Peter Pan & Wendy follows the Darling siblings Wendy, John, and Michael as they go on an adventure in Neverland with Peter Pan, a boy who never grows up and can fly with the help of his fairy friend Tinkerbell. While in Neverland, they meet Peter Pan’s friends, the Lost Boys, and Tiger Lily. They also face off against Peter Pan’s greatest enemy, the terrifying Captain Hook and his band of bloodthirsty pirates.
Peter Pan & Wendy is directed by David Lowery from a script penned by Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. The movie stars Jude Law, Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Yara Shahidi, Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe, Alyssa Wapanatahk, and Jim Gaffigan. Peter Pan & Wendy is Disney’s newest live-action adaptation of the 1953 animated classic Peter Pan, which was based on the 1904 play by J. M. Barrie.
Screen Rant spoke with director David Lowery and star Jude Law about their new Disney live-action adaptation, Peter Pan & Wendy. Lowery breaks down the adaptation process and explains what inspired the connection between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Law explains what excited him about playing Captain Hook and infusing him with sympathy while making him menacing.
Jude Law & David Lowery on Peter Pan & Wendy
Screen Rant: I really enjoyed this film! I love that it added to the lore of Peter Pan and Wendy and explores Peter Pan and Captain Hook’s complicated relationship. Jude, what was your favorite part about exploring Hook’s past more deeply?
Jude Law: I just love being able to join the dots and understand. It’s one thing to play [an] arch villain and just turn on the camp of the bad guy, but to really understand them. To really go back and look at the damage done. The unfortunate path that this person has trod and how that affects the way they dress, the way they look, and just their spirit, their their heart. That’s why I do this job. I love all that stuff. It gives you roots, it gives you gravitas when you when you step on and you have to play the part.
David, I think you did a tremendous job of grabbing stuff from the book and animated films, all while making stuff your own. Can you talk about the adaptation process and how you decided what to pull from the source material versus a new perspective?
David Lowery: Definitely, it was a long and somewhat arduous process, because at first we thought, let’s stick to the book. Let’s go back to the book. And then there were all sorts of problems we were having. We were having all these difficulties getting into the story knowing that we’re telling a story [in which] audiences know what Neverland is, do we need to explain it?
And then at one point, I remember going back rewatching the animated film and realized, “Oh, Walt Disney and his team had all those same problems. And they solved a lot of them. Let’s lean on that a little bit more.” Which was a really nice realization that those problems have been solved. There are other things that were interesting. We had scenes in the script at various points that had been done so well, in other Peter Pan movies that we just couldn’t go there.
Even though it’s from the original book, there were scenes in Hook that you just can’t touch. There are scenes in the 2003 version of Peter Pan that you just can’t touch. We’re not going to do it better than that. So what can we do different? So much of what we could do differently here was invest the characters with a depth and humanity that I feel was very personal to me, became very personal to all of the actors who played those parts, and brought a degree of integrity to the story that I think is fresh and hopefully novel.
Jude, can you talk about your approach to Captain Hook, who was clearly a villain but a sympathetic one?
Jude Law: That was tied in with understanding who he had been. Who was he as a little boy? Obviously, so much of the theme of Peter Pan is about growing up and Hook being the adult in the mix along with the pirates. He symbolizes the bad path. He symbolizes a life where the scars heal over scars, heal over scars and it has an effect, ultimately, on his heart and on his soul. Understanding and demonstrating that was the most rewarding aspect and challenging in many ways, because at the same time, you’re in a fantasy. You want him to be fun. You want him to be attractive, laughable, and equally threatening. So getting that mix just right was the challenge.
And you did a tremendous job with that. David, what inspired the past connection between Hook and Peter Pan?
David Lowery: Just curiosity. That was one of the great things to bring to the story was a sense of curiosity. As you start writing these iconic characters, and just trying to give them a little bit more texture, you naturally begin to ask those questions. And it was something that I was like, do audiences care? Do they want to know? And then I realized it doesn’t matter. I want to know that I’m going to do this for myself. And hopefully, people are going along for the ride.
Jude, Ever Anderson and Alexander Molony are tremendous as Peter Pan and Wendy. Can you talk about working with that young cast as an antagonist in Peter Pan versus as a mentor in something like Skeleton Crew?
Jude Law: They were very much a team. Alexander, Ever, and the lost kids, they were a formidable presence on set. They approached it with great discipline, and they were also having the time of their lives in equal measure. So I fed off their desire and the ease with which they just tripped into make believe. I tried to make sure no one really saw me as Jude and just as Hook which meant I could get away with being nasty and gnarly.
Play up the fantasy that they were all living and then equally I could feed off the playfulness, which is so important on a film set. You’re there telling a story creating a world no matter what that is. And of course as children they were just in awe half the time at these set and coming on board a ship. And wanting to believe and that’s just food for an actor you just want to drink that stuff.
About Peter Pan & Wendy
Wendy Darling, along with her brothers Michael and John, meet Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up and has the ability to fly with the help of the fairy Tinkerbell. Peter brings the Darling siblings to the magical island of Neverland, where they meet Peter’s crew of Lost Boys and the nefarious Captain Hook, a dangerous pirate.
Peter Pan & Wendy begins streaming April 28 on Disney+.
