When most of us think of dragons, we think of the fierce, scary, scaled flying reptiles that bring death and destruction. We picture creatures like the ones depicted in HBO’s GAME OF THRONES– which, just so happens, were designed by a cool dude we recently interviewed. A characteristic most of us would never use when describing a dragon is “cuddly,” but that’s exactly what PETE’S DRAGON director David Lowery wanted for his remake of the 1977 Disney film.
“When I went to pitch the movie to Disney, I said ‘I want him to be a furry dragon’. Pete is supposed to be cuddling up with the dragon, so let’s make him furry,†Lowery told Empire Magazine in a recent interview. “I wanted him to feel not like a Game Of Thrones or Harry Potter dragon,†he added.
As part of the Empire feature, the production unveiled our best look yet at the titular dragon, named Elliot:
“A lot of [Elliott] is a dog, because people relate to dogs, but I’m a big cat person,” Lowery said of the design. “There’s a seagull in there, and a tiger. Ultimately, it comes down to trying to make a 20 foot tall pet.“
This PETE’S DRAGON remake flew under the radar of many, so most people were surprised when a trailer just up and appeared out of nowhere a few months back. While some folks refer to this as the “latest live-action remake of an old Disney cartoon,” they fail to realize that the original film was also a live-action/animated hybrid, just like this one is. Only, rather than old-school hand-drawn animation, now it’s CGI.
PETE’S DRAGON comes out on August 12.
SOURCE: Empire
