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harry potter - What creature is this? (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)


The following quote is from an answer for the question 'What are all the magical creatures/Beasts in Newt Scamander's suitcase?' in the Movies & TV SE:






  • Newt is seen bottle-feeding a luminescent creature with tentacles enter image description here
    ANGLE ON NEWT, now cradling a luminescent creature with sprouting alien-like tendrils. He feeds the creature with a bottle, while carefully watching how Jacob handles the Mooncalves—he recognizes a kindred spirit.
    —Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling, SCENE 47, INT. Newt's Case, Animal Area (screenshot)


    This creature appears to be unnamed at the time of writing this. The only description we have comes from the screenplay and film. I will edit this post to add the name, whenever it inevitably surfaces.





Can anyone identify this animal/creature/beast?




Answer



According to the VFX house who created the effect, it's a Marmite. Note that this creature doesn't appear in any existing Potter property, including the Fantastic Beasts book.



On the creatures side, Method handled the shot of Newt bottle-feeding a young marmite – a tentacled cross between a dust mite and squid with a transparent body. Production provided live action plates with the actor, and Method artists added the CG creature to the shot, digitally wrapping 10-foot long tentacles around Newt and creating an underwater feel.


DELUXE’S METHOD STUDIOS CONTRIBUTES VFX MAGIC TO WB’S “FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM



enter image description here enter image description here



This seems to be confirmed by the film's Concept Artist, Dan Baker. On his website he has a large range of concept images. The filename for the picture is "marmite_V009_DB.jpg" (also referred to as "shrimp creature" here and in the Art of Fantastic Beasts book).


enter image description here




“THE SHRIMP CREATURE The one was a lot of fun. I was asked to look at different types of transparent sea creatures to help capture some of its more grotesque otherworldly qualities. The tentacles were actually inspired by the bodies of hagfish which I thought where creepier somehow than traditional tentacles found on squid or octopuses. DB”




A similar level of confirmation comes from the website of FrameStore (the company that provided the film's art design and animations). The filename for the image below is "bos_20160517_marmite_v009c_bk_copy.jpg"


enter image description here


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