scatter them across the Hogwarts terra firma .
Fantastic Beastsreintroduces the Deathly Hallows , or at least the recognisable symbol stand in for them , as an engraved necklace gifted to Credence Barebone ( Ezra Miller ) , a straightlaced anti - magic objector . Only eagle - eyed fans will notice it . Yates does n’t even give the decoration a free burning shot . This is just a tease – but a big one .
" It is a delicate process [ incorporating the Deathly Hallows ] , and we trust that people will be able-bodied to enjoy this picture without receive too much prior cognition , " he says . " Fingers crossed . That they do n’t ask to have absorbed seven Koran and eight picture show . That ’s really for the people who bang the earth , and it ’s for them to relish that kind of stuff . "
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The freshest spells are timeless
Fantastic Beastsworks because it ’s not just a simple remix ofHarry Potter . That was key to Yates ' renewed pursuit . He wanted his late magical movie to find like it was transported here from 1926 . " I looked at those early silent films , Keaton comedy , Chaplin drollery . There was always something about Eddie playing with his animalism , which I loved . loved Keaton , I love Chaplin . They were sort of literal lynchpins . "
Ultimately , Yates says , it ’s J.K. Rowling ’s aesthesia that hold back revolutionise him and germinate the world . Music to fans ' ears . " There ’s something about the agency she writes and the grapheme she creates that feel singular . There ’s a innocence about what she writes . "
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