J.K. Rowling Talks About Her New Hero, Newt Scamander, In ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’ [Video]
The setting of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them might look familiar to viewers that have seen the eight Harry Potter films in the past, but the Harry Potter prequel takes place in an environment several miles away from Hogwarts. Warner Bros. Pictures released a new Fantastic Beasts featurette on June 23 that has author and screenwriter J.K. Rowling talking about her favorite type of hero.
The film will not be released until November, but that hasn’t stopped Rowling from talking about Fantastic Beasts, which is the first film that she wrote as a screenwriter. In the new featurette, Rowling talks about writing about characters that tend to be outsiders who might act awkward to the rest of the world, but deep down, they have the biggest hearts.
“My heroes are always people who feel themselves to be set apart, stigmatize, or othered. That’s at the heart of most of what I write.”
Rowling, who penned the story Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them under the pseudonym Newt Scamander, said that she became interested in Scamander’s life while writing the Harry Potter book series. In the Harry Potter universe, Scamander’s textbook is a part of Potter’s supply list during his first year at Hogwarts.
The Harry Potter spin-off movie takes place in New York in 1926, approximately 70 years before the events in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone happens. In the Fantastic Beasts universe, viewers get a chance to see the American wizarding world, along with a vast array of magical creatures.
Apparently, the magical community in America is entirely different than what Scamander is used to living in. In one scene, he gives his frank opinion of what the American wizard community thinks of muggles, or non-magical people, while talking to Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, who works for the Magical Congress of the United States and is also a witch.
“I know you have rather backwards laws about relations with non-magic people. You’re not meant to befriend them. You can’t marry them, which seems wildly absurd to me.”
Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne, who plays Newt Scamander, is also featured in the over two-minute clip. Redmayne reveals that Scamander is more comfortable dealing with the magical creatures than with humans.
In the first two movie trailers, the magical creatures in the movie are barely seen, but in the featurette, viewers can see some of the creatures in a few scenes, including Bowtruckle, a small plant creature, and Niffler, a little, furry long-nosed creature.
The film takes an interesting turn when the featurette reveals a slight film spoiler on who causes the creatures to escape. Colin Farrell, who plays Percival Graves, is featured in a couple of scenes in the featurette, and viewers can see him wield and use a magical wand in one tiny clip.
With all the excitement that the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie is bringing to old and new fans, Scholastic revealed on June 21 that they will release a new edition of J.K. Rowling’s book, according to Entertainment Weekly. The new edition will have a new forward written by Rowling, along with a new book cover and illustrations and scribbles found throughout the book from the Harry Potter author.
Unfortunately, fans of the book will have to wait until March 14, 2017, to wait for the newest edition from Rowling. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the movie has a November 18 opening date.
[Image via Fantastic Beasts/Facebook]
