We’re getting closer to jumping down Tim Burton's rabbit hole and into Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but today brings a new behind-the-scenes featurette to show what awaits us at the other end. Burton, book author Ransom Riggs, and some of the cast members pull back the veil on this fantastical world even further.
The story, based on the popular book series, follows Jake (Asa Butterfield), who stumbles into a time loop, one where these children with extraordinary abilities called “peculiars” are able to live away from the persecution and danger of the outside world. The transformative Eva Green portrays the titular Miss Peregrine, who herself can change her physical appearance, an ability to uses to protect her charges. Soon, it’ll be Jake’s turn.
Riggs weaved together this tale based on a series of old black-and-white photographs, and it’s this concept that appealed to Burton. Samuel L. Jackson, playing the villain and one of the peculiars' hunters, Barron, says the filmmaker’s enthusiasm for the world and work is “infectious.”
Watch the featurette, including footage from the set, below.
Some of the other characters we’ll meet are Emma (Ella Purnell) with a talent for air, an invisible boy named Millard (Cameron King), Olive (Lauren McCrostie) with a talent for fire, a set of twins (Thomas and Joseph Odwell), and Browyn (Pixie Davies) with a talent for strength.
It’s interesting to note that the books envisioned Emma with the talent for fire and Olive with the talent for air, and the reasoning why they were swapped isn’t fully clear. Riggs did defend the changes on Twitter, writing, “I totally trust Tim’s vision.”
The film is based on a screenplay adapted from the book by Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service). Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will hit theaters this September 30.
Here’s the official synopsis:
From visionary director Tim Burton, and based upon the best-selling novel, comes an unforgettable motion picture experience. When Jake discovers clues to a mystery that spans alternate realities and times, he uncovers a secret refuge known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As he learns about the residents and their unusual abilities, Jake realizes that safety is an illusion, and danger lurks in the form of powerful, hidden enemies. Jake must figure out who is real, who can be trusted, and who he really is.
