If you’ve seen the new trailer for Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, you know there’s going to be plenty of fire-breathing fun when the movie hits theaters later this summer. Whatever you do, though, don’t call this a remake; it’s a total reimagining of the 1977 Mouse House classic. Sure, it’s got a dragon and a boy named Pete, but that’s where the similarities end.

Recently Fandango attended a Q&A and footage presentation with the film’s director, David Lowrey, and star Bryce Dallas Howard to find out what we could expect from this fantasy action-adventure. We can't reveal the details of the footage we saw but trust us -- the scene where Pete flies through the forest on Elliott’s back is worth the price of admission alone, and you definitely don’t want to be in the lobby getting popcorn during Pete’s escape from the “bad guys.”   

Moderator: This is not the Pete’s Dragon that most of us are familiar with. How did you know this was the “right” version to make?

Bryce Dallas Howard: Before I read the script, I had heard it was not a straight-up remake and that was the “yes” for me. In loving the original as much as I do, I didn’t want to make a copycat thing. I think we see enough of those. What centered the original film and made it lasting is the central idea of friendship. We’ve got the same themes here... the stuff that I consider to be its charm.

David Lowrey: We really wanted sell the idea of friendship between a child and a creature--the really close bond you can have with an animal. We wanted to hit home the heart of that, the emotions of that (friendship).

Lowrey: No, not really. This is a Pete’s Dragon for a new generation. We wanted to make a movie that avoided any winks and nods (to what was done in the original). Not because the original isn’t great but because we wanted to create a movie that stands in its own realm. The best thing would be for audiences who loved the original to see this and say this is a great new film about a boy named Pete and a dragon named Elliot, and anyone who hasn’t seen the original won’t be saying, “Wait, what are they talking about?” That would take them out of the movie.

Fandango: So no remix of “Candle on the Water” then? [The Oscar-nominated song from the original film]

Lowrey: No homage to that. But we do have a song in the movie, and it does play into the plot. The music in this movie is something I’m really proud of. I can’t wait to talk more about that in the future. There’s a lot of really exciting things going on with the music in this film. 

Moderator: You did take something from the original film though: the titular dragon, Elliot. Can you tell us a little bit about the design for Pete’s fire-breathing friend?    

Lowrey: The very first hook I had for myself when I was going in to meet the producers on this film was that I wanted the dragon to be furry, probably because I love my (furry) cats. I thought if we put a Game of Thrones kind of dragon in this he was going to be scaly and kind of cold. He would have been cool but he wouldn’t have been the kind of dragon you wanted to hug. We needed a dragon you could hug.    

Moderator: Speaking of things you want to hug, let’s talk about the two child stars of the movie, Oakes Fegley (Pete) and Oona Laurence (Natalie).

Howard: Oakes reminds me of my dad [actor-director Ron Howard] in a lot of ways He’s got this great talent but he’s not self aware about it. He’s a really relaxed person and has a great understanding of a movie set. Plus he has a deep sensitivity and empathy. He’s just beautiful to act opposite. 

Lowrey: We saw his tape and we were very excited to see him. Then he walked into the room and it was one of those classic things... we knew right away this was the guy. He had that quality where he wasn’t showing off or trying to impress us but he was just fascinating in everything we asked him to do. He had the perfect balance of resilience and sincerity. He was Pete. 

Howard: And next to Oakes, we had our young Meryl Streep, Oona. All of us were just looking at each other with wonder every time she performed. She just did everything perfectly, always.   

Lowrey: She commands the camera like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was crazy. 

Moderator: You had someone else on the set who’s pretty good at commanding the camera, Robert Redford (Mr. Meechum). How did you land the Oscar winner for this film?

Lowrey: I was working with him on another project, so I was at a script meeting with him and was like, “By the way, I’ve got this other thing I’m working on."  I was so glad he agreed to do this because he added a gravitas to the role that was incredible. 

Howard: He’s awesome, disarmingly relaxed, cool and game for things. He’s really fun and cool to work with. And he’s a real-life horse whisperer. There was a horse on the side of the road that he rescued. Seriously, the man rescued a horse during filming! [Note: Redford played the title character in the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer.] 

Lowrey: We were driving to the set one day and there was this horse on the side of the road. Bob said, “Yeah, that horse shouldn’t be there.” So he rescued it. That day. Himself.      

Moderator: Runaway horses, a 20-foot-tall CG dragon, child actors... sounds like you had quite a bit to contend with. What was the biggest challenge?

Howard: Keeping things real, for sure. Which isn’t easy to do when one of your main characters is animated. Having him be everything that we wanted him to be was very exciting and challenging. 

Lowrey: I think that’s why we tried to shoot as “practical” as possible. I thought, if we were going to have this big GC dragon, let’s make everything else real and have as little green screen as possible. So we went to New Zealand because it had the forest we needed, the weather we needed, etc. We found these locations that were absolutely beautiful, even though they took us hours to get to. It was totally worth it though because they made the movie more magical.

Pete’s Dragon comes to theaters August 12.