00:00After exploding on the Sundance scene
00:01with his first feature, Beasts of the Southern Wild,
00:04and winning the 2012 Grand Jury Prize,
00:07Ben Zeitlin is back at the fest with his follow-up Wendy.
00:11Remember the voice in your head?
00:14The one that said,
00:16sneak away.
00:17On this IMD Brief, we break down how Zeitlin
00:20mixes a Peter Pan-inspired tale
00:22with a dose of his signature magic realism.
00:25From its Sundance debut in 2012,
00:28Beasts of the Southern Wild began an award show expedition,
00:31scoring accolades for its performances, cinematography,
00:34and storytelling over a full calendar year,
00:38ending at the 2013 Oscars with four nominations,
00:41including Best Picture, Best Director,
00:44and Best Actress for star Quavanzanae Wallace.
00:47In a million years, when kids go to school,
00:51they're gonna know once there was a hush puppy,
00:53and she lived with her daddy in the bathtub.
00:55Wallace was tripped up by Jennifer Lawrence
00:58for Silver Linings Playbook,
00:59but she still holds the record for youngest ever nominee.
01:03She was nine at the time,
01:05but performed much of her Southern Wild role at age six.
01:09Beasts it! Beasts it!
01:13By 2013, spurred on by endorsements from Oprah and the Obamas,
01:17Zeitlin seemed poised to begin work
01:19on his sophomore effort, Wendy,
01:21a story that grounds the magic of Peter Pan
01:24in his starry-eyed view of the real world,
01:26and his passion for crumbling environments
01:29at the ends of the world.
01:31So began the legend of Peter,
01:33the boy who would not grow up.
01:35But as he described the process back in the fall of 2013,
01:40we're working on it all day, every day.
01:42But as all psychotic adventures go,
01:45you know where your destination is,
01:46but not how long it's going to take to get there.
01:49Oh, mama, I'm just staying a little longer.
01:52Tell her I miss her and I love her.
01:55Apparently, Wendy took nearly seven years
01:57to get to its final destination
01:58at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival,
02:01where IMDb will be back on the scene
02:04at the Acura Festival Village with host Kevin Smith
02:06to interview Zeitlin and the cast.
02:09I'm a movie pig, that's right.
02:10I got my snout in the ground,
02:12sniffing around for films like they're truffles, man.
02:14IMDb will get the full scoop about Zeitlin's shoot
02:16in the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Montserrat
02:19on handmade sets with mostly first-time actors
02:22for a resulting film that seems wholly original.
02:25We can fly.
02:28Really fly?
02:29Well, except that Wendy is loosely based
02:32on J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
02:34The play and subsequent novel about the boy
02:36who wouldn't grow up has had dozens of adaptations
02:39and reimaginings on both stage and screen.
02:41My stories?
02:43But they're all about you.
02:45Of course.
02:46That's why I like them.
02:47This year's Sundance actually has another Peter Pan
02:49adaptation called Come Away, a star-studded affair
02:53from brave director Brenda Chapman with Angelina Jolie,
02:57David Oyelowo, and Michael Caine that acts as a prequel
03:00to both Pan and Alice in Wonderland, retconning their stories
03:04to see them begin life as brother and sister.
03:07What a peculiar place to have a party.
03:10And the Mouse House, never one to be outdone,
03:13also has their own live-action remake in the works
03:15for streaming platform Disney+.
03:17From Pete's Dragon and Ghost Story director David Lowery,
03:20this version takes his title from Barry's original novel,
03:24Peter Pan and Wendy.
03:25What's your name?
03:27Peter Pan?
03:28Despite a crowded playing field,
03:30Zeitlin's Wendy will likely receive a warm welcome in Park City,
03:33considering he began his journey back at the Sundance Lab in 2009,
03:38workshopping the original script for Beasts of the Southern Wild.
03:41I wanna be cohesive.
03:43Sure you will, baby.
03:45No doubt in my mind.
03:46For more reports from the front lines of the fest
03:48with Kevin Smith at the Acura Festival Village,
03:51stay glued to imdb.com slash Sundance.
