With Flora & Ulysses now streaming on Disney+, I recently got to speak to director Lena Khan about making the fun family film. During the interview, Khan talked about how she landed the job, the challenges of trying to cast Flora and how they looked at a thousand people before casting Lawler, what she learned from early screenings, how she got permission to use Silver Surfer and the Wolverine comic book cover in the movie, why she made some changes from the book, which VFX shots were tough to pull off, premiering on Disney+, and more.
If you haven’t seen the trailer, the film is based on the Newbury Award-winning novel Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo and it’s about a self-avowed cynic and comic book fan, 10-year-old Flora (Matilda Lawler), and the superhero squirrel she rescues (Ulysses). The film also stars Ben Schwartz, Alyson Hannigan, Anna Deavere Smith, Danny Pudi, Benjamin Evans Ainsworth, Janeane Garofolo and Kate McCucci.
Check out what she had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Leah Khan:
- How did she get involved in the project?
- Why she didn’t read the book until after shooting had wrapped.
- Why they made some changed from the book.
- Was she thinking about Oscar Isaac dancing in Ex Machina when she was filming Ben Schwartz dancing in Flora & Ulysses?
- Was it tough to get permission to show Silver Surfer and the Wolverine comic book cover in the movie?
- How they originally had more comic book stuff in the movie.
- How the film has a line of Tony Stark dialogue and a Star Wars Was it tough to get permission?
- What did she learn from early screenings?
- Having alt takes to pick from.
- How did they cast Matilda Lawler and when did she know this was the right person for the role?
- Which VFX shots were tough to pull off?
- Is it nice to not have to worry about the opening weekends box office?
