Jude Law says he’s going to talk with Harry Potter author-turned-screenwriter J.K. Rowling before he tackles the role of the young Albus Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. Law has assembled an impressive set of credits since his breakthrough feature film role in the sci-fi thriller Gattaca in 1997, playing across all types of movie genres with roles in such films as the crime drama The Talented Mr. Ripley, the crime mystery Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, the action comedy Spy, and next up, the medieval action adventure King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
And while Law has proven time and again that he can master his character no matter what type of film he plays in, he’s still respecting the source material behind his next project enough to seek counsel. In a new interview with BBC London (via the Evening Standard), Law says he’s he wants to meet Rowling to talk about his role in the first sequel to the blockbuster Fantastic Beasts.
“My first port of call I hope is to meet J K Rowling and to talk exactly about that and who [Dumbledore] is and who she wants him to be and learn a little bit more about her vision of this great man as a young man.”
Law says he was in rehearsals for his new play Obsession on the London stage when he heard he was cast in Fantastic Beasts 2, and has yet to learn whether the first of four sequels in the series portray Dumbledore as openly gay and feature a romance with Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald. Rowling was non-committal in answering the question about Dumbledore’s sexuality during the press rounds for the first Fantastic Beasts movie, saying, “This is obviously a five-part story, so there’s lots to unpack in that relationship.”
The time frame surrounding the development of Dumbledore and Grindelward’s relationship is probably among the least things Law is worrying about at this point. First of all, he’s stepping into the massive shoes left open by Harry Potter’s Dumbledore, Michael Gambon; who himself faced the unenviable task of replacing Richard Harris in the role after the legendary actor’s death in 2002 after playing venerable Hogwart’s headmaster in the first two Harry Potter films.
Law will at least have the comfort of knowing he’s not the first person to tackle Rowling’s witchcraft and wizardry universe after the Harry Potter film series. Law, of course, will be joining Eddie Redmayne – the magizoologist Newt Scamander in the first film – along with Katherine Waterston, Dan Folger, and Zoe Kravitz, who will undoubtedly help Law settle into Rowling’s magical world with relative ease.
Next: Is Jude Law the Right Actor for the Role of Dumbledore?
Source: BBC London (via the Evening Standard)
