The rumors have been circulating for a few days and they are finally confirmed: Johnny Depp will indeed have the role that fans attributed to him!
Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald
The news fell a few days ago : Johnny Depp is now part of the cast of the saga Fantastic Beasts. The "they say" were going well as to his role in the saga and this time, David Yates, the director of the film, confirmed the rumors. Johnny Depp will play Gellert Grindelwald, the most powerful and dangerous dark mage of this period in the history of magic!
Why Johnny Depp?
During a panel discussion between The Leaky Chauldron magazine, David Yates and producer David Heyman, it was explained why they chose Johnny Depp to play this character:
One of the basic principles for the casting of this film was to choose the best actor. Choose the most inspired, the most interesting, the one that would fit the most into the character. And when we got to Grindelwald, we thought, "Who could make this character go in an interesting direction?" In this environment, it is quite special. We are excellent for one week, we say weird things about you the next week, there are ups and downs. But no one can erase pure talent. Johnny Depp is a true artist. He has shaped characters that are now ingrained in our popular culture. He's a very, very brilliant actor. We can't wait to see what he can do with this man, this character. He is not afraid of anything, he is imaginative, he is ambitious. It is thought that he could do something funny and special. So we went to him, on this one selfish principle. We don't care if he's famous or not. We just know it's interesting.
Fans remain skeptical…
That's it, Johnny Depp is now part of the magical world family created by J.K. Rowling. Fan opinions are quite mixed about this choice. Some of them are dissatisfied with this choice following the story between the actor and his ex-girlfriend, Amber Heard, who accused her of beating her. Some fans feel that this is unacceptable behavior for someone who wants to join this magical universe. Others find that Johnny Depp's acting has a tendency to bring his characters towards caricature (more or less since he played Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean), which would totally ruin Grindelwald's greatness. Still others think that he is capable of accomplishing something excellent in this film because, as David Yates says so well, he is a very talented actor. But patience, the verdict will fall when we can finally see it on the big screen!
New discoveries about the rest of the saga!
Other information was also revealed during this round table. Fantastic Beasts will return to Europe, not only to Paris, but also to the UK again! If according to Yates, it will be "difficult to ignore America", the rest of the saga should be rather focused on our continent. We will also be a little more interested in the character of Credence (Ezra Miller) in the rest of the saga: "He becomes almost a pillar to tell the truth, he becomes rather crucial".
It's hard to wait when you discover so much information! But in the meantime, the first installment of the Fantastic Beasts saga will be in French theaters on November 16th! You can also discover below the official featurette of the film!
