Becoming a Disney Dad: Exclusive Interview with Wes Bentley ~ #PetesDragonEvent

Last fall I had the privilege to interview Kyle MacLachlan, who voiced the Dad in INSIDE OUT. At the time, declared him the Number One Hottest Disney Dad. I hate to break it to him, but I think someone else is about to take that spot. In Disney PETE’S DRAGON, Wes Bentley plays Natalie’s dad and Grace’s fiancee, Jack. Known for his darker roles (such as Ricky Fitts in AMERICAN BEAUTY, Seneca Crane in THE HUNGER GAMES, and John Lowe in AMERICAN HORROR STORY), I have to say, I really enjoyed seeing Wes in a more “light-hearted” role, such as a dad, a role he is quite familiar with in real life!

When Wes walked into the room, he was nothing but smiles! He greeted us with a warm “Hi, how are you?” as he took a seat at the head of the table. We immediately jumped in with the questions. How could we not want to get to know this down to earth family man right away?

How was New Zealand and how long were you there for?

Wes: I was there I think it was three months total. It was beautiful. My family came out for the last two months. So I had my kids and my wife out there.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. You don’t have to sign a bunch of waivers. It was a blast. I think it’s the gem of the world. It’s far away from the madness. So you get that element and it was stunning.

What’s it like being in your first Disney film?

Photo credit: Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

Have you shown Charles (Wes’ son) the original 1977 film at all?

Wes: No, I haven’t. No, no, no. I kind of wanted him to see this one first and then watch that one later. I don’t know if he… you know, kids are very aware of animation styles. My kids are at least and his friends. It’s hard to convince them even to watch ALICE IN WONDERLAND, which is still amazing animation. But because of the difference in the look, it’s hard to get them to lock in on it, you know? So I wanted him to see this Pete first.

And he also sort of worked on it. Like, 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. They’d give him a New Zealand dollar for the day.

How did you become a part of the film?

Wes: I luckily was asked to be a part of the film. I had met with David Lowery (the director) on something else, maybe a year before or a few months before this came out. He luckily really wanted me to be in this. Convinced them that I could be in this, and that I could play a nice Disney dad and thankfully he did.

So I didn’t have to go through any auditions or anything like that. I just was sort of found myself on the film. 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.

Coming from the darker characters, what was that process like for you as an actor and transitioning to a “nice guy” role?

Wes: It didn’t feel like it should be hard because I am a nice guy. And I have my own kids. I’m aware of my film habits because I have for so long played guys who are darker or dealing with very complex issues. They’re dealing with their darker sides. So I came in like really aware that that there were obviously things about me that people see that as.

Photo credit: Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

So I did work on that a bit. Like really worked on being aware of (my) expression and this guy, how does he think and how (I) can that convey that physically so that people weren’t reminded of me in something else where they were disturbed by something. Luckily that worked and David was aware of it too. I told him that to help me out there. But internally nothing changed. The writing was all there. The direction was all there. So that was easy.

Did you do any research on what your character in this movie?

Wes: Yeah, I did. I tried to learn as much about lumbering and felling I think it’s called. I can’t remember. But 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 what she cared about. And why it was more, that also worked over to Gavin’s relationship. He (Gavin) 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. 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 the keys to the family business, even though he is the older brother.

That’s all great stuff to have in a film like this because you can easily just kind of write dad and company owner and not give them anything more to do. But David and Toby (the screenwriters) and all of them were very aware of giving us something to play with.

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, not just because of this but David’s got that in him. He’s just kind of, like you can see the kid in him. It’s just all over him. 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… those things, it brought back all that.

Photo credit: Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

Did you have like a super-unique imaginary friend when you were a kid? (My question!)

Wes: I didn’t. I would create, in my head, I had all these clubs. And I was like the club president of all of them. So one was called… you know, I don’t remember what those shoes were called. They had like lights on them? So I named a club after them. So I had like in my head this whole 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 them to come over and play.

You mentioned this movie was in the direction of where you wanted to go. What do you see next for you?

Wes: I started kind of in.. I had three brothers and we watched Monty Python sketch comedy a lot, SNL, and all that. We joked around trying to make each other laugh. And that carried over to church skits and school skits. I enjoyed the lighter side of 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 I’d like to play a guy who doesn’t think so much. [LAUGHS] 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’s kind of dumb in that way. So it would be be fun to play guys like that. So I’ve been looking for that. And this was in the direction of a lighter, sort of 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: Oh, I expected that. I expected that to happen because I think that it would 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 going to be a different kind of Elliot. So I wasn’t surprised or bothered either. I kind of thought it was cool to have two separate films with a similar idea.

We talked a little bit about your departure from it being like some of your darker roles. How does being a parent kind of effect how you approach a role like this?

Wes: It’s great that I’m a dad, even though these kids (in the film) were in a different age group than my kids were. But the idea is the same and it was helpful 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… we all feel about our kids, right? I mean, it’s all about them. You walk in that fine line of being, 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 that’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 kids. And them being there helped too. I’ve sort of was going directly from being Dad to being Dad.

How was it working with Robert Redford?

Wes: Oh it was great! It’s everything you think it’s going to 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. He’s just a warm man. 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? It’s just great to see that. His love for film is very clear as well. His love for really making good film. He and David really clicked too and that was fun to watch them have a sort of a filmmaking language that I could learn from maybe one day if I was ever going to make a film.

Did you learn anything from him acting-wise?

Wes: Nothing I can put into words. It’s more his approach to the day and to the rehearsal, on-set rehearsal. He was letting the scene create the moment as much as he was trying to impact the moment.

Photo credit: Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

Brian Dennehy was one of those actors as well. So it’s kind of an older filmmaking school. I think a lot of, 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 get to see how they approach it. I think that was the best time for actors and best set of actors we’ve ever had.

Do you think it’s because they got to ad lib more? Or do you just think it’s a learning process?

Wes: I think they got to do both. I think it’s more that they probably had stage training and that they took the acting element. I’m not saying actors don’t take it seriously now, but there seems to have been more of a devotion to the craft of it. I hate to sound like a cheesy actor but there is a craft to it. They worked on that first and all the movie star stuff came later.

Do you have a 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… but being up on the fake dragon with Bryce and the wind blowing. We’re 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 were up on the back of the dragon. It was a fun day.

And another one would be in the car, during the taking off with the dragon. 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 doing the sort of looking for the money. I don’t know if that’s a 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.

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 and they had the best time shooting all day in some kind of tough conditions because it was a muddy set. It was raining a lot. It was cold, but they were just so warm. That was a fun scene to do because 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. Lumber in New Zealand is one of their major exports. And there were places we shot in where 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 or whatever, I can’t remember the term. Anyway, once they’re down 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. The reaction to it is hard.

Photo credit: Jana Seitzer / MerlotMommy.com

It kind of hits you to the core because the earth is part of us, we’re part of the earth. You can sense it there. And 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 them down again. So 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.

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While I’attended an expense paid trip by Disney to Los Angeles, all opinions are 100% my own. PETE’S DRAGON film images provided by Walt Disney Publications.