Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second movie in an ongoing series exploring the world of Harry Potter as it was decades before the start of J.K. Rowling’s seminal novels. It’s hitting theaters in November, and Warner Bros. is getting the hype train rolling. Entertainment Weekly is doing a cover story on the movie, and the stars are talking it up. “The script is labyrinthian,” says lead actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays the sensitive Magizoologist Newt Scamander. “It’s like you’re going down this maze and Jo is weaving the stories together with such intricacy. Along the way these connections to Harry Potter and secrets are falling at your feet. And there is one…I got to the end and my jaw dropped. There was one thing I didn’t see coming.”
Meanwhile, star Dan Fogler, who plays the kind-hearted Muggle Jacob Kowalski, compares the film to The Empire Strikes Back. “The first movie is so positive. It’s sweet and lovely. But this time everybody is really put under fire. People are gonna see this like a 100 times just to get everything. They’re going to be going nuts that they have to wait for the next one.” And EW has released a bunch of new photos. The hype train is leaving the station, people.
But for some, the most interesting thing about the movie is Johnny Depp, who plays villain Gellert Grindelwald, a dark wizard intent on uniting wizards and ruling over Muggles. (So Voldemort, but with fewer facial prosthetics.) Depp has stirred up controversy among fans who object to casting him after his ex-wife Amber Heard accused him of domestic violence. Director David Yates and writer J.K. Rowling defended the casting choice, and obviously Depp is still in the movie. Now, according to an interview Depp gave to Collider, we know he’ll be in the next one, too:
"I loved [playing Grindelwald]. I loved it because that’s really an arena where you can fly around and try different things and approach a character with a lot more…um…to take someone who is teetering on being a fascist, yeah he’s a fascist, he’s one of those, but to play him as a sensitive, concerned yet manipulative and powerful wizard. The possibilities in that world are wide open, so you can really try anything. So it was a gas and I look forward to the next installment, which I think we start the middle of next year."
Depp also talked more generally about how he came by the role, and what we can expect from the character. It sounds like Rowling approached him personally:
"It was amazing. It came out of nowhere. Someone said J.K. Rowling would like to talk to me. I spoke to a few producers and the director and to J.K. and had long conversations basically about the Grindelwald character. J.K. said something I did not expect to hear because obviously her detail to her characters and those wizarding worlds is astonishing. The fact that she said, “I can’t wait to see what you do with the character.” Just to hand it off to me with that degree of trust, I was really touched, blown away by that. So I jumped into locating the character and I had my ideas. I came in and it all seemed to work out. Grindelwald is an interesting character. His intentions in his mind are for the greater good, but there have been other people in world politics and such who felt the same way. [chuckles] He’s very dedicated to his beliefs. He’s not a fun character; he’s not funny."
It’s an interesting interview all around; Depp also talks about one of the little-known inspirations behind Captain Jack Sparrow: heat madness. And also there were screaming matches with then-Disney president Michael Eisner on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. Feel free to peruse.
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As for how fans will react to Depp in Fantastic Beasts 3, much may depend on how he goes over in The Crimes of Grindelwald, which opens November 16.
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h/t SyFyWire