Tim Burton has officially begun production on his live-action version of Dumbo, the most depressing Disney movie of all time. (Okay, maybe that’s up for debate, but this movie wrecked me as a child.) We’ve heard rumors about the cast for a while now, from Colin Farrell to Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton, and they’re all true! The casting news, along with some plot details and an official release date was announced today during Disney’s live-action panel at the D23 Expo.
Here’s something you may not know about me: it takes a tremendous amount of willpower for me to not spend the first paragraph of every Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children gushing about Eva Green. Nearly every time I write about this movie, I promise myself I’m just going to share a few thoughts about the clips and teasers that have been released so far, and instead, I hijack my own post to sing the praises of one of my favorite actors. Look, I did it again! I am not a strong man.
Much of Tim Burton’s 2010 ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was a forgettable, unsavory mess, but it did have some redeemable qualities. The filmmaker’s eye-popping visuals and imaginative production design were the best aspects of the largely unbearable Disney movie. But you’ll find none of that in the new sequel.
Tim Burton’s already made his comic-book movie; 1989’s Batman, which practically invented modern superhero cinema. And his next movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, is inspired by a novel by Ransom Riggs. But damn if the first trailer doesn’t make it look like Burton’s spin on the X-Men; where he takes the idea of this secret society of outsiders and makes them all vaguely creepy and Victorian and stuff.
You remember Beetlejuice. That crazy, anarchic ghost guy played by Michael Keaton who materializes in his black-and-white striped suit whenever you say his name three times.
With their new Cinderella just days away, Disney is continuing its streak of turning its animated classics into live-action features with the news, via the Wall Street Journal, that Dumbo is ready to make the transition from animated elephant to ... well, still-animated elephant surrounded by live-action actors. If that idea doesn’t get your ears flapping, maybe this will: the Journal says Tim Burton will be the man who’ll direct the new Dumbo.