News

I am scraping for the tiniest bit of Peter Pan news you could ever find! In the November issue of D-Mag (Australia) there is a coming soon section in the movies and you can find a small picture of Peter Pan. The full movie preview is in next months edition, so keep your eyes peeled!

James Newton Howard's eagerly anticipated score for P.J. Hogan's Peter Pan will be released on CD by Varèse Sarabande. Sony Classical who previously announced that they would release this score is no longer involved. According to Varèse Sarabande, Howard's score is filled with "unbounded imagination, soaring melodies and magical orchestrations".

Varèse Sarabande has also announced that they will release Paycheck, the score composed by John Powell for the new John Woo sci-fi thriller. Release dates for both these CDs are 16th December.

It's what the fan world has been waiting for, I've searched some sites and message boards and found out the song titles for those listed in the Peter Pan Trailers. This music will probably be used in the soundtrack, but it's not 100% guaranteed. So for all you fans CRAVING for more Peter Pan, here is a list of songs I have gathered from soundtracks. net.

Note: (One message board visitor said that the music is VERY similar to that of 'Chicken Run' please use this as a topic to discuss in the Guestbook if you agree)

If you want exclusive photos, head over to the promotional pictures page to see the new released pictures from the film! There is one of Peter and Wendy and one of Hook and Smee, unfortunately, they are a little fuzzy and don't feature a window....

For those of you waiting to view the new trailer, it's now in Quicktime format for you to see! Quicktime proves more efficient and clearer than others, so if you don't have it on your computer, it is available at www.apple.com for you to download for free. You'll see the difference.

I know you have been waiting for a new trailer, well now it's arrived! The new trailer for this Christmas holidays family flick is more action packed with more dialogue and more of the characters that you love! Either take Wendy's Windows link (trailers) or head over to the official site www.peterpanmovie.net to view.

'DRAMA, WAR, LUST & PIXIE DUST'
'Your guide to the major films opening this season'

Any parent who was forced to sit through last year's animated Peter Pan sequel "Return to Never
Land" ought to be cheered by the promising trailer for this live-action update of J.M.
Barrie's classic story. Directed by P.J. Hogan ("My Best Friend's Wedding"), the movie looks to
be both appealingly modern (Wendy no longer simpers on the sidelines) and charmingly
old-fashioned (Edwardian England still contrasts beautifully with the timeless allure of
Neverland). It even has "Swimming Pool's" Ludivine Sagnier as Tinkerbelle - though not in a
bikini.

In all likelihood, most grownups will probably hold off for next year's truly intriguing
"Neverland," starring Johnny Depp as Barrie. But there are plenty of others who'll be serving as
moviegoing chaperones during this winter's school break. For their sake, let's hope Hogan has more
up his sleeve than faith and trust and pixie dust.

''PETER PAN' HAS CLEVER HOOKS'

How does a family fantasy based on a nearly century-old literary classic stand out among the crush of holiday films?

The new live-action version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, which opens Dec. 25, just might deliver an impressive Hook, indeed.

In this exclusive first-look photo, Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook threatens Wendy (newcomer Rachel Hurd-Wood, who turns 13 this month). When Peter (Jeremy Sumpter, now 14) pays a nocturnal visit to their London nursery, Wendy and her two younger brothers, John and Michael, magically fly off with the puckish lad to a faraway place called Neverland.

As directed by P.J. Hogan (Muriel's Wedding) in his native Australia, this faithful version of the much-told tale centers on Wendy, not the boy who never grows up. "It's really about a little girl thrown into an adventure," Isaacs says. "She's being raised in a rather repressive Victorian atmosphere with a stiff, starched dad who tells her it's time to grow up. And that's a terrifying thing. So she runs off."

Isaacs adheres to tradition by also playing Wendy's comically ineffectual father, Mr. Darling. "He's very Harold Lloyd. He trips and falls, stutters and double-takes."

But it's his Hook who grabs most of the attention. After all, the Brit's strong suit is baddies, hassling everyone from Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter (as the viperous Lucius Malfoy in last year's The Chamber of Secrets) to Mel Gibson's militiaman (as a cruel Redcoat in 2000's The Patriot). Rarely, however, have his villains shown such keen fashion flair — the better to catch the eye of a girl who seeks a daddy substitute.

"Wendy is very attracted to Captain Hook. He's very cool and sexy," says Isaacs, especially compared with the bland Mr. Darling. "I said, 'Let's have open shirts, sort of Julio Iglesias-style.'"

Nothing but the best for Hook. His outfits were handstitched. "I'm pretty sure that any one of my jackets cost more than what I got paid for this film," he declares. As for his custom footwear, "They were the Excaliber of pirate boots."

The buccaneer's fiercest bling-bling? That silver scythe where his right hand should be. "It was described as a claw by Barrie," says Isaacs, who had to learn to swordfight with his left hand. "But we've got a talon, a really nasty instrument."

'A MATURE 'PETER PAN''

Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, is an ageless icon.

But can the perpetual pre-adolescent, who made his first screen appearance in a 1924 silent film, still cut it as a movie star?

He definitely could benefit from an image lift. As a peanut-butter shill with a soulmate in that lost boy of pop, Michael Jackson, Peter's reputation has suffered a few knocks over the years.

That he often has been portrayed by women, most notably Mary Martin in the Broadway musical, hasn't helped. Neither did the liberties taken by the 1953 Disney cartoon and Steven Spielberg's misguided Hook in 1991.

Yet Peter Pan's steadfast refusal to mature continues to ring a bell (if not a Tinker Bell) in an era that worships eternal youth, Botox-injected or not.

His enduring appeal will be put to the test once more when an opulent new live-action film based on J.M. Barrie's Victorian-era tale opens Dec. 25. (A Barrie bio from Miramax starring Johnny Depp is due in 2004 — Peter Pan's centennial year.) It's the culmination of a two-decade-long dream for producer Lucy Fisher, who originally tried to get a Peter Pan movie off the ground as head of production at Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope.

Universal Pictures, along with partners Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios, obviously believes in the continuing magic of Peter Pan— especially after sprinkling $100 million worth of pixie dust on the high-flying hero's Neverland with its tick-tock crocs, flirty fairies and raffish pirates.

Many think they know the story of Peter, his rivalry with Captain Hook and infatuation with Wendy. But such details as Wendy's divided loyalties between her meek father and the dangerous pirate, roles traditionally played by the same actor as per author Barrie's instructions when Peter Pan began as a play, may be unfamiliar.

"It's mysterious and dark, and has so much bite and wit," says Fisher, who co-produced Gladiator in 2000. "It's the only story where you can go off on an adventure, be victorious over your father and then come back and climb into his lap."

It wasn't until British actor Jason Isaacs prepared for his dual role as Hook and Mr. Darling that he realized he had never read it. "Like most people, I thought I had," he says. "The book is magnificent, quite violent and shocking in many ways, and works equally well for children and adults."

Isaacs says Barrie describes Neverland as "the drawers in your mind that your mother tidies up when you're asleep." Pulling those drawers open is P.J. Hogan, the Australian director best known for such character-driven comedies as Muriel's Wedding (1994) and My Best Friend's Wedding (1997).

Hogan may seem an unlikely choice but his sensibility is a perfect fit, Fisher says. "He has a visual sense and an originality. He's a Peter Pan character himself, very whimsical and artistic."

Roger Ford (Babe and its sequel) was in charge of the ambitious design of the film, which was shot entirely on soundstages in Queensland, Australia. "Neverland is like watching candy," Fisher says.

Casting was key, considering this is the first live-action adaptation that has Peter Pan played by an actual boy. U.S.-born Jeremy Sumpter, 13 during the shoot, has done a few films, but nothing of this scope. Fisher notes, "When you see a boy fighting a man, youth vs. age, it has much more emotional truth to it." One drawback to that truth: Growth spurts. "The window he flies out of had to be enlarged twice."

London-born Rachel Hurd-Wood, who was 12 when she was hired, makes her film debut as Wendy. Says Fisher of her find, "She's a brilliant discovery, a mesmerizing natural actress. Her only experience was a play in second grade."

The real casting coup turned out to be the hiring of Ludivine Sagnier, 24, the body divine of this summer's Swimming Pool, to mime saucy fairy Tinker Bell.

"She was this unknown French actress," Isaacs recalls. "Now she's this huge sex symbol. They were going to use her only for reference, a CGI thing like Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. But she did all this physical comedy and blew everyone away."