DUBAI: After the fan-favorite “Pete’s Dragon” remake that delighted both critics and fans, filmmaker David Lowery is returning to bring to life a century-old beloved children’s tale, “Peter Pan & Wendy,” releasing on streaming platform Disney+ on April 28 in the Middle East.
“I initially thought, oh, it’s ‘Peter Pan,’ I know this story, how hard can this be? Then, as I began work on the screenplay and as we developed it over a number of years, I realized not only is there more to discover within it but there’s so much that has never really been seen on screen before,” said Lowery during a recent virtual press conference.
“We have this sense of familiarity with it, and we need to honor that. But we have to give audiences a film where they are getting the Peter Pan and Wendy that they know and love, but also, presenting it in a new light. And that was the real challenge,” said Lowery.
The film stars Jude Law playing the iconic character Captain Hook, with Jim Gaffigan portraying Smee, his right-hand man.
Law said: “To me, it was really important that there was always truth to Captain Hook. I always say, ‘The bad guy never knows he’s the bad guy.’ He thinks he’s the hero and that all these others are the bad guys around him. And so, yeah, I went back to the book, and what’s remarkable about the book is at times how sparse it is, and yet these sentences have just conjured up years and years of imagination in all of us.”
“The book talks about Captain Hook being the only pirate that Long John Silver was scared of, so I knew he had to be really scary and physically present in a way that wasn’t pantomimical, it was honest and real. And then, you start to look at what it must be like to live your life with a hook, and what does that mean, who do you rely on?
“Suddenly, you see … Smee isn’t just the foolish sort of first mate, he’s actually your valet, your best friend, because he does everything for you … And that’s before I get into how Hook got there and what made him so full of fury and hatred for Peter. So, it was so much to play with,” he continued.
Alexander Molony and Ever Gabo Anderson play Peter Pan and Wendy. (Disney+)
Teenage actor Alexander Molony makes his film debut in the titular role of Peter Pan.
“It was just a massive honor to play this character who people have known and loved for many years, but I think I really got into my character by sort of bringing him off-set as well with the amount of fun we had on set. All the pranks, all the water fights we had … It was just an amazing experience and I think that really helped to sort of allow me to develop my character further,” said Molony.
Bringing another iconic character to life is “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi, who plays the little green fairy, Tinkerbell.
“I didn’t watch much television growing up, but it was always fairy tales that my parents brought into our house. And so, to play such an iconic character with a deep history is so beautiful,” said the part Middle Eastern actress.
Director Lowery, in wanting to make a more current adaptation, said he especially focused on fixing the relationship between Tinkerbell and Wendy, played in this film by young actress Ever Gabo Anderson.
“I think when you look at the original film, that relationship (between Tinkerbell and Wendy) was, at best, reductive. We really wanted to go in a different direction and watch both of these characters grow and change one another,” he said.
“I loved the relationship between Tink and Wendy in this adaptation of the film because I think they’re really allies together and they work together to listen to each other and really help each other out,” added Gabo Anderson. “So, I thought it was such a beautiful relationship and I’m sure something that Wendy would have cherished way beyond just their trip to Neverland.”
