Claudia Kim Talks About Her Role In "Fantastic Beasts 2" And Casting Controversy

Claudia Kim opened up about her role in upcoming film “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and the previous controversy surrounding her casting.

The actress recently took part in a photo shoot with Elle, where she made a strong impression with her fierce expressions and brightly-colored clothing. In an accompanying interview, she talked about her excitement for the upcoming premiere of the film.

Claudia Kim shared, “It was a surprise even to me that my character was revealed through the trailer. I thought that it was going to be shown when the film premiered. I saw the trailer in a theater in New York, and I was excited when it was revealed.”

Previously, her casting as Nagini in the film raised controversy, as fans found it problematic to give the role of a white man’s passive and loyal pet to an Asian woman. J.K Rowling addressed this by pointing out that the character was based on an Indonesian myth, which brought up even more criticism as it was actually based on a Hindu myth and Claudia Kim is Korean.

In another interview, the actress brought up the controversy. She remarked, “To be honest, I had no idea that there would be such a controversy. As an Asian actress who does work abroad, I do feel responsibility. I like to think that when I hear of a story, I think about it before choosing to do it. Honestly, I was a fan who believed in [J.K] Rowling. She’s always shown that she’s interested in the marginalized. Since this is just the beginning of Nagini’s story, I think there will be more stories that will help forget these kinds of controversies.”

Claudia Kim continued, “When I first learned about Nagini, I thought that [J.K Rowling] was the queen of plot twists. There’s a lot of depth to each of the characters. I thought that that’s what fans loved so much. There are a lot of people who think Nagini is a pet snake. But as I read the books, I thought she was a powerful medium because she’s an animal who houses a part of Voldemort’s soul.”

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” will premiere on November 14 in Korea.

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