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“Disney’s Planes” is an action-packed 3D animated comedy featuring Dusty, a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing–and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar.
Hitting theaters in August, “Disney’s Planes” is an all-new big-screen adventure produced at Southern California’s Disneytoon Studios. Directed by aviation enthusiast Klay Hall (“King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons”), produced by Traci Balthazor-Flynn (“Return to Never Land,” “Bambi II,” “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” as digital production manager), and executive produced by John Lasseter, the film showcases the crop duster’s desire to do more than what he was designed to do.
Says Hall, “I think people will really relate to ‘Disney’s Planes’ because it’s a great underdog story. It has a lot of heart and a message we can all use: If we can believe in ourselves, step out of our comfort zones and get past whatever fear is holding us back, we’d be surprised with the results. And that’s exactly what happens to Dusty in this movie. He’s a crop duster who’s never flown above 1,000 feet, but he dreams of being the fastest air racer in the world. He has a lot of obstacles to overcome and needs to dig pretty deep to find the courage to become more than what he was built for.”
According to Balthazor-Flynn, the global setting of the film invites audiences along for the ride. “Dusty has never been far from home, so he’s experiencing the world for the first time,” she says. “The film visits places many of us–like Dusty–have never seen. It features characters from all over the world–diverse personalities we can get behind and root for. It’s a real adventure–a road movie in the sky.”
Head in the Clouds
Klay Hall was into airplanes long before “Disney’s Planes” ever got off the ground. So when executive producer John Lasseter asked the Disneytoon Studios veteran if he’d be interested in directing a feature film set in the skies, it was a no-brainer. “I’ve always loved airplanes,” says Hall. “My dad was in the Navy and his dad was also a pilot. They flew all their lives and passed that love of aviation to me.
“When I was a kid here in California,” continues Hall, “my dad and I would grab some burgers and Cokes and go to the local runway to watch the planes take off and land. I’d sit there and sketch as he talked about the characteristics of the airplanes. I still have a couple of those drawings. So when this project came up, I was able to really jump into this universe.”
Hall’s passion for and background in aviation clearly made him the ideal choice for the film — but the director was already on board another project when “Disney’s Planes” landed in his lap. At the suggestion of John Lasseter, Hall spent more than six months researching and building a story set in the American frontier and featuring railroading. “I’m a history buff — just like John — and it was neat world full of steam locomotives,” says Hall. “It really seemed to be coming together and then John called me. I remember exactly where I was when my phone rang. He said, ‘What do you think about shifting gears and working on a film about planes?’ I paused for a second — John likes to say that as soon as the blood went back to my head after I got off the floor, I was all in. I told him that if there’s one thing I love more than trains and the wild west, it’s planes.”
The director, who attended Cal Arts with fellow animation vets Rich Moore (“Wreck-It Ralph”) and Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL*E”), came to Disney in 2005. “My background has always been primetime comedy,” says Hall. “I spent 10 years at ‘The Simpsons’ and then ‘King of the Hill.'”
So when it came time to build the story for “Disney’s Planes,” humor was a key ingredient — along with the kind of action a film about airplanes called for and — of course — authenticity and heart. Hall credits the story team with finding the right blend. “What’s really cool about making an animated film is — hands down — the collaboration. I think animation is the most collaborative art form there is. It takes an army of talented people to do one of these films.”
Hall, Lasseter and Jeff Howard came together early in the process to hammer out the story. “We sat in a little room for five or six hours,” says Howard, who welcomed the opportunity to brainstorm with Lasseter. “We all respect him so much, creatively — and we were invited to hang out and spitball with him. That’s when we came up with the idea of a crop duster who wants to be a racer. We named him Dusty that first day and talked about a race around the world where he’d meet racers from different countries.”
“It just felt right,” says Lasseter. “There’s a great group of new characters who fly throughout different parts of the world — Iceland, Germany, India, Mexico. We knew from the start that it had to be better than good. It had to be great. And it is. It’s beautiful. To say that I’m excited about this movie is an understatement.”
Disney’s Planes (2013)
Directed by: Klay Hall
Starring: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Cedric the Entertainer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Priyanka Chopra, Gabriel Iglesias
Production Design by: Ryan L. Carlson
Film Editing by: Jeremy Milton
Art Direction by: Ryan L. Carlson
Music by: Mark Mancina
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild action and rude humor.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: August 8, 2013
Visits: 64
