Speaking to Hypable to promote his new film Gravity, out October 4, longtime Harry Potter producer David Heyman responded to news of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff movie.

Article Continues Below

If there’s one person you can thank for the Harry Potter movies, it’s Heyman. His production company came across the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone manuscript in 1997 when they were searching for a book to turn into a film. A year later he sold Rowling on the idea and began creating what became the highest grossing film franchise of all time.

Flash forward to today, and you can imagine what Heyman must be feeling with a potential new franchise on the horizon. With the news so fresh and Heyman so close to the series, we decided to go off topic and ask him if he was going to be producing the first movie based on Fantastic Beasts’ Newt Scamander. He declined to answer, but the feeling we received is that he is involved.

Pressing on, we asked him what his feelings are from the perspective of a fan. “As a fan, as a filmmaker, I am really… really… really excited,” Heyman said to Hypable in what are the first comments from the Harry Potter franchise’s creative team. “She’s a great storyteller, and I’m sure this will be something really great. She wouldn’t do it otherwise – she doesn’t need to do it.”

At least, she doesn’t need to do it because Warner Bros. asked her. He continued, “She’s doing it because she needs to do it because she has a story to tell.”

“It’s going to be very good. I assure you,” he added. Those are big words from one of the closest people connected to the Harry Potter movies.

At that, this writer stood up and began to leave because our time was up. As I was rounding the room, I noticed that Heyman looked down at the floor and a word began to leave his mouth – but then he stopped himself. My impression was that he was chomping at the bit to say something else about it. Understandably, he had to remain quiet because the film is still in its infancy.

No matter what his involvement is (we’ll put our money on producer), Heyman is feeling as passionate about this project as Rowling is.

We’ll have Gravity-related interviews with Heyman and writer Jonas Cuaron closer to the film’s October release.