I don’t know about you, but anytime I hear that Eddie Redmayne is set to star in a new project, I react the same way JD Vance does to an awkward donut shop encounter: with unparalleled enthusiasm. In other words, I’m all in, and in Redmayne’s latest pursuit, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal, he’s all in, too.

The 10-episode series marks a unique deviation for the Oscar winner, who, for the better part of the last decade, has found his calling in major motion pictures that often see him swiftly nominated for every golden statue in sight. Given that his last major television role was in 2012’s Birdsong, his epic return to the medium begs a few important questions: why now, and why this role?

The answers come mere minutes into Jackal’s first episode, when an unrecognizable Redmayne dons the face, clothes, mannerisms, and gait of an elderly German janitor. As he goes to the real janitor’s workplace and shoots a man at point-blank range, it’s clear he’s not just playing dress-up ⏤ he’s an assassin, and someone has paid him a lot of money to carry out this particular hit.

What ensues is exactly what you’d expect from the sort of spy thriller that finds a hit man repelling down the side of a building to escape his pursuers: guns, disguises, car chases, and a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe between Redmayne’s unnamed hit man (later referred to as “the Jackal”) and MI6 agent Bianca, played by Lashana Lynch. This is not your grandfather’s Mission: Impossible, however. Redmayne’s Jackal might wear masks, but they aren’t ripped off in dramatic Tom Cruise fashion. On the contrary, his sharpshooter chips away at his prosthetics in an unhurried montage, peeling back the layers until, at last, we see the man beneath the killer. This unapologetic convention doesn’t only underline the unnerving reality The Day of the Jackal grounds itself in ⏤ it foreshadows how we’re going to learn more about our protagonist: layer by unpeeled layer.

Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth and the 1973 film of the same name, Jackal pulls a hasty Big Brother in that it invites you to expect the unexpected. If anything is expected here, it’s Redmayne’s ability to churn out another compelling performance in the skin of a character we haven’t seen him play before. The chameleonic actor is at the height of his powers (when is he not?), sliding into the Jackal’s skin as seamlessly as a knife through flesh. It would have been be easy, in the hands of a lesser artist, for this elite sniper to be conventionally stoic and void of nuance, but in true Redmayne fashion, he capitalizes on the opportunity to offer unexpected glimpses of humanity in between taking out a growing list of targets.

And then we have Lynch’s Bianca, Jackal’s foil, and therefore someone we expect to be different from him in every way. This is where The Day of the Jackal reveals its first of many wild cards. Despite their opposing MOs, ⏤ she enforces the law that he unapologetically breaks ⏤ these wandering souls have tricks up their sleeves, and more in common than you’d think. Having previously played the new 007 in No Time To Die, Lynch knows her way around an MI6 operative, but like Redmayne, her Bianca boasts more than a few surprises. Unlike so many stony agents we’ve seen in shows and films past, her Bianca is refreshingly human, comprised of both imperfections and an unapologetic ferocity that moves in and out of sight as she juggles the roles of field agent, mother, and wife. Like the show itself, just when you think you know Bianca, she challenges you.

As Bianca pursues the Jackal across Europe in scenes so gorgeously filmed you can almost feel the Emmy nominations trickling in, the stakes rise in unexpected ways. Secrets are revealed, blood is spilled, and lines are drawn in the sand as the viewer s the characters in wondering who can be trusted here. With a strong ing cast and an especially good performance from Eleanor Matsuura as Zina, the storytelling stretches beyond Jackal and Bianca’s visual fete, leading to questions that could not possibly be answered in a single season (despite a rip-roaring length).

As if brilliant leads and stunning cinematography weren’t enough, Jackal takes further care to separate itself from similar products within the genre. It includes ingenious innovations and an impressive dedication to prioritizing the tactile over CGI, something this author deeply appreciates in a medium overrun by deteriorating superhero flicks and city-leveling critters. As you’d hope for in a project of this genre and scale, there are moments that take your breath away, even in their simplicity. If you’re a sucker for the sole Jessica Chastain tear streaming quietly down the cheek, you’re in luck. Moreover, if you’re looking to be shocked, entertained, and utterly immersed, The Day of the Jackal doesn’t just deliver ⏤ it leaves you wondering what just happened, why it happened, and whether or not you really know these characters at all. (Yes, you can expect to ruminate on that moment ⏤ you’ll know it when you see it ⏤ for at least a few weeks.)

If there’s any nitpicking to be done about Jackal, it lies distinctly in the slow burn of 10 episodes with a medium run time of nearly 52 minutes each. While this often leads to moments of great depth for the show’s players, it does occasionally result in the desire to skip ahead and find out how the story ends. Given the nature of the Jackal’s slow and meticulous work, I suspect this was intentional on the writers’ part. To be fair, one of the show’s more brilliant choices occurs when a plot point that could have been pushed to the denouement happens much sooner than expected. Still, and perhaps it’s my own pesky impatience, I wouldn’t have minded an ever-so-slightly tighter execution.

That said, Jackal goes out of its way to pull you in, deliver rapid-fire gut punches, and then allow you a few seconds in between to remind yourself to breathe. I selfishly wish we could have seen Redmayne don even more disguises, accents, and prosthetics given how many episodes he had to spread his scene-stealing wings, but this is yet another trick up Jackal’s sleeve. The showrunners know this is ultimately where Redmayne shines, especially in a character study about a shape-shifting marksman, and when the series earns its swift and well-deserved season 2 renewal, I have a hunch Redmayne will prove that we’ve only gotten a taste of what he and this heart-pounding thriller is really capable of.

Eddie Redmayne might best be known as the wand-waving magizoologist who perfected the art of the full-body crab, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one capable of stealing a scene.

As one might expect, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal does, in fact, feature Redmayne committing artistic theft. The modern-day adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s novel (and the 1973 film of the same name) finds him playing the titular Jackal, a ruthless assassin being pursued by Lashana Lynch’s MI6 agent Bianca following a series of high-profile hits. Both actors churn out impressive, vulnerable performances alongside a stellar ing cast, but it’s the character hiding in plain sight ⏤ not unlike a master marksman ⏤ who gives them a run for their scene-stealing money.

That character is Jackal’s geography, and as Redmayne and Lynch pointed out during a recent press junket, this was no accident. “It was a long shoot,” Redmayne said when I asked how long it took to film a series of such a vast scope and scale. “Eight months,” Lynch confirmed, “out of Budapest in Hungary. But then Croatia…and a couple of weeks in London.” Lynch then went on to describe what it was like not solely working on sound stages for Jackal, but rather the world stage.

“When you get to play with locations, I think we both worked on sound stages and green screen and blue screen and those things bring – you really have to tap into imagination for those things. Here you have the beauty of your environment, and really utilizing that as a character in the piece. And it’s – that character is so important throughout these 10 episodes, you get to really live with each of these characters’ experience within those places. And it just really raises the sophistication and the scope of the show.”

Lynch’s green screen and sound stage experience includes, but is certainly not limited to, her work in Marvel’s Captain Marvel, in which she played fighter pilot Maria Rambeau (before surprising us with a few unexpected cameos in future MCU projects). Redmayne had similar imaginative responsibilities when he thrice played Newt Scamander in the Wizarding World’s Fantastic Beasts series. While locales in these kinds of universes (multiverses?) can be memorable, they often play second fiddle to CGI and epic battle sequences, putting them in more of a set-dressing role than a full-blown ing character.

The realistic nature of Jackal, on the other hand, required a much more grounded approach, including believable backdrops as Bianca pursues the Jackal across multiple European countries. If the plot sounds like something out of a fresh 007 entry — a character Lynch is no stranger to — rest assured: Jackal’s 10-episode arc is not all car chases and explosions. While there’s no shortage of thrilling elements and eye-popping surprises, the series is more of a slow, suspenseful burn than the typical two-hour spy thriller. The luxury of episodic storytelling also allowed both Lynch and Redmayne room to blossom in their characters’ complexities, something Jackal’s vast and breathtaking geography only amplified.

“You live in the beauty of it, and you live also in the darkness of some of these locations that weren’t originally dark,” Lynch explained. “But through the show, we’ve made them quite, like, eerie and like, sometimes not grotesque, but just a little gray. And I think color was something that we spoke about quite a lot, especially, you Eddie, when we were having our conversations as execs.” As Lynch pointed out, in addition to starring in Jackal, both she and Redmayne acted as producers, with Redmayne executive-producing and Lynch co-executive producing.

“It’s like, how do we bring the lightness and the darkness? How do we celebrate, you know, locations like Spain, or the architecture of some of these places, like Budapest has wonderful architecture and it was a character. I find that really, really helpful to balance the sound stages and location, because it just helps, it just brings out different parts of you as you’re characterizing.”

Despite playing a cold-blooded killer, Redmayne had positive thoughts to share regarding the bright side of such a rigorous shoot. “I just love that — that the fantasy of when you’re sitting in your living room and being taken to extraordinary places in the world, and that was something that was intrinsic to the original book and movie, was that escapism. And I’ve always also gone, ‘I want to be in White Lotus,’ I want to be in one of those shows where they get to travel to beautiful hotels. And we got it, yeah.”

They certainly did, and when this author noted how one prominent location featured throughout Jackal was particularly stunning, Redmayne and Lynch shared an amused reaction. “We’re not gonna deconstruct whether that is, whether [it] really looks like that, or whether it may be several cobbled together,” he teased. “I’m sure you can Airbnb it.” And, if you want to know which locale he’s referring to, head on over to Peacock, where you can now stream The Day of the Jackal’s first five episodes.

Eddie Redmayne and Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch are winning rave reviews for their performances in Day of the Jackal, the new 10-episode Peacock series based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel and 1973 film of the same name.

Day of the Jackal: Watch now on Peacock

Redmayne plays Jackal, an assassin who is being hunted by Bianca, an M16 agent played by Lynch. In the original novel, Jackal is hired by a paramilitary group to kill French President Charles de Gaulle and is up against the work of detective Claude Lebel, who hopes to stop Jackal before he can carry out his plan. The 1973 movie has long been considered one of the best pieces of British cinema to date and was a faithful adaptation of the novel.

The newest installment in the franchise was adapted for more modern times – after all, for many outside of , Charles de Gaulle is the name of an airport in Paris. This time around Jackal’s target is a well-known philanthropist who has developed software that will share with the public how billionaires spend their money. Redmayne’s character is also hired for additional small jobs throughout the series.

“It was a long shoot,” Redmayne told We Got This Covered of the project when he was interviewed in October. Lynch added the shoot was “Eight months” and added that the pair were working “out of Budapest in Hungary. But then Croatia…and a couple of weeks in London.”

“When you get to play with locations, I think we both worked on sound stages and green screen and blue screen and those things bring – you really have to tap into imagination for those things,” Lynch said. “Here you have the beauty of your environment, and really utilizing that as a character in the piece. And it’s – that character is so important throughout these 10 episodes, you get to really live with each of these characters’ experience within those places. And it just really raises the sophistication and the scope of the show.”

The duo received high praise from film and TV critic Max Covill, who noted in his review that Lynch “is terrific here as she fights between what she believes to be righteous and the blood of her hands.”

Day of the Jackal is now available to stream on Peacock. The series premiered in the United States on Nov. 14. The series premiered worldwide on Nov. 7, 2024.

Saoirse Ronan is every woman’s hero for putting Paul Mescal in his place after his cringe joke. The two were guests on The Graham Norton Show when Mescal proved men’s privilege regarding violence against women and girls.

Saoirse Ronan, with several Academy Award nominations under her belt, is giving Oscar buzz again for her performance in The Outrun, and was on the talk show to promote her latest film, alongside a filled with men. Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington were there to promote the Gladiator II, and Eddie Redmayne was there to talk about his latest series, The Day of the Jackal.

The Academy Award-winning actor plays a ruthless British assassin in his new series based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same name. During the night, Redmayne discussed how he learned self-defense from a specialist combat expert when preparing for the role. He also noted that he was taught to use his phone as a weapon to jab an attacker in the neck, which led to a very uncomfortable moment.

Saoirse Ronan silenced all the men after Paul Mescal’s joke

Following Redmayne’s explanation, Paul Mescal, who plays a gladiator in Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated sequel to the 2000 historical epic, had a cringe remark. The Normal People star joked that he would never think of pulling his phone out in case he was attacked.

“Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go ‘phone,’” the actor asked, gesturing as if to stop and take out his phone, and laughing. The men on the couch laughed with Redmayne noting, “That’s a very good point,” but Ronan interfered, “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.” Immediately, Redmayne and Mescal fell silent.

“Am I right ladies?” Ronan said after a brief pause, leading to a round of applause from the audience.

Saoirse Ronan’s applause in the studio wasn’t the only reaction she received. The actress quickly went viral online, as people couldn’t get enough of her comeback. At the same time, they clapped back at how the men had the luxury of joking about this situation.

“Saoirse Ronan gagging men we love to see it,” wrote a fan online. “The way she waited to hear about their privilege, then hit them with a reality check,” wrote another.

Another added, “That’s what girls have to think of all the time” this cuts deep on a reality check.

“Crazy to see how when the guys spoke they were so full of energy but when she said ‘Am I right ladies’ they just started mumbling lmao she got them FLABBERGASTED,” someone else wrote.

According to UN Women, almost one in three women (an estimated 736 million women) around the world have been subjected to violence against women at least once in their lives. That includes physical or sexual assault from a partner, non-partner, or both. At the same time, most violence against women happens by current or former partners, with more than 26% of women around the world subjected to domestic violence.

Ronan’s history of advocating for domestic violence goes way back. In 2016, she starred in Hozier’s music video for “Cherry Wine,” where she played a domestic violence victim. The two also paired up with several charities from across the world, including Irish Charity Safe Ireland, to raise awareness and the victims, pledging to donate the proceeds from the single.

There are many courses, tips, and other methods of protecting themselves in public, which Saoirse Ronan, despite her international status and fame, knows all too well, giving her the opportunity to make other men uncomfortable about the reality most women live in.

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Who is the most underrated hero of the MCU? No, I’m not talking, say, Moon Knight or Mantis. The correct answer to that question should be Sarah Halley Finn, Marvel Studios’ expert casting director who’s been with the franchise all along. Finn really should be recognized as the MCU’s secret weapon as it’s thanks to her never-ending procession of spot-on casting choices that Marvel has been able to continually and consistently put out hit after hit and supply many of the most beloved movie characters in modern film history.

However, although those perfectly cast actors might seem clearly the best choices for their characters in hindsight, finding the right person to play Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has been a Herculean achievement every single time, with the MCU almost taking some very different turns on numerous occasions. As Finn revealed to Vanity Fair, there are many near-miss Marvel hero castings that came close to coming to . These days, it’s fascinating to look back on them and, like the Watcher, ponder the question, “What if…">Keanu can still play a new version of Ghost Rider.

Netflix’s fetish for fear-inducing true crime stories doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon, with yet another original crime drama gunning its way to the number one spot.

Starring not one but two Academy Award-winning actors, The Good Nurse has given streaming audiences pain relief on Netflix. Jessica Chastain stars opposite Eddie Redmayne in this disturbing true crime story about one of the most unassuming serial killers you’ll ever hear about.

Redmayne portrays Charles Cullen, a nurse who was convicted of murdering 29 patients by overdosing and poisoning them under the pretence of medical care. Chastain plays the nurse who tipped off the police of her mysterious coworker’s habits and sparked a manhunt for the under the radar monster.

The Good Nurse has seen instant recognition on streaming, with a number one spot attained in its first week. Over 68 million hours viewed, it shot ahead of several week favorites like The Boss Baby, The Stranger, and Luckiest Girl Alive. Director Tobias Lindholm previously helmed other acclaimed movies such as the Mads Mikkelsen masterpieces The Hunt and Another Round, with The Good Nurse his first major American production.

Capping off a strong year for Chastain who won Best Actress at the Oscars in 2022 for a seminal performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, her performance as Amy Loughren could be enough to see her head for yet another nomination at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Netflix’s latest true crime film has received strong reviews, sitting on an enviable 80 percent approval rating from critics according to Rotten Tomatoes.

The Good Nurse is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Appearing in 2012’s Les Misérables wouldn’t have necessarily pumped up Taylor Swift‘s reputation in musicals, especially if it was going to be followed up by the disastrous and nightmarish Cats anyway, so her not bagging the role of Cosette or Eponine probably worked out for the best.

Continuing to celebrate the release of Midnights, and breaking several streaming records while at it, Swift recently appeared in a bejeweled frock on the Graham Norton Show alongside a roster of other A-listers including Eddie Redmayne. The two of them pairing up on a talk show is something that no Swiftie would’ve possibly thought worthy of a second look, but as ever, looks can be deceiving.

In fact, it seems that Taylor and Eddie almost worked together on 2012’s Les Misérables starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, but the former didn’t get the gig for a very hilarious reason.

“Basically I was up for two roles,” Taylor explains. “I had the look of Cosette and the range, vocally, of Éponine, so it was established I was there for a good time but not for a long time. I wasn’t going to get the role.”

It seems that the producers insisted on seeing Taylor in full costume as Eponine, which basically meant turning her into a street urchin from the 18th century. So the first and probably last time Redmayne saw Swift on the set was in a very peculiar makeup. Eddie, meanwhile, recalls that his situation wasn’t any better, having had to work around an embarrassing episode of garlic breath for what he earlier had to eat.

Suffice it to say, it probably wasn’t meant to be. Of course, there’s no denying that the T-Swizzle’s vocal range would’ve been a huge help on the set of that film — which is still widely criticized for tapping actors with little to no singing chops in main roles — but Samantha Barks ended up doing a great job as Eponine. Swift impressed director Tom Hooper, though, and ended up casting her in Cats. All’s well that ends well, right?

During the Toronto International Film Festival, Eddie Redmayne itted that he truly wished for empty chairs during his “appalling” vocal rendition as Marius in Les Misérables.

Prompted by a conversation in which he sought to reflect on his career, Redmayne took a self-deprecating turn when he overly criticized his own performance of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” in the 2012 musical Les Misérables, affirming that the song requires a certain fragility to engulf the audience, even though his vocal performance itself was deemed as appalling.

“I love the frailty. Technically, it’s appallingly sung, but it’s got like a fragility that helps sell the song.”

The actor also went on to thoroughly recall the filming process of that particular rendition of the song, itting that he much preferred focusing on an emotional performance as a mourning Marius over vocal precision. Redmayne also its he took on the approach upon watching closely Robert De Niro’s work ethics, sharing that “De Niro has this process where he’s filming, and you’d do a take, an emotional take, and then he would stop you and get you to go back and start again, and take the accumulation of that emotion and repress that and fire that back into the start of a scene, and that’s what we did here on this piece eventually.”.

The song, which is a little over three minutes long, apparently took more takes than one would’ve expected. “I’m going to go until I can’t go anymore,” he itted. “Because at least when you’re not happy with what you end up seeing, you know that you went for it. We did that there. We did push it pretty far.”.

The emotive and raw performances from Redmayne’s co-star Anne Hathaway granted the actress an Oscar for her role as the unfortunate and pitiful Fantine, and a nomination for Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean. Although Redmayne wouldn’t be awarded any Academy Awards for bringing life to Marius, he would get his first Oscar nomination and win in 2015 with his stellar performance in The Theory of Everything.

This fall, Redmayne can be found in Netflix’s newest psychological thriller, The Good Nurse, which will have its premiere on Oct. 26, this time with a more than promising rendition, if the rave reviews are anything to go by.

On July 29, 2014, award-winning journalist Charles Graeber published his chilling claim to fame. The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, is the deathly-haunting true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse thought to be involved in the deaths of over 400 patients, who managed to evade the hand of justice for 16 years before Amy Loughren, his coworker of herculean bravery, turned the tables.

And now, an equally chilling film adaptation of The Good Nurse has found its way to the Toronto International Film Festival, and the true crime psychological thriller has found itself absolutely drenched in praise, with Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne hitting some absolute home runs with their performances as the leads.

The Good Nurse follows Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a nurse and mother who suffers from a heart condition, a struggle that’s made no easier by her taxing shifts in the ICU. Her struggles are eased, however, when another kind-hearted nurse, Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is brought onto the team, and the two develop a strong bond of friendship. But when Charles becomes the prime suspect in a string of mysterious patient deaths, Amy finds herself in the most precarious situation of her life, risking not only her career but her life and family in order to do the right thing.

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, giving a special nod to director Tobias Lindholm, who makes his English-language debut with The Good Nurse, and noting the punchy real-life implications that the film makes apparent.

The picture is an assured English-language debut for Lindholm, a sometime Thomas Vinterberg collaborator and director of Danish films A War, A Hijacking and R.

Deadline‘s Pete Hammond called Chastain and Redmayne “superb” in his equally commending review.

The Good Nurse turns out to be one of the best pictures of 2022 with two of the strongest performances you will see all year.

And Fran Hoepfner of The Wrap also heaped praise on the film, especially for its handling of narrative angles.

If “The Good Nurse” is about anything, it’s about dedication and stoic comion, rather than a headstrong sense of morality, and the film, like its protagonist, is all the better for that.

The Good Nurse will have a limited theatrical run starting on Oct. 19 before making its way to Netflix on Oct. 26.

You’ve already seen The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and The Good Doctor; now it’s The Good Nurse’s time to shine. Netflix has dropped a first-look trailer (which you can check out above) for a major new thriller movie starring two Oscar-winning performers, which is based on a true crime. And if that doesn’t sound like something that seems guaranteed to surf the Netflix algorithm to success, I don’t know what does.

The Good Nurse follows healthcare worker Amy Loughren (The Eyes of Tammy Faye‘s Jessica Chastain) as she looks into a series of mysterious patient deaths and ends up engaged in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the man she believes is responsible, creepy colleague Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne, who likewise won an Academy Award for 2014’s The Theory of Everything).

The film dramatizes Charles Graeber’s non-fiction book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, a serial killer who used his profession as a nurse to murder up to 40 patients across his career. Just as the movie depicts, authorities praised the real-life Loughren as a vital informant who helped them crack the case and bring Cullen down.

After Tammy Faye, Loughren promises to be a classic, bread-and-butter role for Chastain, so no doubt she’ll turn in another strong portrayal. Conversely, Redmayne is the one playing against type this time around. This may be his first villainous role since his infamous, though ittedly unforgettable, turn in 2015’s Jupiter Ascending.

The Good Nurse is the English language feature debut for Danish director Tobias Lindholm, previously most known for writing Mads Mikkelsen vehicles Another Round and A Taste of Hunger. The thriller, which debuts at Toronto Film Festival this week, appears in limited theaters from Oct. 19 before opening wide on Netflix on Oct. 26.

Merlin’s Beard, fans of the wizarding world rejoice! If you missed seeing the latest installment of the Fantastic Beasts series Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in theaters, it is about to be a whole lot easier for you to view it while wearing your pajamas. HBO stated in a press release that Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will be available to stream on HBO Max beginning on Monday, May 30. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore picks up where the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald left off. Professor Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, and dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, played by Mads Mikkelsen, who took over the role from Johnny Depp, have a blood pact between them which prevents them from fighting each other directly. Because of this, Dumbledore must rely on a ragtag team of wizards and one No-Maj to stop Grindelwald. These wizards include Magizoologist Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, his brother Theseus Scamander, played by Callum Turner, and newcomer Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks, played by Jessica Williams. No-Maj Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler, represents the non-magical or muggle world. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was directed by David Yates. The screenplay was written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves.  David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram, and Tim Lewis acted as producers. It was executive produced by Neil Blair, Danny Cohen, Josh Berger, Courtenay Valenti, and Michael Sharp.

So stock up on Butter Beer and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans to prepare for your future movie night featuring Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. 

The level of hype surrounding Matt Reeves’ The Batman before the movie came out was definitely something for the cinematic history books, so much so that it even helped the crew of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to avoid leaks.

As Eddie Redmayne (the leading man) explained it in a chat with IMDb, the paparazzi mistook their set for the Batcave. This came up when the star was asked about his most challenging scene to shoot, and he replied:

For me, it was one of the opening moments of the film and I ended up having to lie in this lake during a night shoot in December and I think it was the coldest I’ve ever been. What was hilarious about that though is that the sets, which are all super top secret, were filmed by a drone that came over and they were in all the newspapers and I was so upset because I didn’t want our sets to be given away but the great news is they thought it was the Bat Cave (from The Batman) and so I was like, ‘Oh, great! They have no idea.’

The footage from the set does resemble the Batcave, or at least variations of it from the live-action Dark Knight canon, especially Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. But much in the same way as the rest of the movie, Matt Reeves put a unique spin on the Batcave, one that didn’t involve waterfalls or lakes.

The Secrets of Dumbledore is currently playing in theaters. After a lackluster international opening last week, things are looking a bit brighter for J.K. Rowling’s scrutinized threequel to the middling Fantastic Beasts franchise as the movie looks towards a $45-50 million domestic opening weekend.