Disney has finally revealed to us what the ever elusive Elliott the Dragon looks like.
In an exclusive first look from EW, audiences are offered a closer look at Elliott, Pete's invisible dragon friend.
Pete's Dragon is based on the Disney animated classic of the same title release in 1977. Its story follows the orphan named Pete (to be played by Oakes Fegley) and his adventures with his best friend Elliott, a huge, green dragon who is rarely visible to the local townsfolk.
The first trailer for the film, which was equally cryptic as Elliott, was released in February, but we didn't really get to see what Elliott looked like. We were only given a glimpse of his massive body flying in the air, catching Pete after jumping off a cliff.
Check out Pete's best friend, who will intrigue Robert Redford and Bryce Dallas Howard's characters in the movie, and which is noticeably different from the 1977 version of the dragon.
Take a look:
The 1977 Elliott, who had a slightly large belly and goofy personality, is still apparent in the new Elliott.
As director David Lowery describes him:
Certain things about the original design we loved: Big jaw, big snout, and a clumsy quality that we really wanted to not completely forget about.
The apparent change is that Elliott no longer has the old pink neon hair thing going on.
Lowery said they cut out the pink ‘do because it didn't fit in with the foliage of the new film:
We explored pink, just to see what would happen. From the get-go, the aesthetic was always to make everything feel as handmade as possible, including effects.
To really have it feel like a blur between a very grounded realistic world and a world in which a big green dragon that can turn invisible can exist.
The canine look was used for Elliott so that kids wouldn't find the dragon as frightening as the medieval models. Apparently, the creative team behind Elliott watched numerous hours of funny animal videos online, and it's not only dog videos. They also watched a video of a giant panda tumbling, an Australian flying fox, a polar bear, and a "lion, tiger, and elephant" roar. In a nutshell, Lowery said Elliott's behavior is in fact based on his cat.
That's one way of creating an unthreatening dragon. It appears Elliott is an extremely adorable creature, and I can't wait to see him back on the big screen.
A reimagining of Disney's cherished family film, "Pete's Dragon" is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliott, who just so happens to be a dragon. "Pete's Dragon" stars Bryce Dallas Howard ("Jurassic World"), Oakes Fegley ("This is Where I Leave You"), Wes Bentley ("The Hunger Games"), Karl Urban ("Star Trek"), Oona Laurence ("Southpaw") and Oscar® winner Robert Redford ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"). The film, which is directed by David Lowery ("Ain't Them Bodies Saints"), is written by Lowery & Toby Halbrooks based on a story by Seton I. Miller and S.S. Field and produced by Jim Whitaker, p.g.a. ("The Finest Hours," "Friday Night Lights"), with Barrie M. Osborne ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Great Gatsby") serving as executive producer.
For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.
Disney's Pete's Dragon hits theaters on August 12.
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