The director & # 39; Dumbo & # 39; explains how Tim Burton's reimagination differs from other Disney live remakes

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Last weekend, Disney released its 1941 live-action remake Dumbo, the poignant story of an elephant with floppy ears who learns that he has the unique ability to fly. & nbsp; Naturally, Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Alice in Wonderland) was the natural choice to make, given the fantastic premise of the film and its larger circus / amusement park scenery than ever before.

This project allowed the director to bring together his two greatest collaborators, Danny DeVito (It's always sunny in Philadelphia) and Michael Keaton (Spider-Man: Homecoming), who clashed in 1992 Batman Returns & nbsp;under the name of Penguin and Bruce Wayne. & nbsp;Dumbo however, reverses this original dynamic by making DeVito (the owner of the circus, Max Medici) the good guy, and Keaton (a ruthless entertainment mogul & nbsp;V. A. Vandevere) & nbsp;The mean one.

In addition to & nbsp; to these big names, Burton was also able to catch Colin Farrell (Lobster), Eva Green (Peregrine's home for private children), and even Alan Arkin (The Kominsky method) for the rest of the distribution. Since the titular character is a flying pachyderm (a breed not found), Dumbo had to come to life with the latest CGI technology, but that does not mean that it must be a lifeless tennis ball perched at the top. A wooden stick on the set (more on that later, though).

The live-action DumboThe biggest change from the original feature is the introduction of non-original human beings, mainly the Farrier family (led by Holt de Farrell), who is shocked by the effects of the First World War. and the Spanish flu pandemic of the late 1910s. & nbsp; Just as Milly and Joe Farrier (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins, respectively) lost their mothers because of the devastating flu, Dumbo also lost his own mother because of the cruelty of the man. The fate of these characters becomes intimately linked to the moment when Dumbo learns to skyrocket (in order to see his mother again), while Holt (a wounded veteran of the Great War) reconnects with his children.

The result is a comforting (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about the importance of the family, the pitfalls of greed and, ultimately, the kindness of animals. This only touches the surface of Burton's lens in this film, which looks like his purest and most wonderful task in years. To get a better idea of ​​what differentiates this film from its source material – as well as what distinguishes it from other Disney remake disks – we met with Burton's longtime producer, Derek Frey.

Josh Weiss: You've been a producer on Tim Burton's movies for quite some time now. What did you learn about his director and / or visual style after so many years of working together?

Derek Frey: It's a good question. Tim is obviously known for his visual style and his particular motive. We often hear the word "Burton-esque". I will say that it occupies a … unique and unique space and I feel that it is something more difficult to find these days. He is one of the last authors in a way, where he has a very distinct style and look – he is always the best to represent him. I know you'll sometimes see films that seem to want to do what he does, but I feel that unless he's running a project, he'll miss something special about it .

It's a great trip. I have worked with him for a long time and it is always impressive to see him work and the energy, enthusiasm and pbadion he brings to a project. The attention to detail is always a marvel to watch and it continues Dumbo, probably to a degree I had never even seen before. I think he's got it up a few notches [this movie], & nbsp; where each nuance of Dumbo's character, every visual aspect of the film, he played an important role. If you have not seen it yet, when you see it, people will realize that there is something really special in the look and especially Dumbo, the character himself.

Josh Weiss: When you found out you were working Dumbo, what was Tim's kind of pitch / vision in the way he wanted to reinvent the original movie?

Derek Frey: Disney sent us a rough draft of Ehren Kruger's screenplay and he presented to the studio his point of view that you are sort of telling the story that the original film did to a certain extent. And where the original film stops, that's where we go. It is almost the moment when the world discovers that there is an elephant that can fly, what happens now?

The scenario contained all the things in place that Tim appealed to and I think one of the biggest attractions is that Dumbo, the character, is an outsider and one of the original characters of Disney's underdog animals. Tim has always been a champion for this kind of characters and Dumbo really seemed to slip into it. Then add to that the amazing parameters that [the film is] The period, and this kind of grandiose destination in the land of dreams, the Coney Island-esque setting is something with which, when I was reading the screenplay, I could not visualize it, but I could say that Tim would certainly be able to run with and do something really amazing.

For Tim, it was taking this scenario and appropriating the story, developing the design and appearance of Dumbo. It was something that, from the offset, Tim embraced [asking] "How are we going to adapt this character in a new movie, in a live action type environment?" [advanced enough] where we could create a realistic elephant, then it's really Tim who brought the nuance to the character. For a character who does not speak at all, he has a lot of personality and a lot of that personality came from Tim's direction to animate him.

Josh Weiss: The project brings together Burton with some of his most famous collaborators, mainly Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito. Did it take them time to recover their Batman or was it simply reinstated after so many years?

Derek Frey: It was instantaneous. One of the first early days in & nbsp;[production] we had one of the scenes in the sky boxes at Dreamland and it was Alan Arkin, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, all gathered in one scene. I think everyone was energetic that day … We did a lot of work with Danny, it's the fourth movie in which Tim directed Danny; they have collaborated on different tasks during their career. I knew it would be instantaneous.

Michael, Tim had not been seen for a long time and from the moment they met, when Michael came to town and they were doing costume tests, they just clicked. There is a shortcut there. I think the people with whom Tim often collaborates, this shorthand is already a bit present, but having these guys working together in the same scenes was something really magical to watch.

Since the beginning of this movie, [Tim] expressed that he could populate and interpret many of these characters with people with whom he had worked in the past, people that he thought well for the roles, but the people who are a little bit of his Movie family, it was something that would excite Tim and make a better movie. I do not think Tim followed that path to excite fans and the public, but it's really nice to see people looking back and [that] they are excited to see this meeting and I do not think they will be disappointed. It's very exciting to see them all together, and it's not like we're doing anything again, that we're retreading or repeating something. They are in some way on new territories and create new characters really strong.

Josh Weiss: Besides DeVito and Keaton, you also have Colin Farrell, Eva Green and Alan Arkin. Was it a challenge to juggle so many talented and flying CGI elephant actors?

Derek Frey: Not really. Again, very good people are committed to working with Tim and all members of the group understand Tim's process. I think Colin and the kids were the only main roles these actors had never worked with Tim and Colin, it was like he was part of that family. It fit perfectly – stenography was there, and I can not wait for Tim and Colin to work together again, because I think they were really well suited.

For kids, it was sort of their first film, so I think it was really great for kids to get into this big world; they felt very comfortable because the people who work with Tim, obviously they know him well, it's a really comfortable setting. It's a circus environment, so by nature there's a lot of fun and a lot of moving people juggle. There is never a moment of boredom, so I think they managed to rock into this world and feel very comfortable. They are very confident and competent actors in themselves.

Josh Weiss: I'm glad you mentioned that. Are there any fun moments / anecdotes from the show? Maybe actors who react to an elephant who was not there?

Derek Frey: & nbsp;When he came to Dumbohe was the only thing that was not really present on the set, at least in terms of his final look. We had a Dumbo actor named Edd Osmond who wore a very strange green suit, which doubled for Dumbo in terms of eye line, movement and contact with the actors.

As ridiculous as his costume was – we invented it – The Ant-Man Costume & # 39; – it allowed the actors to have something to play … One of the things that really fascinates me is the realism of the contact and the movement and interaction between the actors and Dumbo [is]- It works really well and a lot of things are related to the presence of someone for these scenes.

Nico [Parker] and Finley [Hobbins], who play the kids, they had the best stories because they spent a lot of time with Edd … They had real relationships with him. It was really an interesting relationship between the three … But I can not talk about anything really specific; It was the general absurdity of everyday life and the speed with which we adapted to the ridiculousness of this double Dumbo suit.

This was largely due to Edd's performance because he brought a lot of sensations to it. The first few days on the set, it was a bit like "How are we going to get a real, sincere and sincere reaction from the actors who have to play this character?" But his performance was so real and so pure that you went with it, you really felt it on the set and it also appears in the final photo.

Josh Weiss: & nbsp; In the original, the relationship between Dumbo and his mother and the mistreatment inflicted on his mother are among the saddest in film history. How does this affect the remake?

Derek Frey: Disney films, especially the first animated films, feature many scenes of loss and tragedy. These stories contain real lessons, and I think that's one of the reasons they resonate so much in people. It was something that, in this reinvention, we felt that it was really the heart of the story.

The heart of the story is a baby elephant trying to get together with his mother, and this is the kind of takeaway that people have from the original. I found that many people remember what they felt while looking at the original, but they may not remember every beat of history, and I think it's mainly because it's something that people have watched when they were very young and we knew that story had to keep that pulse. The original is a 63-minute film.

Obviously, for a full-length real action, we had to provide something a little more complete and Ehren Kruger … in addition to expanding the story once the world was discovering that there was a flying elephant, he also thought it would be a good thing. Present human characters with a family story that resembles Dumbo's fate. That's where the Farrier family comes in. So I think it's really good; There is a touching parallel story of these children and their father trying to connect and deal with their deceased mother. I think it's a real update of the original story.

When [people] look at it, they will get tired of the original and how they feel when looking at the original, and there are enough signs of the head that the original makes them feel like it is doing it justice. But it also takes place in a whole new world and they will not feel like it's a bad turn. I think they will go with it.

Josh Weiss: Based on trailers alone, the sets alone are breathtaking. Can you talk a bit about their design and construction?

Derek Frey: From the beginning, Tim used the term "great intimacy," and in the original animated film, its meaning was that you stalked firmly Dumbo and his mother and the circus story. There is a certain scale and colors that are really daring and memorable and in this film it's a great movie, but Tim never wanted to lose sight of the story of this family and Dumbo. Although you have this great world in which everything is installed, you will never get lost. At least, I find in many big budget movies, sometimes we get lost in the magnitude of the world … in the substance of the characters and history. Tim wanted to make sure to maintain some privacy in the story and the characters.

That said, we made movies like Alice in Wonderland, where everything happens in a CGI universe and where most filming took place on green screen sets. Dumbo being one of the most important visual effects of the film, Tim felt it was important to build [practical sets] as much as possible in terms of setting. For each scene, our characters, the initial world, the immediate world we follow, are all on real decors. Although this has gone really well, sometimes it's hard to say horizons, the world beyond, the horizon line … these are the elements we added later. But the initial world of Danny DeVito's Cirici Medici, the dusty and unusual circus, and Michael Keaton's Vandevere Dreamland, were all built in practice.

This creates a certain design aspect that is really strong, because you feel that you are in a real world and that allows us to believe the elephant [is real] Somehow because the visual effects team was able to effectively create this Dumbo elephant in a real world. I think that when you have two layers of the unreal, like an unreal decor and an unreal character, it is a bit harder for your brain to process it and follow it. Whenever I see the finished film, I am really amazed at the quality of Dumbo's performance in these environments.

Josh Weiss: How is it different from all the real action remakes that Disney has released or plans to launch in the coming months?

Derek Frey: I do not know the trajectory of the scenarios for Lion King or Aladdin. From what I've seen, it seems like they're reminiscing the original movies. These original animation films [from the] In the late '80s, early' 90s, they are a little cooler in people's minds. You have a generation of people who grew up with these images and now have children of their own, and these films mean something that is fundamental to them. Although I'm sure there will be changes, I suspect they want to stay true to a little more than what these original films were.

We had a little more freedom with Dumbobecause it was released in 1941 – it's a 63-minute film. We had a little more flexibility to develop the story and maybe people are not so expensive with that. Again, I'm not sure what they're doing with these [other] films, but I think Tim has been able to fully exercise his incredible creativity about it and I think it's something that people will accept, embrace and really appreciate.

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Last weekend, Disney released its 1941 live-action remake Dumbo, the poignant story of an elephant with floppy ears that learns that he has the unique ability to fly. Naturally, Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Alice in Wonderland) was the natural choice to make, given the fantastic premise of the film and its larger circus / amusement park scenery than ever before.

This project allowed the director to bring together his two greatest collaborators, Danny DeVito (It's always sunny in Philadelphia) and Michael Keaton (Spider-Man: Homecoming), who clashed in 1992 Batman Returns like the penguin and Bruce Wayne. Dumbo This original dynamic has however been reversed by making DeVito (the circus owner, Max Medici) the good guy, and Keaton (the ruthless entertainment mogul) V. A. Vandevere) The mean one.

In addition to these big names, Burton was also able to catch Colin Farrell (Lobster), Eva Green (Peregrine's home for private children), and even Alan Arkin (The Kominsky method) for the rest of the distribution. Since the titular character is a flying pachyderm (a breed not found), Dumbo had to come to life with the latest CGI technology, but that does not mean that it must be a lifeless tennis ball perched at the top. A wooden stick on the set (more on that later, though).

The live-action DumboThe biggest change from the original feature is the introduction of non-original human beings, mainly the Farrier family (led by Holt de Farrell), who is shocked by the effects of the First World War. and the Spanish flu pandemic of the late 1910s. Just as Milly and Joe Farrier (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins, respectively) lost their mothers because of the devastating flu, Dumbo also lost his own mother because of the cruelty of the man. The fate of these characters becomes intimately linked to the moment when Dumbo learns to skyrocket (in order to see his mother again), while Holt (a wounded veteran of the Great War) reconnects with his children.

The result is a comforting (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about the importance of the family, the pitfalls of greed and, ultimately, the kindness of animals. This only touches the surface of Burton's lens in this film, which looks like his purest and most wonderful task in years. To get a better idea of ​​what differentiates this film from its source material – as well as what distinguishes it from other Disney remake disks – we met with Burton's longtime producer, Derek Frey.

Josh Weiss: You've been a producer on Tim Burton's movies for quite some time now. What did you learn about his director and / or visual style after so many years of working together?

Derek Frey: It's a good question. Tim is obviously known for his visual style and his particular motive. We often hear the word "Burton-esque". I will say that it occupies a specific and unique space, and I have the impression that it is something more difficult to find these days. He is one of the last authors in a way, where he has a very distinct style and look – he is always the best to represent him. I know you'll sometimes see films that seem to want to do what he does, but I feel that unless he's running a project, he'll miss something special about it .

It's a great trip. I have worked with him for a long time and it is always impressive to see him work and the energy, enthusiasm and pbadion he brings to a project. The attention to detail is always a marvel to watch and it continues Dumbo, probably to a degree I had never even seen before. I think he's got it up a few notches [this movie]Where every nuance of Dumbo's character, every visual aspect of the movie, he had a hand. If you have not seen the movie yet, when you see it, I think people will realize that there is something really special in the look and especially Dumbo, the character himself .

Josh Weiss: When you found out you were working Dumbo, what was Tim's kind of pitch / vision in the way he wanted to reinvent the original movie?

Derek Frey: Disney sent us a rough draft of Ehren Kruger's screenplay and he presented to the studio his point of view that you are sort of telling the story that the original film did to a certain extent. And where the original film stops, that's where we go. It is almost the moment when the world discovers that there is an elephant that can fly, what happens now?

The scenario contained all the things in place that Tim appealed to and I think one of the biggest attractions is that Dumbo, the character, is an outsider and one of the original characters of Disney's underdog animals. Tim has always been a champion for this kind of characters and Dumbo really seemed to slip into it. Then add to that the amazing parameters that [the film is] The period, and this kind of grandiose destination in the land of dreams, the Coney Island-esque setting is something with which, when I was reading the screenplay, I could not visualize it, but I could say that Tim would certainly be able to run with and do something really amazing.

For Tim, it was taking this scenario and appropriating the story, developing the design and appearance of Dumbo. It was something that, from the offset, Tim embraced [asking] "How are we going to adapt this character in a new movie, in a live action type environment?" [advanced enough] where we could create a realistic elephant, then it's really Tim who brought the nuance to the character. For a character who does not speak at all, he has a lot of personality and a lot of that personality came from Tim's direction to animate him.

Josh Weiss: The project brings together Burton with some of his most famous collaborators, mainly Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito. Did it take them time to recover their Batman or was it simply reinstated after so many years?

Derek Frey: It was instantaneous. One of the first days at the beginning of [production] we had one of the scenes in the sky boxes at Dreamland and it was Alan Arkin, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, all gathered in one scene. I think everyone was energetic that day … We did a lot of work with Danny, it's the fourth movie in which Tim directed Danny; they have collaborated on different tasks during their career. I knew it would be instantaneous.

Michael, Tim had not been seen for a long time and from the moment they met, when Michael came to town and they were doing costume tests, they just clicked. There is a shortcut there. I think the people with whom Tim often collaborates, this shorthand is already a bit present, but having these guys working together in the same scenes was something really magical to watch.

Since the beginning of this movie, [Tim] expressed that he could populate and interpret many of these characters with people with whom he had worked in the past, people that he thought well for the roles, but the people who are a little bit of his Movie family, it was something that would excite Tim and make a better movie. I do not think Tim followed that path to excite fans and the public, but it's really nice to see people looking back and [that] they are excited to see this meeting and I do not think they will be disappointed. It's very exciting to see them all together, and it's not like we're doing anything again, that we're retreading or repeating something. They are in some way on new territories and create new characters really strong.

Josh Weiss: Besides DeVito and Keaton, you also have Colin Farrell, Eva Green and Alan Arkin. Was it a challenge to juggle so many talented and flying CGI elephant actors?

Derek Frey: Not really. Again, very good people are committed to working with Tim and all members of the group understand Tim's process. Je pense que Colin et les enfants étaient les seuls rôles principaux dans lesquels ces acteurs n’avaient jamais travaillé avec Tim et Colin. Il correspondait parfaitement – la sténographie était là, et j&#39;ai hâte que Tim et Colin travaillent à nouveau ensemble, car je pense qu&#39;ils étaient vraiment bien adaptés.

Pour les enfants, c&#39;était en quelque sorte leur premier film, alors je pense que c&#39;était vraiment génial pour les enfants d&#39;entrer dans ce grand monde; ils se sentaient très à l&#39;aise parce que les gens qui travaillent avec Tim, visiblement ils le connaissent bien, c’est un cadre vraiment confortable. C’est un environnement de cirque, donc, par nature, il ya beaucoup de plaisir et beaucoup de gens émouvants jonglent. Il n’ya jamais un moment d’ennui, alors je pense qu’ils ont réussi à basculer dans ce monde et à se sentir très à l’aise. Ce sont des acteurs très confiants et compétents en eux-mêmes.

Josh Weiss: Je suis content que vous en ayez parlé. Y a-t-il des moments amusants / anecdotes de la série? Peut-être des acteurs qui réagissent à un éléphant qui n’était pas là?

Derek Frey: Quand il est venu à Dumbo, il était la seule chose qui n’était pas vraiment présente sur le plateau, du moins en ce qui concerne son look final. Nous avions un acteur de Dumbo du nom d&#39;Edd Osmond qui portait un costume vert très étrange, qui doublait pour Dumbo en termes de ligne des yeux, de mouvement et de contact avec les acteurs.

Aussi ridicule que fût son costume – nous l’avons inventé &#39;The Ant-Man Costume&#39; – cela permettait aux acteurs d’avoir quelque chose à jouer … L’une des choses qui me pbadionne vraiment est le réalisme du contact et du mouvement et interaction entre les acteurs et Dumbo [is]- Cela fonctionne vraiment bien et beaucoup de choses sont liées à la présence de quelqu&#39;un pour ces scènes.

Nico [Parker] et Finley [Hobbins], qui jouent les enfants, ils ont eu les meilleures histoires parce qu’ils ont pbadé beaucoup de temps avec Edd … Ils entretenaient de véritables rapports avec lui. C’était vraiment une relation intéressante entre les trois… Mais je ne peux parler de rien de vraiment spécifique; C&#39;était l&#39;absurdité générale du quotidien et la rapidité avec laquelle nous nous sommes adaptés au ridicule de ce double costume de Dumbo.

Cela tenait en grande partie à la performance d’Edd car il y apportait beaucoup de sensations. Les premiers jours sur le plateau, c&#39;était un peu comme &#39;Comment allons-nous obtenir une réaction réelle, sincère et sincère de la part des acteurs qui doivent jouer ce personnage?&#39; Mais sa performance était si réelle et si pure que vous êtes allé avec elle, vous l&#39;avez vraiment sentie sur le plateau et elle apparaît également dans la photo finale.

Josh Weiss: Dans l&#39;original, la relation entre Dumbo et sa mère et le mauvais traitement réservé à sa mère sont parmi les plus tristes de l&#39;histoire du cinéma. Comment cela se répercute-t-il dans le remake?

Derek Frey: Les films Disney, en particulier les premiers films d’animation, présentent de nombreuses scènes de perte et de tragédie. Ces histoires contiennent de vraies leçons, et je pense que c’est l’une des raisons pour lesquelles elles résonnent si fort chez les gens. It was something that, in this reimagining, we felt it was really the heart of the story.

The heart of the story is a baby elephant trying to reunite with his mother, and that’s the kind of the takeaway that people have from the original. I found that lot of people remember how they felt watching the original, but they may not remember every single beat of the story, and I think that’s mainly because it’s something that people watched when they were very young and we knew that this story had to maintain that pulse. The original’s a 63-minute long film.

Obviously, for a feature-length live-action film, we had to provide something a bit more extensive and Ehren Kruger … aside from expanding the story once the world finds out that there’s a flying elephant, he also felt it would be good to introduce human characters with a family story that kind of parallels the plight of Dumbo. That’s where the the Farrier family comes into play. So, I think it plays really well; there’s a real touching parallel story of these children and their father trying to connect and deal with their mother who has pbaded away. I think it’s made for a real kind of lovely update of the original story.

When [people] watch it, they’ll get enough of the original and how they felt watching the original and there’s enough nods to the original that they’ll feel like it’s doing it justice. But it also takes it into a whole new realm and they’re not gonna feel like that was a bad turn. I think they’ll go with it.

Josh Weiss: Based on the trailers alone, the sets alone look breathtaking. Can you talk a little bit about their design and construction?

Derek Frey: A term that Tim used from the very beginning was ‘grand intimacy’ and his meaning behind that was in the original animated film, you are firmly tracking Dumbo and his mother and the story of the circus. There’s a certain scale and color scheme that’s really bold and memorable and in this film, it’s a big movie, but Tim never wanted to lose focus on the tale of this family and of Dumbo. While you do have this big world that everything is set in, you never get lost in it. At least I find in a lot of bigger budget films, sometimes you lose yourself in the scale of the world … over the substance of the characters and the story. Tim wanted to make sure that we maintain a certain intimacy of the story and the characters.

That being said, we’ve done films like Alice in Wonderland, where it’s completely set within a CGI world and most of the filming took place on green screen sets. Because Dumbo is one of the biggest visuals effects in the film, Tim felt it was important to build [practical sets] as much as possible in terms of the setting. For every scene, our characters, the initial world, the immediate world that we’re tracking, is all on real sets. Although it’s done really well, it’s hard to tell sometimes, the horizons, the world beyond, the skyline … those are the elements that we’ve added later. But the initial world from Danny DeVito’s Medici Circus, the down and out dusty circus, and through Michael Keaton’s Vandevere Dreamland, those sets were all practically built.

It creates a certain design aspect that is really strong, because you sense that you’re in a real world and it enables to us to believe the elephant [is real] in a way because the visual effects team was able to effectively create this Dumbo elephant into a real world. I think when you have two layers of the unreal, like an unreal setting and an unreal character, it’s a little bit harder for your brain to process and go with it. Each time I’ve seen the finished film now, I’m really astounded at how well Dumbo plays within these environments.

Josh Weiss: How is it different from all the live-action remakes Disney has released or is planning to release in the coming months?

Derek Frey: I’m not familiar with the trajectory of the storylines for roi Lion or Aladdin. From what I’ve seen, it seems like they’re definitely looking back at the original films. Those original animated films [from the] late ‘80s, early ‘90s, they’re a little fresher in people’s minds. You have a generation of people that grew up with those pictures and they now have kids of their own and those films mean something really fundamental to them. While I’m sure there’ll be some changes, I would suspect that they wanna stay true to a little more of what those original films were.

We had a little bit more liberty with Dumbo, because it came out in 1941—it’s a 63-minute-long film. We had a little more flexibility in expanding upon the story and maybe people not being quite so dear with it. Again, I’m not sure what they’re doing with those [other] films, but I do think Tim was able to exercise his amazing creativity to its fullest on this and I think it’s something people will accept and embrace and really enjoy.