I was invited on an all expenses paid trip by Disney to cover the #PetesDragonEvent. All opinions are my own.
As you know I loved Disney Pete’s Dragon so much! (If you missed my Pete’s Dragon movie review check it out). Bryce Dallas Howard plays Grace who works as a forest ranger and finds Pete. Bryce is wonderful in the movie and in her interactions with Pete. We had the chance to sit down with Bryce and talk with her about her role in Pete’s Dragon.
Did your children hang out with you while you were filming this movie in New Zealand?
Yeah, they came to New Zealand. They went to school there and it was cool because, 30 years previously, my dad shot Willow, partly in New Zealand and in I went there. And I remember it. I have very vivid memories from that time. I went back 30 years later with my own kids around the same age so it was really awesome. I was like ‘it must be completely different’ and I was like ‘that’s exactly what I remember from when I was a kid’. It’s cool.
Can you tell us about how you took on this role and why you wanted to do this role?
The 1977 version of Pete’s Dragon was just one of those, like there’s a collection of movies that just, there’s a sweet spot like an age where you just watch those movies again and again and again? And Pete’s Dragon was one of just a few movies that was that for myself and my siblings and my sisters in particular.
And so when I heard about this script, that they were going to be doing this film, I sought it out just out of curiosity. Not because I knew that there was a role or anything like that. And then I read it, I mean it’s very different than the 1977 version but I think it’s so beautiful and it really reminded me of the Disney films that I watched as a child that were quite defining for me and emotional and really sort of cemented this idea of like American values or something.
And it just reminded me of that. And of course I like brought it up to my kids and they were like dinosaurs and now dragons? So that was definitely a motivating factor for sure.
Did you show your children the 1970’s Pete’s Dragon movie?
No, they haven’t seen the first version. They haven’t seen this version yet. They’re going to. But I have a little board book that’s like the book written based on the film. And I read that to them a lot. And that’s already, kind of getting them like hooked on the story. I didn’t want to show them that film and then have them say to me, well why weren’t you singing or something like that. I’m like that’s the last thing I need. But they will, of course, they’ll see both movies for sure.
What is it about your character that you are you most like?
So early on, it’s really interesting with the Disney movies because watching them when I was a kid I always identified with the child. And then reading the script I just instantly was thinking about it from the perspective of being a parent.
I was talking to my husband about it a lot because I was like ‘I don’t want to create this complicated persona that’s sort of like what’s this adult persona and this children’s film? Like lets get to the Dragon. And so I just wanted to really approach it simply and he said something great to me which is, ‘you haven’t really played a mother. I mean you’ve been doing this for almost 10 years (speaking of parenting). Just use the relationship and the dynamic you have with our kids and just be with Pete in the way that you are like how you talk to Theo and Beatrice’. Those are my kid’s names. And it just made it really simple.
You had a great rapport with Oaks. Did you meet with him before the movie? Did you have any interaction with him?
Other than, well coming to New Zealand and a couple of weeks leading into shooting and rehearsals and all of that. And then once we were there we were like a traveling circus, all of us and we went to a lot of different places in New Zealand and Wes brought his family. They were there. And so there were a lot of kids. It actually reminded me a lot of when I was a kid and my dad was making Parenthood and I was seven years old. It was so fun. I was on set every day just surrounded by kids my own age. It was pretty much exactly like that for my kids as well. So with Oaks it was him and Oona and my kids and Wes’s kids and other kids that were there. It felt like a family very early on.
What was it like working with Robert Redford?
Oh my gosh, it was phenomenal. And watching the movie last night again, he’s an environmentalist. When you’re around him you feel so much peace, it seems like he has arrived at that place for himself. And just being in this really serene environment and having these long awesome conversations with him, I mean it’s less a conversation and more just me peppering him with questions. It was incredible. And particularly, he’s a family man and raising kids also in this industry and in this world. And he has a lot of perspective on that. It was wonderful getting to learn from him and to be around him and admire him and see that he has the most incredible head of hair. He’s never dyed his hair. He said his son was like ‘dad, you can stop dying your hair’. And he’s like ‘why don’t you believe me? I don’t die my hair’. It’s crazy.
Did you have a favorite moment or scene while you were filming out there?
It was definitely, for me, it was getting to ride on the back of Elliott. I was just in hysterics that whole day. And I was sitting behind Wes last night at the premiere and I just like grabbed his shoulders when we were watching it.
He told us that that was his favorite scene to shoot as well.
Yes, we were just losing it the whole time because you know, we’re adults and we have kids and just like we’re on a dragon. And the way they set it up it was kind of like this rig where it was like we had harnesses on and you had to climb up, you were pretty high up like climbed up on a ladder and it would move around like a ride. So it was nice that they kind of replicated the Disneyland experience in New Zealand while we were shooting. It was really fun.
What is your favorite Disney movie of all time and why?
I haven’t thought really critically about that question but my first thought is The Little Mermaid because it came at a time, I think I was in second or third grade. Ariel has red hair. I had red hair. I still have red hair. It just was one of those movies that just came at one of those moments and I memorized all the songs and I used to do really dangerous things such as I would, oh, my gosh, I would put on a leotard and then I would tie my legs together and I would throw myself in the pool. I did it many times, so dangerous. I actually have a memory of the last time I did this underwater looking up like and thinking to myself like this is really not good like starting to panic really bad.
The fact that you’re here is amazing.
Yeah, it is. It’s a miracle because of Disney. Yeah, I know, seriously, yeah. I don’t think my parents know. I mean they couldn’t have known. Now they’re going to know, but now they know a lot of things.
What message do you want people to walk away with from Pete’s Dragon?
What has always occurred to me was so many Disney movies deal with loss. What’s really powerful about that, there’s this great Walt Disney quote that I’m just going to completely paraphrase here where he essentially was saying that there can’t be light without shadows and that the Walt Disney films don’t shy away from that.
And perhaps that’s in a way, that’s the power of those movies is that today, as an audience, they bring you to a place where it’s like, I can’t imagine anything more nightmarish as a parent or a child than dying or losing my parents from both perspectives. And I think that telling the story of after that kind of loss, like showing what it takes to find your family, and that there is a family out there even when you’re orphaned.I think that’s a really powerful message because we all experience loss and will experience eventually the extreme loss of losing your parents.
Another thing that’s occurred to me over time is that Disney films seem to be, for me it’s like they’re 50% entertainment and 50% therapeutic. You sort of practice those emotions as a child and you go through that experience and in a way, this is sort of what I think stories are meant to do, prepare you for what is ahead. Prepare you for the commonalities within the human experience.
I think that seeing that journey and that adventure finding your family and in the midst of that having bonds that seem impossible or unconventional, his best friend being a dragon. I think that is definitely a powerful message. And very simply telling stories that intertwine or integrate the imaginary world and of the mystical world with the real world. I think for kids and adults it allows us to sort of transcend the daily grind of reality and reminds us to look for magic, to look for something that can make you believe that the supernatural exists or just that there’s something beyond. And it’s not in a religious sense at all or even a spiritual sense. But I think we all have that kind of sense of wonder within us and awe within us.
And having a movie that’s a live-action film with a character who is magic and mythological, I think that does something for kids. I mean my favorite question to be asked after a screening is from a kid saying like ‘what was it like working with Elliott and where is Elliott right now?’ And just to keep that alive, I definitely treasure that.
What was your first emotional response when you saw the finished movie?
I watched it with my husband and we were really emotional very early on. And the first reaction honestly was I turned to him after the first five minutes and I was already crying and I was like ‘is this okay?’ And he turned to me and he said ‘not for me it’s not’. And I was like oh, my gosh and I think just the power of that especially being in the movie and then being able to watch it and experience it in a way that its intended to be experienced. I think that definitely caught me off guard. That was my first reaction that I was really moved by it and surprised how much.
Was there a defining moment while shooting the film that you felt wow, this is amazing?
Yeah, other than the riding on the Dragon, there was one day in particular where we were walking into the woods. Two of the best things about New Zealand in my opinion is that there are no predators so you can go into the forest and you’re not worried. And the other thing is that most places it’s very difficult to get an Internet connection. So those two things work together beautifully. There was a day where we were shooting and the forest and Bob was there and Oaks was there and Oona and I just remember looking up and it was just kind of perfect and it was idyllic. No one was on their phones and it felt like what the movie looks like when you watch the movie. It felt like that kind of innocent, sort of perfect moment. I’m realizing the older I get how much of a privilege that is.
Being in New Zealand, it’s consistently ranked as one of the best places to raise families in the world. And I realized why. It definitely kind of shifted something for me as a parent in terms of my priorities. I think having those experiences, being surrounded by nature and being in a serene state where there is no fear and you could just kind of be there, I really want that for my kids. And I had that so much as a child. I grew up in Connecticut in the woods.
It really was a fun experience getting to chat with her, she is seriously a sweetheart and a lot of fun to talk to. She was so nice to take a group photo with us all.
Stay tuned for even more posts from my #PetesDragonEvent trip!
PETE’S DRAGON IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS!
Read my review of Pete’s Dragon
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“For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliot. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliot seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.”-Disney
