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This 'Starburst' house in Joshua Tree made from shipping containers is on sale for $3.5 million - and it hasn't even been built yet

The producer of the cult classic movie 'American Psycho' is building a shipping container home in the California desert that looks like an exploding star. Take a look inside the Starburst House.

America's biggest private-equity firms are screwing over college students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Insider spoke with industry experts about the push for diversity in Hollywood.</li><li><keyword id="921897" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Michael-B-Jordan">Michael B. Jordan</keyword> spoke about his decision to move into producing and championing underrepresented voices.</li><li>"You have to control your own destiny. You have to create. You have to own things," he said.</li></ul><p>As protests spread globally after the <a href="https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-begged-police-not-to-shoot-body-cam-transcripts-2020-7">police killing of George Floyd last year</a>, <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword> companies offered statements of solidarity promising to address institutional inequalities. And as wide reaching as the show of solidarity was, it was clearly a fight that Hollywood's film studios couldn't just watch from the sidelines.</p><p>The US cinema's record on diversity and inclusion has improved over the past decade, with both people of color and women making huge strides on-screen; but movies still lag behind the population and other creative industries, specifically in its executive ranks.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/15/spike-lee-easier-to-be-black-us-president-than-studio-head">Spike Lee once joked</a>, it's easier to elect a Black president than a Black Hollywood studio executive.</p><p>Creators of color are still largely voiceless in major decisions that directly affect their craft and livelihoods. And now, after the US sent its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-makes-history-first-woman-black-vice-president-elect-2020-11">first woman of color to the White House</a>, the spotlight is again on the big screen.</p><h2><keyword id="323507" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Spike-Lee">Spike Lee</keyword> ushered in the modern Black cinema movement</h2><div type="image" title="Spike Lee Oscars 1990" height="1340" width="1787" msid="80652962" hostid="261"></div><p>The arrival of Spike Lee ushered in modern-day Black cinema and created the black new wave, which ran from the 1980s to the early '90s.</p><p>The acclaimed director was followed by a group of energetic filmmakers, including John Singleton ("Boyz n the Hood") and Mario Van Peebles ("New Jack City"), whose films shined a light on a variety of Black American experiences never seen on the big screen.</p><p>The new wave's influence was best illustrated in the July 1991 issue of New York Times Magazine, which ran a cover story on the filmmakers titled <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/magazine/theyve-gotta-have-us.html">"They've Gotta Have Us: Hollywood's Black Directors."</a></p><p>But the most important ingredient to the new wave's success, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/movies/black-directors-1990s.html">as fleeting as it may have been</a>, wasn't Hollywood's desire to address its racialized history, experts said.</p><p><strong><em>Read more:</em></strong> <a href="https://www.insider.com/hollywood-is-dying-pandemic-2021-1"><em>Hollywood on the rocks: How the $100 billion entertainment industry can emerge after a seismic shift</em></a></p><p>"It was about making money," Paula Massood, the chair of the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College, told Insider. "It wasn't at that point about representation in the same way that discussions now about BIPOC filmmakers are more about representation across the board."</p><p>"At that point it was, Spike Lee's here, he's making some films. We need to start thinking about how we can capitalize on that same sort of audience," Massood said.</p><p>The period ushered in a handful of Black films in the '90s, including "Friday," "Poetic Justice," "Juice," and "Menace II Society," all of which helped to dispel the pernicious Hollywood myth that diverse films simply didn't perform well at the box office.</p><h2>A similar Black-filmmaker renaissance came 3 decades later</h2><div type="image" title="Steve McQueen" height="2022" width="3000" msid="80652963" hostid="261"></div><p>It would take more than 30 years to see a similar wave for Black creatives. And 2013 was particularly important, with many assuming that Barack Obama's election in 2008 was the spark that prompted an inclusive shift throughout the US that rubbed off in the cultural industries.</p><p>But seven years and one president later, it's clear these post-racial ideas are not only unhelpful but also inaccurate. They give too much credit to the Hollywood establishment.</p><p>In reality, the set of films released in 2013 were a result of creativity that had flourished independently, and their transition to the mainstream was a matter of timing.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-b-jordan-facts-2019-2">10 things you probably didn't know about Michael B. Jordan</a></em></p><p>Take one of the most successful releases from the renaissance set: Ryan Coogler's <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-to-watch-to-learn-about-racism-2020-6">"Fruitvale Station,"</a> which swept the festival circuit and picked up awards at Sundance and Cannes.</p><p>The director, who'd go on to lead the "Black Panther" franchise, wrote <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-to-watch-to-learn-about-racism-2020-6#ryan-cooglers-directorial-debut-fruitvale-station-tells-the-story-of-the-last-day-of-oscar-grants-life-before-he-was-shot-in-the-back-by-a-police-officer-5">the acclaimed drama</a> based on the 2009 fatal shooting of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/09/oscar-grant-oakland-police-shooting">22-year-old Oscar Grant</a> by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer. Coogler made the film independently in two weeks with the help of Forest Whitaker and Octavia Spencer, who stars as Grant's mother.</p><p>"That's where things really started to pick up for me," Michael B. Jordan, who portrayed Grant in the film, told Insider. "Grabbing attention, selling the movie, it showed that we could do it with limited resources, and that was a small telling of what we could do when we got more resources."</p><h2>It's not enough to be on-screen. Black creatives must advocate behind the scenes, too, filmmakers say.</h2><div type="image" title="michael b jordan february 2020" height="1856" width="2839" msid="80652964" hostid="261"></div><p>As things have <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-b-jordan-movies-ranked-critics-black-panther-creed-2020-12">blossomed for Jordan</a> and other creators from the 2013 set, many have realized that the only way to create a long-lasting change in Hollywood is to have a strong presence beyond the red carpets.</p><p>"You have to control your own destiny. You have to create. You have to own things," Jordan said.</p><p>The 33-year-old actor launched his own production company, Outlier Society, with the goal of uplifting diverse stories and voices. It's a creative vision he's had since his start in the business.</p><p>"Being an actor of color, being a Black man in this industry, and putting on people and giving other people opportunities to win, for me it was something that I've always wanted to do," he said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-b-jordan-talks-blm-speech-working-with-denzel-washington-2021-1">Michael B. Jordan says he isn't afraid to 'call out' Hollywood and talks working with 'the GOAT' Denzel Washington</a></em></p><p>Coming off the historic 2018 success of <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-panther-hidden-details-didnt-know-2018-2">Marvel's "Black Panther,"</a> where he reunited with Coogler, Jordan made what will perhaps turn out to be his most meaningful move by becoming the first major star to announce that he and his production company would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-michael-b-jordan-says-he-will-adopt-inclusion-rider-2018-3?amp">adopt inclusion riders</a> - a formal declaration of diverse hiring practices - as standard.</p><p>Jordan was also instrumental in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/05/warner-bros-adopts-company-wide-inclusion-policy-to-boost-diversity">pushing Warner Media to adopt a similar</a> inclusive-hiring policy on all its productions, with the recent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-watch-just-mercy-free-streaming-rental">civil-rights drama "Just Mercy"</a> being the first to implement them.</p><p>Inclusion riders are now pretty much a mainstay with the Oscars announcing its own inclusion policy last year. It requires all films competing for the best-picture gong to <a href="https://www.insider.com/oscars-set-inclusion-standards-best-picture-category-2020-9#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20meet%20the,least%2030%25%20of%20the%20film's">meet standards of diversity on set.</a></p><div type="image" title="Ava DuVernay" height="2003" width="3000" msid="80652965" hostid="261"></div><p>"This was one of the steps that I saw that could actually ensure that the productions and the projects that I'm a part of would honor the same values that I have for myself," Jordan said.</p><p>The pace of this trickle-down effect is undoubtedly a result of Jordan's star power.</p><p>"I didn't realize this until I had worked next to somebody who was a star, but people really want to be close to and, in Hollywood terms, in business with celebrity and talent," Alana Mayo, a former head of production at Outlier told Insider.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.insider.com/ava-duvernay-bubble-queen-sugar-2020-10">Ava DuVernay says 'Queen Sugar' cast and crew are living in a 36-room hotel to film new season</a></em></p><p>Jordan "was in rooms that other people don't get to be in and really using that power and that privilege to push this, but also he was able to champion material," Mayo said.</p><p>There are now similar examples across the industry with filmmakers such as Ava DuVernay with Array, Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions, and the Will and Jada Pinkett Smith-helmed Overbrook Entertainment. With so many <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/ava-duvernay-peter-roth-array-crew-database-below-the-line-diversity-1234876236/">cementing their places behind the camera,</a> the shift toward inclusion has become less of a passing wave and more of a concrete change.</p><h2>After taking the reins, Black creatives now want the power to tell their own stories</h2><div type="image" title="Alana Mayo" height="2070" width="3115" msid="80652967" hostid="261"></div><p>Despite big strides on-screen, there's been almost no change within senior leadership of the major Hollywood studios.</p><p>"Certainly not among the top decision-makers," Darnell Hunt, the coauthor of the University of California Los Angeles'<a href="https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/2020-hollywood-diversity-report"> "2020 Hollywood Diversity Report,"</a> told Insider.</p><p>UCLA's report found that among all senior studio executive positions, 93% percent were held by white people and 80% were men.</p><p>In August, MGM made one of the most substantial moves toward correcting this imbalance. The storied studio, which stretches back almost a century and is home to titles such as "The Wizard of Oz," "Thelma &amp; Louise," and the James Bond franchise, relaunched its boutique label, Orion Pictures, and hired Mayo to lead the division with a focus on producing, developing, and acquiring films that amplify underrepresented voices in front of and behind the camera.</p><p>"The idea will be to make, ultimately, four to six films a year," said Mayo, who will have complete control over the creative direction at Orion, including leading the studio's all-female greenlight committee.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.insider.com/jordan-peele-says-doesnt-see-himself-casting-white-lead-movie-2019-3">Jordan Peele says he doesn't see himself ever casting a white male lead: 'I've seen that movie'</a></em></p><p>"The soul of it, the reason for being," she added, "is to do that with the filmmakers behind the camera, the people on-screen, and the narrative content of the story, and the intended targeted audience, prioritizing exclusively BIPOC, women, and queer narratives."</p><p>Similar executive moves were made last year with the industry veteran Nicole Brown being named president of Sony's Tri-Star pictures and Vanessa Morrison taking over as the head of original films for Disney Plus.</p><p>But who will follow suit? It will perhaps be the test of Hollywood's investment in systematic change.</p><p>"I'm not as optimistic as Gandhi and MLK and Obama are," Alana told Insider. "However, you have to take a moment to sit there and say, 'OK, well, now we know it's possible, because it's been done.'"</p><p><em>This story is part of </em><a href="https://www.insider.com/hollywood-is-dying-pandemic-2021-1"><em>Insider's State of Hollywood</em></a><em> digital series, which details how the $100 billion entertainment industry shifted in 2020. </em><a href="https://www.insider.com/hollywood-is-dying-pandemic-2021-1"><em>Click here to read more.</em></a></p>

Diversity on-screen keeps improving, but Black filmmakers including Michael B. Jordan say the fight must now move to the boardroom

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1635781" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chadwick-Boseman">Chadwick Boseman</keyword> died Friday at the age of 43.</li><li>Boseman was battling colon cancer since 2016 in private.</li><li>"<keyword id="587725" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-panther">Black Panther</keyword>" and <keyword id="47501" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Marvel">Marvel</keyword> stars from Angela Bassett to Chris Hemsworth remember the actor as a kind, modest, and great man.</li></ul><p>Actor Chadwick Boseman <a href="https://www.insider.com/black-panther-star-chadwick-boseman-dies-of-cancer-age-43-2020-8">died Friday of cancer at the age of 43</a>.</p><p>Boseman had quietly been battling colon cancer since 2016, <a href="https://twitter.com/chadwickboseman/status/1299530165463199747">according to a statement released on Twitter</a>. The actor filmed many of his movies, including "Marshall" to "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Endgame" during and between surgery and chemotherapy. </p><p>"It was the honor of his career to bring King T'Challa to life in Black Panther," reads the statement on his official Twitter account. </p><p>Disney and Boseman's Marvel family responded to the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> with shock, grief, and stories of the actor's geuine spirit, modesty, and lasting impact.</p><h2>Boseman's "Black Panther" cast members remember a modest man who they all loved.</h2><div type="image" title="black panther SAG 2019" height="1626" width="2500" msid="77819285" hostid="261"></div><p>Angela Bassett, who played Boseman's mother in "Black Panther," said they were meant to be connected.</p><p>During the film's premiere party, he told Bassett they actually met years before making the film.</p><p>"He whispered that when I received my honorary degree from Howard University, his alma mater, he was the student assigned to escort me that day," <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEdWTTlDysD/?igshid=1q8x3ud8eql6n">wrote Bassett on Instagram</a>. "Here we were, years later as friends and colleagues, enjoying the most glorious night ever!"</p><p>"I pay tribute to a beautiful spirit, a consummate artist, a soulful brother..."thou aren't not dead but flown afar...". All you possessed, Chadwick, you freely gave. Rest now, sweet prince," Bassett added.</p><p>"This Is Us" star Sterling K. Brown, who played Boseman's young father, was beyond words.</p><p>"Your light brightened our days. It will continue to brighten our hearts and minds," wrote Forest Whitaker. "Let the heavens be blessed as you illuminate the sky.</p><p>The Oscar winner played T'Challa's mentor, Zuri.</p><p>Letitia Wright was cast as T'Challa's bright, younger sister, Shuri.</p><h2>Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige said "nobody was better at bringing great men to life."</h2><p><a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/remembering-chadwick-boseman/">In a statement via the Walt Disney Company</a>, Feige called Boseman's <keyword id="6355784" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="death">death</keyword> "absolutely devastating."</p><p>Feige introduced fans to Boseman in October 2014 during a Marvel event in Los Angeles, California. Boseman first appeared as Black Panther in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War."</p><div type="image" title="kevin feige chadwick boseman 2014" height="1890" width="2500" msid="77818165" hostid="261"></div><p>Here's Feige's full statement:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"Chadwick's passing is absolutely devastating. He was our T'Challa, our Black Panther, and our dear friend. Each time he stepped on set, he radiated charisma and joy, and each time he appeared on screen, he created something truly indelible. He embodied a lot of amazing people in his work, and nobody was better at bringing great men to life. He was as smart and kind and powerful and strong as any person he portrayed. Now he takes his place alongside them as an icon for the ages. The Marvel Studios family deeply mourns his loss, and we are grieving tonight with his family."</p><h2><strong>Disney executive chairman Bob Iger remembered Boseman as "one of the most gentle and giving souls." He previously said "Black Panther" was the film he was most proud of during his tenure as CEO.</strong></h2><p><strong><div type="image" title="bob iger chadwick boseman" height="1499" width="1999" msid="77818172" hostid="261"></div></strong></p><p>"He brought enormous strength, dignity and depth to his groundbreaking role of Black Panther; shattering myths and stereotypes, becoming a long-awaited hero to millions around the world, and inspiring us all to dream bigger and demand more than the status quo," Iger <a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/remembering-chadwick-boseman/">said in a statement from Disney</a>.  </p><p>"We mourn all that he was, as well as everything he was destined to become," Iger added. " For his friends and millions of fans, his absence from the screen is only eclipsed by his absence from our lives. All of us at Disney send our prayers and heartfelt condolences to his family."</p><p>In his 2019 memoir, "The Ride of a Lifetime," Iger said out of every movie the company made during his tenure as Disney CEO, <a href="https://www.insider.com/bob-iger-proudest-disney-movie-black-panther-2019-9">he was most proud of "Black Panther."</a></p><p>Iger detailed how he received some pushback from Marvel executives in New York to originally produce the film. They were concerned a <a href="https://www.insider.com/marvel-ceo-didnt-want-to-make-black-panther-and-captain-marvel-2019-9">"black-led superhero movie couldn't perform at the box office."</a></p><p>"Black Panther" grossed <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marvel2017b.htm">over $1.3 billion worldwide</a>. </p><h2>Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo lead an outpouring of tributes and condolences from Boseman's extended Marvel family.</h2><p>Captain America actor, Chris Evans, said he was "absolutely devastated" by the news.</p><p>"This is beyond heartbreaking," wrote Evans on Twitter. "Chadwick was special. A true original. He was a deeply committed and constantly curious artist. He had so much amazing work still left to create. I'm endlessly grateful for our friendship. Rest in power, King."</p><p>Evans shared two photos of the stars together.</p><p>Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk/Bruce Banner, called Boseman "<a href="https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/1299541402800533505">one of the all time greats.</a>"</p><p>Thor actor, Chris Hemsworth, remembers him as one of the "most genuine" people he's met.</p><p>Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) shared a short, silent video of the two happy and laughing. He called him a hero.</p><p>"Mr. Boseman leveled the playing field while fighting for his life... That's heroism..." wrote Downey Jr.</p><p>Jeremy Renner, who played Hawkeye/Clint Barton, said he was "deeply heartboken." </p><p>Hawkeye and Black Panther shared a memorable moment in "Endgame" that called back to their first meeting in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War." When the two first met, T'Challa acted like he didn't care to learn Clint's first name.</p><p>After not seeing Hawkeye for five years, T'Challa called the character by name, acknowledging that he was paying attention at the time.</p><p>"Chadwick Boseman was brilliant, gentle and princely, and the world is a poorer place without him," tweeted Paul Bettany, who play Vision in the MCU.</p><p>Samuel L. Jackson, who rounded up the Avengers as Nick Fury, thanked Boseman for the body of work he provided.</p><p>One of the villains of "Captain America: Civil War," Frank Grillo, shared a photo of Boseman from the 2018 Met Gala.</p><h2><strong>The Russo brothers, who directed Boseman in three Marvel movies, shared behind-the-scenes photos of the actor.</strong></h2><p>Anthony and Joe Russo directed Boseman in "Captain America: Civil War," "Avengers: Infinity War," and "Avengers: Endgame." The brothers shared two set images of Boseman.</p><p>"He inspired an entire generation to stand up and be king. Honor him by emulating him-show kindness and love to others," wrote the Russos. "Share your talents in ways that impact. Always strive to be a light in the darkness.</p><h2><strong>Spider-Man actor, Tom Holland, called Boseman a role model.</strong></h2><p>"Chadwick, you were even more of a hero off screen than on. A role model not only to me on set, but to millions of others around the world," wrote <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEdhYSOFzzm/">Holland on Instagram</a>. </p><p>He shared a photo of Boseman visiting a child in a hospital.</p><h2>Don Cheadle, who plays War Machine, shared a birthday with Boseman.</h2><p>He said he'll miss his "birthday brother" who was "always light and love" to him.</p><h2><strong>"Guardians of the Galaxy" actress Zoe Saldana said she'll tell her sons about Boseman forever.</strong></h2><p>"My heart is so heavy right now," Saldana wrote in an Instagram post. "Your passing has hit me hard. I will tell my sons about you forever. You were one of the classiest men I have ever met in my life."</p><p>Saldana has played Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The two both appeared in a big battle sequence of "Avengers: Endgame."</p><p>"Guardians" costar, Chris Pratt, who plays Star Lord, shared a prayer.</p><p>Drax actor, Dave Baustista, tweeted, "#WakandaForever." The "Black Panther" phrase was shared by many fans to commemorate Boseman.</p><h2><strong>Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson recounted Boseman's spirit and power.</strong></h2><p>"Chadwick was someone who radiated power and peace," wrote Larson in a <a href="https://twitter.com/brielarson/status/1299543020497440771">note attached to a tweet</a>. "Who stood for so much more than himself. Who took the time to really see how you were doing and gave words of encouragement when you felt unsure."</p><h2><strong>Simu Liu said he wouldn't have a chance to play Marvel's Shang-Chi without Boseman's Black Panther.</strong></h2><p>"Without Chadwick, and what he gave to his character, there is no Shang Chi. Period," wrote Liu. </p><p>Liu will play the Asian superhero in the upcoming "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."</p><h2><strong>Marvel directors from Taika Waititi to Scott Derrickson have also paid tribute.</strong></h2><p>"Thor: Ragnarok" director Taika Waititi shared a Maori phrase, "Takoto mai rā e Āriki," which roughly translates to, "lie down, Lord."</p><p>"Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson said he was "<a href="https://twitter.com/scottderrickson/status/1299533713768738818">crushed</a>" by the news in a series of tweets. He recalled his reaction to the "Black Panther" cast announcement at 2016's San Diego Comic-Con. </p><p>In a string of tweets, "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn said he's <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1299754404443160577">had a hard time</a> processing Chadwick's death knowing all of the work he did while he was fighting cancer.</p><p>Gunn pledged to help the charities and causes Chadwick cared about.</p><p>"Ant-Man" director Peyton Reed shared one word: "<a href="https://twitter.com/MrPeytonReed/status/1299536872918532096">Heartbroken</a>."</p><h2><strong>That's the sentiment across the extended Marvel family.</strong></h2><p>Clark Gregg is one of the few actors who appeared in the Marvel movies and ABC's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as Agent Coulson.</p><p>Ming-Na Wen starred as Agent Melinda May on the ABC series alongside Gregg.</p><p>Karen Gillan plays Nebula in the MCU.</p><p>Josh Brolin, who played "Avengers: Endgame" villain, Thanos, said he was floored.</p><p>"His stamp of excellence will live on every time we watch him remind us of all they were and all we can be," tweeted Yvette Nicole Brown, who appeared in "Endgame" as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.</p><p>"Community" star Ken Jeong also appeared briefly in "Endgame" as a security guard.</p><h2>Marvel Studios released a photo of Boseman as his Black Panther character with a reminder that he'll live on.</h2><p>Marvel Studios released an image of Boseman as T'Challa, with a simple message. </p><p>"Our hearts a broken and our thoughts are with Chadwick Boseman's family," the statement reads. </p><p>Most important is the final line, which reads, "your legacy will live on forever."  </p><p>Boseman was set to reprise his role as T'Challa in a "Black Panther" sequel in 2022. </p>

Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, and more Marvel stars pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Marvel finally gave Black Panther his own movie, and it was worth the wait.</strong></li><li><strong>It's a movie that has lots of action, but also has a deep story about family, heritage, and community.</strong></li><li><strong>Michael B. Jordan elevates the movie from good to great.</strong></li></ul><p><br>Like "Wonder Woman" last year, "Black Panther" is a project that fans have been waiting decades to see. And just like "Wonder Woman," it was worth the wait.</br></p><p>The latest superhero movie brought into Marvel's MCU may be its most meaningful yet. In a time when audiences want different stories told by (and focused on) people who rarely get the spotlight, "Black Panther" comes at the perfect time.</p><p>Director Ryan Coogler - who showed with "Creed" that he could work within the confines of an existing franchise and still give us something special - uses the tools and resources that come with Marvel Studios to build out a movie that isn't just filled with action (and sometimes has a Bond film vibe), but also brings the audience on an emotional journey about family and community.</p><p>We meet up with T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) following the death of his father (which happened in "Captain America: Civil War") and his return to Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. Immediately, we are thrust into the beauty, technology, and heritage that is Wakanda, a nation located in Africa that Black Panther rules over, and is technologically advanced due to the use of a special material called Vibranium.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The fact that Wakanda is hidden has protected its people, but T'Challa knows that the tech they possess could help those outside its walls. Should he let his kingdom be more open to the outside world? It's something he ponders until he learns that Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), now sporting an arm cannon since "Age of Ultron," is causing trouble with the Vibranium he possesses. When T'Challa investigates with his new and improved Black Panther suit, it's revealed that Klaue has teamed with Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who has a shocking backstory related to T'Challa and his family that could affect everything T'Challa is trying to do.<p>Honestly, there are moments in this movie that get really deep. This is far from a Marvel movie with constant action. There's a solid story in "Black Panther" (written by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole), which might get tiresome for some audiences. But what it does is help with delving into the story arc of Killmonger, and bolsters Jordan's standout villain performance.</p><p>Jordan plays a Killmonger fueled with hate and emptiness - we won't give away why - but he also delivers it with a swagger that's just a joy to watch. The movie takes off more in story and viewing enjoyment whenever Jordan is on screen.</p><p>Perhaps the biggest strength of "Black Panther" is its character development. This is particularly true for T'Challa's sassy sister/tech wiz Shuri (Letitia Wright), and the head of his royal guard, Okoye (Danai Gurira), who are major scene-stealers.</p><p>Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Martin Freeman, Forest Whitaker, and a small (but important) role for Sterling K. Brown, round out a really strong ensemble.</p><p>And the movie isn't all serious, just so you know.</p><p>There are a lot of lighthearted moments - from Shuri making fun of T'Challa's footwear, to Serkis' over-the-top antics as Klaue (honestly, it's nice to see Serkis get to perform on screen once in a while in his own skin and not motion-capture form), to Martin Freeman as CIA operative Everett Ross who is used perfectly as the vessel for any soft-handed jokes about race (as he's the only white guy on Black Panther's team).</p><p>"Black Panther" opens in theaters February 16.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/roger-frampton-exercises-at-home-are-as-good-as-going-to-the-gym-2018-2">Movement coach Roger Frampton explains why exercising at home is as good as going to the gym</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

'Black Panther' is the rare Marvel movie that makes you care about the villain - and Michael B. Jordan delivers an incredible performance

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Disney may have its first hiccup in its lucrative "Star Wars" franchise.<p>The first cut of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was shown to Disney executives, and they were not satisfied, according to a <a href="http://pagesix.com/2016/05/30/disney-execs-in-a-panic-over-upcoming-star-wars-film/" target="_blank">Page Six story</a>&#xa0;quoting an anonymous source.</p><p>The source told Page Six that the execs "are not happy with the movie" and it will now go back and do four weeks of reshoots in July.</p><p>Directed by Gareth Edwards ("Godzilla") and starring Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Diego Luna, "Rogue One"&#xa0;is the first-ever feature-length spin-off of the "Star Wars" saga. It looks at the Rebel forces taking on the Empire before the events that transpire in "Episode IV," the original 1977 film.</p><p>Reshoots are nothing new for a large movie. In March, news broke that "Suicide Squad" was also <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/suicide-squad-reshoots-2016-3" target="_blank">going back for reshoots</a>.</p><p>In fact, most Hollywood movies, especially titles like "Rogue One" that have&#xa0;the studio's full attention, do reshoots. Sometimes it's to clean up clarity in scenes, or there are rewrites after the first cut is screened. But what will put "Star Wars" fans on edge is that, if you believe the Page Six source,&#xa0;Disney execs aren't happy with what they saw in "Rogue One."</p><p>There's certainly a lot of pressure for Edwards to deliver the same kind of hit that J.J. Abrams did with "The Force Awakens," but that might set up unfair expectations.</p><p>Abrams took a lot of the great parts of the original trilogy to continue the story in "Force Awakens." Though there will certainly be some "Star Wars" hallmarks in "Rogue One" (maybe even a cameo by the young Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich), the movie will basically be a brand new tale. And if there's anything Hollywood studio heads don't like, it's putting hundreds of millions of dollars into something that isn't a sure thing.</p><p>So think of the reshoots as Disney trying to hedge its bet.</p><p>"Rogue One" will open in theaters December 16.</p><p>Disney did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</p><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-thrones-episode-5-season-6-hbo-2016-5">4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RrZzFvMzE62J_JVixUo3L04tKYy8riVe" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Disney execs are reportedly 'not happy' with the 'Star Wars' spin-off and have demanded reshoots

<p><span>There is a lot of "Star Wars" news Saturday!</span></p><p><span>Disney and Lucasfilm announced <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/star-wars-episode-9-colin-trevorrow-2015-8">the director for "Star Wars: Episode IX,"</a> revealed the <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/heres-the-first-official-star-wars-the-force-awakens-poster-2015-8">first poster for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens,"</a> and revealed plans for a <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/disney-just-announced-plans-for-massive-star-wars-theme-parks-2015-8">massive "Star Wars" expansion into its theme parks</a> at fan convention D23.</span></p><p><span>The studio also announced the first standalone "Star Wars" spin-off movie </span><span>"Rogue One" has begun principal photography, and celebrated by showing off the first cast photo for the film.</span></p><p><span>You can check it out below:</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Disney</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The standalone film will take place before the events of "Star Wars: A New Hope" following a group of resistance fighters who are working together to steal plans to the Death Star. Gareth Edwards ("Godzilla") will direct the movie. </span></p><p><span><span><span>"It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential </span><em>Star Wars</em><span> feel that fans have come to know," said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a press release. "Gareth is such an innovative director and I'm so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he's selected for 'Rogue One.'"</span></span> </span></p><p>Here's a quick breakdown of who will star:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Oscar nominee Felicity Jones ("The Theory of Everyting")<br />Diego Luna ("Milk")<br />Ben Mendelsohn (Netflix's "Bloodline")<br />Hong Kong action star and martial artist Donnie Yen ("Blade II")<br />Jiang Wen ("Let the Bullets Fly")<br />Oscar winner Forest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland")<br />Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal," "Casino Royale")<br />Alan Tudk will play a performance-capture character<br />Riz Ahmed ("Nightcrawler")</p><p><span>"Rogue One" will be released December 16, 2016.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-harrison-ford-first-event-accident-2015-7"> Here's the moment Harrison Ford surprised fans during the 'Star Wars' Comic-Con panel</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tuNDE4djrjkOXOOKUQ23PFOGxEUjJs6F" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's the first cast photo of 'Star Wars' spin-off movie 'Rogue One'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Even with the COVID-19 pandemic slowing down production, <keyword id="2370" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="hollywood">Hollywood</keyword> managed to put out a slew of exciting new projects full of ambitious stunts and special effects.</li><li>From the massive battle scenes in <a href="https://www.insider.com/disney-live-action-mulan-movie-review">"Mulan"</a> to the gripping <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-wild-stunts-and-fights-of-birds-of-prey-2020-2">fight sequences</a> in <a href="https://www.insider.com/birds-of-prey-movie-review-2020-2">"Birds of Prey,"</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-extraction-chris-hemsworth-one-take-fight-scene-2020-5">"Extraction,"</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-old-guard-fight-coordinator-charlize-theron-injuries-2020-7">"The Old Guard,"</a> this year's action films pushed actors and stunt performers to undergo extensive weapons and <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-the-airplane-fight-in-the-old-guard-was-done-2020-7">combat training</a>.</li><li>With Pixar's <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-pixar-revolutionized-way-clothes-are-animated-digital-cloth-technology-2020-3">"Onward"</a> and Netflix's "<a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-over-the-moon-review">Over the Moon,"</a> 3D-animated films found innovative ways to animate and <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-over-the-moon-animators-light-scenes-in-animated-movies-2020-11">light</a> their characters and worlds, the likes of which we've never seen before.</li><li>Boundary-pushing digital effects made <keyword id="406" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Movies">movies</keyword> like <a href="https://www.insider.com/dolittle-movie-review-robert-downey-jr-2020-1">"Dolittle,"</a> <a href="https://www.insider.com/every-version-sonic-the-hedgehog-1991-today-evolution-2020-2">"Sonic the Hedgehog,"</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/call-of-the-wild-real-life-dog-2020-4">"The Call of the Wild"</a> possible by combining CG animals with live-action humans and environments.  </li></ul><p><em>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.</em></p><p><strong>Narrator: </strong>2020 was in many ways a rough year for Hollywood, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back some of the year's most anticipated movies. But the industry rallied by releasing no shortage of ambitious and exciting new projects, which brought their own set of breakthroughs in the world of special effects.</p><p>From massive battle and fight sequences to some of the most realistic practical effects we've ever seen, here's a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the biggest films of the year. Three, two, one!</p><p>To play the legendary warrior <keyword id="3026859" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mulan">Mulan</keyword> in Disney's live-action film, Liu Yifei spent three months training for up to seven hours a day. This demanding regimen paid off. The film's cinematographer, Mandy Walker, told insider that Yifei was able to execute about 90% of her own stunt work.</p><p>In preparation for the film's acrobatic fight sequences, Yifei and her castmates were schooled in everything from weapons handling and archery to military marching and horseback riding. The performers did their most dramatic midair stunts while attached to wires or beams so that it looked like their characters were flying or spinning through the air.</p><p>All in all, the film's action sequences required 90 horses, 80 trick riders, 4,000 prop weapons, 281 sets of armor for the Chinese army, and 730 pieces of armor for the Rouran army.</p><p>How do you create a terrifying monster out of nothing? It turns out, with a lot of clever camera and stunt work. This scene from "<keyword id="920693" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-Invisible-Man">The Invisible Man</keyword>," where the titular villain throws Elisabeth Moss' character across the table, is actually a bunch of shots stitched together.</p><p>First, the crew filmed Elisabeth as she was about to be thrown. Next, they swapped in the actor's stunt double and filmed her being thrown by another stunt performer in a green suit. Then they swapped in Elisabeth again. In postproduction, VFX artists combined the plates, then digitally erased the green-suit performer and the ropes used for the stunt.</p><p>For it all to match up perfectly, the crew had to shoot the whole thing with a motion-controlled camera, which could be programmed to perform precise, repeatable camera movements.</p><p>That wasn't the only bit of camera trickery in the film. On the last day of shooting, when filming this scene, the camera team had to get what they called "an impossible shot" -- one that involved passing a camera out of a moving car into another moving car, all in one smooth handoff.</p><p>"Extraction" marked the directorial debut of Sam Hargrave, the veteran stunt coordinator behind "Atomic Blonde" and a number of Marvel movies. Naturally, then, the Netflix thriller was full of daredevil stunt work -- just as much from the camera crew as from the actors and stunt performers.</p><p>The centerpiece of the film was what the crew referred to as "the oner" -- an extended fight scene made to look like one continuous shot. Sam is familiar with big, long action sequences from working on the famous one-shot fight in "Atomic Blonde." But this one for "Extraction" required Sam to take us right into the middle of the action, even strapping himself to the hood of a chase vehicle. Just to get this one smooth shot taking us from outside to inside a car, he had to unstrap himself from that one car, run over to the other vehicle, and then repeat the same shot twice. This is what you call a stitch point, one of the invisible cuts that joined about 36 different segments into what looks like one long, seamless 12-minute take.</p><p>For the third installment in the "Bill &amp; Ted" franchise, special effects legend Kevin Yagher created special bodysuits for scenes where Bill and Ted meet future versions of themselves.</p><p>The process began with lifecasts of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves' bodies, which were then used to sculpt the shape of the actors' suits, both the muscle suits they wear in the prison scene and Keanu's fat suit worn in a different scene. Kevin and his team sculpted and spray-painted tiny details like pores and veins onto the muscle suits and added bags of beads into Keanu's fat suit to get just the right jiggle in his belly.</p><p>[beads shaking]</p><p>The rollout of the "<keyword id="163980" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sonic">Sonic</keyword>" movie got off to a rough start when the first trailer was met with backlash from fans who objected to this Sonic's disturbingly realistic appearance. In response, the VFX artists gave the character an overhaul, making his eyes bigger, his mouth more animated, and his nose and limbs more cartoonish, more like the original design in the video games.</p><p>Just about everyone liked the redesign better, including the man behind the hedgehog, actor and comedian Ben Schwartz. Ben not only lent his voice to Sonic, but also provided facial motion capture to inform the character's animation. On set, they used different stand-ins for Sonic to give costars like James Marsden something tangible to interact with, whether it was a blue stuffy or just a ball on a tripod.</p><p>We saw CGI turn man into hedgehog. What about turning man into dog?</p><p>In this year's remake of "The Call of the Wild," veteran motion-capture performer Terry Notary provided an incredible mo-cap performance for the movie's canine protagonist, Buck. Having Terry on set provided a raw-size reference for the other actors and gave costars someone to interact with emotionally.</p><p>For Buck's design, the filmmakers used the reference of a real-life shelter dog, whose own name happens to be Buckley. To help guide the animation of the many dog and wolf characters in the film, the team brought in five other dogs for a mo-cap playtime session. But don't worry; no pups were involved in the filming of this scene, where Buck and John Thornton navigate a treacherous river.</p><p>The filmmakers enlisted a stuntperson to shoot the real deal on a river in British Columbia. They then combined the on-location shots with blue-screen footage of Harrison Ford paddling on a canoe gimbal, filmed on a motion-controlled camera that allowed for some particularly cinematic, sweeping shots. Finally, VFX artists digitally added Harrison's canine friend into the mix in postproduction.</p><p>The character in "Onward" that presented Pixar with the most challenges was this guy, known simply as Dad. He's introduced when Ian, voiced by Tom Holland, carries out a spell to conjure up his late father, but only half of his body appears.</p><p>Pixar's animators spent a lot of time on Dad's first scene to make sure it would capture the force and unpredictability of magic. They even took turns blasting each other with a leaf blower to get a feel for what the conjuring effect should look like.</p><p>From there, the challenge was giving life to a pair of pants, a task that forced Pixar to bring its cloth technology to a new level. The studio used a process called simulation to program how a character's clothing should respond to his or her movements and the different forces acting on them. But because Dad's upper half is all clothes and no body, simulation played an even bigger role than usual.</p><p>To figure out how a person would move if he were missing his top half, Pixar's animators took turns putting on green suits with khakis and moving around in front of a green screen. Later, they digitally removed their top halves and used the footage as reference for what Dad's body language might look like.</p><p>"The Call of the Wild" wasn't the only film where CG animals figured prominently. The majority of scenes in "Dolittle" feature live-action humans and CG animals interacting in some way.</p><p>The tricky part of that: making sure the humans were looking in the right places during filming. Nailing the eyelines was especially challenging with a character like Betsy the giraffe. To help guide the actors on set, the crew used stuffy props as stand-ins for the CG animals and got creative from there.</p><p>Like with Betsy, for instance. They ended up sticking a giraffe head on a long pole, which got driven around on a motor cart. In another scene, Robert Downey Jr. needed to ride the ostrich Plimpton into Buckingham Palace. So they devised a gimballed riding rig that they could later replace with a CG creature, voiced by Kumail Nanjiani.</p><p>The action-heavy "<keyword id="3367480" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Birds-Of-Prey">Birds of Prey</keyword>" involved a lot of physical preparation, with each actor's training program tailored to her particular character. Since Harley Quinn is a whimsical and unpredictable fighter, Margot Robbie's stunt work involved a lot of gymnastics.</p><p>Black Canary's fighting style was supposed to be more grounded with a lot of legwork, so Jurnee Smollett-Bell's preparation combined tae kwon do and kickboxing. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead adopted judo, jujitsu, and karate to play Huntress, the deadly-accurate assassin who's all about precision.</p><p>Early on in Netflix's "Project Power," there's an unforgettable scene where Machine Gun Kelly's character spontaneously bursts into flames. To figure out how to turn MGK into a human fireball, the effects team first set stuntpeople on fire in a series of camera tests.</p><p>Then they came up with a breakthrough: an LED suit that would be embedded within layers of burn prosthetics. The LEDs were programmed to illuminate the actor as his character is seen exploding in flames. The gruesome prosthetics helped hide the LED strips, along with all the wires and battery packs.</p><p>For MGK, this meant spending five hours in the makeup chair every day of shooting to get hundreds of prosthetic pieces glued on over 95% of his body. The process was so intensive that the rapper started just sleeping in his body prosthetics, and did so for five days straight, even wearing them for a night out on the town with costar Jamie Foxx.</p><p>For Netflix's "Jingle Jangle," the biggest challenge was creating a fantastical world where magic and spontaneous musical numbers would feel right at home.</p><p>To make Jeronicus fly in this scene, the crew attached Forest Whitaker to wire rigs, later removed in postproduction.</p><p>Another particularly fun sequence, the kids' factory escape, was shot in front of a blue screen, with the two young actors rigged to the wooden chest. VFX artists later added in the tunnel and the giant fan and fireball.</p><p>In this comic-book adaptation, Charlize Theron's character is supposed to have 6,000 years of martial arts experience, ranging from Greco-Roman wrestling to Filipino stick work. Charlize had to do intense combat training so she could look effortless handling both modern and ancient weapons.</p><p>Of course, the star is no stranger to this kind of hardcore training, having done a lot of her own stunts for "Atomic Blonde" and "Mad Max." The "Old Guard" fight coordinator, Danny Hernandez, told Insider that Charlize and Kiki Layne spent four months training for the film's major fight sequence, where their characters engage in epic hand-to-hand combat inside a plane mid-flight.</p><p>The payoff? The actors were able to pull off 90% of the fight themselves, without stunt doubles.</p><p>How does this shot become this? Through the process of CG lighting, which was especially important to building the magical worlds of Netflix's animated film "Over the Moon."</p><p>Creative lighting helped emphasize the dreamy light coming from the moon, which plays a central role in the story. In this shot, the lighting team is perfecting the big, bright moon reflections in Fei Fei's eyes. And in this shot, they're balancing the different light sources coming from the moon, the kitchen, and the colorful lanterns.</p><p>These decisions about the intensity and placement of lights are laid out early on in color scripts, which are like artistic blueprints, expressing the mood of any given scene.</p><p>For the scenes set on Lunaria, the artists wanted the light to be overpowering and the colors vibrant and bold to give an otherworldly aura to the moon kingdom and invoke a sense of awe in the audience.</p><p>The horror movie slash political satire "The Hunt" follows a group of liberals hunting conservatives for sport, so there were lots of opportunities for practical gore <keyword id="37533" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Behind-the-scenes">behind the scenes</keyword>.</p><p>But the most talked-about sequence was the climactic kitchen fight between Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank. To make the head-to-head between these two characters feel as messy as possible, the crew designed a special set that was made to be destroyed.</p><p>The set included foam floors, a chimney rigged with squibs, and a bunch of household-item breakaway props that were built to be broken, just like this glass window, which shatters in this scene. It was like a twisted jungle gym, meant to serve as the ideal backdrop for all the chaotic violence.</p><p>So, did we miss anything? And what do you think were the most impressive effects of 2020?</p><p>Let us know in the comments.</p>

A behind-the-scenes look at 2020's biggest movies

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>On the surface,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1108007/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">David Lowery</a> looks like the latest independent film wunderkind to be plucked by a major studio and thrust into the blockbuster machine.<p>But the journey Lowery, 35, made to directing this weekend's "Pete's Dragon" - Disney's reimagining of the 1977 live-action/animated musical about a boy and his best friend, who happens to be a flying dragon named Elliot - is a little different from filmmakers like Colin Trevorrow ("Jurassic World) and Gareth Edwards ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story").</p><p>Those other directors made low-budget calling-card movies to prove their competence, but Lowery's indie roots are deep. He's&#xa0;made movies ranging in budget from $12,000 ("<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124058/?ref_=nm_knf_i4" target="_blank">St. Nick</a>") to a few million ("<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2388637/?ref_=nm_knf_i1" target="_blank">Ain't Them Bodies Saints</a>") and has over 30 editor credits.</p><p>"I felt I had found my niche," Lowery recently told Business Insider. "If I had spent the rest of my career making movies like 'St. Nick,' I was okay with that."</p><p>But sometimes opportunities arrive and seem more like fate&#xa0;than good circumstance. For Lowery that happened when he got an agent off "Ain't Them Bodies Saints," a Sundance Film Festival award winner.</p><p>After giving his agent a lot of&#xa0;nos on writing and directing jobs (mostly remakes), in December of 2012 the agent finally struck gold with an idea Disney had for one of its older titles.</p><p>"I wasn't interested in the remake game," Lowery said, "but I remember while editing 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' my agent emailed me that Disney was interested in remaking 'Pete's Dragon' using only the title. Outside of that title they didn't want to have anything to do with the original and they definitely didn't want it to be a musical. If Disney truly wanted to use the title of the original as a means to get an original movie made, that appealed to me."</p><p>While at Sundance in January of 2013, Lowery and producing partner <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2021909/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr5" target="_blank">Toby Halbrooks</a> got on Skype at their condo with "Pete's Dragon" producers James Whitaker and Adam Borba about the potential of being screenwriters on the project.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"We found Jim and Adam were far more interested in hearing about the tonal aspects of it than plot or story," Lowery said. "But I remember a big idea from that call was that Pete would spend a lot of time with the dragon in the woods."<p>Disney was impressed and hired the two to write the script. After Sundance, Lowery and Halbrooks began making trips to LA to start an outline. Lowery wanted the movie to have a mythical quality that he successfully pulled off in "Ain't Them Bodies Saints." (Lowery admits that no one at Disney had ever seen "Saints" until months into he and Halbrooks writing the script.)</p><p>They placed the movie in the Pacific Northwest and, in one early draft, during the Great Depression. They later changed that to a more 1970s feel (it's left open when exactly the movie takes place).</p><p>But one thing Lowery drove home in the early drafts is that Elliot the dragon would be furry.</p><p>"I drew pictures of a furry dragon and brought them in and said, 'This is what he's going to look like,'" Lowery said.</p><p>He&#xa0;felt the only way a kid would gravitate to a large dragon and create a bond is if the dragon looks like something you'd want to cuddle up to, grabbing inspiration from the luck dragon Falkor in "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">The NeverEnding Story.</a>"</p><p>By Christmas 2013, Lowery and Halbrooks handed in the script and Disney couldn't have been happier.</p><p>The new "Pete's Dragon" is&#xa0;a tearjerker family movie that doesn't try to be anything more or less than that. Pete survives a car crash that kills his parents deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. The dragon, also displaced from his family, comes across Pete and the two live in the woods for years. (Are you crying yet?) Then one day a park ranger discovers Pete in the woods while at the same time workers at the local mill discover Elliot the dragon, leading to a journey to find who Pete really is and a race to help save Elliot.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Eventually the cast would include Bryce Dallas Howard as the park ranger, Robert Redford as her father who has a past experience with the dragon, and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4625502/?ref_=tt_ov_st" target="_blank">Oakes Fegley</a> as Pete.<p>Disney was so impressed by Lowery's script, the studio&#xa0;asked him to come on and direct the movie.</p><p>Lowery immediately turned down the offer.</p><p>"I thought it wasn't the right idea," Lowery said. "I didn't think it was going to be a movie that I could excel at and I didn't want to wind up being one of those indie directors who makes a big studio movie and find it's compromised."</p><p>But after some talks, Lowery realized he had put too much into the project to hand it off to another director.</p><p>"The script had become incredibly personal and something that I felt was mine and something I should make," he said.</p><p>By the middle of 2014, Lowery and the cast and crew of "Pete's Dragon" were off to New Zealand to shoot the movie.</p><p>Most indie filmmakers who make the jump to studio movies assume that all the hardship and struggle of making a movie&#xa0;suddenly disappear thanks to the embarrassment of riches that comes with being backed by a Hollywood heavyweight. Lowery certainly thought that would be the case.</p><p>"I expected there to be a moment where the magic of the studio process revealed itself and the largeness of the entire machine kicked into gear," he said.</p><p>But that turned out not to be the case. Though Lowery had crane shots and could helicopter at any moment to get the right shot at a far-off location, the process was generally no different than on his earlier low-budget movies.</p><p>The biggest difference, and what took the biggest toll on him, was the length of production.</p><p>"'St. Nick' was 14 days, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' was 28 days, this turned out to be 89 shooting days," said Lowery, who compared the experience to a sprinter transitioning to a marathon runner.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>"You just have to physically and mentally prepare for the endurance test that making a movie on this scale will be," he said.<p>For every good day, Lowery was&#xa0;hit with a slew of challenges the next.</p><p>But that hasn't turned him off the studio system.</p><p>"It was grueling. It was really, really tough," Lowery&#xa0;said.&#xa0;"But the second the movie wrapped all that pain and early mornings and cold nights all fell by the wayside and I felt a great sense of peace. If they had asked me to shoot another 10 days I would have said yes."</p><p>Now he's ready to do it again.</p><p>Lowery has signed on to direct Disney's latest live-action version of "Peter Pan." Like "Pete's Dragon," he and Halbrooks are taking their time writing the script with no plans of making the movie any time soon (Lowery will likely make two independently financed movies before "Pan").</p><p>But Lowery insists he's going to deliver a "classic Walt Disney Pictures version" of Peter Pan.</p><p>A&#xa0;filmmaker who was content with an audience much smaller than the one that will see&#xa0;"Pete's Dragon" this weekend, Lowery has taken time out in&#xa0;the past few years to reflect on his career. And he's confident that he's right where he should be.</p><p>"The reason I got into making movies was I fell in love with 'Star Wars' and wanted to know how lightsabers worked," Lowery said. "Then my interests expanded and I saw myself as an independent filmmaker, but I still carried that flame of wanting to do something big that would set imaginations the same way mine had been watching 'Star Wars.' So there is part of me that always wanted to do this."</p><p><div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/50-cent-massive-6-million-mansion-bankrupt-sale-debt-2016-7">Nobody wants to buy 50 Cent's massive $6 million mansion</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1sZWF2NDE6_fnd8VhR997N8SNIpNSX5t" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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