‘Fantastic Beasts’: Eddie Redwayne to be joined by two from list Saoirse Ronan, Dakota Fanning, Kate Upton, Elizabeth Debicki
The Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is rumored to be closing in on two female leads from an impressive shortlist. A new report puts Saoirse Ronan and Dakota Fanning in the running for one role, while Kate Upton and Elizabeth Debicki are eyed considered for the other — all to join Eddie Redmayne in the new films.
Redmayne is already set to star as Newt Scamander, a “magizoologist” who goes on to write the classic Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
TheWrap reported the Fantastic Beasts female lead shortlist: “One of the characters is a young woman named Queenie and the other is Queenie’s older sister Tina.”
For Queenie (via Slash Film):
- Saoirse Ronan, known for Atonement and Hanna and more recently coming off of Lost River and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
- Dakota Fanning, last seen in Effie Gray and Night Moves and set to star in Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral.
- Lili Simmons, an American actress who’s been on Cinemax’s Banshee and HBO’s True Detective.
- Alison Sudol, a musician/actress who’s been on USA’s Dig as Emma Wilson and Amazon’s Transparent as Kaya.
For Tina:
- Kate Upton, a model whose acting credits include The Other Woman, The Three Stooges, and the upcoming The Layover.
- Katherine Waterston, who played Shasta Fay Hepworth in Inherent Vice and appears in this fall’s Steve Jobs with Michael Fassbender.
- Elizabeth Debicki, who broke through as Jordan in The Great Gatsby and co-stars this summer in Man From U.N.C.L.E.
While all of the sources note that the lists may be incomplete, and that not all of the actresses are necessarily even available to shoot Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – it’s a start, and several of the actresses are scheduled to test with Redmayne in the coming week, notes Slash.
David Yates is directing Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from a script by J.K. Rowling. Yates helmed the last four installments of the original Harry Potter film franchise.
Details on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are being kept under wraps for now, but we do know it takes place in New York about seven decades before the start of the Harry Potter adventures.
Warner Bros. hopes the new film will launch a trilogy with the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film set for November 18, 2016.
