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Get Ready to Meet Young Dumbledore and His Crush, Johnny Depp
Director David Yates confirms Depp will play Grindelwald.
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Left, by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; right, courtesy of Warner Bros.
Young Dumbledore is officially coming to the Harry Potter cinematic universe—and he's bringing Johnny Depp as his old friend (and maybe more) Gellert Grindelwald along for the ride. Not even a Divinations master could have seen that one coming.
Last month, thanks to some intriguing new footage from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, rumors began to swirl that Grindelwald would have a significant role to play in the five Fantastic Beasts films.
Gellert Grindelwald, you Potter experts will remember, was young Albus Dumbledore's best friend, until he turned into the future Hogwarts headmaster's greatest enemy. Young Grindelwald was played in the Harry Potter films by Jamie Campbell Bower and, later, by Michael Byrne. During an October fan event, director David Yates confirmed that Grindelwald would be in the background of Fantastic Beasts, and hinted that the character might be featured more prominently later in the series. Now we know that Depp will be the one picking up the Grindelwald mantle—and that he will, no doubt, spar with an as-yet uncast Albus Dumbledore.
Of the casting choice, Yates told Potter fan site The Leaky Cauldron:
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.
Depp is, of course, very famous—and in some circles, somewhat infamous thanks to the drama surrounding his recent divorce from Amber Heard. Perhaps addressing the many Depp headlines (or the mixed reviews of Depp's recent work), Yates said, "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."
That's Grindelwald done and dusted. But what about his frenemy, Dumbledore? "In the second movie, Dumbledore comes back," Yates confirmed. "There are a couple good scenes with Newt. We just have to find out who would play him." We also know the sequel "moves deeper into an increasingly dark time for the wizarding world," meaning we could see a tragic Dumbledore-Grindelwald romance play out over the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The deeper nature of the Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship was first raised after the last Potter book was released in 2007, when J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was gay. She told a crowd of Potter fans at Carnegie Hall:
My truthful answer to you . . . I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. [ovation.] . . . Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent? But, he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him. Yeah, that's how I always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair . . . [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, "Dumbledore's gay!" [laughter] "If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!"
So Dumbledore loved Grindelwald, but was it requited? Not quite. In 2010, Rowling clarified:
I think [Grindelwald] was a user and a narcissist and I think someone like that would use it, would use the infatuation. I don't think that he would reciprocate in that way, although he would be as dazzled by Dumbledore as Dumbledore was by him, because he would see in Dumbledore, "My God, I never knew there was someone as brilliant as me, as talented as me, as powerful as me. Together, we are unstoppable!" So I think he would take anything from Dumbledore to have him on his side.
Dumbledore, then, becomes a very tragic figure in the Potter universe. The Fantastic Beasts sequel promises to cover a "dark time for the wizarding world," a.k.a. the rise of Grindelwald. Who should we expect to portray his heartbroken former friend? Fans are already calling for Jared Harris, who has already made quite an impression playing heartbroken men like Lane Pryce (Mad Men) and King George VI (The Crown). Harris, of course, also happens to be the son of Richard Harris, who was the film series' original Dumbledore until his death in 2002. Conveniently, the 55-year-old Harris is the right age to play opposite 53-year-old Depp.
David Yates and producer David Heyman told The Leaky Cauldron over the weekend that they're open to all casting suggestions for young Albus. "It's not going to be Michael Gambon," they said in reference to the actor who took over for Richard Harris. "No, we need a younger Dumbledore. Jared Harris is a fine actor. But, yes? Any recommendation." Honestly, though, how can they top this?
Harry Potter in Vanity Fair
Photographed by Mark Seliger for the October 2002 issue.
About a Book Harry, his owl, Hedwig, and foppish professor Gilderoy Lockhart pay a visit to London's "wizarding" bookstore, Flourish and Blotts.
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