From visionary director Tim Burton, the live-action telling of the beloved classic Dumbo celebrates differences while also exploring the importance of family, both by blood and by circumstance. When circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) appoints former horse-riding star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children (Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins) as the caretakers for the newborn elephant with the oversized ears, he has no idea that what initially makes him a laughingstock to audiences will also change their lives forever.
During a conference at the film’s Los Angeles press junket, co-stars Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton (who plays entertainment entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere), along with filmmaker Tim Burton, talked about telling a simple story with real emotions, expanding on the original 60-minute story, being a part of Burton’s Island of Misfit Toys, how Dumbo was represented on set, their favorite performers in the circus, and what they hope audiences get from the film.
Question: Tim, why Dumbo? What do you love about the story of Dumbo?
TIM BURTON: I just liked the idea of a flying elephant that doesn’t quite fit into the world, and how somebody with a disadvantage makes it an advantage. It just felt very close to the way I felt about things. It was just a very pure, simple image. Like all of the old Disney fables, it has that simple symbolism for real emotions.
What were the specific things in the 60-minute original film that you wanted to expand on?
BURTON: I just like the fact that it’s obviously a very simple fable and story. At its heart, it’s about family. What I liked about it was the human parallel story. This character comes back from war, and he doesn’t have an arm, he doesn’t have a wife, and he doesn’t have a job. He’s trying to find his place in the world. It’s like that for all of the characters. Every character in it wants to be something. They’re like Dumbo, using disadvantage to advantage. So, there are lots of nice themes, but in a very simple framework.
What’s it like to work with Tim Burton on a project?
DANNY DEVITO: I think he’s brilliant. He’s just a genius. His artistry is just astounding. You give a talented person like Tim a subject like Dumbo, with all of the great meeting and messages and metaphors, and what does he do? He sends it off into the stratosphere. He’s one of a kind. He’s just amazing, and we love him so much.
MICHAEL KEATON: It’s true. It’s a rare thing to work with an original, and to be in the thick of it, right in the middle of a piece of art. It’s absolutely true.
Colin, what was your experience like on this film?
COLIN FARRELL: Everyone in this story is at odds, either with their past, or what’s going on in the present, or both. I was playing a father who was disenfranchised from his kids, and from a life that he left behind, that is completely different, by the time he comes back from fighting in the war. He’s physically a different man. He’s lost his left arm. He’s seen a lot of brutality. We don’t get into all of that psychological stuff so heavily because we want the film to be able to be received with the importance of the messages that are in it, rather than hitting people over the head. But my character’s journey is one of just accepting his position, as a father, and how that means that all he really has to do is get out of the way of his children and let them be who they are.
Tim, you often work with the same actors, so what draws you to a performer or an artist? What qualities do you look for?
BURTON: Look at them all. They all look weird. It’s very simple. Dumbo is a heightened reality. It’s a weird story about a weird family. It was very special to me, to work with people that I’ve worked with, like Michael, Danny and Eva [Green]. With Colin, it feels like I’ve worked with him for many years because he’s got the same kind of spirit. Same with Nico [Parker] and Finley [Hobbins], and Alan Arkin. Having a weird dysfunctional family, like a film is and like the movie circus is, is very beautiful and important. The spirit of all of them really meant the world to me, in terms of what the movie is and the spirit that they all put into it. Because it’s like a weird elephant, all of the people naturally had to look weird, in a good way.
FARRELL: And coming from an actual dysfunctional family, I felt like I fit right in. It was like Thanksgiving dinner.
Michael and Danny, what was it like for you to perform together again?
DEVITO: It was great. It was really terrific. When Tim called a year ago, or whenever it was, and said that he was making the movie, I was really thrilled to be able to be a part of it. And then, the joy factor went through the roof, when I heard that Michael was in it with me.
KEATON: He reminded me that he got to be the hero, and I got to be the bad guy. He was just thrilled with that.
DEVITO: It’s just getting to be too much for me, to be the bad guy. Last time, I was this gross penguin, grunting and groaning, and stuff. It was really so nice to be with him in the movie, and for all of us to be together. It’s a great family that Tim creates. We’re all weirdos, but there’s one really weird daddy who’s pulling all of the strings.
BURTON: Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys.
Danny, as the ringleader of a circus, was any of your performance inspired by Tim Burton?
DEVITO: Everything I do in the movie is basically fed to me through the insane mind of Tim Burton. It felt really great to be Max Medici, and to be a part of this insane family. The great thing is that it is a family, and Max is trying to keep everything together and keep all of the elements up in the air. Tim works 24/7, when he’s making a movie, keeping everything going, keeping the plates spinning, keeping all of the balls in the air, and keeping everything moving. So, I feel like he’s an inspiration when we’re on the set, and it pushes you to new heights.
Tim, considering her fear of heights, how much of what Eva Green does in the film was actually her doing the stunts, and how much was it CGI or a stunt double?
BURTON: She did mostly everything. There were a couple of times when her person that she works with did things. Nobody really knows how hard she worked at it, except for the people who worked on the movie. She could do everything. That’s the amazing thing about her. She did it. There were only a couple of times that she couldn’t do it, for safety reasons.
Michael, how did you feel about the wig that you wear?
KEATON: I regret the wig, in a lot of ways. It’s so great, weird, odd, off-putting, and so well done. What happened was that I thought about it, and I really don’t like sitting in the make-up or hair chair for very long, so I thought, “I’m not going to say anything.” I showed up and (costume designer) Colleen Atwood is an unbelievable genius, and Tim was there. I had in the back of my head, “I’m not gonna mention a wig. Don’t mention a wig. Don’t say anything about a wig.” But then, I said, “Hey, this is probably a dumb idea, but what do you think about a wig?” And then, Tim’s eyes lit up, and I had to wear a stupid wig. But, I dug the wig. The wig now has its own agent, by the way.
BURTON: It’s one of those wigs that you’d buy on Hollywood Blvd.
Tim, what was the biggest challenge for you, on Dumbo?
BURTON: The biggest challenge was that we had all of these great actors, amazing sets, costumes and art direction, but the thing that was missing was the main character. That’s a very, very unnerving thing, going into something and knowing what you want and what you’re trying to go for, and you can even see rough animation, but until it materializes, you just don’t know. All of these people were suspending disbelief to make the main character believable. That was the biggest challenge.
What was Dumbo actually represented by, on set?
BURTON: He looked like a weird insect, with this green suit , but Edd [Osmond] was amazing. He actually studied elephants and their movements. He was great. He really got into it, so we had help.
FARRELL: We did give him an awful hard time because he was dressed in a green spandex suit for five months.
KEATON: In my scenes, I didn’t use Edd. I had Daniel Day-Lewis come in and do the scenes for me. He’s a friend. I asked if he would come in and do it.
How did you develop the sounds that Dumbo makes, and how did you decide on the way that he’d see the world?
BURTON: That kept developing. We had a whole array of sounds. We just tried to give him a voice without having him speak. Like you see with animals, there’s a connection. It’s just not an exact human connection. That’s just part of his character. We’ve been playing with that, for a long period of time. It’s Dumbo’s movie, so we want you to feel like you’re with him and you’re in his point of view, so the Dumbo vision is probably based on the fact that I’ve seen too many science fiction movies with alien vision. It came from outer space.
When it comes to the separation between Dumbo and his mother, were you looking to remind people of the separation of children and parents at the border? Was that something that you thought about?
BURTON: Every family is different. For me, I wish I had been separated from my parents, but that’s a different story. You don’t want to separate anybody from their parents, but I don’t think about things, in that way. I think about things more in a spiritual, simple way. I listen to the news, but I always take things from a human point of view. It’s like a fable, and all great fables tap into things that are true about today, in human nature, but it’s not literal. It’s a period movie that touches on those sorts of things, but we didn’t make it ripped from today’s headlines.
DEVITO: The [original] movie was made in 1941. It was a 64-minute Disney movie masterpiece from that era, and the baby was separated from his mom, so I don’t think it has anything to do with this unfortunate, horrifying thing that’s going on, in our current news.
KEATON: But I’m just going to say, thanks for bringing it up. Keep it in the consciousness because it’s criminal, it’s cruel, and I don’t think it borders on child abuse, it is.
In a real circus, which performer in the circus do you love and identify with the most?
BURTON: None of it. It’s funny, I’ve made circus movies, but I never really liked the circus. I like the idea of it. I like the concept of running away to the circus when you’re a child. It’s just a phrase that has stuck with a lot of people. It’s the idea of being with a bunch of other weird people from around the world that can’t get regular jobs.
FARRELL: I’ve never seen the circus, except in the world of Tim Burton’s imagination, coming to a cinema near you. Maybe a seal. I used to play football.
DEVITO: I really love the aerialists, and the high wire and tightrope walkers. They really astound me. It’s balance and grace and daring, and all of the things that I lack.
KEATON: The snake. Not the snake handler, but the snake. And the aerialists. First of all, more than anything, what I wanted to do is fly. That would be it for me. I have those flying dreams. I say that like everybody has a flying dream. But, the aerialists and the trapeze artists do knock me out.
This is such a beautiful film. What do you hope kids will take away from seeing it?
FARRELL: The same thing adults take away, which is the importance of not just accepting the inherent difference that people have, in relation to each other, but celebrating it. There are simple messages that are very complex, as we go through our lives, and those are messages of kindness and inclusion. That would be cool. And if they’re just entertained for a couple of hours, that would be cool, too.
BURTON: For me, the reason I wanted to do it was that the old Disney movies had all of those elements. They had joy, they had humor, and they had death. They had everything, including taboo subjects.
FARRELL: You skipped so deftly from joy and humor to death.
BURTON: Did I emphasize that one too much? We always had the mixture of those things. We just tried to present those things without overdoing it, and in a fable-like way, but then let it present itself and not just dictate it, to show these people for what they’re going through and who they are.
Dumbo opens in theaters on March 29th.