From director Jaume Collet-Serra, the epic adventure Jungle Cruise is inspired by the classic Disney theme park attraction and follows wisecracking skipper and pun-lover Frank Wollf (Dwayne Johnson), as he makes his way down the Amazon with resourceful researcher Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), a proper English gentleman who is definitely not cut out for such a journey. In search of an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities, their quest brings them face-to-face with numerous dangers as well as supernatural forces, who would brave the wild animals lurking in the rainforest to vanquish the heroes and get there first.
At a virtual press conference to discuss the new film, co-stars Johnson, Blunt, Whitehall and Edgar Ramirez (who plays Conquistador Captain Aguirre) spoke to various members of the media about seeing the potential in this story inspired by a Disney Parks ride, their own experiences with the attraction, getting to improvise, the most challenging action sequences, making sure all of the characters had fully realized backstories, and how this is a movie about love.
Question: Dwayne, when you first got this project, were you immediately on board?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: The script was in a really good place and I immediately saw the potential of the opportunity to take a beloved and iconic Disney ride, there since 1955 when the park opened. This was Walt Disney’s baby. And there were a lot of elements that I felt comfortable with saying, “Yes, I will come on board. I’ll partner with you guys and we’ll develop this thing.” We got it to a really great place. And then, the next step after finding our director, Jaume [Collet-Serra], was finding my co-star, Emily [Blunt], the female Indiana Jones.
EMILY BLUNT: You set me up with too much pressure.
What was it about the Jungle Cruise that spoke to you? Did you have nostalgia for the attraction?
JOHNSON: I had ridden the ride, when I was a kid. Many moons later, I went to Disney World for the first time and road the ride there as well. It had a nostalgic element to it, when it was first presented to me, but it was also the opportunity that we had to create something that was hopefully unique and special. You hope to get lucky in your career and have an opportunity like this, where you can make a movie that’s based off an iconic ride that’s beloved with the most trusted brand in the world, when it comes to family and delivering entertainment for families. There were a lot of those elements that really spoke to me, and it started with the script and our director. He’s a romantic and a world builder. We wrapped this movie in 2018. Since then, Jaume has edited and cut this movie, and he’s made Black Adam as well. We feel like he’s Hollywood’s best kept secret. We have him locked up for the next 20 years.
Had the rest of you been on the Jungle Cruise ride?
BLUNT: I only rode the Jungle Cruise ride at the premiere, for the first time. I loved it. I thought it was very whimsical and sweet, and I could see the elements from the ride that have made it into the film.
JOHNSON: The charm of the ride is the simplicity and the silliness of it, and the calmness of it too. There’s so much to do in the Disney Parks, and then you get on this ride and it’s almost like you can exhale and really just enjoy the simplicity of the ride.
JACK WHITEHALL: Yeah, the element to the Jungle Cruise ride that I liked the most is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that is definitely something that we brought over into the movie. It has such ambition and scale, it’s beautiful, the sets are incredible, and it’s got all of the set pieces and the action. At the heart of it, it’s not a movie that takes itself too seriously. It has wit and humor. It’s got some of the best puns I’ve ever heard. It’s got Dwayne Johnson doing a stand-up comedy routine. What’s not to love about that?
EDGAR RAMIREZ: I also did the ride for the first time [at the premiere]. I saw the movie for the first time, and then went on the ride with my family and some of my closest friends. I loved it for the same reasons. It was simple, it was cute, it was tender, and it was silly. The backside of water is gonna stay with me forever. I can see why it’s become so iconic, for so many generations. The movie took it to the next level and included that delicious silliness that is so refreshing. In life, we need that.
Jack, you had one line in Frozen that might have even been cut out of the movie.
WHITEHALL: It may have been cut out, yes.
But now, you’re the one-line wonder in this film.
WHITEHALL: Post the Frozen experience of having my one line cut, I felt like this was just a case of throwing enough stuff at the wall and something sticking. I was just desperate to not be cut from it completely. The fact that there’s even a single line is an improvement on the Frozen debacle, so I’m excited to actually be a speaking part in a Disney film.
Was there a lot of improvisation?
WHITEHALL: There was a fair amount of improv. The script was amazing, but then we were also given the space to improvise and add stuff to it. [Dwayne and Emily] created this environment where we were able to do that and it felt like such a safe space. But there were probably a few jokes that ended up on the cutting room floor, for the right reasons. Some of the great moments that you see in the film are genuine moments that we came up with in the moment, and Jaume was so good at encouraging that as well.
It sounds like you could have a whole other film of alternate jokes.
WHITEHALL: That is not PG-13.
BLUNT: It would be very red band, especially involving pulling the sword out of Dwayne.
JOHNSON: The innuendo . . .
BLUNT: . . . was appalling.
Edgar, what was it like seeing your look in the film, for the first time?
RAMIREZ: I was very happy. I was also very happy that those snakes weren’t anywhere near me during the shoot. I’m super afraid of snakes, and we encountered some when we were shooting in Atlanta. We shot in real locations and we dressed them to look like the Amazon. It was incredible. I come from an Amazonian country. And I was so happy when I saw the [finished] film. To be in a movie that is based on the most iconic attraction from the most iconic entertainment universe in history is special.
Emily and Dwayne, there are so many great action sequences in this. Which one was the most difficult for you to do?
BLUNT: The rope swing. The vine swing. For me, that was the most challenging because [Dwayne] would not let me get one straight take in. He pushed it so far, every time, trying to make me laugh on that vine swing. We shot that all day, and we didn’t get one straight one. I was like, “Just tell me what you’re gonna say this time, so that I can be prepared,” and every time, he’d throw in some awful improv that would make me laugh. I don’t even know how many times we must have shot that.
JOHNSON: For me, personally, the action with the Conquistadors – with Edgar and his partners – was pretty challenging. They were dressed in their costumes and they’re also men who can’t die, so they fight in a different way. There’s a different energy.
Emily, do you feel closer to Mary Poppins or Lily Houghton?
BLUNT: Probably a little closer to Lily. I feel like Lily’s more of a mess. Poppins is so pulled together and perfect, and I don’t feel I walk through life that way, so I’d say Lily. I’m a train wreck.
Edgar, how does it feel to be a Disney villain and represent Latin America in such a cinematic experience?
RAMIREZ: Is he a villain? He’s misunderstood. It comes from pain. I feel for him.
WHITEHALL: I’d be pretty angry, if I had a load of snakes in my face all the time.
RAMIREZ: Exactly. But it feels incredible. Aguirre is a great, beautiful character to play. He’s complex. It’s very special to be in a movie like this and to play this character. What I love about the movie in general is that it has so many beautiful and great characters that allow you to go on a journey. What I love about the Conquistadors, and Aguirre specifically, is that it really puts you in a journey into the past, and that is beautiful. You have all of these fantastical elements, which is what I go to the movies for. I want to be on a journey. I want to be disconnected from reality and be able to dream of fantastical places and fantastical characters and creatures, so I’m very happy. The fact that I’m Latin America and this is such a diverse cast, we have people from all over the world. It’s a beautiful reflection of the world that we’re living in.
Jack and Dwayne, how important was it for you guys to get the scene right, when MacGregor comes out?
JOHNSON: I felt that the scene was really exactly what it should be, which was two men talking about what they loved and who they loved. It was as simple as that, and we were sharing a drink.
WHITEHALL: Yeah, I think it was a scene that we really wanted to get right. What’s so great about this movie is that all of the characters feel so fleshed out. All of them have interesting backstories and are fully realized. In a lot of movies of this kind of genre, you sometimes have characters that are a little bit two-dimensional. I think it’s so great that we get to understand so much about each of these characters, and they all have reasons for being where they are, with interesting and rich, textured backstories. It makes you invested in them, it makes you care about them, and it makes you really go on that journey with them.
Emily, how rewarding has it been to see the final product of all of this?
BLUNT: It has been immensely rewarding. We just needed to strike a chord that was really well-crafted and curated with so much love, and that was made in the spirit of the films that we all grew up watching. I mainlined those movies into my veins. I just loved Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone and African Queen. They are just joy bombs. They’re nostalgic. We just needed to pierce people’s hearts directly with the spirit of those films that we all loved as children, and that took a lot of tempering and beautiful conducting from Jaume, who was extraordinarily free-spirited with us, in this massive spectacle of a movie. He’s such a world builder, which you need for these adventure movies. When I first met Jaume, I asked him, “What do you feel this movie’s about?” I always ask a filmmaker that before I’m about to sign on because I wanna know what it’s all about. And he said, “You know, it’s about love.” It was so perfect because he could’ve talked about the action, the spectacle, the myths and the legends, and all of that. That’s what you need for this type of movie.
Jungle Cruise is in theaters and available to stream at Disney+ Premier Access on July 30th.