D23: Pete's Dragon Bryce Dallas Howard interview
Nearly 40 years after its 1977 release, Disney is bringing Pete’s Dragon back with a reboot. For Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard, her involvement was an easy sell.
“When I told [my sister] I would be in Pete’s Dragon, she was like, ‘That’s the most emotional I’ve felt this entire year!’ ” Howard told EW and People during last week’s Disney’s D23 Expo. “It was playing pretty much on loop at my house growing up.”
The film follows Pete, a young boy who befriends a dragon named Elliott after his parents die. Pete is eventually brought in by a couple at a lighthouse, the maternal figure played by Howard. As the mother of two, Howard admits she considers making films that her children can not only enjoy, but learn life lessons from.
“This is the first movie that I made where I felt … in reading the script: I want this movie to be made for my kids to worship,” she said. “It captures the innocence of the most classic children’s films, while also holding onto a real, honest gravitas. There are really profound themes in this story.”
The new Pete’s Dragon also stars Robert Redford, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, and Oakes Fegley as Pete. It’s slated for an Aug. 12, 2016 release.
Watch the full interview with Howard above and learn which films influenced her as a child.
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