Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures' highly anticipated feature Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The all new adventure is set in the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling in her best-selling Harry Potter books, which were adapted into the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. Filming started today, August 17, 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 story takes place years before Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione made their way to the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will become a text book that is used by the students in their studies.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also stars Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) as Tina and Alison Sudol (Dig, Transparent) as Tina's sister, Queenie, the two female leads of the movie. The supporting cast includes 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; and young newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty. The final addition to the cast is Colin Farrell ("True Detective") as the wizard Graves.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling. The script was inspired by her character Newt Scamander's Hogwarts textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film is being produced by David Heyman, producer of all eight of the blockbuster Harry Potter features. He will produce alongside J.K. Rowling; Steve Kloves; and Lionel Wigram.
Collaborating with David Yates behind the scenes are Oscar-winning director of photography Philippe Rousselot (A River Runs Through It, the Sherlock Holmes movies), three-time Oscar-winning production designer Stuart Craig (The English Patient, Dangerous Liaisons, Gandhi, the Harry Potter films), three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Alice in Wonderland), Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Tim Burke (Gladiator, the Harry Potter films), Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Christian Manz (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1), and David Yates' longtime editor Mark Day (the last four Harry Potter films). Warner Bros. Pictures has slated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for worldwide release in 3D and IMAX on November 18, 2016.