J.K. Rowling Just Prescreened ‘Fantastic Beasts’ And Revealed New Wand Designs, Characters For ‘The Cursed Child’
One of the perks of creating epic masterpieces on and off screen is that you get to see the end result before us mere muggles. J.K. Rowling just gloated tweeted about her private screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where They Come From to her followers on Monday and she seemed pleased with the results.
You know what rounds off a great day? A private screening of #FantasticBeasts. ???????
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 18, 2016
How can she not be pleased? The trailers alone provoke our inner wizard in the same way Harry Potter does while offering us something new to obsess about. Bringing the magical creatures from her books to the big screen is an experience Rowling fans are always up for.
Based on the trailer, one might expect to run into a few of the Harry Potter characters — a couple of Hogwarts teachers or a villain or so before they turned to the dark side. But according to Entertainment Weekly, any fans hoping to see familiar faces in the Fantastic Beasts movie will be disappointed. Producer David Heyman told EW in November not to expect any familiar faces in this first film.
In an interview with MTV news correspondent Josh Horowitz, Dan Fogler confirmed what we have heard thus far about the characters.
“As the stories go along, you will hear mention of your favorite characters, and you may meet their young counterparts along the way.”
So it still looks like no Harry Potter characters will show up this adventure with Newt (Eddie Redmayne), Tina (Katherine Waterston), Queenie (Alison Sudol), and Jacob (Dan Fogler). Rowling gets quite attached to her characters, and she seems to have formed a bond with Redmayne’s character already.
Albus Dumbledore is fond of Newt Scamander for the same reasons that I am fond of Newt Scamander. You're welcome. https://t.co/bNdwX6Tf40
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 11, 2016
Although the majority of attention seems to be fixed on putting Eddie Redmayne’s character front and center, much like the Harry Potter series, the story involves several heroes and magical creatures.
A couple of the beasts that have been brought out to tease us are the Swooping Evil and the Niffler, and it’s pretty clear from the trailers that this movie’s beast are as imaginative and exciting as the ones featured in the Potter stories.
Fogler talked about one of the creatures during CinemaCon.
“The Niffler is one of the cuter, cuddlier creatures in the movie, He’s this fuzzy little guy who has a marsupial pouch. He likes shiny things, and he collects things. He’d take the camera, and stuff it into his pouch and run away.”
In other news, J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to announce that Harry, Hermione and Ron from her play, The Cursed Child will get new wands.
Exciting morning at rehearsals for #CursedChild. What do you think of our wand designs? #HarryPotterPlaypic.twitter.com/Vg1wAmi11Y
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 18, 2016
In revealing the wands, she also exposed that the Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley characters are also in the play set 19-years into the future. Hopefully, the two-part play about Harry’s life as a husband and a father with a child just starting his own adventures at Hogwart’s will someday make it to theaters, but until then, the play will be available in print and digitally according to IGN. The Cursed Child opens as a two-part play on July 30 and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them hits theaters in November.
[Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP]
