the casting of The film «Crimes of the Grindelwald» in Paris on 8 November. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP
Two years after the release of the feature film fantastic beasts the second part of the saga, Crimes of Grindelwald was presented as a world premiere on Thursday at the UGC Paris Bercy. Zoe Kravitz, Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne were present alongside the writer J. K. Rowling to introduce the film to the French fans of the world of sorcerers. Crimes of Grindelwald , will be released in theaters on November 14 in France, and then the 16 in the United States.
If the first episode of fantastic beasts did, that distantly the universe of Harry Potter, this one delves more directly into the past of the sorcerer, with a return to the school of Hogwarts and a reunion with professors Albus Dumbledore (in the guise of Jude Law) and Minerva McGonagall (played by Fiona Glascott).
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«This story is more dense and complex, featuring new characters that have a true path, and it is also much darker. But I was especially impressed by her way of creating an atmosphere of thriller, and the twists and turns that took me by surprise,» says in a press release the director David Yates, who also directed the last four episodes of Harry Potter .
With its special effects and breathtaking, crimes of Grindelwald opens on the escape spectacular Gellert Grindelwald, a sorcerer’s charismatic and a manipulator, played by Johnny Depp, who wants his fellowmen to reign over the world of the «non-shift» (ordinary humans). To stop it, Dumbledore made a call to his former student Norbert Dragon (Newt Scamander in English, interpreted by the oscar-winning british actor Eddie Redmayne), a specialist of fantastic animals, which had already helped her capture in the previous episode.
alongside The heroes rebel and whimsical, we find Tina Goldstein, elite agent of the Congress magic of the United States, his sister Queenie, and Jacob Kowalski, an unlikely «no-shift». New characters the assist, as the sorceress Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), or the alchemist Nicolas Flamel (Brontis Jodorowsky).
«This was supposed to be Paris»
The quartet leads the investigation in the streets of Paris in 1927, where behind the scenery of a postcard of the Eiffel Tower, the pere Lachaise (recreated in the studio), flourishes a parallel world of magic in which the access is hidden within the furniture. A fontaine Wallace, for example, to enter the French ministry of Magic.
«In the first game, it is in America, where the world of the sorcerers seems pretty closed. For this new chapter, I was looking to evolve in a universe where there would be a more direct link between magic and the everyday. And in the 1920s, this had to be Paris,» says J. K. Rowling, author of the saga, and screenwriter of the film, who also lived in the French capital and feels «a close strong with this city».
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To the delight of fans, the action is also a stopover in the uk to find Dumbledore teaching defence against the forces of evil in the sorcerer’s apprentices in uniform. An allusion is also made to his love story with Grindelwald.
«Grindelwald is first mentioned in Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone , so that it is present since the beginning, but remaining an enigmatic character. (…) I was especially interested by this story, because it is paramount to understand Dumbledore, who is my favorite character,» says J. K. Rowling.
Huge success around the world, the seven volumes of the saga of Harry Potter , which celebrates its twenty years this year, have sold more than 450 million copies around the world (including 28 million in France) and their movie adaptations has reported $ 7.7 billion.
Fantastic beasts , a prequel focused by the studio Warner Bros, should have three other areas in which the action takes place in different cities. The first installment had more than $ 4 million entries in France.