Get ready for a feast of beasts as J. K. Rowling invites
you to explore an exciting new era of magic...
ypical. You wait ages for a (Knight)
Bus and suddenly three come along
at once. We are, of course, talking
about the recent rush of Harry
Potter-inspired works. June saw Harry Potter
and the Cursed Child preview in the West End,
July saw The Cursed Child script arrive
in bookstores and, on the 18 November,
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
will swoop into cinemas. With The Cursed
Child (both forms) dazzling and delighting,
we have high hopes indeed for this big-screen
return to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world.
Set 70 years before Harry Potter’s first term
at Hogwarts, Fantastic Beasts introduces us
to Newton ‘Newt’ Scamander, author of the
book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Die-hard fans will remember this tome from
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the
first novel in Rowling’s million-selling series)
– it was one of the boy wizard’s first-year
textbooks at Hogwarts. Released in 1927 by
Obscurus Books, it’s basically a helpful guide
to the wizarding world’s
extraordinary creatures.
It can, for example, tell
you “the best way to rid the
lawn of Horklumps” or how
to “cure your pet Puffskein
of drinking out of the toilet”.
Newt was commissioned to write
the book in 1918 by Augustus Worme
and spent the following few summers
traversing the globe studying and collecting
a menagerie of critters (well, we suppose
anything is better than working at the
Ministry of Magic for two sickles a week).
The cinematic incarnation of Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them drops in on
our gallant hero in 1926 – one year before the
book’s release. Having concluded his studies,
Newt has stopped off in New York to attend a
meeting at the Magical Congress of the United
States of America. Unfortunately, his magically
expanding briefcase, which is currently home
to all manner of creatures – both naughty and
nice – is inadvertently opened by a muggle
named Jacob Kowalski. Cue beastly chaos,
exacerbated by the sinister New Salem
Philanthropic Society, who are determined to
eradicate witches and wizards everywhere...
The role of Newt in the film is played by
The Theory of Everything’s Eddie Redmayne.
The Oscar-winning actor prepared for the part
by observing handlers at wildlife parks, and
became especially fascinated with a baby
anteater. “It would curl up into a little ball,
and in order to make it relax, [the zoologist]