Ever since Harry began his journey, we’ve been told that “The wand chooses the wizard.” But, on set of the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them movie, the actors got to design their characters’ wands themselves.
“I sort of assumed that I would have a wand sort of plopped in my hand,” Eddie Redmayne tells Entertainment Weekly. But when he found out he got to choose the wand for the main character, Newt Scamander, he put a lot of thought into the design.
“These amazing props designers come, and then you have really a quite intricate discussion with [director] David Yates about what qualities Newt has,” Eddie continued. He wanted Newt’s wand to match his personality, to be a reflection of who he was. Eddie didn’t want the wand to be too complex of a design, Newt isn’t a “showy guy”. But he did want the audience to be able to see the history in it, all that it’s been through, with scratches and burn marks up and down the ash wood.
But for the handle, they were sort of talking about whether it should be horn or leather, and I didn’t like the idea of like animal products being used, given that he’s a zoologist. So in the end, they came up with this idea of sand shell… and it has a slightly mother-of-pearly feel. So we had all these discussions and went back and forth with designs, and when the thing arrived I was pretty excited. My inner 9-year-old was having a disco, and then I was actually presented with it!”
Read the full interview with Eddie Redmayne here! Be sure to catch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in theaters November 18!
The Warner Bros. presentation on April 12th at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas gave a ‘big picture’ on what to expect in Summer 2016, and of course the biggest thing attendees wanted to hear about was Fantastic Beasts. Therefore, it was only fitting that Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol and Colin Farrell hit the stage to rile up the crowd and promote the film:
More images from the event can be found over at Getty Images here.
Access Hollywood caught up with Eddie Redmayne at the event, for a short interview about the Potter franchise. He ‘opens up’ about whether or not he was a fan of the original series (obviously he was!). Catch the video below:
Associated Press released a similar interview of Eddie and Collin Farrell talking about the magic of the series, and Colin raves about having a personalised wand.
Eddie’s so engrossed in the series already – we can’t wait to see how he does as Newt (judging by Pottermore’s interview, we’d say he’s definitely doing great).
Collider also met with Dan Fogler, to talk about his role as muggle (no-maj) ‘Jacob’ in Fanatic Beasts. They graced us with a video of their interview (below), and even gave us a handy time index:
- 0:17 – What it means to him to be part of the Harry Potter universe.
- 1:15 – His “surreal” and lengthy audition process.
- 3:36 – The experience of making the movie.
- 4:22 – How the story will surprise people.
Comic Vine also released a video with Dan (below), on finding out about the role and more on his character’s 1920’s New York / Brooklyn accent:
You can read a transcript of the interview over at Snitch Seeker here.
Just incase you haven’t seen the trailer already (or want to see it again) catch our frame-by-frame analysis here, and the trailer itself below:
Following the exciting release of another amazing Fantastic Beasts trailer at the MTV Movie Awards yesterday evening (which you can read about here and watch below), Pottermore caught an exclusive interview with Eddie Redmayne himself – and it’s just about the loveliest interview you’ll ever read!
As we know, Fantastic Beasts will be dealing with a very different setting to that of the Harry Potter series. Tom Riddle is just being born (in 1926), Albus Dumbledore is still teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts (and apparently advocating against Newt’s expulsion), and we’re being wooshed away to New York, to see how the American wizarding (and No-Maj) world of the 1920’s differs from the British version of the 1990’s-2000’s.
Talking about the pressure of adding to the legacy of Potter, and helping to create this entirely new story, Eddie remains humble as ever, showing how much he cares about the series and his character:
“‘Each time you put a little thing like that out into the world, it feels nerve-wracking,’ he says, in his reverent British half-whisper. ‘The weird thing about film-making is that you make films as a team and together, you care about every bit that goes out. You care what people think. I care.’
Eddie blinks a couple of times, earnestly, and it’s clear that he does. He’s the kind of actor who keeps a piece of his characters in his heart. He adores Newt Scamander especially, you can tell.
‘When I first heard the notion of this film and that it was set in a totally different time period [to Harry Potter] the question for me was, would those worlds ever collide? When I read the script, the delicacy with which J.K. Rowling weaves the names and the characters of a different generation to the one we know and love excited me. It still does.’
As for Newt’s expulsion and the reason he’s arrived in New York City?
‘I can say nothing further about that,’ Eddie says, holding tight onto the secret. “
You can tell Eddie really knows his stuff – we love an actor who gets into the story as much as us (we’re looking at you, Evanna Lynch)!
On Newt’s love for magi-zoology:
‘Newt is much better at communicating with beasts and spending time with his creatures than perhaps he is with human interaction. On the journey of this film, he begins to find connections with people but he’s not exactly a people-pleaser. What I love about Newt Scamander is that he’s his own person. He’s a passionate man and he’ll do anything for those beasts.’
Our frame-by-frame analysis of the trailer gives a closer look at one of the more adorable beasts in Newt’s intriguing briefcase, and allows us to see that the briefcase holds beastie characters we’ll get to know more throughout the film. The mysterious Pottermore Correspondent chooses to focus on this strange (but cute!) little beast:
‘The Niffler!’ says Eddie, with a slight shake of his fist on Newt’s behalf. ‘As you know, I have a love-hate relationship with that little guy. He gets a little moment in the trailer, the Niffler. He’s ravaging a purse. I thought he did pretty immaculately in his debut but there’s a lot more Niffler to come. He looked so sweet and adorable just then but don’t be fooled.’
Eddie beams with genuine affection for the little beast and sighs with relief that he can finally talk about a few more things that appear in the film. Now that the trailer’s out, he’s got approximately eight fewer secrets to keep until November.
‘I’m so bad at keeping secrets, so anything being out there that I don’t have to hide anymore is good,’ he says.
We know that Eddie’s a busy man, and we also know that he’s expecting a baby with his wife – apparently he’s taking a well-deserved break (but probably not for long – the sequel’s still to come, and another after that!):
‘Do you know, I am actually taking a wee break,’ he says. ‘My wife is having a baby and we thought we’d travel a little. What was wonderful about Fantastic Beasts is that it was fully immersive but the shoot was long, it was six months and it was rigorous. I put everything I had into it so, yeah, it’s time for a wee break.’
But one of the best parts of the interview doesn’t even involve any interviewing – the Pottermore Correspondent beautifully sums up Eddie’s shining personality with a quick observation, making us even more confident that he’s the Newt we never knew we were looking for:
“And with that, Eddie stands, hugs me goodnight, climbs the narrow black stairs down from his trailer, stops to film 11 seconds of fireworks on his phone and jumps into the black car waiting for him outside.”
Read the full interview over at Pottermore here!
We can’t wait to see/hear more about the film (which hits cinemas November 18th!) – catch the trailer below, and read our frame by frame analysis here!
Entertainment News interviewed Fantastic Beasts Eddie Redmayne on the process of filming The Danish Girl, for which he has just been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.
Eddie spoke about how the long it took to make The Danish Girl a reality – saying the whilst filming Les Misérables (which came out in 2012), he spoke to director Tom Hooper about a script he’d been working with for years for The Danish Girl, which only got funded whilst Redmayne was filming A Theory of Everything (released 2014) – taking a total of 12 years to become a reality!
He spoke about how important his role in The Danish Girl was, and the importance of educating himself before giving his performance as Lilli Elbe, and a beautifully eloquent summary of the film’s moral:
‘What found amazing about this film is it’s a love story, and it places love as this thing that is not defined by bodies, by gender – it’s about souls, really.’
Watch the interview here!
Yesterday evening (Tuesday 8th December), Eddie Redmayne and his wife Hannah Bagshaw attended the London premiere of Redmayne’s latest movie The Danish Girl at the Odeon, Leicester Square.
(Photo by Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Eddie will be starring in this Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) film based on David Ebershoff’s eponymous fictionalised account of the life of Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne): a transgender woman who lived in 1920’s Denmark and was one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
Hooper also directed Les Misérables back in 2012, where he handed Redmayne a copy of the script. According to the Telegraph, both Hooper and co-star Alicia Vikander praised Eddie’s “extraordinary” performance at the premiere.
Regardless of this, Redmayne remained humble on the evening. When asked about the potential for receiving another academy award for his performance (after winning best actor for The Theory of Everything), he was more than humble. The Telegraph reports:
He said: “Getting to play her was one of the most wonderful presents, I just thought her and Gerda’s story – I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard it before – I thought it was one of the great love stories of the 21st century, it was the most wonderful experience getting to play her.”
Redmayne researched the film by spending time within the transgender community and read Elbe’s diaries, which he said had revealed her battle against the “masculinity around her”.
The actor said the role had been a “great responsibility”, but when asked if the film was an Oscar-winner he replied: “God, no, don’t do that.”
Sky news also reports on his response to the amount of violence and prejudice against the transgender community:
“There’s been a tipping point in the last year or two – trans issues have gone into the mainstream culture and mainstream discussion.
“But what I find amazing is that it’s almost a hundred years since Lili and Gerda’s story and it’s taken this long and there’s still a huge amount of progress to be made – (there’s still) a huge amount of discrimination and violence against trans people. There’s still a long way to go.”.
Be sure to see Redmayne’s performance in The Danish Girl on January 1st 2016, and watch Leaky for updates on his role as Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, due for release November 18th 2016!
