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5 anecdotes about The Iron Giant


PostED ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 AT 11:00AM


 

Everything has already been said about The Iron Giant: it is the first film by Brad Bird, a future pillar of Pixar (where he oversaw The Incredibles and saved the sinking Ratatouille), a future writer of big budget action films (Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol or Tomorrowland); the film, panned upon its release, only became a classic of animation after numerous TV reruns, and it contains an element akin to Spielberg's' E.T… Well, nearly everything…

 

1. The film is based on a book by Ted Hughes

Hughes. It's the last name of Hogarth, the kid who discovers the giant. It is also the author of The Iron Man, a book for kids, written in 1968 by Ted Hughes to comfort his children, following the suicide of their mother. Brad Bird's film is a rather loose adaptation: in the book, Hogarth traps the metal-eating giant in a hole, which he escapes though just in time to save humanity from an alien winged creature, who will reveal it was attracted to earth by our dirty war obsessions. Brad Bird will dig more deeply into this anti-militarist groove, to the delight of Ted Hughes himself, who will give his blessing to the script… but unfortunately will pass away before seeing the image layout. Note that there is a sequel to the original book that Hughes had penned much later, The Iron Woman. Published in 1993, it depicts an iron giant seeking payback from humankind for their contempt for living.

 

IronMan

 

2. The Iron Giant was to be a musical

And not just any musical. In fact, it was none other than Pete Townshend who embarked on the endeavor, from 1989. Anxious to repeat the experience of the rock opera Tommy, twenty years later, The Who guitarist would get eleven songs out of the book by Ted Hughes. Joining him in the project, his bandmate Roger Daltrey in the role of Hogarth's father, bluesman John Lee Hooker as the giant and Nina Simone as the dragon from yonder (!). Four years later, a concert convinced Warner to transfer the entire musical to the big screen. But Brad Bird decided otherwise, expurgating the project of all its musical elements. However, an implausible clip of the single A Friend is a Friend, remains, a distant cousin of Disney's stop motion animated movie, Pete's Dragon.

 

 

3. Brad Bird's mentors make a cameo appearance in the movie

Speaking of Disney, it's worth knowing that two of the most experienced animators of the company of the Mickey Mouse ears appear in the film. In defiance of the historic rivalry that pitted Disney against Warner, Brad Bird actually based two train drivers of the movie on Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston, mentors from the beginning of his career. Bird would repeat the inside joke in Pixar's The Incredibles.

 

 

4. The giant is animated by computer

So bringing us to Pixar…  Brad Bird did not wait to join the studio to try computerized animation. Surprising as it may seem, the title character of The Iron Giant was entirely created by computer, whereas the rest of the film, inspired by the great painter of the American way of life, Norman Rockwell, was animated traditionally. To make the illusion complete, Bird and his technicians went so far as to develop software that would make the giant's contours slightly wavy. Moreover, it was Joe Johnston, a good friend of Bird's and the director of movies such as The Rocketeer, Jumanji and Jurassic Park III, who conceived the giant… As if it were drawn by hand.

 

GEANT DE FER

 

5. The giant is none other than… Vin Diesel

In 1999, the colossal Californian was still far from claiming the action hero title of his current persona. . On the contrary: he hadn't even gotten his (furious race car) driver's license yet. And only Steven Spielberg, who offered him a tailor-made role in Saving Private Ryan, knew of his talent, after spotting him in Multi-Facial, a short, semi-autobiographical film that the actor made to vent his early frustration auditioning in Hollywood. The Iron Giant would give Vin Diesel an early opportunity to give one of the most minimalist performances of his career- aside from a few grunts and groans, the character pronounces a grand total of… 53 words. Vin Diesel will manage to top this record in 2014, as the voice of the gnarled alien Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

Fast Furious Vin Diesel



The children's movie of the Lumière festival at the Halle Tony Garnier,
Wednesday, October 12 at 2:30pm


The Iron Giant
by Brad Bird (1999)