Eddie Redmayne was terrified of screwing up Fantastic Beasts
With ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ in cinemas this month, the anticipation for the ‘Harry Potter’ spin-off couldn’t be higher.
Naturally its star, Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, felt the pressure to make a great film after the enormous success of the Potter franchise but was always likely to rise to the occasion.
Speaking to the Guardian, Redmayne reckons the film has been misrepresented, to a degree: “Well, I feel the thing has been sold as Newt Scamander at the front, but it’s actually a quartet: it’s Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler.”
It’s an interesting response that not only tries to take the focus off him but also brings characters Porpentina Goldstein, Queenie Goldstein, and Jacob Kowalski into the picture. The trailers have, so far at least, kept his Newt Scamander in for forefront but seems the story will be more a collaborative effort.
“Do you feel pressure? Of course you feel pressure,” Redmayne admits. There’s perhaps an even greater significance for him to succeed in this movie after admitting he’s a big fan of the J.K. Rowling stories.
“Also, particularly because I loved the Potter films. There was something so warming about being able to dive back into that world every year or two. And if you’ve enjoyed something, you don’t want to be the one who comes in and screws it up.”
But it’s not like the British actor’s never been under the cosh; recent films like ‘The Theory of Everything’ for which he won Best Actor and last year’s ‘The Danish Girl’ were both very demanding and hugely scrutinised roles.
“With ‘The Theory of Everything’ it was knowing Stephen and Jane and the family would see the film. With ‘The Danish Girl’ it was all the people that I’d met in preparation for the film who came from the trans community. It’s pressure here of a different type, which is called hardcore fandom.”
Let’s hope both the film itself and Redmayne can satisfy fan hunger and not succumb to the pressure that inevitably comes with the role.
‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is in UK cinemas on 18 November.
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Picture credit: Warner Bros.
