I was invited on an all expenses paid trip by Disney to cover the #PetesDragonEvent. All opinions are my own.
Watching Pete’s Dragon was magical for me, and I really love the movie (read my full Pete’s Dragon Movie Review) and part of the reason for that was the great child acting in the movie.
Oakes Fegley plays “Pete” who is orphaned and lives with a dragon in the woods for 6 years. And Oona Laurence plays “Natalie” who is a part of the family that takes Pete in when he is found in the woods. Both kids did an excellent job in this movie, and they are both so adorable. It was really fun to get to sit down with them both and talk about Pete’s Dragon.
What were your favorite parts of the movie?
Oona: That’s hard. I love the whole movie. I guess the part where Oakes and Elliot say goodbye really made me cry. That part, it ripped my heart out.
Oakes: That’s one of my favorite scenes as well, I also like the scene where Elliot slides into the cow. I really like that part.
One of my readers wanted to know what the dragon snot was made out of?
Oakes: It was like water and all sorts of stuff. Do you know, those air guns where you pull it back and it’s kinda like a big circle? And then you pull the tab back, and then once you release it, it shoves air through it? It was the same sort of thing. It was just filled with that. And then they blasted it at you.
My question is for Oakes. I just want to know how many times did you have to make believe you were throwing yourself off a cliff before they got the scene right?
Oakes: I don’t know the exact number. But I’d say probably 10ish. Or a little bit more. It was fun doing all of the stunts. We did stunt training before we started filming and we felt safe with all the stuntmen, so all the stunts that we did, we just had a ton of fun and felt safe while doing it. So it was really cool.
Having the dragon being completely animated, how did you deal with acting with the dragon?
Oona: I guess it was pretty tough at first, because a lot of the time the dragon was a pole with a tennis ball on the end. So it was kind of difficult to imagine that it was a dragon. But I think as time went on, we all kinda got used to it.
Oakes: Yeah. Like she said, it was like a tennis ball on a stick. Or a piece of tape on the wall as an eye line. So you had to imagine that’s a dragon and, like she said, it gets easier and easier as you get used to it. But at the beginning it was kind of challenging, and it was definitely hard.
Did you guys see the original Pete’s Dragon to prepare for this?
Oakes: Well, because they’re completely different, it wasn’t a matter of preparing with the other one. I truly hadn’t seen it, and I didn’t see it before we had filmed. I just watched it after. I’ve seen it a couple times since then.
Oona: I haven’t seen it actually.
So when you got the script, your parents were like, oh my gosh! You have to do this movie? Because they grew up on it and loved it?
Oona: Yeah, kind of…
Oakes: Well like I said, it’s a completely different movie. But it was a Disney film. I was like ‘Wow!’. I’m incredibly proud of myself and I can’t believe I got the role, and it’s just been life changing.
How did you guys get the roles?
Oona: We did the audition, and then I think I did another audition. And then I ended up doing a chemistry read with Oakes. And yeah! It was kind of just like that! And then when I found out I got it, I was like, ‘oh my god! I’m going to New Zealand. Whoa!’
Oakes: Uh, same sort of thing. I went through three auditions and then I had the chemistry read after that.
What were your reactions when you got the news?
Oakes: I was actually at school. And my parents were on the couch. So I just walked back from my bus stop and then they told me I got the part and I was really happy.
What was your favorite part about being in New Zealand to film this movie?
Oona: It’s just such a beautiful luscious place. There’s so much to do there, too. So it was great. When we had free time we would go do all the touristy stuff. And also, the people there are so nice. At the end of it my mom was like ‘we have to move there’.
What’s it like working with somebody like Robert Redford?
Oakes: I mean, he’s a legend. He’s really, really cool. He’s funny and he’s really nice. And he’s a lot like a father to everybody. He’s just amazing.
What message do you want our kids to take away from watching this movie?
Oakes: Just for them to know that family is very, very important. And that you can’t give up on family because they are there for you whenever.
Oona: I would say the same thing.
Question for Oakes, did you grow your hair long for the film?
Oakes: It was actually extensions. They wanted me to grow it out as long as I could, but I couldn’t get it much longer than this. So they just ended up putting the extensions in. They were permanent extensions, so I couldn’t take them out at night. So I had to just get used to having really long hair. And I didn’t really like it. But it’s fine ’cause once I took them out I was like, ‘my head is so light!’
What were your thoughts when you saw the finished product and you watched the movie in its entirety?
Oona: It was really cool. I think seeing the dragon, too. They would give us rough drafts of the dragon. But we have never seen it in full. I think when we both saw it, we were both like, ‘oh my god, this is amazing. How did they put this together? It looks so real.’
Oakes: Same. Watching the trailers and seeing the dragon for really the first time. It was incredible. After imagining the dragon for so long, it was just incredible.
Can you guys recall an extra special moment on set?
Oakes: I had a lot of extra special moments. My driver Shane, he… We were always doing stuff outside of filming and he was just so nice. And I really miss him.
Oona: Also doing the stunts were really, really fun, too. I don’t know if that counts as a special moment, but it counts as a special week, because it was really, really cool to do those.
What was the most challenging scene that you had to do?
Oakes: The most challenging scene is probably the scene where I have to leave Elliot, because I was crying about a green screen leaving me. I had to imagine that the tennis ball was going bye bye. So it was kind of hard, and after I had filmed the set a couple of times, I was just laughing. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Oona: I guess the toughest was when our parents, or my dad basically fell off the bridge. And I was never gonna see him again. I think that was pretty tough to imagine that. When really I wasn’t actually looking off a cliff. I was looking at a green screen on the ground. I really had to imagine that, and harness emotions from other things.
If you could take any Disney book to star in the next movie, which would it be?
Oakes: Maybe Rick Riordan’s The Heroes of Olympus series. They haven’t made movies of them. But they’re all Disney Hyperion. So I guess that counts.
Oona: I don’t know. Frozen 3?
Do you have a favorite Disney movie now? Besides Pete’s Dragon?
Oona: The Lion King would be my favorite, just because it makes me cry every single time.
Oakes: I like the old Jungle Book a lot. The animated one. I just really like that one.
Oona, coming off of a comedy like Bad Moms and now going into something serious, and kind of dramatic like Pete’s Dragon, do you have a preference over comedy or drama with something serious?
Oona: I like doing both. They’re both very different. And I think you get different things out of them. But I enjoyed making both of them. And everybody on both of them were so nice. I just want to keep on doing whatever comes my way.
So when you guys are not acting, what are you guys doing?
Oakes: I go to school and I play football with my friends. Or I play video games. I play a lot of video games.
Oona: It’s true. I just hang out with my friends, go to school. I’m just a regular kid outside of acting I think.
So what’s up next for you two? Will we see you again?
Oakes: I just finished filming a movie directed by Todd Hanes. Julian Moore was in that. And I got to do another starring role in that and again, it was just really life changing and really cool.
Oona: Nothing for me right now. But I’m going to high school, so I think that’s enough to keep me busy.
It was such a delight to be around these two very well rounded, intelligent and talented children. They were so nice to take a group photo with us.
Disney PETE’S DRAGON is NOW PLAYING in theaters!
“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
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