“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” Roundup: The First Edition!

by · October 3, 2015

Welcome to the first ever Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them roundup post. Similar to our casting posts, this new series of posts will bring together all those tidbits of information that are being revealed as we begin to draw closer to the film – including castings, character details, and much more.

And now that filming is well underway, we’re sure that there’s going to be plenty more snippets of information coming our way over the next few months, and we’ll be sharing them with you right here.

The Pottermore correspondent gave us a glimpse into life on the Fantastic Beasts film set:

The set of Fantastic Beasts and Where [t]o Find Them smells like mahogany and popcorn. Not sure why or how; it just does. There are hundreds of people, thousands of costumes, hundreds of thousands of props. There are rows and rows of hats on racks, half-built cobbled streets and a cafeteria trailer with red vinyl seats like a 1950s diner.

Actress Katherine Waterston, who has been cast as Porpentina, otherwise known as Tina, revealed that her character has a bob. While in a recent press interview, Katherine said that she couldn’t say anything about her character – other than show off her new hairstyle, which you can see in the picture below.

Katherine Waterston

Katherine further said,

 Yeah, it’s set in the ‘20s in New York, and you know the cast. The cast is incredible. And it’s really fun; we’ve been shooting for, I don’t know, six weeks now, and it’s a ball, and that’s all I can tell you. [Laughs] … I’m sure I can tell you a little bit more, but I’m just so afraid that I’m gonna get shot in the head. So I’m just gonna leave it at that.

While we haven’t heard much from Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) on the role, he did admit at the recent Toronto Film Festival that the pressure was on:

The stakes are high because they were so good before. You don’t want to screw it up.

But Eddie doesn’t have to worry – Daniel Radcliffe said,

I’m excited to see them, especially with Eddie. He’s awesome. I think it’ll be fantastic. I’m intrigued to see what they’re going to do.

Eddie did reveal that he’s met J.K. Rowling, though, and has had a chance to discuss his character:

We only had an hour before she was going away, and we just talked character quite intensively. Her knowledge of my character’s backstory and the intricacies of it all were really inspiring.

In other casting news, British actress Gemma Chan has been cast in the film, although nothing is currently known about her role. Gemma is known for her roles in TV show Humans as well as films Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and Submarine.

Gemma Chan

Gemma Chan

Other possible cast members include Noel Denney and Chistiannette Ibie, who both list Warner Bros. projects on their profiles.

And finally for this week, it may seem a long time away, but it has been revealed that Fantastic Beasts will be one of many films released next year in IMAX cinemas with the new IMAX laser system:

The new system also includes IMAX’s next-generation sound technology, designed to increase audio immersion. It has been upgraded to 12 discrete channels plus sub-bass and includes additional side channels as well as new overhead channels that will improve the system’s ability to position sounds around the audience.

Don’t forget to keep checking MuggleNet for ALL your Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them news and check back soon for the next Fantastic Beasts roundup.

What was your highlight from the first ever Fantastic Beasts roundup? What are you hoping we get to learn more about in the coming months? Let us know in the comments!