Soaring with the Stars of Dumbo

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Soaring with the Stars of Dumbo

By Jonelle

*We were invited as media to cover the press conference. All thoughts & opinions remain our own.*

On March 10th I drove out to the Beverly Hills Hilton to sit in a Disney magical ballroom with Tim Burton, one of my favorite directors of all time, to listen to him talk about his latest project, Dumbo. Believe it or not, I’ve never seen the entire 1941 original, which comes in at only 64 minutes. My thought going in to this film was, how are they going to make a full-length movie about an elephant?

Journalist Grae Drake, our moderator for the day, dressed as a ringmaster, introducing her “circus”, and what a circus it was. First up we heard from Screenwriter Ehren Kruge, Producers Justin Springer, Derek Frey, Katterli Frauenfelde, Production Designer Rick Heinrichs, Costume Designer Colleen Atwood and Composer/Oingo Boingo founder Danny Elfman.

I remember taking a film music class in college where we analyzed the music of various film composers. Danny Elfman was one of the composers we studied, a composer that I greatly admire, and he’s worked with Tim Burton on 17 films. Come on, it wouldn’t be a Tim Burton film without an Elfman score. For Elfman, working with Burton, isn’t as simple as working with other directors. Burton’s mind is both strange and interesting. Just like the way audiences see the amazing characters that Burton creates.

Burton making a movie about a traveling circus is very fitting. Producer Derek Frey said that, Tim Burton’s films “are populated with outsider characters” and that “Dumbo was the original Disney outsider” in a world full of beautiful Disney Princesses.  Burton took on this very simple, sweet story. You have a band of outsiders who make their own sweet, simple family. Burton himself, never liked the circus, but liked the idea of running away with the circus.

The Costumes created by designer Colleen Atwood were beautiful and magnificent. They had to represent both hardship and extravagance. She made the 1920’s heyday of the traveling circus come to life. Samples of these gorgeous costumes were on hand to admire. The red feather dress worn by Eva Green in the film was just breathtaking. All of her costumes were beautiful. As the trapeze artist, her costumes were delicate and flowy, similar to that of an elegant bird soaring through the sky.

Not only does the circus come to life, so does Dumbo. Watching the film, you forget that he is not really “real”. Those sweet eyes and that sweet face melts your heart. It makes you want to go out and save all the elephants. 

It was amazing to see Batman (Michael Keaton), the Penguin (Danny Devito) and Tim Burton all in the same room together. The audience was keenly aware of the magic that was in that ballroom. Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton had such chemistry, not only in the film, but also in person. To see them interact was amazing, I could watch them all day. With that, I could also sit and listen to Tim Burton all day. He is a creative genius and I didn’t want the press conference to end.  The cast’s fondness for Burton speaks volumes as Devito stated, “You give a talented person like Tim a subject like Dumbo with all the great meanings and messages and metaphors. And what does he do? He sends it off into the stratosphere. And he’s one of a kind. He’s just amazing and we love him so much.”  Tim Burton creates these beautifully quirky characters, who don’t fit in, but who do all at the same time. Dumbo doesn’t fit in, but he’s a part of the strange Medici family, and they all love him.

Of all the movies that Disney has in its catalogue, why would Tim Burton want to remake a 64-minute film about a flying elephant? About this, Burton said, “I just liked, it was just the idea of it. The idea of a flying elephant and the character that don’t quite fit into the world and how somebody with a disadvantage makes it an advantage. So, it just felt very close to the way I felt about things. It was just a very pure simple image. Like all the old Disney fables had that kind of simple symbolism for real emotions.” Isn’t that something all humans feel from time-to-time? This is a great learning lesson for all people.

At its core, this is a simple story about a group of people who become a family, trying to find their way in the world. And like Burton said, they turn their “Disadvantages” into “Advantages”, just like Dumbo did. Dumbo is a champion for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, who has ever felt alone in the world. 

After sitting in on one of the best press conferences of my life, we were treated to an adorable red canvas Dumbo “Swag Bag” and delicious “circus” treats. Inside the bag was a bag of circus peanuts and a Dumbo Funko Pop! This made my day because I’m a huge collector! I got the Dumbo Funko dressed as a firefighter. You know, elephants are good luck and that’s how I feel about Dumbo. Another fun thing that we were able to do was take a photo with “Dumbo”. I’ve already said it, but Dumbo was adorable!

The hall was adorned with posters inspired by the film, created by various global artists from Poster Posse.

This day is what dreams are made of. No longer is Dumbo the little outsider of the Disney-verse, he’s playing in the big leagues now. You know, I’ve never actually seen the original in its entirety. I should find it and watch it. I mean it’s only an hour long.

Dumbo opens everywhere March 29th and stars Michael Keaton, Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins, and is directed by Tim Burton.

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Visit the official DUMBO website here: https://disney.com/dumbo