All the WaysThe Iron GiantCould’ve Been Very Different

In the nigh 25 years since the release ofBrad Bird ’s The Iron Giant , the film ’s history has become legend . Though it ’s now considered a classic , when it get out the film bomb at the boxful federal agency largely because the studio apartment releasing it , Warner Bros. , did n’t quite do it what it had . Thatnarrative has changedin subsequent year , especially as Bird himself has depart on to make even more alive chef-d’oeuvre like Ratatouille and The Incredibles . But , before that , it could ’ve been a very dissimilar movie .

This weekend , Bird attendedBeyond Fest in Los Angeles , CAto talk about The Iron Giant and discover even more about the qualification of the film . thing such as actor the studio apartment wanted in the film , huge changes he had to fight about in the story , and more . Here ’s the summation of all Bird revealed .

The Iron Giant could’ve been a musical with a different title

The Iron Giant is based on a book called The Iron Man by Ted Hughes , which was discharge in 1968 . That book became so noted , Pete Townsend of the Who create a musical concept album base on it which then became a live stagecoach production . That ’s the version that Warner Bros. earlier guess it was beat — but not with that statute title , for a reason that ’ll become very obvious .

“ They were cause a conclusion based on Disney succeeding doing musical of familiar stories , ” Bird said . “ And Pete Townsend of the Who had done a melodic dramatics adaptation of this in England . This story is really very well known in England . It ’s called The Iron Man . But they did n’t call it ‘ The Iron Man ’ here because of ‘ Iron Man . ’ Marvel . ”

Bird also revealed that early development of the movie as a musical bear on the intention of the title fibre . “ Earlier versions , trial translation that they had done when it was a melodic , the Iron Giant had a tongue and kind of lips , ” he say .

Director Brad Bird spoke about The Iron Giant at Beyond Fest.

Director Brad Bird spoke about The Iron Giant at Beyond Fest.Image: Warner Bros.

The Iron Giant could’ve had a much less hopeful ending

In the final film , after the Iron Giant sacrifices himself to economize the townsfolk , he get down to put himself back together at the very end . But that was n’t Bird ’s first instinct .

“ I wish the thought that there ’s something after this — but , in my first , earliest version , I did n’t have him amount back at the end , ” Bird said . “ He made his sacrifice and that was the remainder . And I was like , ‘ No , that ’s locomote to be it . ’ And Tim McCanlies , who ’s the screenwriter who did the first draft of this story … he argue very powerfully that you ca n’t kill E.T. And I fit , ‘ Oh , okay , all right . ’ ”

The Iron Giant could’ve had even more mega-star voice talent

In 1999 , having Friends maven Jennifer Aniston as the voice of Hogarth ’s mom , Annie , was a big pile . She was a massive name and Bird say the studio wanted more massive names as voice in the film . He like the idea of Aniston , but he did n’t like some of the studio ’s other suggestion , such as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the malevolent FBI bozo Kent ( eventually voiced by Christopher McDonald ) or John Travolta as Dean , the hip local artist ( eventually voiced by Harry Connick Jr. ) . However , it was what the studio apartment wanted so Bird was forced to meet with and ask those people to be in his movie .

“ Warner Brothers was not considered the top brio position at the sentence , ” Bird said . “ So people were kind of like , ‘ I do n’t want to do something for an [ also - run ] . ’ So we went out to them and we had to wait for a ‘ No ’ from them , but the ‘ No ’ came . [ They just tell ] , like , ‘ I ’m not interested in doing animation . ’ And then I finally bring to go out to the mass that day that I [ wanted ] . ”

The Iron Giant could’ve been set in a whole different era

Part of what makes The Iron Giant special is that it ’s set in the 1950s — a very specific prison term in history when the world was specially scared of technology because of the invention of nuclear bombs . However , if Warner Bros. had its way that would ’ve been change , among several other thing .

“ They wanted to set it present - day and have rap music in it , ” Bird read . “ William Hogarth skateboards and has a little sister and all this stuff and nonsense . And I had to fight them one at a clock time . ” And , fortunately , he did . Even though The Iron Giant was not a smash upon its release , decisions like those have stand the trial run of meter and made the movie into a modern animated classic .

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