It was announced last month that Iron Man and C****owboys and Aliens director Jon Favreau was itching to get a crack at Disney’s “theme park comes alive” adventure Magic Kingdom. Now he’s officially developing the thing and is opening up about his work so far.
Talking with Geek Time radio (via MTV), Favreau revealed a little bit about his plans for the movie and the research he’s putting into making it. "I really want to plumb the depths of the history of the park because it's a place I love to go a few times a year," he says.
Just don’t call it the next Night at the Museum… “I don't think it's going to be mixing all the other movies. I think it's going to be its own thing; I don't think it will be like Night at the Museum. I want to make it a little bit spookier like the old Disney movies were and try to really capture that tone. This is something that I've always been drawn to and now to say, 'What characters do you want to use, and how do you not make it Space Jam or like the Christmas parade with every character?' How do you show restraint and how do you make it tie into the emotional development of the characters?"
The biggest impact so far has been the added workload of mainlining classic Mouse House output. "I've got to watch every Disney property. I started with Steamboat Willy, working my way all the way up. I really want to focus on the classic stuff like Dumbo, Steamboat Willy, all the early black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons - all the Fantasyland stuff. I think there was something timeless about what Walt did, and I want to explore, not just Disneyland, but Walt’s vision of Disneyland. If you look at his concept art it diverges a little bit from what the park turned into over time; but if you look at his original concept art and really explore what that world is, I think there is something really fun and magical to be done there."
And his big dream? To bottle at little of the magic that the kingdom itself exerts when you visit it yourself. Which would save a fortune for families facing screaming ankle biters who don’t understand that their parents can’t afford the cost of a package trip to Florida, California or even Paris... "When Walt first set out to do it, there was something very nostalgic and forward-looking at the same time about Disneyland," he says.
"When you went down Main Street, it was the turn of the century, it was days gone by and Tomorrowland was the future. There is such a weird shared experience that any of us who's ever gone to Disneyland feels that I don't think has really been mined yet. It's this collective subconscious that we have, and there are these archetypes that are so strong that there's a fun way to present something that is family entertainment but still will take you through the experience that you had growing up."
Thinking about Favreau’s work for the younger crowd – which Magic Kingdom could potentially turn out to be aimed at – he’s also the man responsible for Elf. Love the film? Why not vote for it in our holiday movies poll?