Eddie Redmayne reveals how he chose Newt Scamander's wand
The wand doesn't always choose the wizard...
We've always thought the wand chooses the wizard, but apparently when it comes to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, that rule has been reversed.
Eddie Redmayne, who is playing magizoologist Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter spin-off movie, has revealed how he helped design the look and feel of his magic wand.
“I sort of assumed that I would have a wand sort of plopped in my hand,” Redmayne said. “But the reality is that these amazing props designers come, and then you have really a quite intricate discussion with [director] David Yates about what qualities Newt has."
And here's what Redmayne decided: "He’s not a showy guy, Newt, so I wanted it be to quite simple," he told Entertainment Weekly. "So we decided to have the wand be made out of ashwood, and it has quite a few scratches and sort of burn marks — so that you could get the sense that he’s been traveling the world with it, and it’s got quite a history to it.
“But for the handle, they were sort of talking about whether it should be horn or leather, and I didn’t like the idea of like animal products being used, given that he’s a zoologist. So in the end, they came up with this idea of sand shell… and it has a slightly mother-of-pearly feel."
More like this
After all that thought, we're not surprised to hear that the 34-year-old felt like an excited schoolboy when the time came to try out his personally designed wand for the first time.
"We had all these discussions and went back and forth with designs, and when the thing arrived I was pretty excited. My inner 9-year-old was having a disco, and then I was actually presented with it!”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is in UK cinemas 18th November
