Ezra Miller takes ‘Grindelwald’ work seriously

“Fantastic LOS ANGELES —

Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” star Ezra Miller approaches acting with an intelligent swagger and a ferocious passion. He doesn’t take a superficial approach, whether it be describing the process of moviemaking as being “Gesamtkunstwerk” (the German word for the ideal of unifying all works of art via theater) or dealing with a pair of Harry Potter fans who try to get him to reveal secrets about the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise.

Miller has played two distinct characters over the past year in feature films that come with a massive amount of mythology. He plays the quiet and confused Credence Barebone in “Crimes of Grindelwald,” which opened last weekend. Last year, he reprised the role of outgoing and sometimes confused Barry Allen/The Flash in “Justice League.”

While the two characters might look different to the audience, the 25-year-old New Jersey native finds a lot of similarities between Barebone and The Flash.

“They are both essentially what nerds would refer to as OP (overpowered) characters, but I think the OP comes from a very interesting place in both cases,” Miller says. “In both cases, it really has to do with the ways gifts given to the human psyche can present as both blessing and curses no matter what you do.”

Background information of Barebone is plentiful through J.K. Rowling’s writings. Equally as plentiful has been material dealing with The Flash through the decades of DC Comics featuring the scarlet speedster. Miller absorbs anything he can about the role he’s playing.

“I find information helpful — always,” Miller says. “There was a while where I would fear certain information and I would not refer back to certain source material because I feared it would affect my character’s awareness.”