ComingSoon.net visits the set of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
ComingSoon.net got a chance to head to London last year and check out the set of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald! While there we got the scoop on our next visit to the Wizarding World. We spoke to the cast and toured 1926 magical Paris, which was completely built. We also got some juicy info on the film.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second of five all new adventures in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamandar alongside returning stars Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, and Ezra Miller. They’re joined by Claudia Kim, Zoe Kravitz, Callum Turner, with Jude Law as Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as the titular Grindelwald.
At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.
We spoke to director David Yates about the story for the sequel which he called, “a very interesting synthesis between a sort of political thriller and love story. So it’s a sort of fusion of genres, if you like, which I think makes it quite unique in this series of films that we’ve been making based on her [J.K. Rowling] work…. Jo starts up brilliantly with the way she lays out the script. It’s a really generous interesting thriller/love story.”
Yates also spoke about Jude Law and how he’s changed the dynamic from the first film, saying: “So we’re seeing Dumbledore as a young man and (he‘s) quite a rebel. He’s quite complicated. He’s far from perfect. He’s a inspiring teacher. All the pupils love him. But as ever, being Dumbledore, he’s a wonderful manipulator and he has this incredible ability to sort of maneuver people into situations that they may not want to be maneuvered into. Jude brings this amazing freshness and sexiness and- and sensuality and sort of wit and sort of charisma to the role. It’s actually really wonderful to see this character as a young man and with Jude playing him. He’s doing a really wonderful job.”
Producer David Heyman spoke about the scene that was important to him, going back to into the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. “How great is that? Seeing a younger Dumbledore and seeing he and Newt’s first meeting, I think, will be a thing that the fans will really love. Because here is this character who is such a central part of the ‘Harry Potter’ stories, and to see him earlier on, as it were, very much, related to the Dumbledore of future. But at the same time, you realize in the Potter films that he was working things to his own end, he knew the path. He knew what was happening. He understood the back stories. While here, you see Dumbledore and there are remnants of that and you see echoes of that. But he’s also wonderful and colorful and magical and wise and he’s the character we know, but younger, and we see slightly different shades.”
We got a chance to walk through some concept art and learned that there are a number of locations we’re going to visit. We’re going to see Hogwarts, a bird market, Kama’s hideout [Kama (Willaim Nadylam) is an elegant French-African wizard who says he is the last male in his pureblood family line. After many years of obsessively searching for Credence, he has finally tracked him down in Paris. But to what end?], Pere Lachaise cemetery, Nicholas Flamel’s house, a rally thrown by Grindelwald, Place de la Concorde in Paris, a rooftop hideown, a ship, the Circus Arcanus and Newt’s basement and home in London.
We’re also going to see magical Paris in 1926, which, as we said, was completely built. We got to walk around the set, which included shops like Ar. Aziz Branchifflore which sells silks and herbs, Cancan Nantais, Epicerie Frutierie, Comce de Vins, a pharmacy, the Rue de Montmorency, Chaudrons, which sells cauldrons, a store for Quidditch equipment, a cafe and advertisements for the Cirque Arcanus, which is a magical circus that is going to play a big role in the story. Each window was full of magical implements, wands, spell components and more. If they don’t add this to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in California and Florida, they’re nuts. It was incredible to be able to walk around and be a part of it.
We learned a few things about the story as well. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald begins in a MACUSA prison, where Grindelwald is a hero to all the bad guys. He’s sent to Europe to be tried though, and, of course, he tries to escape. We’ll visit a ship carrying Credence to find who he is, which involves a magical circus. We know that Tina and Newt haven’t seen each other, but that he’ll meet up with Dumbledore on a foggy night on top of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Jacob and Queenie end up in Europe for their own reasons and we know that they meet up. We’ll meet Nicholas Flamel on the Rue de Montmorency, where the real man actually lived. We’ll also visit the Department Magique, which we got to walk through. It’s very green and very nouveau with a glass roof dome decorated with animals. It’s stunning and imposing like the Ministry of Magic we know from the Harry Potter films, and even the floors were raked. It has a very elegant and very Slytherin feel to it, and it’s incredibly powerful-looking.
Click to Page 2 to hear from the cast and learn about the new ‘Fantastic Beasts’ in the film!
