Director David Lowery Pitched His PETER PAN & WENDY Movie as "THE REVENANT With Flying Kids"

Director David Lowery, who most recently helmed The Green Knight, is currently directing Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy. I’m a fan of Lowery’s films, and I’m incredibly curious about what he has planned for this Peter Pan film. Well, we now have an idea of what the tone of the movie will be like by the way he pitched the film to Disney.

His vision for the film was to make “The Revenant with flying kids,” and that just gets me even more excited to see the movie! During a recent interview with The Kingcast podcast, the director explained:

"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 like The Revenant. What if we made The Revenant with 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.’”

Lowery went on to say that the film was shot on location and not in a sound stage. On top of that, a lot of the crew working on the film also worked on The Revenant. He then discussed his take on the material and how it might be the most grown-up film that he’s made:

"Well you can’t see the video but I currently have sitting next to me a skeleton of a lost boy that didn’t make it. 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.

"That in and of itself is interesting to me, hopefully it’s interesting to others, but then I also really believe this to be true, it’s an evergreen property. Like Robin Hood, like Dracula, there will be more Peter Pan films in the future, but for one specific generation this will be their first one, and I want to make it the best version I can for that audience, for those viewers, for those people who will be introduced to a time honored legend vis-a-vie this movie, and that’s really important to me."

The movie stars Ever Anderson as Wendy, Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Jude Law and Captain Hook, and Yara Shahidi is playing Tinker Bell in the movie. It also stars Molly Parker as Mrs. Darling, Alan Tudyk as Mr. Darling, Joshua Pickering as John, Jacobi Jupe as Michael, Alyssa Wapanatank as Tiger Lily, and Jim Gaffigan as Smee.

The synopsis reads, “Based on J. M. Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy and inspired by the 1953 animated classic, Peter Pan & Wendy is the timeless tale of a young girl who, defying her parents’ wishes to attend boarding school, travels with her two younger brothers to the magical Neverland. There, she meets a boy who refuses to grow up, a tiny fairy and an evil pirate captain, and they soon find themselves on a thrilling and dangerous adventure far, far away from their family and the comforts of home.”

Lowery previously talked about the film saying, “Peter Pan has long been one of my favorite stories, partially because I’ve always resisted growing up, but also because of the heart, adventure and imagination that makes J.M. Barrie’s original tale so evergreen. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to redefine his iconic characters for a new generation - and even more excited that I get to do so with such an exceptional cast and crew.”

Peter Pan & Wendy will debut on Disney+ in 2022.