Producer David Heyman Discusses ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’
Theteaser trailerforFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themwas slightly underwhelming, but it did its job informing audiences they’ll soon have the opportunity to return authorJ.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. The first chapter in the planned trilogy opens in theaters in less than a year, but according to producerDavid Heyman, they’re approaching these movies one picture at a time.
After the jump, David Heyman discussesFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themand a potential adaptation ofThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themfollows Newt Scamander (Eddie Remayne) and is set in New York, during the 1920s. Rowling wrote the script, based on her book for “first-year Hogwarts students.” Speaking withThe Hollywood Reporter, Heyman discussed how the project came about:
I interviewed Heyman for the release ofGravity, and it was obvious that he both missed and cherished the experience of making theHarry Potterfilms. Will he go on a similar journey withFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? According to Heyman, he’s not too preoccupied with the sequels at the moment:
“We’ve talked about making a couple, but with all these things — and this may be a failing of mine — I don’t look at them as franchises; I look at them as films. We want to make each film as good as we can because if you don’t, you won’t have a second film or a third.”
We’ve all seen movies fall into that trap. Seeing a mediocre film tease a sequel at the end, especially so blatantly, is off-putting. It’s incredibly doubtfulFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themwon’t be a massive success, so why worry about setting up sequels when a sequel is almost guaranteed?
Another journey Heyman may take audiences on is a film adaptation ofThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. A stage version ofMark Haddon’s 2003 best-selling novel has been a real hit, and it was only a matter of time before Haddon’s moving book makes its way to the big screen. Heyman holds the rights to the novel and hopes the movie will happen soon:
I have the rights with Warner Bros. to “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” a wonderful book by Mark Haddon.Steve Kloves, who is such a brilliant writer and director, has been talking about it, but he’s been so busy [producing]The Jungle BookandFantastic Beasts. I’m hoping there will come a time before too long where that film will see the light of day because it’s something that I love and moves me.
Heyman’s promising line-up also includes,Paddington 2,a sequelI’m very much looking forward to seeing. That’s another series with the potential to turn into a long-running franchise for Heyman.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themopens in theatersNovember 18th.
