Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald [UK] Read online

  To Kenzie

  Foreword

  By David Yates

  Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

  The Original Screenplay

  Glossary of Film Terms

  Cast & Crew

  About the Author

  About the Book Design

  I’ve worked with many writers, but no one quite as special as Jo. She knows her characters and her universe inside out, she’s one of the most dynamic thinkers I’ve ever met, and for someone who has enjoyed so much success she is incredibly grounded. Her storytelling is singular, yet she approaches the filmmaking process as producer and screenwriter with a genuinely collaborative spirit.

  I first read Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in the spring of 2016, a full year and two months before we began shooting the film. The script felt layered, emotional and that most precious of things: itself. For a filmmaker it offered many gifts and a huge sandpit in which to play. Whether the thrill of recreating Paris in the late 1920s, wrangling a new collection of wonderful beasts, or exploring an emotional, multi-stranded story with compelling characters and themes, each day of prep and production was always exciting as well as fun.

  Above all, however, it was the characters that captured and beguiled me on that first read; they are timeless, enchanting, intriguing. All of them are being tested to their core, navigating a world that is becoming ever more complex and dangerous – a world that, however heightened and magical, in some ways echoes our own across time.

  David Yates

  9 September 2018

  SCENE 1

  EXT. NEW YORK, AMERICAN MINISTRY OF MAGIC—1927—NIGHT

  AERIAL SHOT of New York and MACUSA building.

  SCENE 2

  INT. MACUSA BASEMENT, BARE BLACKWALLED ROOM—NIGHT

  The long-haired, bearded GRINDELWALD sits motionless, magically fixed to a chair. The air shimmers, charged with spells.

  ABERNATHY peers in at GRINDELWALD from the corridor.

  A baby Chupacabra – part lizard, part homunculus, a blood-sucking creature of the Americas – is chained to GRINDELWALD’S chair.

  SCENE 3

  INT. MACUSA, CORRIDOR BETWEEN CELLS—SHORTLY AFTER—NIGHT

  PRESIDENT SERAPHINA PICQUERY and RUDOLPH SPIELMAN walk at pace towards an ominous-looking door, past endless pairs of guards.

  SPIELMAN

  (Germanic)

  . . . you’ll be glad to be rid of him, I expect.

  PICQUERY

  We’d be more than happy to keep him here in custody.

  SPIELMAN

  Six months are enough. It’s time for him to answer for his crimes in Europe.

  As they reach the door, ABERNATHY turns and acknowledges them.

  ABERNATHY

  President Picquery, Mr Spielman, sir. Prisoner is secured and ready to travel.

  SPIELMAN and PICQUERY peer into the cell at GRINDELWALD.

  SPIELMAN

  You’ve thrown everything at him, I see.

  PICQUERY

  It was necessary. He’s extremely powerful. We’ve had to change his guard three times – he’s very . . . persuasive. So we removed his tongue.

  SCENE 4

  INT. MACUSA CELLS—NIGHT

  Cells resembling cages rise in tiers. Prisoners chant and bang against the bars as the bound GRINDELWALD is transported upstairs, suspended magically in mid-air.

  PRISONERS

  Grindelwald! Grindelwald!

  SCENE 5

  EXT. MACUSA ROOFTOP—MINUTES LATER—NIGHT

  A hearse-like black carriage, drawn by eight Thestrals, waits. AURORS 1 & 2 climb into the driver’s seat, the rest force GRINDELWALD inside.

  SPIELMAN

  The wizarding community worldwide owes you a great debt, Madam President.

  PICQUERY

  Do not underestimate him.

  ABERNATHY approaches them.

  ABERNATHY

  Mr Spielman, we found his wand hidden away.

  He hands over a black rectangular box.

  PICQUERY

  Abernathy?

  ABERNATHY

  And we found this.

  He holds a vial of some glowing gold substance in the palm of his hand. SPIELMAN reaches for the vial, which hangs on a chain, and – after a moment of hesitation – ABERNATHY releases it.

  Inside the carriage, GRINDELWALD raises his eyes to the roof as the vial is passed to SPIELMAN.

  SPIELMAN climbs into the carriage. AUROR 1 driving, AUROR 2 beside him. The door closes. A series of padlocks emerges from the carriage doors. An ominous drumroll of clicks as padlocks fasten themselves in place.

  AUROR 1

  Yah!

  The Thestrals take off.

  The carriage plummets then soars away through torrential rain. More AURORS follow on broomsticks.

  A beat.

  ABERNATHY steps forward, holding the Elder Wand. He looks up at the carriage, growing ever smaller. He Disapparates.

  CUT TO:

  SCENE 6

  EXT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  The underside of the carriage. ABERNATHY Apparates, clinging to the wheel shaft.

  SCENE 7

  INT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  SPIELMAN and GRINDELWALD sit, eyes locked, flanked by AURORS, all pointing their wands at GRINDELWALD. GRINDELWALD’S wand box lies on SPIELMAN’S lap.

  SPIELMAN holds up the vial, dangling from its chain.

  SPIELMAN

  No more silver tongue, eh?

  But GRINDELWALD is transforming . . .

  SCENE 8

  EXT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  ABERNATHY adjusts his grip underneath the carriage. His face too is changing. His hair is turning blond and lengthening . . . he is GRINDELWALD. He raises the Elder Wand.

  SCENE 9

  INT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  GRINDELWALD’S rapid transformation into a tongueless ABERNATHY is almost complete.

  SPIELMAN

  (shocked)

  Oh!

  SCENE 10

  EXT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  Now fully transformed, GRINDELWALD Disapparates from the underside of the carriage . . .

  . . . and Apparates next to the driver’s seat, where he is spotted by AURORS 1 & 2. GRINDELWALD points his wand at the carriage reins, turning the black ropes into living snakes that ensnare AUROR 1 so he falls from the carriage, back through the night sky, past the broomstick riders.

  GRINDELWALD casts another spell so the black ropes of the reins bind AUROR 2 like a chrysalis, launching him forward in the air, then slingshotting him back to knock AURORS 3 & 4 from the rear of the Thestral-drawn carriage. They fall away into darkness.

  SCENE 11

  INT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  All wands reverse their direction to jab dangerously at the necks of SPIELMAN and the two remaining AURORS. SPIELMAN watches as his wand melts into dust.

  The carriage rocks dangerously, both doors open. As GRINDELWALD’S head appears at the window, the panicking SPIELMAN opens the wand box on his lap. The Chupacabra leaps out and sinks its fangs deep into SPIELMAN’S neck. He wrestles it. The vial falls to the floor.

  SCENE 12

  EXT. THESTRAL-DRAWN CARRIAGE—NIGHT

  GRINDELWALD drives the carriage down onto the Hudson River, chased by the AURORS on broomsticks. The carriage wheels graze the surface of the water. The broomstick riders are catching up.

  GRINDELWALD touches the Elder Wand to the river and at once the inside of the carriage begins to fill with water.

  He lifts the carriage back up into the air.