SnitchSeeker.com - 'Fantastic Beasts' 2 team talk Leta Lestrange's fate, Grindelwald & Dumbledore's bond

Director David Yates and producer David Heyman revealed quite a few more spoiler-filled details about the recently-released Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in their interview with Empire magazine, including the fate of Leta Lestrange, and the intimate relationship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/536799861&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_rel ated=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_ reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe>

Quote:

Empire Film: Leta dies in that scene. Is she really dead? Is she gone for good?
David Heyman: What I do think is that when you die, you die. I think death is real. I think it’s important in the books and in the films that though Harry can have a vision of Dumbledore and there may be a Nearly Headless Nick in Hogwarts that, ultimately, dead is dead. I think it makes death more painful. That’s not to say that a spirit form has happened in the process where people can’t return with a message, but I completely agree. To keep the emotional stakes of the world present, if someone gets killed, they have to stay dead.

Empire Film: When she turns to Newt and Theseus and says, “I love you,” who do you think she’s speaking to? Which one of them?
David Yates: I love the fact that you don’t really know, and I love the fact that you see Newt suddenly feel that she’s saying it to him. I like the ambiguity of that moment. I don’t think you always have to be so definite in these moments.

David Heyman: My interpretation is that she loves Theseus. Theseus is her man for today. If she were not dying, she would marry Theseus and be very happy with him. However, Newt she loves as a first love. Newt will always be a part of her.

Empire Film: One of the things that we’re left with that’s a driver throughout the film and also a tantalizing note at the end, is the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. What does that mean? How is that different to an unbreakable vow? And what does it mean now that Dumbledore has that blood pact?
David Yates: Fundamentally it means that they can’t fight each other, and if they do fight each other, Dumbledore has to pay a terrible price. Fundamentally, he’s breaking the pact and he is then committed to doing something, which we will discover in the next story. So I don’t really want to go into that in too much detail. It’s the thing that stops them attacking each other at this initial part of the story. We developed that little scene where they make the blood pact to convey the sensuality of their relationship. It’s very difficult in these movies to … Initially, the arc of their relationship is the spine of things going forward, in many ways. That’s where we’re going. But to convey how deep their relationship was, we created that wonderful little scene in the mirror when they bring their hands together.

David Heyman: The Dumbledore/Grindelwald relationship is obviously a hugely significant one, and has shaped Dumbledore and who he is today. The scars of that, all the power that that relationship brought. I can’t stop looking at all these little films that were just made. Hearing Jo talk about that relationship - that it was clearly a sexual relationship, it was an emotional relationship – what she’s interested in exploring is the emotional connection that the two of them had. And I think one of the things you did so beautifully, with such limited time with them together, is the power and the intimacy and the emotional connection that these two people had. It was really powerful in shaping them both, but in particular, in shaping Dumbledore.

Empire Film: Grindelwald’s device that he has – the skull with the pipe – is there a name for that? What’s he doing in that moment where he conjures an image of World War II?
David Yates: Basically, Grindelwald is a seer. He has this ability to foresee the future, and that skull device is an opportunity for him – it’s just a means which allows him to present his visions to the people who follow him. So it’s fundamentally a part of that magic. But he has the gift of forward sight, basically, which is an extra threat to our key protagonists.

David Heyman: Does it have a name?

David Yates: I don’t know we ever gave it a name actually.

David Heyman: We probably gave it a name while filming, but I’m not sure we should repeat it.

Order tickets here for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald at Fandango now.

Read SnitchSeeker's set visit breakdown of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, including the return to Hogwarts and London, and entering Paris's Wizarding world.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is the second of five all new adventures in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World™.

At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.

In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

The film features an ensemble cast led by Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Carmen Ejogo, Poppy Corby-Tuech, with Jude Law and Johnny Depp.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is directed by David Yates, from a screenplay by J.K. Rowling. The film is produced by David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram. Tim Lewis, Neil Blair, Rick Senat and Danny Cohen serve as executive producers.

The film reunites the behind-the-scenes creative team from the first “Fantastic Beasts” film, including Oscar-winning director of photography Philippe Rousselot (“A River Runs Through It”), three-time Oscar-winning production designer Stuart Craig (“The English Patient,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” “Gandhi,” the “Harry Potter” films), four-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Chicago,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”), and Yates’ longtime editor Mark Day (the last four “Harry Potter” films). The music is by eight-time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard (“Defiance,” “Michael Clayton,” “The Hunger Games” films).

Slated for release on November 16, 2018, the film will be distributed worldwide in 2D and 3D in select theatres and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures.

This film is rated PG-13 for some sequences of fantasy action.