This past week the new addition to the many magical pieces of J.K. Rowling’s legacy, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them held their NYC junket.
This movie is one of five additions that J.K. Rowling plans to add to her wizarding world. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, directed by David Yates, is a drama fantasy meant to take place years before we are introduced to Harry Potter. It takes place in 1926 New York City when something mysterious is leaving a path of destruction in the streets and is near exposing the wizarding community. In the mist of the chaos young Newt Scamander, a Magizoologist, comes to NYC to capture any loose creatures. Disaster strikes when No-Maj (non magical human being) Jacob Kowalski accidentally releases some of Newt’s creatures. Newt and Jacob then band together with former Auror, Tina and her sister Queenie. The unlikely group face the odds as the search for the creatures end up being harder than they imagines while also being branded as fugitives.
We got the chance to sit down with one of the stars of the movie, Ezra Miller who plays Credence as he talks about getting the part, being introduced to the wizarding world and more!
Don’t Forget Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes out November 18!
When you first had the script handed to you, and you read your character, what was going through your mind?
Ezra Miller: “Yes! Yes! Oh, gosh! Yes! Thank you!” The script was probably not too surprisingly kept under wraps, and so I only read it after I’d been cast, so I was already in a state of exuberant joy. Then the feeling of having a J.K. Rowling work on your email that no one else has read, except for a handful of people, was thrilling, to say the least. Then to delve into it and find all of this depth and all this challenging content, and her really bringing the themes of the Harry Potter stories closer to our world, and becoming maybe even a little more confrontational with some of the ideas that are so integral to this story. It was extremely exciting, I mean as a Harry Potter fan I’m extremely excited because I feel how this brand new story ties into the broader wizarding world, and that excites me. Then as an actor, it’s an incredible role, the type of role that you would dream about, no matter what context it existed in. Yeah, it was a potpourri of delight.
Will we be seeing Credence in future installments?
Ezra Miller: I tell you, I’m banking on that. I just don’t really know. I’m really grateful for what I’ve gotten to be a part of so far, but gosh, that would be incredible. Yeah. All the digits crossed for Credence’s survival.
Well Credence seems like a product of a fundamentalist homeschooling gone awry.
Ezra Miller: That’s a good way to describe it, yeah.
Did you do any real world research into families or cultures like this to inform your character?
Ezra Miller: I did. I was interested in what the New Salem Puritanical Society is originally based on, which is really eugenics communities, which existed in mass in the 1920’s in the United States. Eugenics was the practice of, it’s sort of the pseudo science that paved the way for white supremacy and fascism in the 20th century. It started actually in the US and in Scandinavia, not in Austria or in Germany. Those communities were very real, they existed, even in New York there are photographs you can find and look at, and very strange pictures of people who believed that they were the embodiment of normality, but they looked very strange and very scary in these pictures. Yeah, I also, the most important real world research I did was having some really critical conversations with survivors of abuse, similar to the abuse that Credence survives, or does not survive, in this film. That was really important. I will send a particular shout out to this organization called ChildLine, in the UK, that is a response network for kids who need to talk or who need intervention or who are just having a hard time and want to chat online with someone who will listen, or on the phone. It’s been running for a couple of decades, and they were really generous with me and let me come in and talk to a lot of the responders, and even talk to a survivor who works with them still, who specifically survived abuse in a series of foster homes. There were a couple of other people who I found in my life who had lived similar experiences, and really trying to listen to them to grasp some understanding of that just impossible pain. It was important to me, particularly because I had the privilege of growing up in a home free of violence. Yeah, I thought it important to hear the real story, that’s not always my approach to a character. I don’t always feel like an actor has to talk to the person most similar to their character on planet earth, but in this case I felt like it was really important to hear those voices and to incorporate those stories into my process with this kid.
What was it like, going back to a home of violence, what was it like balancing and juggling portraying Barry Allen and also Credence?
Ezra Miller: I’d say that Barry Allen is good medicine for the type of ailments that playing someone like Credence can leave lingering in the body. It’s interesting because Barry Allen’s life is not free of trauma, but there is a processing engine that Barry Allen possesses which is really his intelligence and his humor. It’s nice because it was someone who had trauma, but who was dealing with it a little better. Definitely Barry Allen is having more fun than Credence that is comparative statement I am comfortable making. It was nice, I was really thankful to have Barry be the role that came after Credence, because it was sort of a salve when my skin was raw from the endeavor of playing such a tortured soul.
Very uplifting.
Ezra Miller: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Can you speak about collaborating with David and what you admire about him as a filmmaker?
Ezra Miller: Yeah, I think he’s one of the most special people I’ve ever gotten to meet. I think it starts with his heart, and the way that he endeavors to be a kind and empathic person on the planet. Then I think it goes further into his mastery as a filmmaker, and his uncanny ability to meet an actor’s needs. He really has an amazing understanding of an actor’s process and he’s very patient and he’s very gentle, but at the same time he’s very demanding and he’s very firm. If you talk to actors, some of the top tier actors who have worked with David Yates, they’ll say, “Wow, I did not expect him to really drill me like that for a performance.” I went in there expecting to dial it in, and, no, he demands the best and the most authentic performance possible. For each and every person in the film I saw him give very serious instruction to people who had one or two seconds of screen time, he really cares about every beat and every detail, holding as much authenticity as possible. One thing I certainly admire about him immensely is the level of calm that he maintains through the entire process of making a film. I didn’t really believe it, when I first met him, I was like, “Wow, this guy is extraordinarily chill. I wonder if that remains the case when the going gets tough on a major motion picture production?” I actually asked Emma Watson …
I was going to ask if you talked to Emma, because you worked with her.
Ezra Miller: Yeah, I did. She was one of the first people I called when this happened and-
Was it a bonding experience?
Ezra Miller: I asked, I was like, “Does he really remain so zen through the process of making a film?” She said, “It’s hard to believe, but, yes.” She said, “I’ve never heard his voice go above a certain number of decibels,” because he really is. He is really disciplined and centered, and that’s a huge gift to an actor, especially one in some vulnerable situation of doing sensitive work with challenging material. I could not picture it being anyone else, and I’m so thankful, he took away a lot of the fear and nervousness that I had coming onto a big production like this, with so much pressure and so many expectations. He really brought it back to a simple place of the work for me, and was just so kind and generous to me, I’m really grateful for him.
What was your first meeting with J.K. Rowling like?
Ezra Miller: It was so delightful, I mean she is just the most spectacular individual, and she too made me feel really quickly so comfortable. An extraordinary feat given how much I revere and admire her. It was very special to get to spend that time.
Was it on set or?
Ezra Miller: Yeah, it was. It was one day when we both happened to be there and got to spend some time together. Just one of my deepest seeded fantasies coming true in ways I could have never expected.
Did she give you any advice about the role or any tips?
Ezra Miller: She certainly shared a lot of the seemingly endless bounty of information that she holds about every character in her stories, yeah, with me, which was extremely helpful. I met her pretty far into the production, and the truth was that everything I needed from her, she had already given me in the script. We were already pretty deep into a collaboration that was happening remotely when we did meet, and perhaps even more so for me, because she has probably in some way or another played some role in everything I’ve ever done since the time I was seven.
One of the most interesting things the movie explores is really your character’s relationship with his sister. she’s not necessarily an innocent Muggle … there is some magic hidden in her.
Ezra Miller: Sure, definitely it would seem that way. I’ll tell you that Faith, the actress who portrayed Modesty is not a Muggle, and she’s probably gotten the letter already and she’ll be missing in the next seven years. “Where did she go to school again?” Yeah, I don’t know. I would be so curious to find out. I don’t have any secret info on the truth of Modesty, but she’s definitely a powerful kid in this story. I mean the way that she stands up for her brother, and the way that she’s protective of him and caring for him being such a young kid. I think it would suggest at least the basis of magical abilities, but, yeah, I don’t know.
One of my favorite scenes in the film is actually when you and Eddie are talking at the very end and Newt’s trying to calm Credence down. How was working with Eddie?
Ezra Miller: Unbelievable and such a dream. He is generous, that man is so generous, as a performer he’s generous with everybody, because he’s making real personal sacrifices to give us some of the greatest performances of our times. As an actor to work with, I mean the amount of material he was giving me, that he wasn’t even doing on his coverage, just for me to have more information to play with on my coverage, he’s that type of actor, who’s going to do, he’ll try different things just to help you get to the emotional place that you’re trying to reach. He has the capacity to immaculately conceive his own character, and then also worry about yours and help you. I was just amazed by him, and so thankful to have an opportunity to work with him a little, and hope to do it more in the future because he is such a phenomenon, such a special individual, and such a wonderful person, so kind, so giving, so funny. His wonderful self-deprecating sense of humor, that at a certain point you’re like, “Eddie, you’re one of the greatest. Stop this self-deprecation.”
You have a CD coming out too?
Yeah, I’m working on my fourth studio album with my band right now, and I’m also writing a solo record. Which I’ll hopefully record in a couple of months.
