Eddie Redmayne’s turn as Newt Scamander is sure to turn Potterheads into Redmayniacs. The English actor has already taken home an Oscar for his turn as Stephen Hawking, now he’ll try to take home the more prestigious honor of anchoring a major fantasy series. But first, he has to talk about his favorite beasts from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
“There are two favorites,” Redmayne tells EW. “The Niffler — they have this wonderful love-hate relationship. It’s just incredibly aggravating and wonderful at same time. He’s a complete nightmare, yet Newt gets off on his playfulness and single-mindedness. And the Bowtruckle, Pickett, I love him. There are many bowtruckles in the film, but Pickett has attachment issues. Newt knows he shouldn’t have favorites, but he loves Pickett.”
So what are those things?
The Niffler, according to the Harry Potter wiki, is a creature with a long snout and black fur. They’re basically a mole, but for treasure. They’re friendly, but they love shiny things, so they’ll destroy belongings looking to get to baubles. The goblins would keep them to tunnel for jewels.
The Bowtruckle is a small creature that defense the trees used to make wands, according to Pottermore. Bowtruckles are usually peaceful, except when someone is trying to harvest wood from the wand-wood tree. Then they’ll attack, using sharp fingers to gouge at eyes. The person harvesting the tree has to offer them woodlice, which they eat, in order to buy time to cut out a wand.
Read the rest of the interview more about Redmayne’s biggest challenges as well as his favorite Harry Potter books and movies.
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