LOS ANGELES _ "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" star Ezra Miller approaches acting with an intelligent swagger and a ferocious passion. He doesn't take a superficial approach, whether it be describing the process of moviemaking as being "Gesamtkunstwerk" (the German word for the ideal of unifying all works of art via theater) or dealing with a pair of Harry Potter fans who try to get him to reveal secrets about the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise.
Miller has played two distinct characters over the past year in feature films that come with a massive amount of mythology. He plays the quiet and confused Credence Barebone in "Crimes of Grindelwald." Last year, he reprised the role of outgoing and sometimes confused Barry Allen/The Flash in "Justice League."
While the two characters might look different to the audience, the 25-year-old New Jersey native finds a lot of similarities between Barebone and The Flash.
They are both essentially what nerds would refer to as OP (overpowered) characters, but I think the OP comes from a very interesting place in both cases," Miller says. "In both cases, it really has to do with the ways gifts given to the human psyche can present as both blessing and curses no matter what you do."
In "Crimes of Grindelwald," Barebone becomes the primary focus of Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) after he escapes from prison. Barebone is an important part of the evil wizard's plan for world domination. The effort by two journalists to get more information prompts Miller to tell them he can't even wrap his mind around why they would ask a question they know he can't and won't answer.
What Miller will talk about is the amount of time he spends preparing for and playing a role. Acting to Miller is a journey of discovery that starts with creating the bricks for the foundation of his performance based on research.
Background information of Barebone is plentiful through J.K. Rowling's writings. Equally as plentiful has been material dealing with The Flash through the decades of DC Comics featuring the scarlet speedster. Miller absorbs anything he can about the role he's playing.
"I find information helpful _ always," Miller says. "There was a while where I would fear certain information and I would not refer back to certain source material because I feared it would affect my character's awareness. But, I have come to incorporate the collective unconscious and the unknown and untapped human omnipotence that dwells within us all.
"In those contexts, you can justify knowing about anything."
His embrace of knowledge to play Barebone became critical for Miller because _ as he explains it _ of how Rowling has used magic as a metaphor for emotional, psychic, personal, interpersonal and spiritual realities.
As for the research Miller did before playing The Flash, the investigation felt completely right because the character of Barry Allen is a researcher through his job with the police force. He sees his work to prepare for the role makes puts his performance in a "metafiction" place.
Miller made his feature film debut in the 2008 release "Afterschool." That was followed by "We Need to Talk About Kevin," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," "The Stanford Prison Experiment" and "Trainwreck" before leaping into two of the world's biggest film franchises.
Before he became an actor, Miller trained as an opera singer and sung with the Metropolitan Opera. He sees both his acting and musical backgrounds as parts of the same entertainment medium.
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