Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently stalled due to positive COVID test, but Katherine Waterston recently sat down with Collider. In the interview Waterston revealed a couple intriguing updates on the franchise, including her opinion on blockbusters, David Yates’ role in the franchise, and Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald.
Waterston starts by explaining “I really didn’t know what I was getting into to be honest. I didn’t realize what a different thing a franchise is from a film, you know? The commitment, the duration of the shoot, the duration of the press tours, how much of your year it asks of you.”
It’s always endearing to see an actor come out and discuss the differences between different budgeted films. Waterston has been on a plethora of different sets including small budgeted films like Jonah Hill’s Mid90’s, medium budgeted films such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice and other huge blockbusters such as Alien: Covenant and the other two Fantastic Beasts movies.
She goes on to discuss the film’s director, David Yates. Yates has been directed every Harry Potter film since Order of the Phoenix and it looks like he will continue. Waterston saying ” I think he is meant to direct them all. I think it’s very interesting. He’s worked very closely with J.K. Rowling for a long time and very few people have access to her because she’s quite insulated.”
This comes as little surprise as Yates has directed very few films aside from the Rowling and Warner Bros. franchise. Currently JK Rowling is set to write all of the Fantastic Beasts films, which has been a mixed bag all the way around.
The next film is set to focus equally on the series three main characters. Jude Law’s Dumbledore, Eddie Redmayne’s Newt, and Mads Mikkelsen’s newly-recasted Grindlewald. However, a huge criticism with the franchise’s last film was that nothing happened. The table and lines were drawn, but there was little interaction between parties.
In this interview Waterston reveals that her and Mikkelsen ” don’t have anything together in the film” meaning that one of the biggest leads does not have a scene with the main villain. This is all to say that while Harry Potter was a great series, this latest spin-off leaves the audience frustrated by the lack of a cohesive story per movie.
Every Harry Potter film, aside from the split last films, had a full beginning, middle, and end. However, these Fantastic Beasts films lack a certain finality and serve only to make the franchise longer than a few films.
Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently at a halt in production, but can still be expected in 2022.
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