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Last week news broke of Johnny Depp’s involvement in the upcoming “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” sequel.
Now “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates and producer David Heyman have confirmed the news to The Leaky Cauldron, revealing Depp is set to play “Harry Potter” character Grindelwald.
“Grindelwald is an iconic character, so it was important to have someone who had that weight,” Heyman explained of Depp’s casting.
However, in light of the actor’s recent domestic abuse scandal, there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the casting of Depp.
Yates explained why they chose Depp: “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 other big news coming out of the interview is that “Harry Potter” fav Dumbledore is set to return.
“In the second movie Dumbledore comes back,” said Yates. “It’s not going to be [actor] Michael Gambon. No, we need a younger Dumbledore.”
Check out the rest of The Leaky Cauldron’s interview for more news, including setting and more info on the titular beasts.
