You may recognize Wes Bentley for some of his darker roles in “American Horror Story” and as Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games, but you’ll love his family man, fatherly role as Jack in Disney’s live-action Pete’s Dragon playing in theatre’s everywhere.
On working in New Zealand
Wes: I was there I think it was 3 months It was beautiful. My family came out for the last 2 months so I had my kids and my wife out there. And it was beautiful. I had a lot of time between shooting, so I got to do a lot of the touring around, and we got to go do a bunch of very exciting things. Everywhere you turn in New Zealand there’s something exciting to do, and you don’t have to sign a bunch of waivers and all of that. So it was a blast, yeah. It was good.
Beautiful place. I mean, I think it’s the gem of the world. It’s so far away from the madness, and so you get that element and it was just stunning.
On working on his first Disney film
Wes: Oh, it was great. I’ve been a Disney fan when I was a kid and I was excited to be a part of a movie with them. Especially because I have young kids, I wanted to do something that my kids could see while they’re young. My son is gonna be 6 in November, he’s coming with me tonight to the premiere. So yeah it’s gonna be exciting. He’s excited about that. I don’t know how he’s gonna react seeing me, ’cause he’s seen, you know, images of me in a film but of course he’s never seen anything beyond a few words. So this is the first film I’ve really been able to be like that.
On showing his son the first Pete’s Dragon
Wes: No, I haven’t. I kind of wanted him to see this one first, and then watch that one later. You know, kids they’re very aware of animation styles, my kids are at least and his friends. It’s hard to convince ’em even to watch Alice In Wonderland, which is still amazing animation. But because of the difference in the look, it’s hard to get ’em to lock in on it, you know? So I wanted him to see this Pete.
And he also sort of worked on it. Obviously not really, but he would come to set with me and the assistant directors would get him to go get actors out of their trailers and get them to makeup and, and they’d give him a New Zealand dollar for the day. And so it was an experience he had. So I was gonna save that other film.
On how he got involved in Pete’s Dragon
Wes: Luckily was asked to be a part of the film. I had met with David Lowery on something else maybe a year before this came out. And he luckily really wanted me to be in this and so convinced them that I could be in this, and that I could play a nice Disney dad, and thankfully he did.
I didn’t have to go through any auditions or anything like that. It just sort of found myself on the film and couldn’t have been more excited. It was everything I wanted to do, the direction I’ve been wanting to head a little bit. David is just one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met. And he’s not just a talented director but a warm, sweet man.
So like coming from the darker characters from say like American Horror Story and stuff, what was that process like, um, for you as an actor and transitioning to a nice guy role?
Wes: It didn’t feel like it should be hard ’cause I am a nice guy. And I have my own kids and so, you know, I did, but I’m aware of my film habits because I have for so long played guys who are darker or dealing with very complex issues and they’re dealing with their darker sides. And so I came in like really aware that that, you know, there were obviously things about me that people see that as.
You know, they’re drawn to that. Usually it’s my eyebrows. So I would be like, it’s something as simple as that. I was very aware of my eyebrows sort of. Just trying to like make sure my face showed my inner feelings which doesn’t always happen. I’ve always had to deal with, ‘Why are you so mad?’ or ‘What are you angry about?’ when I wasn’t, I was thinking about lollipops and cotton candy. But because my brow just sits like that.
So I did work on that a bit. You really work on being aware of your expression. You know, this guy, ‘How does he think and how can that convey physically so that people weren’t reminded of me in something else where,’ you know, they were disturbed by something. So luckily that worked and David, was aware of it too. I told him that, you know, to help me out there. But internally there was nothing changed. The writing was all there, you know, the direction was all there, so that was easy.
On character research and the relationship between the environment knowing that Jack and Grace are at odds.
Wes: Yeah, I did. I tried, I tried to learn as much about lumbering and felling. I did try to learn as much as I could about the types and versions of lumbering that you can do and what were the most environmentally impactful and tried to convey that to Jack.
Because I feel like Jack was walking the balance of having to make money for his company and all these men in this small town depending on that company. And at the same time was himself environmentally aware of it but also becoming more environmentally aware because of who he was in love with and her, what she cared about. And why it was more, that also worked over to Gavin’s relationship because he was not as of the like.
He just wanted to make money and was trying to be clever in that way. And that’s why he was a bit dangerous and that’s the conflict that was happening there. We also had built some other stuff between Gavin and Jack that sort of is on the peripheral of the movie but, uh, kind of informs the relationship is that Gavin had made mistakes before and sort of led us down the wrong road. And that’s why I was handed, whether he the older brother, handed the keys, I was handed the keys to the family business.
So that’s all great stuff to have in a film like this ’cause you can easily just kind of write dad and company owner and not give them anything more to do. But David and Toby [Halbrooks] and all of them were very aware of giving us something to play with. Yeah.
One of the big things about the film is seeing things through a child’s eyes and believing in dragons and that. Did you walk away from the film with more of a kid heart?
Wes: Oh yeah, I mean, this was—and not just because of this but, David’s got that in him, you can see the kid in him. It’s just all over him. And having all those imaginative elements and having a love for the first film myself—that sort of the idea of the imaginary friend or the dragon in your life as a kid. It brought back all that.
You know, my imagination was really hyperactive as a child and animated as you could say. I had those elements and so those things change as you live life and go through the hardships, which is why I love this film for everybody. I feel like it kind of can reawaken that feeling that you kind of hope for in a movie like this, right? And they kind of go directly at it, you know? Truly you’re the invisible dragon, you know?
He’s real.
Did you have like a super-unique imaginary friend when you were a kid?
Wes: I didn’t. I had all these clubs, and I was like the club president of all of ’em. I had like in my head I had like this whole like clubhouse underneath the fence in my backyard and all these friends who were in the club. And we lived in rural Arkansas so it wasn’t like there was a kid next door to tell ’em to come over and play. You had to sort of do that.
On the direction he wants to go and what’s next
Wes: I had three brothers, and we watched Monty Python sketch comedy a lot, S.N.L., and all that—we joked around trying to make each other laugh.
And that carried over to, church skits and school—I enjoyed the lighter side, you know, comedy. So that’s how I got into it.
And then I had a knack for the dramatic and I got dramatic roles right away. So I sort of want to go back, not that necessarily comedy is what I mean, but some. I’d like to play a guy who doesn’t think so much. I’d love to play guys, sort of the words come out before he thinks about it. What do we say? Think before you speak. The opposite of that. I want a guy who just, he’s kind of dumb in that way. So it’d be fun to play guys like that.
I’ve been looking for that. This was in the direction of lighter, just sort of a genuine person who doesn’t have too many dangerous, devious ideas.
What was your first reaction to finding out about the drastic changes to story in this versus the old film?
Wes: I expected that to happen ’cause I think it’d be hard to use the elements from the old film and bring it to filmmaking now. And also with the advances in C.G.I., I knew that dragon was gonna be a different kind of Elliot. So I wasn’t surprised; I wasn’t bothered either, and kind of thought it was cool to have two separate films with a similar idea.
I think I was told early, too, that it wasn’t gonna be anything like the, the original. So I didn’t marry myself to any of those things.
We talked a little bit about your departure from it being unlike some of your darker roles. How does being a parent kind of effect how you approach a role like this? ‘Cause there’s a lot of moments in this that are very strong familial-type moments.
Wes: Yeah. It’s great that I’m a dad to be able to use those—even though these kids were in a different age group than my kids were. The idea’s the same, and it was helpful in many, in every way. I think Jack’s first priority was his daughter, and everything he was doing was to make sure life was good for her.
That’s the same way I feel about my kids. We all feel about our kids, right? I mean, it’s all about them. And you walk in that fine line of teaching lessons but also being supportive and there for them so that you’re not the kind of parent that they end up not wanting to talk to. And it’s hard to find that balance. I think Jack’s finding that balance too. So it was just about every element I could use from my own experience with my my kids.
And them being there helped, too, that my kids were there. And I’ve sort of going directly from being Dad to being Dad.
On working with Robert Redford
Wes: Oh, it’s great. I mean, it’s everything you think it’s gonna be. He’s someone I always wanted to emulate as an actor. His natural delivery, his charm, his selection of roles and what he can play. And he’s just a warm man. You know, he came to set, always had great stories, talked to everybody about everything.
And then you’d watch him act and he just comes on and he’s just there. And it seems so easy for him, you know? And it’s just great to see that. And his love for film is very clear, as well. His love for making really good film. He and David really clicked, too, and that was fun to watch them have a sort of language, a filmmaking language, that I could learn from maybe one day if I was ever gonna make a film.
On what he learned acting-wise from working from Robert Redford
Wes: Yeah. Nothing I can put into words. It’s more his approach to the day and to the rehearsal, on-set rehearsal and he was letting the scene create the moment as much as he was trying to impact the moment.
You’ve got scenes where the actors come in, and sometimes they’re asked to do this come in and impact the scene and make the scene what it is with an effort. And then there’s other times where the scene’s just there and you don’t need to do that. And great actors know the difference. And when you’re with one of those actors you can watch them, read it, and do it. He’s that guy. And it was kind of one of those moments.
Brian Dennehy was one of those actors as well. So it’s kind of an older filmmaking school. I don’t want to generalize it, a lot of film actors now, it’s hard to know. It feels like they don’t always know the difference. They come in and they try to press something, I do it too, come in and try to press something on a scene that doesn’t need anything pressed upon.
And these filmmakers or actors who got to work in the Golden Era, which was the ’70s of filmmaking, I always wanted to watch them and see how they approach it. I think that was the best time for actors and best set of actors we’ve ever had, came out of that.
They had stage training and they took the acting element-I’m not saying actors don’t take it seriously now, but there seems to have been a more of a devotion to the craft of it. I hate to sound like a cheesy actor, but there is a craft to it. You know, and so they know this and they worked on that first, and all the movie star stuff came later.
Whereas now it’s kind of like how music is now where it’s being manufactured first and then these actors and musicians realize, ‘Oh wait, I really do like music. Or I really do like acting. I should learn about this, you know?’ And there’s a big difference. I want to be more like the guys from the ’70s. I want to be more like the craft first and all that other stuff can come later.
Which, you know, you’re so busy on social media and Tweeting and selling stuff now it’s, like they don’t have time to think about the craft.
On his favorite moment or memory while filming
Wes: Now I’ve thought of a couple. It was kind of fun even though it wasn’t the most, we were just on a rig, but being up on the fake dragon with Bryce and the wind blowing and we’re supposed to—aren’t really sitting on a dragon for the whole day. It’s early on in the filmmaking and we’re making jokes with each other trying to make each other laugh and how big we could smile when we’re, when we’re up on the back of the dragon. It was a fun day.
And another one would be in the car during taking off with the dragon break, when they break through the barn and everyone’s chasing them and we’ve got all of those actors there. It felt a bit like it’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World where everyone’s looking for the money. I don’t know if that ’60s film or something like that. And that great cast, we just had everyone together and we’re all standing together and we had to all run to our cars as fast as we could and take off after this truck.
And it was just kind of crazy and wild and funny and everyone was giddy from all the action and making jokes and laughing. And we had a good group of extras from that little town called Tapanui and they were just so psyched. Such a sweet group, opened their arms to us, and they were the extras, they had the best time shooting all day in some kind of tough conditions ’cause it was a muddy set. It was raining a lot and it was cold, but they were just so warm, and that was a fun scene to do ’cause everyone was just having a great time.
You touched on the environmental issues earlier and having to do research on that. Did that change your own perspective. Is there a takeaway that you hope the audience takes away from this film?
Wes: Yeah, absolutely. You know lumber in New Zealand is one of their major exports. And there were places we shot in that were basically tree farms. And so we’d go through whole sections trying to get back to these sets where it was just all torn down trees. And then once they’re felled they can’t regrow them there for a really long time. I can’t remember how long it is. It’s a decade or more. So you’re just seeing this big swath of land that’s just dead trees. And you know they’re going to something useful, and they’re re-growing all this other stuff but it’s the eye sore, and the reaction to it is hard.
It kind of hits you to the core ’cause it’s the world, the earth’s part of us, we’re part of the earth. You can sense it there. There are definitely better ways to do it now where the trees can grow back quicker. But a lot of times you’re growing back quicker just to cut ’em down again. We use it so much. It’s part of our lives. So it is an industry, a legitimate industry.
There are families that depend on it. What I learned is that it’s a hard balance in the end; it’s not just a simple we shouldn’t do it kind of thing. It’s just can we do it responsibly. And I think they work on it. I think there are elements of the business that work hard on that. And I learned that, and that felt better. It wasn’t just like Gavin, just trying to find as many trees as he can.
I’ve been invited to an all-expenses paid trip to LA. As always, all opinions are my own.
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PETE’S DRAGON is now playing in theatres everywhere.
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