The continual delays of film productions and releases have had all sorts of consequences. The biggest, of course, is simply that the biggest films haven't been able to be released at all. Major franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have had to reorder their entire slate because of that. Productions going back in front of the camera now have to do so with a host of new protocols in place. However, there are some other unfortunate consequences for the performers that come with delays. As Eddie Redmayne recently explained that the delays in Fantastic Beasts 3 have resulted in some scenes being more difficult to film than they otherwise would be.
In this case, it has to do with when, not how, the scenes were filmed. Eddie Redmayne explains to Variety that he has some scenes in Fantastic Beasts 3 that required him to do some swimming. If the film had gone in front of cameras on schedule, the scene would have been shot over the summer, when one assumes, the water would have been at the very least a vaguely reasonable temperature. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and that meant Redmayne had to go swimming in the winter. The actor explains...
I can’t tell you anything other than the fact that I think I’ve got some night shoots in Watford, in Leavesden, [England], that we were meant to shoot in the summer in water. But now obviously because of lockdown, and the film shutdown, they’re being shot in early December. And suddenly you find yourself swimming outdoors in British winter.
The U.K. is known for many wonderful things, but its weather is not one of them. A British winter is, by definition, pretty harsh and not the time of year one would ever go swimming on purpose. It's likely that was even taken into account when the original production schedule was put together, but then unavoidable delays hit and everything had to change.
Fantastic Beasts 3's recent delays were, like every other movie, due to the global pandemic, but the film's production woes pre-date even that. Originally, the movie was set to start filming in the summer of 2019, but was pushed into the fall. At that time the expectation was that the movie would be released in 2020, but the movie kept being pushed back. Then it was going to begin filming in the spring of 2020, and that's when the pandemic came along and ruined those plans as well.
The film then saw one additional brief delay after Johnny Depp lost his role as Grindelwald as the result of the actor's ongoing legal disputes with ex-wife Amber Heard. He has now been replaced by Mads Mikkelsen, and production is moving forward with Fantastic Beasts 3 eyeing a July 2022 release date.
