Fans got their first look atFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwaldlast month with new photos ofNewt Scamander(Eddie Redmayne) and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), and today we have some intriguing new details about the story. It has long since been confirmed that this sequel will be set in France, and in a new interview, director David Yates revealed what the word for “muggle” is in French. Last year’sFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themrevealed that the American equivalent of muggle is “no-maj,” and the French term is quite similar: “Non-magique.” A Muggle is a non-magical person, or a regular human being.
Harry Potterfans also learned inFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themthat the magical community in the United States is quite different than the U.K. with a distinct and rather strict separation between the magicians and the “no-maj” citizens.Director David Yates, who has been confirmed to direct all five of theseFantastic Beastsmovies, which will all be set in different cities, revealed in a new interview that the magical community in Paris is quite similar to the U.K., in that they’re much more laid-back. Here’s what the director had to say below.
“(Thewizarding world in Parisis) quite glamorous, it’s quite beautiful. There’s a community that lives alongside the muggle community, it’s much freer than in New York, where there’s segregation. Paris is a bit like England, actually, not so hung up about the differences between the two. Magical people can freely move into non-magical communities as long as they’re discrete about their talents.”
Even before the first photos surfaced, the movie has been making its fair share of headlines, with several people speaking out about the casting of Johnny Depp asGellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard who Newt, Tina, resident Muggle Jacob (Dan Fogler), Queenie (Alison Sudol) and a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) are trying to find. Author J.K. Rowling defended the casting, along with David Yates, while Daniel Radcliffe also spoke about the controversy surrounding his casting, after allegations of spousal abuse surfaced from his ex-wife Amber Heard, who subtly threw some shade at Rowling for “picking and choosing” certain lines and “quoting them out of context”. It remains to be seen if this controversy will die down at all between now and the November 16 release date.
Fantastic Beasts 2 wrapped productiontowards the end of December, and with a 11 months left until the November 16 release date, it remains to be seen when the first trailer may be uncovered. Also returning fromFantastic Beastsis Ezra Miller (Credence Barebone), Zoe Kravitz (Leta Lestrange) and Carmen Ejogo (Seraphina Picquery), with Callum Turner coming aboard to play Newt’s brother, Theseus Scamander. David Yates is directing from a screenplay by J.K. Rowling, withFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2slated to faceWidows.Entertainment Weeklybroke the news today about the French word for muggle.
