With Fantastic Beasts opening next week and it recently announced Johnny Depp will cameo as well as star in the sequel, it’s now become known which character Depp will play.
Director David Yates confirmed Johnny Depp will be playing the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald while speaking with The Leaky Cauldron.
“The whole principal of casting the movie was go with the best actor. Go for the most inspired, interesting, right fit for that character. And as we approached Grindelwald we thought, ‘Who’s going to take this in an interesting direction?’ In this business, it’s a weird old business. You’re brilliant one week, people are saying odd things the next, you go up and down. But no one takes away your pure talent. Johnny Depp is a real artist. He’s created several characters who have really resonated in our popular culture. He’s a really brilliant, brilliant actor. We were excited about seeing what he would do with this guy, the character. He’s fearless; he’s imaginative; he’s ambitious. We thought he would do something fun and special. So we went for him, purely on that selfish basis. We don’t care if he’s famous or not famous. We just know he’s interesting.”
The character has been named and appeared many times in the Harry Potter movies, which follow Fantastic Beasts in continuity.
Gellert Grindelwald is also described as: considered one of the most dangerous Dark Wizards of all time. He was educated at Durmstrang Institute until his twisted, dark experiments upon fellow students resulted in his expulsion.
“Fantastic Beats and Where To Find Them” has a November 18, 2016 release directed by David Ayer starring Eddie RedMayne as Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston as Tina; Alison Sudol as Tina’s sister, Queenie; Tony Award winner Dan Fogler as Jacob; Ezra Miller as Credence; two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as Mary Lou; Jenn Murray as Chastity; young newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty; and Colin Farrell (“True Detective”) as Graves.
Synopsis:
“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.
