Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first of an upcoming series of films based on, one of the companion books to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The film was Rowling's screen writing debut. David Heyman, who produced the Harry Potter films, will be returning as producer for Fantastic Beasts.

It is set in New York in 1926, seventy years before the Harry Potter series, and will feature Newton Scamander as a main character. tells us that Scamander had been travelling the world in research of magical creatures since 1918, culminating with the publication of his masterpiece in 1927.

Warner Bros approached Rowling about using the book for a film, from which she pitched "an idea that [she] couldn't dislodge". Upon returning to Harry Potter for the first time since 2007, Rowling commented: "I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it." She stated that the idea of seeing Scamander "realised by another author was difficult," hence her decision to be the film's screenwriter.

Production for the film began at Leavesden on 17 August, 2015.

On 13 May, 2014, it was announced the first film will be released on 18 November, 2016. On 26 April 2016, it was announced that the script of the first film would be released in book form on 19 November 2016.

Synopsis
Part of the synopsis was first revealed on 6 October, 2014, when J. K. Rowling posted the cryptic message "Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My wand won’t tolerate this nonsense." on her official Twitter account. She confirmed the following day that this message was a riddle, and the solution, while not part of the script, was the first sentence of a synopsis of Newt Scamander's story. The anagram was solved later that day, with Rowling confirming the solution of "Newt Scamander only meant to stay in New York for a few hours."

The film's first official synopsis was released on 11 December, 2015:

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident… were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds. The plot revolves around Newt Scamander, who was making a brief stop in New York in December 1926, shortly after completing his travels around the world to research for his Magizoology book,. What was meant to be a short interlude is prolonged when a No-Maj called Jacob Kowalski inadvertently disrupts Newt's magically-expanded suitcase, releasing a number of dangerous magical creatures into the city and threatening to worsen even further the state of magical and non-magical relations in the United States (which were already tense due to the presence of a fanatical extremist group, the New Salem Philanthropic Society, advocating for a "Second Salem" and the erradication of wizardkind).

The film will take place over the course of two days.

Characters
The following is a list of characters confirmed to appear in the first film of the trilogy, most of whom (as of now, the only known exceptions are Newt Scamander and Porpentina Goldstein, who are mentioned on the book) are completely original to this work and never mentioned anywhere else in canon before.


 * Newton "Newt" Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne ) – Magizoologist, author of the book . British Ministry of Magic employee, Porpentina's love interest. Described as eccentric and introverted.
 * Porpentina "Tina" Goldstein (played by Katherine Waterston ) – "An ambitious worker at the Magical Congress of the United States of America (aka MACUSA, the U.S. version of the Ministry of Magic) who meets Newt. Tina is relegated to an office well below her abilities after she stood up for the wrong person. She longs to fight for what's right." Described as "grounded".
 * Jacob Kowalski (played by Dan Fogler ) – "An optimistic No-Maj (aka Muggle) factory worker/aspiring baker who gets introduced to the wizarding world when he meets Newt." He begins the film post break-up and develops a crush on Queenie.
 * Queenie Goldstein (played by Alison Sudol ) – "Tina's younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit 'legilimens' who can read minds." Described as a "bombshell".
 * Percival Graves (played by Colin Farrell) – "A powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world's president." Set with the task of tracking down Newt.
 * Seraphina Picquery (played by Carmen Ejogo ) – President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).
 * Mary Lou Barebone (played by Samantha Morton ) – "The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and kill wizards and witches."
 * Credence Barebone (played by Ezra Miller ) – "Mary Lou's troubled adopted son". Reportedly plays a big role in the wizarding world canon.
 * Gnarlack (played by Ron Perlman ) – A goblin gangster who owns a speakeasy, does business with Newt.
 * Henry Shaw Senior (played by Jon Voight ) – A newspaper tycoon, and father of Senator Henry Shaw Jr
 * Henry Shaw Junior (played by Josh Cowdery ) – An American senator who holds a rally picketed by the New Salem Philanthropic Society. Elder brother of Langdon Shaw.
 * Langdon Shaw (played by Ronan Raftery) – Younger child of Henry Shaw Senior. He learns of a series of mysterious events in New York City which point to something magical.
 * Modesty Barebone (played by Faith Wood-Blagrove) – A "haunted young girl" with "an ability to see deep into people". Mary Lou's youngest adoptive daughter, who manages to conceal her disobedience from her.
 * Chastity Barebone (played by Jenn Murray ) – The oldest of Mary Lou's adoptive children, she assists her mother in her crusade against wizardkind.
 * Mrs Goldstein (played by Fanny Carbonnel ) – mother of Porpentina and Queenie Goldstein.
 * Lt. M. Young (played by Matthew Roberts )
 * Gilbert Bingley (played by Peter Breitmayer )
 * An actress (played by Gemma Chan )
 * A Sasquatch (played by Jason Newell)
 * A Demiguise (played by Edd Osmond )
 * A Secretary (played by Lucie Pohl)
 * A Sex Trade Worker (played by Laura Matassa)
 * TBA (played by Zoë Kravitz)

Beasts
The following is a list of beasts confirmed to appear in the first film of the trilogy.
 * The Niffler
 * The Swooping Evil
 * The Bowtruckle
 * The Lethifold
 * The Billywig
 * The Occamy
 * The Demiguise
 * The Thunderbird
 * The Murtlap
 * The Erumpent
 * The Nundu
 * The Ashwinder
 * The Thestral
 * The Doxy
 * The Mooncalf
 * The Kappa
 * The Fwooper
 * The Diricawl
 * The Hippocampus
 * The Graphorn
 * The Runespoor
 * The Sasquatch
 * The Giant Dung Beetle
 * The "Bits and Pieces Creature"
 * The Augurey
 * The Crup
 * The Merpeople
 * The Griffin
 * The Nogtail
 * The Flobberworm

Behind the scenes

 * At the origin, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was supposed to be a faux documentary about Newton Scamander.
 * Jacob Kowalski is the Harry Potter franchise’s first main Muggle character.
 * Albus Dumbledore is mentioned in the film; he was one of Newt's teachers at Hogwarts, and the only one to speak out against his expulsion.
 * Gellert Grindelwald, and the intensifying of an international manhunt for him, is mentioned in the film as a story on the cover of The New York Ghost newspaper.
 * On set, the unknown creature wreaking havoc was only referred to as an Obscurus, a likely reference to Obscurus Books the publisher of.
 * David Yates has said that a character that already appeared in the Harry Potter film series will appear in the second film adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them.
 * David Heyman has said that originally he and producer Lionel Wigram were thinking the film was only going to be "a documentary about Newt" until Rowling somehow found out and told them she had thought about a different kind of film already.

Notes and references
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