J.K. Rowling Unleashes the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ in Magical New Featurette
We're still months away from the release of J.K. Rowling's highly-anticipated Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but thankfully the beloved author is giving Potterheads an early peek into the magical world of the film with a brand new featurette.
Starring Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander, "A New Hero" divulges more information on the plot of the film, as well as explores the mysterious main character.
"My heroes are always people who feel themselves to be set apart, stigmatized or othered," Rowling explains in the clip, creating a connection between Newt and her more iconic protagonist, Harry Potter. "That's at the heart of most of what I write, and it's certainly at the heart of this movie."
"Newt feels more at home with creatures than he does with human beings," Redmayne adds about his character, who, according to Rowling, has "been traveling the world, studying magical creatures" before finding himself in pre-Great Depression era United States.
Other things we learn from the clip: Newt can enter his magical briefcase, which expands internally similar to Hermione's enchanted Mokeskin beaded handbag in Deathly Hallows; Dan Fogler's "Muggle" character, Jacob, is actually the one who unleashes the titular beasts from the case; and relations between non-magical and magical persons (who cannot befriend or marry each other) are "backwards" in the States, poignantly paralleling the real-world racism of the '20s.
However, the best part of the featurette is the reveal of a few new actual fantastic beasts. In the clip, we get a glimpse at four of Newt's critters, which include a small tree-like creature called a Baby Groot bowtruckle, a mysterious silver egg, plus a multicolored bird (possibly a Fwooper) and a cute echidna-looking animal called a Niffler, who were featured in a previous trailer.
Inspired by the fictional Hogwarts textbook featured in Rowling's Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens November 18.
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