Ezra Miller: Transitioning Universes

by James Mottram

“Yes, it is true that Harry Potter, the boy who lived, has repeatedly changed my life,” says Ezra Miller in his inimitable enthusiastic way. “Over the whole course of my life, starting when I was 6 or 7. And he continues to change my life! Even now. Yes. For better or for worse, who can say?”

Ezra Miller returns to the Harry Potter universe in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald as Credence Barebone, and according to the actor, despite the mixed reviews that the film has received, there will plenty for the Harry Potter diehard, like him, to enjoy here.

“There were at least 7 of the craziest surprises I have ever read. In my life. If you are even like someone who read a Harry Potter book once, even just the first one, you’re gonna freak out. It is mind blowing. And the ways that Jo [J.K. Rowling] now can add notes to a broader and broader story, that flip the context, of other events or characters that we know and love, and remember, from other parts or aspects of the story, is just incredible. So exciting. I mean, [Nicolas] Flamel, which has always been one of my favourite parts of the Rowling-verse, is that it includes this real bit of esoteric speculative history. Which has to do with the long lineage of the French alchemists. So that was something that was in the script that I was like tearing out my hair.”

Credence Barebone comes from a background of abuse, was this something that Miller researched? “I talked to a lot of survivors of abuse who talked about the power that they are aware of within themselves to transform that trauma. Or to fall into its depths. I think that’s very relevant for Credence and his continued journey. Honestly, a lot of people came to me, and shared experiences and stories, that really run the whole range, even, a woman who told me about a calling that she had, and she had tried to ignore, in a certain practice I won’t go into. And that a shadow of herself had come for her in violent ways, to try and convince her to lift the torch of her own power, and that calling. I think that exists in the world and I think that even if you haven’t been a survivor of abuse or someone who’s been indoctrinated in such a way that you repress your own humanity, or your own power, I think we all are that also, on a certain level just in the way that we’re socialised.”

Along with Harry Potter, Miller also recently entered the DC Universe as The Flash. So, which of these beloved franchises has the more rabid fans?

“As in like hydrophobic, like foaming at the mouth, you gotta put ’em down,” asks Ezra Miller sarcastically. “Don’t worry fan base, I’m not gonna kill you. Not yet. I think they’re both really really really enthusiastic in different ways. I’d like to see them all fight each other.”

Before he corrects himself…

“I’d like to clarify by the way, it’s very important that people respect other people’s fandoms. This is an issue we sometimes have in the Comic-Con community. So, I don’t wanna actually encourage infighting between fandoms.”

Does he ever get confused about which franchise he is in on any given day? “I’m just having trouble getting my head around the retransitioned universes thing,” he admits. The Mandela Effect, you guys into that? Like how Pikachu used to have the little black stripe on the tail, the monopoly guy had the monocle, you know what I mean? All these things that have changed… Well, they never were that way, in this universe apparently. I don’t know, it’s like a fringe theory. Like, “Mirror mirror on the wall”, isn’t really the line. It’s “magic mirror on the wall”, which is just untrue, right? But it is true. Because at some point, apparently, we like bumped against some other universe or something. So, we all do it, we all transition universes once in a while.”

An interview with a person about the Harry Potter universe cannot happen without asking what they would do if they had a magic wand… “I’d point that shit straight at the sky and shoot heaven on down for you,” sings Ezra Miller to blank stares from the gathered media. “No one? Anyone?

“If I had a shotgun, you know what I’d do. I’d point that shit straight at the sky and shoot heaven on down for you. Because the bars are always open…” he sings again with passion.

“Nobody?! Was anyone else alive in the Nineties? Sublime?! Gosh dang it. We’re gonna have a Sublime session later and it’s gonna be amazing.”