'Fantastic Beasts 2' Star Eddie Redmayne Reveals What It's Like to Finally Work With Dumbledore
Eddie Redmayne is just a delight.
While visiting the set of "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" in 2017, the Oscar-winning star was knee-deep and production and, despite the demands of the shooting schedule, he was effortlessly personable and likable. No wonder why his character, Newt, quickly became a fan favorite. (Along with his very iconic coat).
Redmayne revealed what it's like for his character interacting on screen with a younger version of Dumbledore (Jude Law) and what is in store for his character.
MOVIEFONE:Have you [shot] scenes with Jude already?
Eddie Redmayne: I have, yeah. We have. And it was -- it's really wonderful. I've known Jude for many years, socially, and have admired his work and -- when we got to play, it was really playful. And he has that sort of twinkle in his eye that Dumbledore always has, that, I think, is so important in the depictions of Dumbledore in the films and certainly was really important to J.K. Rowling.
How's the dynamic with Newt's brother, played by Callum Turner?
It's wonderful. One of the things I've enjoyed most is working with Callum. I was watching "War and Peace," I don't know if you guys saw that, which he was in. My wife and I were watching it and he turned up on screen and literally, [my wife and I] were like -- "that's like a taller, darker, better looking version of me." <laughter> So when [director] David Yates was auditioning people for that part and he said "I want you to test with this actor," and Callum walked in -- I was, like, holy sh**.
Speaking of relationships, we heard from one of the art directors that Newt and Tina (Katherine Waterston) had a bit of falling out. Can you talk about what happened?
Um... it's not so much a falling out <laughs> as it is a misunderstanding. <laughs> You know, at the end of the last film, Newt was going home to write his book, but was desperate to come back. And when you meet him at the top of this film, he's still desperate to come back. There's been a misunderstanding and one of the lovely things is the way in which these guys come back together. It is typical for Tina and Newt through a lot of inability to communicate what they really feel. But it's been so wonderful playing with Katherine.
We also heard that Newt's assistant has an unrequited love for him and I feel like -- as a fan -- you're always rooting for the unrequited love to become requited. Will that be a challenge for fans?
Have you heard about, uh, am I allowed to say her name? Are we allowed to talk about what the assistant's name is?
Yeah.
She's this wonderful character called Bunty and she is -- she only has a scene or two in the film.
So in the last film, there was sort of a buddy comedy element to it.
Yeah.
How much of that are we going to see here?
So, we end up -- the action ends up in Paris, that is where the major part of the film takes place. And there is a point in the movie where Jacob (Dan Fogler) and Newt meet up and it's quite clear they have to go on an adventure to Paris. And so, there's that element and Dan's genius, which was one of the things I enjoyed most about the first film. How Jo [Rowling] had written Jacob -- but then Dan taking it to another level through improvising and playing. He always described [our characters' relationship] as sort of this Laurel and Hardy-style kind of relationship. But it was unlike anything I'd ever had to play and it's been really wonderful.
It looks like there's a lot more action in this new movie for sure. Compared to the last one, do you find it more of a challenge in that increasing amount of physicality?
The interesting thing is that this film takes it to -- you really get inside the psychology of the characters more and and it's a darker place. You can sort of get a sense of what's coming historically in the Muggle world at the time and certainly the wizarding world. There are elements that are reflecting that and with the rise of Grindelwald and this sort of -- this sort of greater evil. So the stakes are higher.
Can you talk a bit about your role and Newt's role in the Dumbledore-Grindelwald face-off?
Yeah.
I think some people might have feared that he'd be a bit marginalized. You know, once you introduce these two big personalities, it becomes about them.
I feel like Newt's skillset is quite unique, and I don't just mean with beasts, I mean with empathy. His capacity to see broken people and to reach out to broken people is a skillset which is pretty unique. And it's one of the things that Dumbledore has always, since he was a kid, seen in Newt. Rowling has created a scenario that's not as simple as the two can just face off. And actually, Dumbledore needs to recruit the skillset of Newt to help.
"Crimes of Grindelwald" hits theaters Nov. 16.