Sunday, 3 July 2011

"Brave" - updates and trailer




Brave: Teaser Trailer!

The teaser trailer for Brave has hit the web!

Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a skilled archer and the daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson).

Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.

Brave hits theaters NEXT SUMMER!



Source: Just Jared Jnr

STV also have an article featuring the trailer here.

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Land of the Brave: How new Disney movie will put Scotland right on the map

They are the movie geniuses who took us to the world of scary monsters, the depths of the ocean and the heart of the toy box. And now the animation pioneers of Pixar are getting ready to bring their audiences the most fantastic landscape they have ever encountered - the Highlands in 3D.

The Disney-owned studio are putting the finishing touches to the next computer-animated blockbuster, Brave, the mythical story of a Scottish princess taking on magical forces across the Highlands.

The film is released next summer but the Daily Record has been given an exclusive sneak peek at the eagerly anticipated film.

It features a Who's Who of Scots talent, including Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Robbie Coltrane and Craig Ferguson, alongside award-winning actresses Emma Thompson and Julie Walters.

But director Mark Andrews says the biggest star of the movie will be Scotland itself.

He has had teams of researchers scouring the country to make sure they get the scenery, the rain, the Scottish dialects - and even the midges - just right.

And Mark, who has worked on most of the other big Pixar hits but makes his feature directorial debut with Brave, says a lot of the credit for the movie will go to an anonymous Edinburgh cabbie who mapped out a special scenic route of Scotland for him on his honeymoon.

The director fell so much in love with the Scots countryside on that trip that he used the same cabbie-drawn map for his research team when they visited Scotland after Brave began pre-production in 2005.

He said: "The original story was written by Brenda Chapman who, like me, is a huge fan of Scotland. It's that old adage, write what you know and what you love, so she conceived this story and she wanted to set it in the place she loved.

"To set it in Scotland was a no-brainer. It's a place full of stories and full of powerful myths and magic, so what better place to set our story?

"I love the place. My family came over from Scotland about five centuries ago and my wife and I honeymooned in Scotland.

"We flew into Edinburgh and were planning to drive all over the country. This cab driver in Edinburgh asked what we were doing and drew us a new route on our map. We followed it and had just the best time.

"When we started researching Brave, we came to Scotland in 2005 and I told that story to Brenda and the crew.

"When we started researching Brave, we came to Scotland in 2005 and I told that story to Brenda and the crew.

"We followed that same cab driver map once again but went a bit further north and to places like Pitlochry, the Trossachs and then over to Skye and Harris and Lewis to see the stones. It was a two-week trip and we saw everything. It was fantastic."

Shot in the computer animation and 3D Pixar are famous for, the film has got a brand new look, with the bright animation filtered with incredibly lush and almost rain-soaked colours.

Mark said: "We spent a lot of time getting the research right. We have a midge in the film because everybody knows the midges in Scotland and we had to have one in there.

"The accents were also a huge deal for us, and the way your mouth moves when speaking with a Scottish accent is quite unique so we had a linguistics expert come in and work with our team. We also got lots of help from the Scottish cast.

"We realised Scotland is so lush and so textured and everything is weathered and there's a history and a veneer on everything.

" We couldn't downplay that or come up with some simple graphic design that would come even remotely close.

"Pixar are constantly pushing innovation of the medium so we put that to the technical crew that we wanted to get this look.

"We asked, 'Can we do this?', and they said they would give it a try. They have been blowing our minds with the amazing work they have been doing.

"I hope that Scottish audiences will see it and go 'Yep, that's exactly right.'

"While Pixar's next big-screen adventure is Cars 2, anticipation for the ground-breaking Brave is already building a year ahead of its release and a teaser trailer is expected to hit cinemas later this summer.

Originally titled The Bear And The Bow, it's about the adventures of Merida, a feisty archery-loving Scottish princess voiced by Kelly Macdonald.

She is at odds with her controlling but loving parents King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) and gets in trouble with some magic which has consequences for the whole kingdom.

Mark said: "It's all about the relationship between a mother and daughter, and how this young woman has problems with her mother.

"When she has a problem with her mother over marriage, she gets a magic spell to try to stop her mother bothering her with the suitor business.

"But it actually changes her mother into a bear."

Originally, Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon was set to get all Scots for the part (with a creditable accent, if reports are to be believed) but a problem with schedules meant she had to pull out at short notice.

In stepped rising star Kelly for her first Hollywood lead role and her first animated feature role too, hot on the heels of her big-time success in HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

Mark said: "We are very lucky with our cast. It's a great Scottish cast and we're delighted to have them all on board.

"Reese Witherspoon was cast as Merida but we were really saved by Kelly after she had to pull out.

"This was her first animated role and she has done just an incredible job. She is a real hero and has been amazing to work with.

"At first, when she came in, she was a little bit shy but she got going very quickly and was soon a great part of the team.

"It was late in the day that we had to make the change so we are delighted it worked out so well. We were lucky to have her."

Mark is delighted with his strong Scottish cast but is happy to have one American honorary Scot, in the shape of former Cheers star and Pixar ever present John Ratzenberger.

Mark added: "The performances the actors bring to the part will definitely make it into the characters. You will see Billy Connolly in Fergus, Craig Ferguson in Lord Macintosh and Kevin McKidd in Lord MacGuffin. And Kelly is definitely in Merida.

"You will definitely see all their qualities, just not their faces."

Source: Daily Record

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