katherine waterston fantastic beasts and where to find them newt

All of this was beautifully realized by production designer Stuart Craig, who worked on every single Harry Potter movie and is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle in terms of bringing the wizarding world to life-he even designed the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks at Universal Studios. Once we reached the end of the street I expected to see the façade, but nope, you could turn left or right and the illusion kept on going.Īround the corner they had built another full city street, this one consisting of sets for Tina and Queenie’s fancy brownstone as well as Jacob’s less-than-fancy apartment. The street was complete with diners, storefronts-some of which you could actually enter as full sets, as filming might require-advertisements, streetcar rails, and even manhole covers that would produce actual steam. The “main event” was a massive New York City set, which comprised basically an entire city block. This may seem surprising, but once I laid eyes on the enormity of the sets that had been constructed, it became clear that they were building a world unto themselves on this backlot. In fact, only three locations were used for the whole film, with the majority of filming taking place on the backlot.

The majority of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was shot at Leavesden Studios just outside London, where the Harry Potter films were shot. However, this is an ensemble story, and along for the ride are a former auror named Tina ( Katherine Waterston), her bubbly sister Queenie ( Alison Sudol), and a no-maj (American for “muggle”) named Jacob ( Dan Fogler) who gets wrapped up in the world of magic and doesn’t exactly want to leave. We’re now a few months out from the release of Fantastic Beasts, which means I can finally tell you that in December of 2015, I had the pleasure of traveling to London to visit the set of the movie along with a small group of reporters, and glean some tidbits about what fans can expect from this highly promising wizarding world expansion.įor those unaware, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes place in the year 1926 and revolves around Newt Scamander ( Eddie Redmayne), a magizoologist who is more at home with his animals than with other humans, and who finds himself waylaid in New York City when his briefcase pops open and his creatures beginning running wild.

Katherine waterston fantastic beasts and where to find them newt