Beloved classic films often get re-released in theaters years after they first hit the big screen. Though they may be remastered or given the 3D treatment, the film is overall usually the same as the version that was originally released in theaters.
That's not quite the case with the 1999 animated feature film The Iron Giant, whose remastered version will screen in select cinemas across North America on Sept. 30 with an encore event on Oct. 4 and is reported to be released on Blu-ray at a later date. That's because this version of the film dubbed The Iron Giant: Signature Edition will include two additional scenes that were originally storyboarded by director Brad Bird but then removed during production due to time and budget constraints.
Bird, who made his feature film directorial debut with The Iron Giant, and Warner Bros. Pictures enlisted the help of Duncan Studio to bring these new sequences to life in this movie about a boy who befriends a huge robot from outer space. Since 2007, Duncan Studio has worked on such contemporary CG films as The Nut Job, Dorothy of Oz and 9, but the studio's founder and head, Ken Duncan, who has worked on Disney animated features such as Beauty and the Best, The Lion King and Hercules, was eager to offer his company's expertise to help recreate The Iron Giant's hand-drawn style of animation.
"That was kind of a shock because you don't expect that film to change," Duncan told T-Lounge about getting the call to work on the new sequences for the remastered version of The Iron Giant. “We got excited about the fact that we can help out.”
According to Duncan, one sequence is "between Dean and Annie" that "enhances the relationship between those two," and the other is "a dream that the Giant has." Both of these new sequences will reveal a bit more about the personalities of the characters, according to Duncan.
Of course, the challenge of adding new sequences to any film is making sure their look and feel are so seamless that audiences don't even notice they weren't there in the first place. The fact that animation has become so much more technologically advanced in the 16 years since the original film was released didn't help things, either.
"The more you try to add more technology to it, it actually was changing the look," Duncan said. "We sort of had to be disciplined in not over-using technology to change the style of it. It’s sort of like stepping back to where things may have developed somewhat since the making of the original film to make sure that we captured that original essence."
Luckily, several people who worked on The Iron Giant originally were either already a part of Duncan Studio or reprised their roles to help update the movie, which Duncan said made it easier to integrate the new sequences. This includes Chris Sauve and Wendy Perdue, who again animated Dean and Annie with the assistance of animator Sandro Cleuzo, background department head Dennis Venizelos, who returned to oversee the backgrounds for the new sequences, and Michel Gagné, who again provided effects and animation for the film.
Clearly, Duncan values the animation of The Iron Giant, but he said he believes it's the story that really makes the film continue to resonate with audiences today.
"The cool thing about Iron Giant is that it’s a really great story and a great film. It just happens to be animated, so what made it great was really that relationship between the boy and the robot and the emotional impact that it has," Duncan said. "Like any great film, it’s all about character, and it’s really building the emotional connection between the characters."
That's no small feat for a film about a huge robot.
Correction: This article originally misspelled Michel Gagné's first name as Michael. Tech Times regrets the error.
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