The Wizarding World adds another exciting chapter to the magical saga with FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD.

I recently spend an afternoon at a press day here in Los Angeles, where part of the massively talented cast talked about the new film.

The movie, directed by David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), also stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Zoë Kravitz.

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD

Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein) & Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander)

On the effect of knowing that in previous materials Newt and Tina have ended up together.

Waterston: It is so much fun, because the audience has an advantage over the characters. When we think that the relationship is in trouble, it gets very intense. We don’t think “This will work out at the end.” It was so much fun to fight with you in this one! When someone gets under you skin and it is really frustrating you, that’s usually an indication that you are drawn to this person in a very powerful way. I enjoyed fighting against the romance and giving the audience the pleasure of saying “These two idiots… They don’t know!”

Redmayne: But also, we don’t know until we read the script what stories are going to be there. We worked so well together in the first one, and when I got this script I said “Wait, we don’t get to hang out until when?!”

On making changes or suggestions to the script.

Redmayne: Jo always writes it with great rigor and there’s extraordinary detail. Jo has this amazing thing by which, yes she writes it, and she writes it fully and thoroughly, but she allows us the freedom to play within that.

Waterston: And we also kind of recklessly invent new tasks for the CGI department in a way to problem-solve within the scene. When I went into the speakeasy in the first film, I thought ‘She would look like a government official if she stays in her regular outfit, she wouldn’t look right there.’ And I thought it’d be really great if I had the appropriate attire. And we just thought, ‘We got these wands…’ and the CGI department was like ‘Okay. That’s going to take us a month!’ But they let us do that stuff, and that is really, really fun to be inventive in that way.

On the parallels between Grindelwald’s speech in a climactic scene and real life sociopolitical events.

Waterston: First we saw it on the page. And, I was just thrilled to see Jo exploring these issues that are so the issues of our time, and also the issues of the period in which the film is set. And we know where that led us in the 20th century, and to consider the possibility that we can be hurdling in that direction again is totally chilling. Then you put an actor [like Johnny Depp] into it , who show us how this happens. It’s not by being simply terrifying but by being seductive and having logical arguments, and encouraging people to take sides and vilify the other. You see it takes a cunning person to manipulate people that way. And Johnny really understood that and delivered it that way.

Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein) & Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski)

On Queenie’s personal journey in this installment.

Sudol: All she really wants is what everyone else gets to have, a normal life. And to love, and get married, and have children. That’s what she wants. And in that desire is sort of a negating of this huge gift that she has, which unfortunately annoys everybody… So there’s starting to be a bit of friction within her, but she’s trying very hard not to have that happen. She has so much optimism and love to give. And that optimism and that love is what takes her ultimately on that journey.
The only thing that drives her forward is making this happen. Otherwise she’d just go with her sister. So I think there’s an active hope. She’s hopeful…And that’s what we want to hang on to with these two. Not what they’re going through, but what is in them that is indestructible.

On how much of the events of the previous film Jacob currently remembers.

Fogler: I think he remembered a lot of it. The obliviate spell erases bad memories, and he didn’t have any bad memories. Even the Erumpant was a good memory. He may not remember the scary parts of it, but he definitely remembers being in Newt’s case. It became familiar. So he retains it, puts it into his art, with the muffins and everything. And, his dream girl walks into the bakery. And he’s got the scar on his neck. And it all comes flooding back when she smiles at him.
[…] The first movie was a lot of pressure to get things right. It was a lot of fun. Coming back this time was like being a sophomore in college. You know the ropes, and you have your friends. But, it’s still fresh and new and exciting.

Ezra Miller (Credence Barebone)

On tackling current issues through this fictional story.

Obviously something that J.K. Rowling’s work is constantly, clearly seeking to deconstruct is the mechanisms by which we remove compassion or remove the effort to achieve understanding when it comes to any fellow being. And in this series we’re talking about that when it comes to how we all regard each other. And this supposition in the J.K. Rowling-verse has always been that just because it’s a magical world, doesn’t mean it’s a world free from bigotry, hatred, fear, and war-mongering. And so, these films start to further deconstruct some of those mechanisms and really start to look at how is it that we do that, and what leaves us vulnerable to people who would have us do that, just to be pawns for their interests. And I think that’s a timeless message, and a very excruciatingly relevant message right now.

On working with Johnny Depp to develop their characters’ relationship.

It was a deeply, deeply immersive experience that we shared, over a short period of time. Definitely a lot was shared and discussed, in the course of trying to create this complicated dynamic. What I really liked was the way it plays in this movie. The continuity between Credence’s relationship with Grindelwald in the body of Percival Graves, transitioning now into his true form — stuff like that we had a lot to think and talk about and work on. So it was a thoroughly engaging and interesting experience for sure.

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD will be released in theaters on November 16.

The powerful dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) has been captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.