‘Fantastic’ journey
Redmayne takes on dark forces in Rowling’s ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’
LOS ANGELES — In screenwriter J.K. Rowling’s latest in the preHarry Potter series, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander is called on to take a stand.
This, the second of a fivepart series, finds boyish wizard Scamander still enchanted by his odd “fantastic beasts.”
But as action shifts from 1920s New York to London and then Paris, Johnny Depp’s platinum-hued Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald begins his ascent toward world domination (with obvious parallels to the era’s real-life monster Adolf Hitler).
Newt is summoned by the great wizard Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), who has a mission for his protege.
“What I love is Newt has always been an outsider and created this cocoon of safety for himself. He’s a good person and has a great quality with these creatures,” Redmayne, 36, said.
“But is that enough, to be a morally upstanding person? When the stakes of the world are so extreme? In this film Newt realizes not only does he have to get engaged, he’s also got to get Dumbledore engaged.”
“Fantastic Beasts” works as an act of faith for Redmayne, whose A-list status grants him script approval while these scripts are revealed only when filming begins.
“Whenever you do a film that’s more than a month,” he said, “you’re committing your life to it. (These five films) potentially will be 1015 years. It’s a big step.
“But for me the person in charge of that step is one of the great imaginations of 21st century” — J.K. Rowling. “That is what I threw myself into.”
Being Newt in a magical fantasy series that affects kids everywhere is another reward. “We make these films in a vacuum basically, shrouded in secrecy next to the Wizarding World outside London in Watford. It’s a very intimate environment.
“It’s only when you go to Beijing — and people are dressed up as Newt. Or Alabama, where we went last week to this extraordinary school, where students enjoyed reading ‘Harry Potter.’ The teachers had seen this and decided to change their classrooms to the various houses from Hogwarts.
“They did this out of their own pocket — this is a low income school — and the results are extraordinary. Some of the kids were dressed up as Harry, some as Newt. It was really very amazing.”
Did the kids lose their minds when you walked in?
“Yes, but we also lost our minds, too.”
(“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” opens Friday.)