CHILD’S PLAY
Christopher Robin director captures wonder of youth
After making movies squarely aimed at the over-18 crowd, Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster had a very simple reason for deciding he wanted to get behind the camera for Disney ’s Christopher Robin: It was going to please his daughter.
“I was on a plane with my daughter and she was watching a Winnie the Pooh cartoon, and she turned to me and she said ‘Can you finally do a movie for me?’” he said at a recent media day for the film that brings the classic animals of Hundred Acre Wood to life.
Forster, who made a name for himself directing such films as Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland and World War Z, knew making a live-action Winnie the Pooh film could mean something to them both — as well as the legions of fans of English author A.A. Milne’s books.
“You have this well-known, beloved character and a totally original concept, which is very hard to find. In our world, it’s a lot of sequels. I thought that was extremely exciting.”
The new film finds Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) as an adult who has lost the ability to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and the rest of the creatures from Hundred Acre Wood travel into London to help the work-weary Christopher rediscover the joy of life. It’s a message that’s very relevant today, McGregor told reporters in a separate interview.
“It could be a story about someone finding anything. Finding their way back to who they really are,” McGregor said.
Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin first appeared in playwright-turned-author Milne’s 1924 collection, When We Were Very Young. The characters reappeared in Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926 (Milne always wrote the name with hyphens) and again in 1928 with The House at Pooh Corner, at the end of which Christopher tells Pooh he’s going away to boarding school.
Disney has owned the character since the 1960s, and Winnie the Pooh has appeared in numerous animated features and TV specials, the most recent of which was a 2011 animated version.
But after the box office success of 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella and last year’s Beauty and the Beast, Disney added the characters of Hundred Acre Wood to its slate of live-action remakes.
The film Christopher Robin picks up many years later, with McGregor’s character more worried about climbing the corporate ladder than with what’s going on at home with his wife and daughter (played by Hayley Atwell and Bronte Carmichael, respectively). After he reconnects with his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood, Christopher is able to appreciate the simple pleasures in life once more.
“We all want to go back to that state of unconditional love,” Forster said. “The older we get, the more problems we have to solve. It’s hard to keep up that joy as we get older. But Pooh has these outlooks (‘I always get to where I’m going by walking away from where I’ve been’) that are very Zen.” He paused and then laughed: “Everything is good as long as you’ve got some honey and a blanket.”
It’s been seven years since Pooh and Christopher last appeared together on the big screen, but Forster spoke of the multi-generational love people young and old still have with the beloved characters.
While in the past Pooh and friends have been animated traditionally, Christopher Robin brings them into the real world via CGI, and stars and director went to great lengths to assure fans it’s a realistic experience.
“Pooh should look like a wellhugged ( bear) that’s been used by this kid,” Forster said. “Adding Jim Cummings’ voice to it should feel like a warm blanket. I’m feeling (in) the times we’re living in, the more hope, joy and love we can put out there, the better.”