No other Disney movie celebrates the wonder and joy of childhood innocence the way 1953’sPeter Pandoes. The classic fairytale about the boy who never wants to grow up is getting a live-action remake with filmmakerDavid Loweryhelming the project. In an interview for The Kingcast podcast, Lowery (Pete’s Dragon,The Green Knight) revealed that his take on the legend of Peter Pan will be much more grounded, akin to 2015’sThe Revenant.
“I hesitate to use the word grounded because it has fairies and flying children in it. But when I went to talk to the studio about it I was like ‘What if we stay true to the original material, remove the problematic elements of both the novel and the animated film of course, but then treat it likeThe Revenant. What if we madeThe Revenantwith flying kids?’ And they were into it. It’s not 100% like that but it’s sort of the ethos by which we’ve gone about making it….That was sort of the idea, have it be visceral, have it be grounded, it’s still joyful, it’s still full of exuberance and magic, so that’s why I don’t like to use the word ‘grounded.'”
It is hard to imagine much overlap between Peter’s high-flying adventures with his tween friends in Neverland andThe Revenant’sgrim, bleak depiction of a father seeking revenge for his son’s death across freezing tundras in the 1800s. According to Lowery, his take onPeter Pan & Wendywill be a mature retelling of the original story rather than a step-by-step copy of the animated classic.
“The weirdest thing about it is that when Disney brought it to me and asked me if I’d be interested in doing it, I had the same response which is that it feels like it’s been done a lot before. Do we need another Peter Pan film?… But then I started to think about what it means to me and I just got personally invested in it and so all I can say is I’m bringing my own perspective to it and in doing so I realized it might be the most grown-up movie I’ve ever made, in terms of the way it’s approaching its themes, ironically being about a kid that doesn’t want to grow up. It’s a very mature take on the material and obviously we’re still shooting it so hopefully I don’t realize I’ve gone down the wrong path and change everything in the edit.”
Last time around, fans were not too thrilled by Disney’s attempts to make a “mature” live-action remake of Mulan by cutting out all the song and dance numbers and removing Mushu from the narrative. Hopefully, Lowery’s attempt to tell a grown-up story about the boy who refuses to grow up will be better received by general audiences and fans alike.
Directed by David Lowery,Peter Pan & Wendystars Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Ever Anderson as Wendy Darling, Jude Law as Captain Hook, Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell, Jim Gaffigan as Smee, Alan Tudyk as Mr. Darling, Molly Parker as Ms. Darling, Joshua Pickering as John Darling, Jacobi Jupe as Micahel Darling and Alyssa Wapanatâhk as Tiger Lily. The film will premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2022.
