Let’s start at the beginning: When did you first hear about this project?
EDDIE REDMAYNE: I think it must have been two years ago. I got a call to have a meeting with [producer David Heyman], and he talked through the story in the vaguest of terms and said there will be a script in five months time and then we’d have a meeting on it again. Everything was hyper-secret. I was so excited at the prospect, and then there was nervousness, because what if I read the script [and didn’t like it].

Any special talents as a wizard?
Eddie: He’s not an astounding wizard. He’s capable. He’s used to being physically capable when dealing with animals.

What does Newt think of America?
Eddie: When he first arrives in New York, you see him walking down the street, and the way he’s observing the city is the way that he would observe a natural habitat. He’s kind of smelling it; it’s as if he were in the jungle. It’s totally alien to him to see somewhere that’s filled with such vibrancy and people. The 1920s has a prohibition quality, and that’s been put into magical terms — but I don’t want to give too much away.

What’s his least favorite?
Eddie: Newt doesn’t have a least favorite!

Okay, what’s been your favorite spell to cast as Newt?
Eddie: There’s one which basically stuns someone and sort of makes them kind of go almost statue-like. Shooting that, there was the most brilliant stuntman doing it, and he literally goes from fully standing to falling like a log and smacking on the ground and, I just couldn’t believe that he didn’t break his brain.

Have you bumped into any of the cast from others films and gotten useful advice from them?
Eddie: I bumped into Ralph Fiennes, and he was asking who was directing, and I said David Yates. Ralph said that what’s extraordinary is amongst all the huge scale of the operation is that Yates has an incredibly acute eye for every single detail of performance. He’s an actor’s director, and that was lucky to know.

Who’s the one person from the Harry Potter universe that you would like Newt to meet?
Eddie: To meet in a future film? That’s really an interesting question. I think a Newt and Ron scene would be quite enjoyable. I think those guys would find each other quite intriguing. Ron and Newt would have quite a good time. I’m not sure a huge amount would be achieved.

Is there romance in the film? According to canon, Newt has a destiny with Tina (Katherine Waterston)…
Eddie: Newt’s been damaged by human beings, and at the beginning of the film, he’s someone that’s pretty content in his own company and the company of the beasts. He enjoys his solitude, and he’s also spent a year out in the field. So he really hasn’t had to deal with people. And when he arrives in New York, there are more people than he’s ever imagined. Certainly at the beginning of the film when he meets Katherine’s character, there’s a great antagonism between them, and they’re both quite sort of naughty characters.

We sort of know that ultimately those two in the Potter lore get together, and there’s this sort of central build of these two people who are outsiders finding each other. And there’s Jacob (Dan Fogler) and Queenie, there’s definitely a romance in the air there.

Have you done the Pottermore house sorting yet?
Eddie: You know what, I did the other day! And that would be really depressing for me to find out that like I’m not actually Hufflepuff and then it sorted me with Hufflepuff. I literally was by myself at home and I yelped with excitement that I got Hufflepuff. I was like, “the magic exists.”