Fantastic Beasts star Dan Fogler says the scope of the third film caused the delay that pushed production back until late fall.
“Yeah, we start in the fall. The movie is going to be gigantic,” Fogler told HeyUGuys.
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“The reason we were given is that the movie is bigger than the first two combined. They needed more time to prep and they didn’t want to rush anything so they pushed it back. I can tell you that we are going to Brazil. I don’t really know much… [laughs]. I’ll get a script closer to when we start shooting.”
The next entry in the Harry Potter prequel-slash-spinoff series was originally expected to go before cameras in July. As first reported by Deadline in January, the delay was to allow for more prep time for the threequel.
Creator J.K. Rowling again pens the script under series director David Yates and producers David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.
As architect of the planned five-movie series, Rowling acknowledged in June Yates and studio Warner Bros. “have always let me have my say, though not necessarily the final word.”
“That’s true of all the producers, of whom I’m only one: our input is taken seriously but it is very much a collaborative effort,” she wrote on her official website. “The director is ultimately responsible for everything that’s seen on the screen. As the screenwriter, the majority of my input comes at an earlier stage.”
Little is known about the third film, other than it will continue the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Jacob Kowalski (Fogler), Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), a younger Dumbledore (Jude Law) and arch enemy Grindelwald (Johnny Deep), a dark wizard threatening both the human and wizarding worlds.
“The possibilities in that world are wide open, so you can really try anything,” Depp previously told Collider when confirming his return for the next sequel, set to continue to mine the largely unexplored relationship between the warring wizards.
“Grindelwald is an interesting character. His intentions in his mind are for the greater good, but there have been other people in world politics and such who felt the same way,” Depp said. “He’s very dedicated to his beliefs. He’s not a fun character; he’s not funny.”
Warner Bros. has dated the third Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for November 20, 2020.
