From Book to Film 2024: The Iron Giant (1999) 25th Anniversary
Director: Brad Bird Run Time: 86 min. Rating: PG Release Year: 1999
Starring: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., James Gammon, Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel
Country: France, United States
Language: English
From Book to Film at Gateway Film Center
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See the 2024 lineupAbout the film:
Imagine you confront your enemy—a giant, scary robot from outer space—and he becomes your best pal. A young boy befriends a monster in the heartwarming animated feature The Iron Giant (1999) based on Ted Hughes’ 1968 science fiction novel.
“Brad Bird’s non-digital animation of the 1968 children’s story has an irresistible simplicity and charm”
-Peter Bradshaw, The Gaurdian
October, 1957. Nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes lives in Rockwell, Maine, a seemingly idyllic town. Hearing stories of a UFO that crashed into the sea, Hogarth, always on the lookout for mutant aliens, finds a huge, metal-eating robot with an insatiable curiosity and equally insatiable appetite. But the extraterrestrial’s presence unleashes a wave of Cold War paranoia that threatens to engulf Rockwell unless Hogarth and his 50-foot friend can stop it.
About the filmmaker:
Brad Bird is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who has created some of the most beloved animated films of the past two decades, including his directorial debut The Iron Giant (1999), Ratatouille (2007), and The Incredibles (2004). Most recently, Bird helmed the highly-anticipated follow-up Incredibles 2 (2018), as well as the live-action feature films Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and Tomorrowland (2015).
Bird began his first film, an animated short, at the age of 11 and finished it nearly three years later. The film brought him to the attention of Walt Disney Studios where, at age 14, he was mentored by Milt Kahl, one of a distinguished group of Disney’s legendary animators known as the “Nine Old Men.” Bird eventually worked as an animator at Disney and other studios. Bird has also served as executive consultant on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, the two longest-running and most celebrated animated series on television. He also created, wrote, directed and co-produced the “Family Dog” episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and co-wrote the screenplay for the live-action feature *Batteries Not Included.
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