Since Eddie Redmayne can’t get his hands on a Time Turner (he is a muggle, after all), the British actor, 33, has found a way to fulfill his longtime dream of starring in a Harry Potter film. The Oscar winner is playing Newt Scamander in J.K. Rowling’s upcoming film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
But Redmayne recently revealed in a new interview that before he donned the magizoologist’s robes, he longed to play member of the massive Weasley family, which in the films included Harry Potter’s best friend Ron (Rupert Grint), future wife Ginny (Bonnie Wright), twins Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps), Percy (Chris Rankin) and Bill (Domhnall Gleeson).
“For years I was always like, in the Harry Potter films, there was a whole ginger family, and I never got an audition. And I was like, ‘Come on, it’s outrageous!’” he quipped during an interview with ITV’s Lorraine (via the Daily Mail). “So I was desperate. Every actor in England was in the Harry Potter films, but I never got the call. Now I’m having my moment.”
That’s a bit of an understatement for Redmayne, who picked up the best actor Oscar for portraying Stephen Hawking in 2014’s The Theory of Everything and is already getting some awards season buzz for his role in The Danish Girl, in which he plays Lili Elbe, one of the first known people to receive sex reassignment surgery.
Fantastic Beasts will hit theaters in November 2016, and it’s the first film in a trilogy, all penned by Harry Potter scribe Rowling.
