In this interview conducted for the Herald, I chat to the stars and producer of the new second entry in the Fantastic Beasts series. 

The films that take place in author J K Rowling’s Wizarding World have always explored notions of good and evil, but nobody ever accused them of being political.

There were gently progressive themes strewn throughout the eight Harry Potter movies, as well as the first Fantastic Beasts movie, yet they managed to sidestep the culture wars for the most part. Not anymore.

Along with the rest of popular entertainment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has been sucked into the vortex of politics. The discussion centers around the figure mentioned in the title, a divisive wizard played by Johnny Depp.

Grindelwald, who was disguised as Colin Farrell in the first Fantastic Beasts movie, is shaking up the magic community with hateful rhetoric and thriving off the resultant disharmony. And he has bad hair. Sound familiar?