Q & A with Pete’s Dragon’s Howard
LOS ANGELES
Bryce Dallas Howard is famous for more than being director Ron Howard’s daughter.
That was especially true after she co-starred in last year’s blockbuster Jurassic World, in which she infamously escaped danger by running in very high heels.
Her latest project is a headlining role in the remake of the Disney movie Pete’s Dragon, which dispenses of the musical numbers and bland dragon animation from the 1977 feature.
In it, Howard plays a park ranger who wears comfortable shoes in which to escape, or to chase the feral child Pete (Oakes Fegley).
As the plot would have it, Pete’s a toddler who ends up in the woods after his parents die in a car crash. Eventually, Pete is cared for by a massive yet loving dragon. When an older Pete is finally discovered, things get complicated for everybody involved.
Robert Redford co-stars as Howard’s mild-mannered and understanding father. Karl Urban is a sort of villain as the logger who finds Pete and his dragon.
Bryce Dallas, a pleasant 34-yearold, offered her thoughts on making Pete’s Dragon.
On getting involved with the redo: “I heard it was happening and I was curious,” she says. “So I read the script and I was surprised at how different it was from the original and how moved I was by the story.” On the film’s priority: “When I was kid, and even now, when I watch children’s films I don’t want to see two adults talking all the time,” she said. “In this, it’s, ‘Lets get back to the dragon.’ ” On her priority as a performer:
“It was a balance of being of service to the primary story and being convincing all at the same time,” Bryce Dallas said.
On acting opposite Redford:
“It’s the duality of Robert Redford,” she said. “When you’re on set, you’re chilling with him and he’s the coolest guy. Then off set, like at Sundance (Film Festival), he’s this demagogue titan.”
On her breakthrough with Pete’s
Dragon:“It was my first time playing a children. mother,” said the mom of two
On mothering the child actor who plays Pete: “I know, and I was so annoying,” Bryce Dallas said. “But he’s a very agile boy and climbs trees way too high.”
On being comfortable in the New Zealand countryside where the movie was shot: “I spent my entire childhood in the Connecticut outdoors, so I was fine with it,” she said.
On her potential future following in her father’s footsteps: “Even when I’m in a scene I think of my character in the third person like a director,” she said.
On her moviemaking background as a kid: “I grew up on my dad’s sets and I always read his scripts,” Bryce Dallas said. “So yeah, I would love to use some of that experience to direct a feature one day.”
On finding out about the Jurassic World sequel from filmmaker Colin Trevorrow:
“Colin told me that there was going to be a sequel by text,” Howard said. “In it he said, ‘Another Jurassic World, hash tag — no heels 2018.’ ”