Filming began Monday on Warner Bros. Studios’ “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” set in the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling in her best-selling Harry Potter books.
Principal photography got underway in England at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” feature films.
Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) stars as Newt Scamander, the wizarding world’s preeminent magizoologist, who stops in New York following his travels to find and document magical creatures.
The script — marking Rowling’s screenwriting debut — was inspired by her character Newt Scamander’s Hogwarts textbook.
The film is being produced by David Heyman, producer of all eight “Harry Potter” features, with Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.
Redmayne’s co-stars are Katherine Waterston (“Inherent Vice”) as Tina; Alison Sudol (“Dig,” “Transparent”) as Tina’s sister, Queenie; Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”) as Jacob; Ezra Miller (“Trainwreck”) as Credence; two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (“In America,” “Sweet and Lowdown”) as Mary Lou; Jenn Murray (“Brooklyn”) as Chastity; Colin Farrell (“True Detective”) as Graves; and young newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty.
Warner Bros. Pictures has slated “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” for worldwide release in 3D and IMAX on Nov. 18, 2016.
—City News Service