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To the memory of Gordon Murray, real-life creature-healer and hero
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
SCENE 1
A large, isolated, derelict chateau emerges from the darkness. We focus on a cobbled square outside the building shrouded in mist, eerie, silent.
Five Aurors stand, wands aloft, tentative as they edge towards the chateau. A sudden explosion of pure white light sends them flying.
We whip round to find their bodies scattered, lying motionless at the entrance to a large parkland. A figure (GRINDELWALD) enters the frame, his back to the camera; ignoring the bodies, he stares out into the night sky, as we pan up towards the moon.
MONTAGE: we see various magical newspaper headlines from 1926 relating to GRINDELWALD’S attacks all over the world – ‘GRINDELWALD STRIKES AGAIN IN EUROPE’, ‘HOGWARTS SCHOOL INCREASES SECURITY’, ‘WHERE IS GRINDELWALD?’. He’s a serious threat to the magical community and he’s vanished. Moving photos detail destroyed buildings, fires, screaming victims. The articles come thick and fast – the worldwide hunt for GRINDELWALD continues. We push in on a final article displaying the Statue of Liberty.
TRANSITION TO:
SCENE 2
A bright, clear New York day. Seagulls swoop overhead.
A large passenger ship glides past the Statue of Liberty. Passengers lean over the rails, looking excitedly towards the oncoming land.
PUSH IN towards a figure sitting on a bench with his back to us — NEWT SCAMANDER, weatherbeaten, wiry, wearing an old blue overcoat. Beside him rests a battered brown leather case. A catch on the case flicks open of its own accord. NEWT swiftly bends down to close it.
Placing the case on his lap, NEWT leans in, whispering.
NEWT
Dougal – you settle down now, please. It won’t be long.
SCENE 3
AERIAL SHOT of New York.
SCENE 4
Among bustling crowds, NEWT walks down the gangplank of the ship, as we push in towards his case.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL (O.S.)
Next.
NEWT stands at the Customs – a long row of desks by the shipyard, manned by serious-looking American officials. A CUSTOMS OFFICIAL examines NEWT’S very tattered British passport.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
British, huh?
NEWT
Yes.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
First trip to New York?
NEWT
Yes.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
(gesturing to NEWT’S case)
Anything edible in there?
NEWT
(placing a hand over his breast pocket)
No.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
Livestock?
The catch on NEWT’S case flicks open again. NEWT looks down and hastily closes it.
NEWT
Must get that fixed – ah, no.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
(suspicious)
Let me take a look.
NEWT places the case on the desk between them and discreetly flicks a brass dial to ‘Muggleworthy’.
The CUSTOMS OFFICIAL spins the case towards him and pops the catches, lifting the lid to reveal pyjamas, various maps, a journal, an alarm clock, a magnifying glass and a Hufflepuff scarf. Finally satisfied, he closes the case.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
Welcome to New York.
NEWT
Thank you.
NEWT gathers his passport and case.
CUSTOMS OFFICIAL
Next!
NEWT exits through Customs.
SCENE 5
A long street of identical brownstone houses, one of which has been reduced to rubble. A gaggle of reporters and photographers mills around in the vague hope of something happening, but without much enthusiasm. One REPORTER is interviewing an excitable middle-aged man as they move through the rubble.
WITNESS
– and it was like a – like a wind or like a – like a ghost – but dark – and I saw its eyes – shinin’ white eyes—
REPORTER
(expressionless – notebook in his hand)
– a dark wind – with eyes.
WITNESS
– like a dark mass, and it dove down there, down underground – I swear to God… into the earth right in front of me.
CLOSE ON PERCIVAL GRAVES as he walks towards the destroyed building.
GRAVES: smart clothing, very handsome, early middle-age, his demeanour differs from those around him. He is watchful, tightly coiled, an air of intense confidence.
PHOTOGRAPHER
(sotto voce)
Hey – did you get anything?
REPORTER
(sotto voce)
Dark wind, blah blah.
PHOTOGRAPHER
It’s some atmospheric hooey.
Or electrical.
GRAVES moves up the steps of the now-ruined building. He examines the destruction, curious, alert.
REPORTER
Hey – you thirsty?
PHOTOGRAPHER
Nah, I’m on the wagon. Promised Martha I’d lay off.
The wind begins to pick up, swirling around the building, accompanied by a high-pitched screeching. GRAVES alone looks interested.
A sudden series of bangs at street level. All turn to look for the source of the sound: a wall cracks, the rubble