Desde Hollywood’s @NestorCine attended the DUMBO Globlal Press Conference, celebrated recently in Beverly Hills.

The promotional event featured the iconic Director Tim Burton and actors Colin Farrell, Nico Parker, Finley Hobbins, Eva Green, Danny DeVito, and Michael Keaton.

Find below some highlights of what these stars shared with journalists.

DUMBO is now playing in theaters nationwide.

All images courtesy of Disney.

Tim Burton on what attracted him to the project.

“Just the idea of a flying elephant, and a character that doesn’t quite fit in with the world. And something with a disadvantage makes it an advantage. So it just felt very close to the way I felt about things. And it’s just a very pure and simple image that most Disney fables had that kind of symbolism for real emotions. I just liked the fact that, obviously it’s a very simple fable… What I liked about it was the human parallel story. This character Holt comes back from the war. He doesn’t have an arm, doesn’t have a job, doesn’t have a wife. He’s trying to find his place in the world. And all the characters are that way… Everybody is trying to find their place in the world… Lots of nice themes in a simple framework.

DUMBO

Colin Farrell on his character, Holt Farrier.

“As Tim was saying, everyone and their character has doubts about their past, or what’s going on in the present, or both. And so I’m playing a father who is disenfranchised with his kids, disenfranchised from the life he left behind. He’s completely different by the time he gets back fighting from the first War. He’s physically a different man, he’s lost his left arm. He’s seen a lot of brutality… [it’s about] my character accepting his position as father, and how that meant all he had to do was get out of his children’s way to help them get there.”

Eva Green on the themes of the film and conquering her fear of heights.

“You don’t have to be an artist to feel like an outsider. It’s such a wonderful movie, because it has that message that it’s okay to be strange or different. It’s actually great. It makes you special and we just have to embrace our uniqueness.
I had the most amazing circus people, who were very patient, very kind with me. Because I was absolutely petrified. I thought I’d never be able to do that. And so for 2 months every day I trained. [You needed] a very strong core, very strong arms. And every time I’d go higher and higher and higher. And that was amazing. I found the trick was to sing as well, in French… you swear and you sing. And I surprised myself. It was a miracle”

Danny DeVito on his character, Max Medici, and being inspired by Tim Burton.

“Well everything I do in the movie is fed to me by the insane mind of Mr. Burton. I felt really great to be Max Medici, and to be a part of this insane family. The thing is it is a family, and Max is trying to keep everything together and keep all the elephants up in the air. Tim just works 24/7 when he’s working on a movie, keeping everything going, keeping all the plates spinning, keeping all the balls in the air…so I feel like he’s an inspiration while we’re on the set and pushing things to new heights.”

DeVito on reuninting with his “Batman Begins” co-star, Michael Keaton.

“It was really good. When Tim called a year ago, I was really thrilled to be able to be part of it. And the joy factor went up through the roof when Michael was in it with me. “I’d ask him every once in a while, ‘how does it feel to be the bad guy,’ [Before] he had the mask. The whole Batman thing…and me, I had this gross penguin makeup. It was really so nice to be with him and with everybody who was in the movie with us together. Like Tim says it’s a great family that he creates. We’re all weirdos, but there’s one really weird daddy pulling all the strings. So we were thrilled to be together.”

Michael Keaton on becoming his character, V.A. Vandevere.

“It’s been so great and weird, and odd and off-putting, and so well done… So what happened was, I didn’t want to sit in a makeup chair for very long, for hair and makeup. I just don’t like to be there. So I said ‘I’m not going to say anything.’ And [Tim] didn’t say anything… So I show up, and Tim was there, and he and I and Colleen [Atwood] were [reviewing the costume]. And that’s where you start taking your character from here to there. Once you feel the clothes you start walking around in… So I had at the back of the head, I was thinking “don’t mention the wig, don’t say anything about the wig.” And as soon as I did, I said “hey this is probably a dumb idea but what do you think about a wig?” And as soon as I said that [Tim’s] eyes lit up. And I went ‘shoot! Now I have to wear the stupid wig!’”

DUMBO is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Holt was once a circus star, but he went off to war and when he returned it had terribly altered him. Circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) hires him to take care of Dumbo, a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him the laughing stock of the struggling circus troupe. But when Holt’s children discover that Dumbo can fly, silver-tongued entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), and aerial artist Colette Marchant (Eva Green) swoop in to make the little elephant a star.