As the Wizarding World of Harry Potter expands out with the third Fantastic Beasts film, playing in theaters as you read this, it’s easy to forget that in its infancy, this spinoff franchise centered around a magizoologist (played by Eddie Redmayne) who was more comfortable being around strange creatures than he was interacting with muggles or wizards. Thanks to everything we have learned in the first two Fantastic Beasts movies, there is a lot more at stake as we head into Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, but we wanted to make sure that the Beasts at the heart of the series don’t get forgotten.
When given the chance to sit down with the cast of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, we asked series stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Jessica Williams and Mads Mikkelsen which creatures they’d want in their lives… and which ones absolutely needed to be kept as far away as possible. The Manticore was the unanimous choice from the entire cast of a Fantastic Beast that no one wanted to bring home, with Redmayne telling CinemaBlend:
The manticores who are in this movie, they’re not just for Christmas, and kind of what you were saying – there are some sweet ones, and there are some vicious ones. And the manticores somehow disguises itself, masquerades as being the sweet and cuddly and chirpy type. But actually, they are vicious and terrifying! And you don’t want to run into a mommy manticore in a dark alley.
Jessica Williams went off the board when picking the Fantastic Beast she’d keep out of her home. She selected the Niffler, who on the surface looks like a sweet and cuddly creature and the closest thing to a domesticated dog in the wizarding world. Look at this dude!
She goes so far as to say that she’d rather have “a murderous creature” hanging around as opposed to the Niffler, who she worries would spend too much time stealing everything in the vicinity, raising all sorts of problems.
We switched gears after that to find out from the cast of The Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore which magical creatures from the ongoing Warner Bros. series that they would like to bring home with them. Several of the cast members, and especially Jude Law, threw their support behind the garden-resembling flower creature Pickett, a male Bowtruckle kept as a pet by Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). Dan Fogler brings up the excellent point that you can’t eat a salad in front of Pickett without earning yourself a stink eye. But as Redmayne explains:
Pickett’s a bit needy. … Pickett, of all of the Bowtruckles, has a very specific place in Newt’s heart. I actually love the Pickett-Niffler, not Muffler, combo. They’re both fighting for Newt’s love and attention. They’re the ones that he carries with him a lot. But in this movie, they kind of team up and you see a bit of affection between the two of them.
There’s not nearly as much time for Fantastic Beasts in the new movie Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, as the characters in the film are dealing with the rise to power of Grindelwald – now played by Mads Mikkelsen as opposed to Johnny Depp. As you can tell from the title, the story is going to shift more towards Albus Dumbledore and his work with young students at Hogwarts, thereby tightening the threads and connections to the existing world of Harry Potter. Reviews for the sequel have been solid, so make sure you grab tickets and head out for opening weekend.
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