Producer David Heyman and director David Yates, who worked together on the final four Harry Potter films, needed a leading man for this prequel with enough charisma to play the globetrotting 1920s magizoologist who carries with him a weathered case of creatures, but he knew a big name might have too much, well, baggage to inhabit the role.

Enter Eddie Redmayne, fresh from his Oscar win for The Theory of Everything. “He’s good at playing outsiders; Newt is a bit of an eccentric, and we felt Eddie could do that with truth,” Heyman explains.