Hold the wand, because Eddie Redmayne now has homegrown skills when it comes to taming tiny creatures.
The 36-year-old actor laughs describing last New Year’s Eve, when he dressed up his eldest child, Iris, 2, as a Niffler, the adorably mischievous platypus-like creature in J.K. Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts” series.
“She was toddling at the time, just running around causing complete havoc,” says Redmayne, noting his whole family got in “fancy dress” as characters from “Fantastic Beasts” that night. “When I read the second script in which there are baby Nifflers … it was like I was method acting. I felt like I knew how to handle the baby Nifflers!”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (in theaters Friday) picks up in 1926, just weeks after the first film, as the fearsome, deceptively magnetic Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) breaks out of his New York prison and crosses the Atlantic to raise a dark resistance of true-blood wizards in Europe.
The sequel also finds classic introvert and magizoologist Newt Scamander (Redmayne) grappling with newfound fame inside the wizarding world as his former instructor, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), tries to enlist his help in neutralizing Grindelwald. And when not caring for his case full of bellicose creatures, Newt is flummoxed to find himself quite awkwardly in love with criminal-chasing Auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston).
“What (Rowling) manages to do is to tell stories that feel completely contemporary yet also expose the fact that history repeats itself. She seems to shine a light on that …while also creating escapism,” says Redmayne, sinking back into a couch inside West Hollywood’s Palihouse hotel.
In real life, the Oscar winner is now a father of two (son Luke was born in March) with wife Hannah Bagshawe. Redmayne seems to have found a new rhythm, filming a “Fantastic” film roughly every two years while fitting in an occasional passion project. Continue reading »
