This is part two of our three-part Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set visit. For part one, which looked at the characters, go here. For part three, a look at the beasts, go here.
THE PLACES
1926 New York: After the Salem Witch Trials, which scarred the American wizarding world, some No-Majs became witch-hunting fanatics, prompting witches and wizards to hide themselves. It was also a time of social and racial discrimination, but not necessarily within the magical community.
“We’re completely living in absolute hiding and secrecy and denial of our own existence in relation to No-Majs, in relation to common citizenry,” Colin Farrell (wizard Percival Graves) said of the magical community. “So, there is something happening in New York that threatens to expose the world of magic and it's incumbent on me and [MACUSA] President Picquery, but me in a more kind of active way on the street, to try and figure out what's going on. And then, Eddie's character comes into the frame and it unfolds from there.”
“In our world and New York at that time was like a champagne bottle about to shake up and explode,” director David Yates said. “It's a world of great extremes. And Newt is this wonderful character who has chosen to spend most of his time with his extraordinary creatures in his case 'cause he's not good at really talking to people or identifying. And his journey in this movie as he learns that it's actually all right to spend time with regular people.”
The Blind Pig: An underground jazz club for the magical community. Hidden by magic from the outside world, it’s a place for witches, wizards, elves and the like to gather, drink and listen to live music.
Production designer Stuart Craig emphasized the importance of creating a realistic and familiar setting. “If place is too extraordinary to begin with then the magic sort of lacks impact in some way,” he said. “So, I think the strangeness of the Blind Pig is not in first glance. It is when you actually get involved in the characters and the conversations and really look at the texture of the wall behind them, which is kind of drippy and filth and grime and so on. So it's the exposure they're worried about and magic working off something seemingly normal, fairly contemporary in New York.”
Central Park: The famous national park in Manhattan became the site of magical occurrences. Newt and his No-Maj friend Jacob have some fun with a beast in a frozen pond, while another creature decimated the Central Park Zoo. The bricked entrance gate was smashed as if something barreled through it and towards the reptile house, while the gates to ostrich, kangaroo, baboon, chimpanzee, porcupine and llama were all busted open.
City Hall Station: A subway station that connects to MACUSA. “That City Hall Station still exists but you're not allowed to go there. Nobody,” said Craig, who had to rely on photos to replicate the location. “We applied for permission to go and just take photographs and were not allowed. I imagine there's some kind of safety reason.”
Ilvermorny: The North American school for witchcraft and wizardry founded by an Irish witch named Isolt Sayre and her No-Maj husband, James Steward. Students are sorted into one of four houses — Horned Serpent, Wampus, Thunderbird and Pukwudgie — by enchanted statues of each animal.
Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA): Think the Ministry of Magic, but in America. Rowling researched the time period and architecture of New York and landed on the Woolworth Building and its Gothic styling to house the MACUSA headquarters. “Right at the top, at the apex of the arch, there's a stone — the carving of a stone owl — part of the decoration there,” Craig said. “And I think as soon as she saw that, she must have thought, ‘Eureka! This is, this is it.’”
Emblazoned with the symbol of a phoenix and decorated with sweeping columns and a commemorative statue to the Salem Witch Trials, MACUSA is filled with bits of magical intrigue. Desks and signs note various departments, including No-Maj Obliviation, as well as wanted signs for dark wizards, sealed black magic case files, and a magic-exposure barometer.
Referring to the vintage messaging tubes on the set, Katherine Waterston, who plays Tina, also teased, “We’re using delivery systems of the period, but in a much more magical way.”
Magical Exposure Threat Level: Aforementioned device at MACUSA that measures the threat of exposing magic to No-Majs. “Strange disturbances” fall on the lower level of the threat spectrum, while “explosions on streets” are more of a Level Five. Level Six is an all-out state of emergency.
