Ezra Miller is as much of a Harry Potter fan, as we are. Being part of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World is indeed a dream that came true. During a break in the shooting of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, he sits for a talk with POTTERISH and a few American news websites, about Credence’s journey.
We are in a tent, at the Leavesden studio, where the eight Harry Potter movies were also filmed. Is October 3, 2017, [and the movie title hasn’t revealed yet].
How Credence is in The Crimes of Grindelwald?
Credence has been betrayed and mistreated by both worlds at this point. He has been mistreated by folks in the Wizarding World, and No-Mag, Muggle folks as well. He’s just been given no basis to perceive trustworthiness or compassion in another person. And there is a burden that comes in the form of a burning need to know more about who he actually is.
Despite being free from the Second Salemers, he still seems to be oppressed, being one of the attractions in the Arcanus Circus.
He’s free of a lot of the confines he’s known, but with the consciousness of his reality comes also heavy burdens. I would say that he is both free and burdened in new ways. He’s a bit of a ticking time bomb, given his particular magical condition.
In the first movie, there was a weird connection between Grindelwald and Credence. I was wondering: was the idea to portray an abusive relationship?
I felt personally that a lot of the exploration with Credence revolved around the idea of abuse and some of the different ways that trauma can happen to a young person… It’s said many times in this series that love is a form of light magic, right? So Grindelwald’s manipulation of love, targeting that deficit that he could perceive in Credence is a form of abuse. You could also say it’s a form of dark magic to wield power over that human need.
Would you like to see Credence with a romantic storyline? It’s a normal phase of growing up and Credence was deprived of it.
I wouldn’t want to like speculate specifically or I don’t really hope for the trajectory of the character. I’m so grateful to be along for whatever the ride is. I trust the writer. But I am really interested in all sorts of directions that could be possible in Credence’s exploration, because obviously for anyone who’s had that sort of history, there would be a continued history of working it out and working through it.
Do you know more about Credence’s trajectory than the necessary for this movie?
Sometimes we’re given glimpses into the crystal ball by the metaphorical Professor Trelawney [who is J. K. Rowling]. We do see through the future of our characters. Some of us are playing out longer arcs, so we need to get a sense of it. But there’s definitely a lot that we do not know. There’s a lot that no one knows except for J. K. Rowling.
The movie has many references to Harry Potter. Which one are you most excited for?
Hogwarts. I’m not in. It’s fine. No, it’s fine. I thought I would try to sneak on, sneak into the back of a class, but it’s very hard. They have a lot of protections.
Could you at least take a look in the sets?
Why are you doing this? You’re just pouring lemon on an open wound. I had a couple weeks off to do some other work [Justice League], I came back and I was asking what they’d been up to, and how it’d been. They said, oh, it’s been pretty much the same except for we did have that week where we were in Hogwarts. And I was like so deeply devastated trying to cover it up, play it cool. I was like, oh, that’s fine. Nobody called me. Nobody even thought to send a text.
+ Hogwarts in Fantastic Beasts is not fan service, says the director
They certainly keep a lot of secrets from you.
Yeah. It’s very exciting. You just never know what’s coming for sure. Uh, but again, just along for the ride.
When you shoot the first film, was it difficult to keep the secret about Johnny Depp?
Oh, no, now, see this is great. What’s great is when I don’t have to keep it secret because I genuinely don’t know. People were just calling him Johnny, I did not know who it was until I was literally shaking his hand.
Finally, what did this franchise bring to your career?
The way that this environment facilitates expression is really special. It’s a very particular feeling on this set. It’s immense. It’s also more quiet than a lot of smaller sets I’ve ever been on. There’s a real sense of collaboration in the process of finding each scene. We take time to rehearse which is a rare gift when you’re on a studio schedule making an enormous movie.
Read more:
+ Back to the Harry Potter universe
+ The Crimes of Grindelwald is a film about the danger of intolerance
+ Callum Turner changed J.K. Rowling’s plans for Theseus Scamander
+ The day we visited the Fantastic Beasts filming set
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is on in cinemas worldwide.
Pedro Martins is a journalism student and Editor-in-Chief at Potterish. He was invited by Warner Bros. to travel to England.
Translated into English by Paola Galiano
Edited by Aline Michel
