Thousands Audition for Role in 'Harry Potter' Spin-Off 'Fantastic Beasts' Movie

Thousands of hopeful young girls lined up to audition for a role in Fantastic Beasts, a new trilogy based on books by J.K. Rowling and set in the Harry Potter world on Saturday and starring Theory of Everything actor Eddie Redmayne. Warner Bros. announced that there would be an open audition for the role of Modesty in London for girls 8-12 years old.

It's estimated that about 10,000 girls showed up on Saturday, some arriving as early as 4 a.m., to audition for the role. They are auditioning to play Melody, "a haunted young girl with an inner strength and stillness" who "has an ability to see deep into people and understand them."

Opening casting calls have benefitted the Harry Potter series in the past. Evanna Lynch snagged the role of Luna Lovegood in the series through an open casting call. She was a huge fan of the series who went to an audition that ultimately changed her life. Lynch posted on her Facebook page, urging fans to go audition for the Fantastic Beasts role.

"I just want to encourage any girls out there who are tempted to go for this but feel like it's impossible or bigger than you are, to put all those alleged obstacles out of your mind and just go as you, nothing more, nothing less," Lynch wrote.

Fantastic Beasts is set in the same world as Harry Potter, but set decades earlier and in New York. Rowling wrote the script for the film, which is supposed to be a trilogy. It follow the story of Newt Scamander, played by Redmayne, a magical zoologist, who writes "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," a textbook Harry Potter uses at Hogwarts. The movie is based on a book by the same name that Rowling wrote. Sales from the book benefit the charity Comic Relief.