(Wes Bentley on the “Green Carpet”, during the world premiere of Disney’s Pete’s Dragon)
(photo credit: Disney)
Have you seen Disney’s Pete’s Dragon yet? It’s time!!! This movie is such an incredible movie for imagination and just pure fun. It open’s the door to that kid’s view of life, when monsters and imaginary friends were all too real.
I certainly remember having imaginary friends as a child, and I know my son has too. The vivid stories that my son comes up with, in terms of what he and his friends do in the backyard are quite amazing 😉
Again that is one of the things that I loved about this film, it brings back that belief in the magical on the screen. We talked to Wes Bentley about that exact aspect while interviewing him last week in LA.
He was asked if he walked away from the film being more a kid at heart.
“Yeah, not just because of this but, David’s (Director) got that in him. You can see the kid in him. It’s just all over him. So having all those imaginative elements and having a love for the first film myself. That sort of idea of the imaginary friend or the dragon in your life as a kid. Those things brought that all back.
“My imagination was really hyperactive as a child, and animated as you could say. I had those elements, and those things change as you live life and go through the hardships. Which is why I love this film for everybody. I feel like it can reawaken that feeling which you hope for in a movie like this, right? They go directly at it. Truly you’re the invisible dragon!”
(photo credit Jana Seitzer, Merlot Mommy)
One of my favorite parts about the interview with Wes was seeing his down to Earth and incredibly humble view of acting in Hollywood these days. We touched on this subject as he was asked how it was working with Robert Redford…
“You’ve got scenes where the actors come in and sometimes they’re asked to come in and impact the scene and make the scene what it is, with an effort. Then there’s other times where the scene is just there and you don’t need to do that. Great actors know the difference. When you’re with one of those actors you can watch them, read it and do it. Robert Redford is that guy. Brian Dennehy was one of those actors as well. It’s kind of an older filmmaking school. I think a lot of, I don’t want to generalize it, film actors now, it’s hard to know. It feels like they don’t always know the difference. They come in and they try to press something, I do it too, come in and try to press something on a scene… that doesn’t need anything pressed upon. These filmmakers or actors who got to work in the golden era, which was the ’70s of filmmaking, I always wanted to watch them and see how they approach it. I think that was the best time for actors and best set of actors we’ve ever had, came out of that.”
(photo credit Disney)
Of course we also chatted about what it was like filming in New Zealand. Part of the film addressing the logging aspect of forests, you see the tension between the Rangers and the loggers. Being live in person in the forests of New Zealand, he became much more aware of the REAL LIFE aspect of this. It’s not just ‘in the movies’.
Wes took the time to research all this too. He wanted to understand the issues first hand and you can see that care in his character in the film too.
Plus, filming in New Zealand I am sure was just incredible, he called it the gem of the world.
If you haven’t already — see the film!!!
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