Dinos and other ‘Beasts’ and keeping ‘Company’
Everyone has seen the story about a boy and his dog. They haven’t seen the one about the dinosaur and his cave kid. The animated The Good Dino
saur (in theaters Nov. 25) tweaks the familiar in that trademark Disney/Pixar way and imagines a world 65 million years ago where that pesky asteroid didn’t wipe out the dinosaurs. The what-if scenario allows an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa) to be best buds with young Spot (Jack Bright), a human child with canine tendencies like walking on all fours and being ferociously loyal.
Director Peter Sohn presented new footage and concept art from The Good Dinosaur at Toronto International Film Festival on Monday that showcased the beautiful but dangerous landscape Arlo and Spot have to traverse after the little dino is stranded 100 miles away from his family.
It’s not really a buddy film, though, Sohn says. The traditional boy-and-his-dog story is “a one-way street: The dog has no real conflict with the boy,” the filmmaker says. “The boy has the conflict, and then has a hole in his life that the dog starts to fill.
“There’s a slightly different relationship that Pixar hasn’t done in that way.” SMITTEN BY ‘BEASTS’ While Eddie Redmayne is one of the biggest names in town with
The Danish Girl, the Oscar winner also is excited about getting back to the British set of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find
Them, J.K. Rowling ’s cinematic continuation of her Harry Potter series (Nov. 18, 2016).
“I want to disclose everything, but I literally cannot tell you anything,” he says. “All I can say is that I’m having the most wonderful time and J.K Rowling has written something utterly wonderful.”
The actor embraces this magical world with youthful zeal, though it’s a complicated thing when it’s a project that means a lot to you. “I loved those books and I loved those films, and now there’s the sense of ‘I don’t want to be the guy who lets everybody down.’ ”
GOOD MUSICAL ‘COMPANY’
Jack Kilmer had an immediate musical connection to his character in Len and Company.
In director Tim Godsall’s indie comedy, which made its North American premiere Friday at Toronto, Max is an aspiring folk-rock guy who visits his hermitic super-producer dad (Rhys Ifans) to share a new demo track and maybe repair an estranged relationship.
In real life, Kilmer, 20, also has famous parents — he’s the son of actors Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley — though unlike the movie, “me and my dad are super-close.”
Both parents encouraged their son in his acting. “My mom’s very working-class about being an actress. So for her, she’s proud that I’m working, and my dad’s more excited that I’m exploring my creative potential.”
Kilmer co-starred in this year’s
The Stanford Prison Experiment and can be seen next opposite Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in The Nice Guys (May 20).