Fantastic Beasts 2: Callum Turner on Playing Newt's Brother Theseus

Last year, Warner Brothers invited a group of journalists to the London set of Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Production was just getting off the ground, but we were able to see some truly spectacular sets (more on that in a bit). We were also fortunate enough to speak with some of the mega-talent behind the series, including producer David Heyman, director David Yates, costume designer and living legend Colleen Atwood, supervising art director Martin Foley, as well as stars Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, and Callum Turner (a new face to the franchise who plays Newt’s older brother Theseus). They all gave us really interesting perspectives on the sequel, its connections to Harry Potter, and what they learned from the first movie. And whatever they couldn’t reveal specifically they made up for in charm.

Below, Turner tells us about auditioning for the role, more about Theseus' relationship with Newt, and what it's been like joining this world:

What can you tell us about your character?

CALLUM TURNER: I play Theseus, who is Newt's older brother, even though I'm younger than Eddie, which is interesting! He's kind of the opposite of Newt. He's gone through the same schooling obviously, but once he got out he decided that the establishment was the way to fight the good fight. Theseus is or may be quite more rigid or just part of the establishment. You know, he's the head Auror at the Ministry.

fantastic-beasts-2-david-yates-eddie-redmayne — Image via Warner Bros.

Can you talk about the casting process? How you got the role and auditioning with Eddie Redmayne and everything.

TURNER: It was kind of the normal process of going in with Fiona Weir, who is the casting director and then having a second meeting with David and then having a third with Eddie, which I was really, really excited about, working with, like workshopping it with David and Eddie. Because obviously David's like one of the best directors we've got in England, and I think Eddie's the same as an actor ,and I followed his career upwards basically, not tried to model, but have been lucky to be able to go and do American indies like Eddie has, and I was very impressed and inspired by the choices that he makes. He's always made really good choices, so, yeah, I was over the moon to just go and meet him and, actually I did this weird thing, because on the first take there's this scene, and um, I just kissed him on the head. I just-- we weren't even recording …

You shouldn't be telling us this.

TURNER: It's not in the movie. There's no reason for me to have done it, but .. yeah, I think that's probably why I got the part.

How did he react?

TURNER: He’s just very nice man and didn't really say anything, but I'm sure when I left the room they were like "Huh?" But yeah -- it was within the conventions of a casting process, pretty normal but with really brilliant people.

fantastic-beasts-2-eddie-redmayne — Image via Warner Bros.

Can you talk about the wand for your character?

TURNER: The art department just basically came up to me with like three different wands, and they were like "Which one do you want?" "That one." I broke it when we were doing camera tests. Yeah, not smooth at all. You're not meant to do anything on the camera test. You're meant to just stand there basically, and I managed to break the wand. It just flew out of my hand.

Have you met JK Rowling yet? If so, what was that like for you?

TURNER: I have met her and it was quite a big moment. I was quite nervous actually, one, because it was the read-through, so there's like 60, 70 people in the room, and two, because she's like a hero of mine. I read her books when I was nine years old, ten years old, and on top of that she's an extraordinary woman. And she's really nice, man. She like made me feel so welcome. You know, she really made an effort welcome me into the circle.

Did she give you any advice on playing the character?

TURNER: No. She did say to me ,"I didn't think of Theseus as how you look, but" and I was like "All right, cool, man. I'm gonna give it a shot," so …

Someone mentioned how your performance has almost informed how she's thinking about the character going forward, which is interesting.

TURNER: I don't know about that!

fantastic-beasts-2-image — Image via Warner Bros.

What's been the most fun part of this whole experience for you so far?

TURNER: Oh, man, like every single day it’s so nice to come into work, like everyone's amazing. Everyone's really cool, and I've made loads of friends, but that's just on a human level. On like a professional level it blows my mind every time we go into a set and it's just huge. I mean, some of the money they must spend on these sets is more than some of the movies that I've done. Yeah, it's just-- it's amazing. It really is a real pleasure, man. Like this is part of the Harry Potter world and such a thing, and I'm a fan of it, and, yeah, it's amazing. I'm very lucky to come in to work here every day.

You seem very chill and friendly. Are we going to see more of a stern, serious kind of character onscreen?

TURNER: Yeah, I mean, he's the opposite to Newt. I guess he's more rigid, and he's conformed to the way that people want you to … he's become one of them I guess, and he went to Hogwarts. He was taught by Dumbledore. He’s from that school, and he became this, which you can take...

What house are you? Have you done the quiz?

TURNER: Someone asked me the other day. I actually got Hufflepuff.

What does your character think of Newt's newfound success? Does he resent him at all for it?

TURNER: I think there's sort of a relief. Theseus is really successful. He's a very determined man to reach the top, and I think that having his younger brother sort of float around in this obscurity in a sense was quite worrying for him.

You're one of a few new characters for this movie. What was it like coming in with this cast that was already established for the first film?

fantastic-beasts-2-trailer-images — Image via Warner Bros.

TURNER: Oh, man, it's so daunting. I mean, like I've been watching all these people's films since I was a kid, like Johnny Depp, I mean, Eddie as I said, even Ezra [Miller]. You know, I've been a big fan of Ezra before I started acting, so yeah, it was pretty scary. But, like I say, everyone's so nice and wonderful that it was quite a smooth boat into being there. I've been here forever, you know. I forgot there was another film before.

You've worked on a lot of smaller-budget movies, you said. How have you coped with the visual effects side of things on this movie?

TURNER: Do you know what? I thought it was gonna be this like crazy, daunting thing, but actually it's quite a smooth process. I mean, these guys are at the top of their game, and you don't even really realize that you're acting it, essentially. And there are times in other things where sometimes the other actor goes home or that's not in place or you have to just want to get a moment, but it's the end of or the middle of a scene, and you have to just act it, and I guess that's kind of what it is. So I thought it was gonna be something different. I had no idea what it was gonna be, but actually it's just acting, which is great.

Tina and Theseus are both rigid, by-the-books Aurors. Do the two characters have much interaction in the sequel? Have you worked with Katherine?

TURNER: Yeah. I mean, they're both- [Laughs] they're both Aurors, and uh.. yeah.

What's been your favorite bit of the process so far? Was it getting the costume and the wand or...

fantastic-beasts-2-claudia-kim — Image via Warner Bros.

TURNER: Do you know what? I guess playing this kind of character. I haven't been asked to play a character like this before. And that's kind of, you know, finding him getting into him has been the most enjoyable part, because it's been a challenge for me. These movies are emotionally driven or they're character-drive, and so having that challenge has been the most enjoyable part.

How did you prepare for the role? Were you given a backstory? Theseus, the name itself, has got certain connotations.

TURNER: For sure, yeah, Greek mythology. His name is mentioned once in the first film. I actually joked with the guys that it was like doing a biopic, you know, because there's literally so much stuff online that you can find out. What was your question again?

How you looked into his backstory or how you prepared for the role, and it was going online and looking at the...

TURNER: Yeah, I mean, there's so much stuff there, yeah. The main thing for me was, I have a half-brother and a half-sister, but they grew up in Australia, so I was raised as an only child, and the main thing for me was finding out what it was like to be an older brother actually, so I did a lot of asking about and listening to stories and stuff like that.

Eddie was saying to us that he worked with I think a dance teacher to get some of his character's movements down, and he included the hand movements with his wand. How did you go about deciding how you were going to do-- because I imagine it's really fun to hold the wand and figure out if you're going to be really jerky or delicate and how you practiced doing that.

TURNER: Alex Reynolds is the movement coach, who Eddie worked with on Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl, she's amazing. There's this like wand school type thing … my thinking behind holding my wand as I did a movie a few years ago where I played a punk, and, anyway, I sort of learned a little bit how to play drums, not very well, but the way that they hold the sticks is quite interesting, drummers. And for some reason, the idea of him being a punk or a rebel of sorts, being true to who he was, when he was younger … having that in him, even though he's part of the establishment now … the way that I hold the wand is I have it sort of through here. And it's a tiny, tiny little thing, but that's something that Alex and I worked on.

That's cool. What are Theseus's thoughts about the creatures? What are his relationships with them?

TURNER: I think he has bigger fish to fry, and it's his little brother's thing, you know. That's kind of his sort of looking down on his brother.

Are you allowed to say how much of the film you're in?

TURNER: A fair bit. I mean, it's an ensemble thing [but] plenty. It's really nice to be part of an ensemble of like Johnny Depp, man, like Jude Law, Eddie, Zoe Kravitz. I mean, it's like beautiful, beautiful actors, so, yeah, I'm just happy to be a part of it.

What is the ministry doing about Grindelwald being on the loose?

TURNER: A lot. They're doing a lot. They're doing a lot. They're working very hard.

Is there a part of your personality that comes into Theseus in a strong way?

TURNER: Yeah, I guess. I think any character that personally I play, it will be coming from a core of myself.

Are you ready for the extremely intense fandom that comes with being in Harry Potter? Of people becoming obsessed with you and just really intense fans? It's an intense thing to be part of. Is that something you've thought about or gotten advice on?

TURNER: It's making me nervous, you talking about that. Actually, no, I just kinda put my head in the sand, so "no" is the answer.

Were you a Harry Potter fan before you signed-up for this?

TURNER: Yeah. I read the books. I don't know if I said this before, but I remember like reading one of the books just before going to bed and then like hoping an owl would bring a letter through my window.

And it has, essentially.

TURNER: It has, yeah.

Catch up with more Fantastic Beasts 2 set visit coverage below: