Eddie Redmayne Reveals He’s Dealing with Real Live Snakes on Set

Eddie Redmayne hasn’t let much slip about his role as Newt Scamander in recent interviews. However, since he’s currently promoting his latest film, The Danish Girl, between filming Fantastic Beasts, interviewers can’t help but ask him about the role.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Eddie mentioned that he’d recently been dealing with real live snakes on the set, alongside co-star Dan Fogler.

There are some live animals. Dan Fogler [who plays Newt’s nonwizard friend] and I had to negotiate quite some epically-sized [sic] snakes the other day. We went, ‘Wait a second, can’t we CGI those in?’

Eddie also spoke about how seriously he takes his roles and how with Fantastic Beasts there is a great deal of pressure.

I think it may just be my personality, but I always find a reason to worry. So with Stephen Hawking it was about letting down Stephen. With Lili’s story it’s about letting down the trans community. And with ‘Fantastic Beasts’ it’s wanting to do justice to an extraordinary world that J.K. Rowling has created.

In the interview, Eddie also touches on how he approached the role of Lili in The Danish Girl and how he was able to research the real Lili.

I thought that Lili would have known she was a woman but would have had no vocabulary, nor predecessors, nor community within which to understand it. So I saw her masculinity as being a construct of society. There were some clues in her clothing when she was living as Einar. There is a drawing and some photographs in which she has these incredibly high starched collars and tight tailored suits. I read them as a kind of scaffolding to the masculinity.

Elsewhere in Fantastic Beasts news, Pottermore has posted an interview with make-up and hair designer Fae Hammond. Fae has worked on countless films over the years, including the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, Stardust, and Rush. Fae states,

There’s a terrible, old-fashioned attitude that make-up artists just pop along and dab your nose with a powder puff. But it’s so much more than that.

Fae explains that her job is far more than just hair and make-up, but developing relationships with the actors who pass through. She explains that

it’s a really delicate, sensitive job, make-up. My team [is] handpicked by me, and I have to choose them for their sensitivities, for their ability to know how to make an actor feel safe. Some days an actor will want to talk and joke, others they’ll not want to say a thing.

I need my team to sense that, to work around any nerves, to know when to be quiet. We’re the last people they see before they turn their faces and go on camera. Sometimes they need to see you out of the corner of their eye before they can go on.

Fae talks further about this relationship in reference to the relationship between Alison Sudol (Queenie) and Rachel, her make-up artist.

Rachel[ i]s used to working with leading ladies; she’s great fun, and she’s loyal. They struck up a fantastic relationship straight away, really; they’re about the same age, they like the same music, they get on. They’ve got the right energy together. I can’t tell you how important that is.

Well, from snakes to make-up, it certainly sounds like it’s all happening on the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set! Hopefully we’ll learn more about what’s happening on set soon. And while you’re waiting, make sure you’ve caught up on the most recent Fantastic Beasts news and roundup.

Where do you think snakes could come into the plot? Do you like learning more about what’s happening behind the scenes? Let us know in the comments!