The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant is a 1999 American animated science fiction film directed by Brad Bird and written by Tim McCanlies. Loosely based on Ted Hughes's novel, The Iron Man, it features an ensemble cast, including Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald and M. Emmet Walsh. Set during the Cold War in 1957, the film centers on a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who discovers and befriends a giant robot of extraterrestrial origin. With the help of beatnik artist Dean McCoppin, Hogarth attempts to prevent the United States' military, who have been alerted by paranoid federal agent Kent Mansley, from finding and vanquishing the Giant.
The film was initially conceived in 1994 as a musical with the involvement of the Who's Pete Townshend. In 1996, Bird signed on as director and McCanlies was hired to write the screenplay. The film was animated using traditional animation, with computer-generated imagery used to animate the Iron Giant and other effects. The crew of the film was understaffed and completed it with half of the time and budget of other animated features. Michael Kamen composed the film's score, which was performed by the Czech Philharmonic.
The Iron Giant premiered at Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on July 31, 1999, and was released in the United States on August 6. Although it received critical acclaim, the film significantly underperformed at the box office, grossing $31.7 million against a budget of $50 million, which was attributed to Warner Bros.' lack of marketing and skepticism towards animated film production following the box office failure of Quest for Camelot in the preceding year. The film was nominated for several awards, winning nine Annie Awards out of 15 nominations. Through home video releases and television syndication, the film garnered a cult following and is widely regarded as a modern animated classic and one of the greatest animated films of all time. In 2015, an extended and remastered version of the film was re-released theatrically.
Plot
In October 1957, during the Cold War, an object from space crashes into the ocean just off the coast of Maine and then enters a forest near the town of Rockwell. The following night, young Hogarth Hughes investigates and finds the object – a fifty-foot tall robot of extraterrestrial origin; he flees, but returns to save it from being electrocuted when it attempts to take apart a substation for sustenance. Hogarth eventually befriends the Giant, finding him docile and curious. When the Giant eats railroad tracks in the path of an oncoming train, it collides with him and derails; Hogarth leads the Giant away from the area, discovering that he can self-repair. Hogarth shows the Giant his comic book collection and compares him to Superman.The incidents lead paranoid United States government agent Kent Mansley to Rockwell. Deducing Hogarth's involvement after talking with him and his widowed mother, Annie, Mansley rents a room in their house to keep an eye on him. Hogarth evades Mansley by putting a laxative in his milkshake and leads the Giant to a wrecking yard owned by beatnik artist Dean McCoppin, who reluctantly agrees to keep him. Hogarth enjoys spending time with the Giant, but is compelled to explain the concept of death to the Giant after they witness hunters killing a deer.
Mansley detains and interrogates Hogarth after discovering a photograph of Hogarth and the Giant together, then sends U.S. Army General Shannon Rogard and a platoon of soldiers to the scrapyard to prove the Giant's existence. Dean, having been forewarned by Hogarth, disguises the Giant as one of his art pieces to deceive the soldiers into leaving. While playing with a water gun, Hogarth inadvertently activates the Giant's defensive system, which makes him shoot a pair of laser from his eyes. Dean scolds the Giant for nearly killing Hogarth and he flees downtown in shame, with Hogarth in pursuit. Dean discovers that the Giant was only acting in self-defense and follows them both.
The Giant rescues a pair of boys falling from a roof when he arrives, winning over the townspeople. Mansley spots the Giant and, even though Dean tells him about Hogarth, he deliberately goads Rogard into fighting back. The Giant uses his flight system to evade the military at first, but is shot down and crash-lands. Hogarth is rendered unconscious, but the Giant assumes that he has died. The soldiers open fire and enrage the Giant, who activates his defense systems and attacks the army. Mansley convinces Rogard to prepare a nuclear missile launch from the USS Nautilus, since conventional weapons prove ineffective. Hogarth awakens and hastily calms down the Giant, while Dean clarifies the situation to Rogard.
Rogard is ready to stand down and order the Nautilus to abort the missile's launch, but Mansley impulsively snatches Rogard's radio and foolishly orders the missile launch. A furious Rogard points out that the missile, now aiming for the Giant, will also destroy the town and kill everyone. Mansley cowardly attempts to flee, but the Giant thwarts him as he is secured. To save the town, the Giant bids farewell to Hogarth and flies off to intercept the missile, causing it to detonate harmlessly in the exosphere, saving everyone. However, the Giant is presumably destroyed, devastating his allies.
Months later, Dean and Annie, now a couple, admire a memorial statue of the Giant that Dean has erected in the local park. Hogarth receives a package from Rogard containing one of the Giant's jaw joints, which was the only remnant found. That night, Hogarth finds the joint trying to move on its own and, remembering the Giant's ability to self-repair, happily allows it to leave. The joint joins the Giant's other parts as they converge with his head on the Langjökull glacier in Iceland for his reassembly.
Voice cast
- Eli Marienthal as Hogarth Hughes, an intelligent, curious, energetic and courageous nine-year-old boy with an active imagination. Marienthal's performances were videotaped and given to animators to work with, which helped develop expressions and acting for the character. He was named after Ted Hughes, author of the film's source material, and artist Burne Hogarth.
- Vin Diesel as The Iron Giant, a fifty-foot tall and metal-eating robot. Of extraterrestrial origin and designed to be a war machine, the Giant involuntarily reacts defensively if he recognizes anything as a weapon, immediately attempting to destroy it. The Giant's voice was originally going to be electronically modulated, but the filmmakers decided they "needed a deep, resonant and expressive voice to start with", so they hired Diesel.
- Jennifer Aniston as Annie Hughes, Hogarth's mother, the widow of a military pilot and a waitress at Rockwell's local diner. According to Bird, Aniston was the only casting suggestion made by Warner Bros. execs that he personally liked and approved.
- Harry Connick Jr. as Dean McCoppin, a beatnik artist who owns a wrecking yard. Bird felt it appropriate to make the character a member of the Beat Generation, as they were viewed as mildly threatening to small-town values during that time. An outsider himself, he is among the first to recognize the Giant as no threat.
- Christopher McDonald as Kent Mansley, a paranoid federal government agent sent to investigate sightings of the Iron Giant. The logo on his official government car says he is from the "Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena".
- John Mahoney as General Shannon Rogard, an experienced and level-headed military leader from Washington, D.C. and Mansley's superior at the Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena who goes from merely being annoyed and exasperated with Mansley to openly despising him.
- M. Emmet Walsh as Earl Stutz, a sailor and the first known human to encounter the Giant.
- James Gammon as Foreman Marv Loach, a substation employee who follows the Giant's trail after it takes the station apart for sustenance.
- * Gammon also voices Floyd Turbeaux, a farmer and friend of Stutz.
- Cloris Leachman as Lynley Tensedge, Hogarth's fourth grade teacher at Rockwell's local elementary school.
- Frank Welker as the vocal effects of a squirrel that Hogarth wanted to keep as a pet and a deer killed by hunters.
Production
Development
The origins of the film lie in the book The Iron Man, by poet Ted Hughes, who wrote the novel for his children to comfort them in the wake of their mother Sylvia Plath's suicide. In the 1980s, rock musician Pete Townshend chose to adapt the book for a concept album; it was released as The Iron Man: A Musical in 1989. In 1991, Richard Bazley, who later became the film's lead animator, pitched a version of The Iron Man to Don Bluth while working at his studio in Ireland. He created a story outline and character designs but Bluth passed on the project. After a stage musical was mounted in London, Des McAnuff, who had adapted Tommy with Townshend for the stage, believed that The Iron Man could translate to the screen, and the project was ultimately acquired by Warner Bros. Entertainment.In late 1996, while developing the project on its way through, the studio saw the film as a perfect vehicle for Brad Bird, who at the time was working for Turner Feature Animation developing Ray Gunn. Turner Broadcasting had recently merged with Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner, and Bird was allowed to transfer to the Warner Bros. Animation studio to direct The Iron Giant. After reading the original Iron Man book by Hughes, Bird was impressed with the mythology of the story and in addition, was given an unusual amount of creative control by Warner Bros. This creative control involved introducing two new characters not present in the original book, Dean and Kent, setting the film in America, and discarding Townshend's musical ambitions. Bird would expand upon his desire to set the film in America in the 1950s in a later interview:
Ted Hughes, the original story's author, died before the film's release. His daughter, Frieda Hughes, saw the finished film on his behalf and loved it. Townshend, who stayed on as the film's executive producer, enjoyed the final film as well.