Ezra Miller chatted about the dark and myseterious character he brings to life in
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Credence Barebone, in a roundtable chat with SnitchSeeker and other media this Monday afternoon leading up to the film's debut later this month.
While Miller did confess the mystery behind Credence, that will he revealed for a later time as to not spoil fans who have read to see the movie. Miller elaborates on Credence's relationship with the dubious Graves, as well as foster sister Modesty (Faith Wood-Blagrove). All that, as well as how he reacted to meeting J.K. Rowling for the first time recently, can be read here.
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Was the character physically hard to play?
Ezra: Yeah, it actually crept up on me. That’s a very observant question. Thank you. Commiseration is always welcome. Yeah, it crept up on me. I thought I had it under control, but then we took a little break around Christmastime and I couldn’t let parts go. My shoulder was stuck. I couldn’t get my chest to open back up. And I noticed that when my mind went adrift I would suddenly start feeling very sad. By the end, especially some of the more demanding physical stuff which we did, there are these moments where the entity is billowing forth and maybe he’s making his last attempts to contain it.
And in the film that goes into a world of visual effect, but on the day I would just play those moments out and would embody the dark magic – even if just for the benefit of the other actors or the background workers who had to run away from something scary. There’s a lot of times that I would just stand on a street and take on the weird choreography and yell. By the end of it, it was taking a toll. My voice was going hoarse really quickly when I would do this guttural screaming. There were some physical pains. Well worth it. I’d do it again in a second.
Did you audition with that physicality?
Ezra: I’d be so interested to see my audition because I don’t entirely remember what I did, which is usually a good sign in an audition. I’m sure there were some elements because, for me, there are certain physical cues when I think about someone who carries trauma in their body. I think there are certain physical symptoms. I talked to some people who work as professionals responding to cases of domestic abuse and child abuse and they say that there is a common physicality.
So, I think, probably instinctually his shoulders were collapsed on his chest, but I don’t know. I’d have to go back and watch it. It’s an interesting question. But a lot of the choreography developed in preproduction and it was recodified in this work I did with the choreographer Wayne MacGregor, who is an incredible dance and movement choreographer. He choreographs a lot of ballet and opera for the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera in London. He’s also done Radiohead videos. He’s this amazing guy, and he give David his time. I think he choreographed some Veela dances at one point in the Goblet of Fire, and he worked, I think, with some of the various actors. I think he worked with Ralph Fiennes on developing Voldemort’s wand language.
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You’re a die-hard fan. How do you feel about your character becoming a dark character in the Harry Potter world?
Ezra: As much as I can be a non*biased party, which isn’t much, I think that it’s fantastic to have this character who is almost a step further in J.K. Rowling’s confrontation of the pandemic of abuse in the world. There’s something about it that’s very much an extension of a lot of the most serious themes in the Harry Potter series. So I think for anyone who’s really reveling in the thematic core of that material, I think they’ll understand the way this is a natural extension.
A big part of Credence’s character is his relationship with Graves. Can you talk about how you build that with Colin Farrell – and did you know who Graves really was?
Ezra: I did. I did know because that was always in the script. Working with Colin was an amazing experience. One thing that was really great about this production was that we had some time to rehearse, which is rare. So we had these couple days of rehearsal with just David, Colin and I in a room, going through these scenes and finding this story – a fascinating dynamic. The dynamic, even when we first started scene work, it was already so powerfully creepy and unnerving. We would get out of the room and go, “Bleh!” You know what I mean? Try to shake off all that creepiness. I’m fascinated by that dynamic.
I had a lot of fun exploring these two characters who want things from each other but are questioning whether or not they can get it. And Credence – maybe “want” isn’t a sufficient word for him because he’s really seeking all of this stuff that he desperately needs. Stuff that a lot of people need that they don’t get – love, affection and attention, and just physical contact. And Graves is, sort of, dispensing those things to keep Credence in his trap because Graves wants something from Credence. There’s a wonderful escalation of conflict, and they start to realize that they’re not gonna get what they want from each other – or at least Graves thinks he isn’t. Credence realizes that Graves is not going to be the paternal figure or the partner or the friend that he is looking for – and that’s when really things really go south.
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You have an interesting relationship with your adoptive mother, but what about your adoptive sister? You seem to be protective of her but your character also seems to be seeking to turn her in at the same time. Could you talk about Modesty, and Credence’s relationship with her?
Ezra: First of all, I just have to shout out to my scene partner Faith [Wood-Blagrove], who’s just an incredible young talent. I’m almost a little scared of Faith – you know when you meet a child and they’re overdeveloped? They’re just like really smart, funny people and you’re like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down.” She’s one of those. So that was one of my favorite relationships to find the dynamic of in the movie. I think they’re protective of each other, which I think is really sweet.
I think we see even a couple moments where she’s really protective of him, too, because he bears the brunt of a lot of Mary Lou’s anger and her overzealous behavior. They betrayal of her – that he is willing to give her up if she should turn out to be the person that Graves is looking for – demonstrates the desperation that Credence has to escape his reality and find something that can solve the problems that he feels are gonna destroy him if they’re not sorted out.
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In the movie, what surprised you the most as a fan?
Ezra: I just could not have anticipated how sexy the dynamic is between Dan and Alison. I was just like, “Oh my gosh! I’m just a little uncomfortable in this seat.” I just thought that that dynamic stole the show in such spectacular ways. And just in general, the idiosyncrasies of the four performances of the leading quartet, I just found to be beyond anything I could’ve anticipated or predicted – even knowing these people, and knowing how amazing they are and how devoted to their work they are.
I think that the way it came together is very unique and very successful. So, yeah, I was very pleasantly surprised by how amazingly dynamic that quartet plays in the film. I think people will fall very deeply in love with those four people and just want to stay with them really. I think when Dan is leaving our world of magic to go back to the muggle world – or the no-maj world – it’s so heart-breaking. I really was crying quite a bit – and they’re all crying. I think it really hits the mark. So I’m so excited for people to get that. I feel like it’s such good medicine right now – that sort of simple love, we need that.
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Have you had the chance to talk to Jo about Credence?
Ezra: Yeah, a little bit.
Can you please tell us about that please? Because all of us want to sit in a room with her.
Ezra: That was me a hundred percent. Just the opportunity to be in her presence was sufficient for me.
Did you fanboy a little?
Ezra: I tried to stop it, but you can’t stop all of it. The filter can only be so foolproof and then things start to bubble up. She sees it all. She knows everything. She’s omnipotent. She’s the god of this universe. It’s incredible the awareness of detail and of side stories that we’ll never know about, you know what I mean, as the audience. There’s too much for her to possibly tell us. And so just to sit next to her and absorb all this information that she has reaching out in every direction, regarding every character she’s ever incorporated into this world – even ones that she could tell you about … you know, Olive Hornby’s year at Hogwarts – it’s so impressive. That’s what she did. She gave me all that.
More roundtable interviews to come, including director David Yates and producer David Heyman revealing quite a lot of surprising information about the sequel to
Fantastic Beasts.
Read SnitchSeeker's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set visit reports right here, including about the great things the cast said about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and how 1926-era New York City came to life.