Flying across the pond to London in a regular old airplane pales in comparison to the wonder of sailing through the skies in a pirate ship, certainly, but beggars can’t be choosers. The set of Pan awaited us in London inside Leavesden Studios, the largest freestanding building without pillars in Europe. After (im)patiently waiting the 20 minutes it took to open the enormous doors, our first glimpse of director Joe Wright’s vision was completely green. Never Land has so much real greenery in its forest, we were told to stay close, because even crew members would constantly get lost within it.
Normally, when you hike through a forest, you’re going to the summit of a mountain or a waterfall or something normal. It didn’t seem within the realm of possibility that once the forest thinned out inside this building, two towering pirate ships would be standing imposingly in front of green screens. It was there that we sat down to speak to the cast of this prequel to the Peter Pan we know and love, including Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Garrett Hedlund, and newcomer Levi Miller.
Taking inspiration from all around the world, viewers will see structures with notes of the Crystal Caves in Mexico and Parisian street design, plus tent-like structures, huts, you name it. The natives themselves are of no specific ethnicity, have foldable boomerangs, swords, and are sporting tons of color in their homes and outfits. Director Joe Wright wanted to deliberately bring them to colorful life as compared to his vision of the monochromatic 1940’s England in the beginning of the film.
This bright eyed, smart kid really seems like the embodiment of the spirt of youth himself. While Wright has been helping him fill in the gaps as to what being a 19th century boy would have been like, and the rest of the cast feels like “good friends” and “brothers,” when he admits to having a crush on Rooney Mara, you almost expect him to take flight.
Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy) has both of his hands in this prequel, where he actually teams with Peter to try and escape Neverland. You can expect a lot of stunts, falls, and even some Tae Kwon Do-style fighting, where Hedlund said he took his share of “kicks to the throat and what have you.”
Hugh Jackman’s visage can be seen anywhere from the butt of a gun to the figurehead of his own ship. This should make for a fun drinking game upon DVD release for age-appropriate adults.
In this Neverland, people die in color bursts. It’s sad to see them go, but beautiful to watch them leave.
He is having a pair of pirate jodhpurs made for himself.
Rooney Mara’s version of this character carries a boomerang axe and takes on Blackbeard in a fight. She wears boots she stole off a pirate’s dead body. Her makeup might look fabulous, but best think twice about betting against her.
They’re all played by English fashion model, actress, and singer Cara Delevigne.
Check out the latest poster for Pan below and click for a larger version:
