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CHARLOTTE'S WEB: AN ODE TO LIVE ACTION
from USA Today, August 24, 2005
by Susan Wloszczyna
Some pig.
Some book.
And if the live-action version of Charlotte's Web weaves its magic half as well as its title spider spins hers, audiences may exclaim, "Some movie!"
Here's a preview of what's in store when the family film from Paramount Pictures opens June 23.
Based on E.B. White's 1952 ode to friendship, the barnyard fable stars reigning child actor Dakota Fanning as Fern, the farm girl who nurtures runty piglet Wilbur as he blossoms into a prize porker.
"Everyone has read it," says Fanning, 11, who always cries at the end of the book - even the script moved her to tears.
Director Gary Winick (13 Going on 30) knows the responsibility that comes with adapting a literary classic. "When people hear about the movie, they say, 'Wow, that's great.'" But that remark is often followed up by "Don't screw it up."
He and producer Jordan Kerner (Snow Dogs) were so determined to hire Fanning, they worked around her schedule. Kerner says "she has the insight and perception of a 40-year-old." While Fanning finished War of the Worlds, they focused on the animal cast in Melbourne, Australia.
The $70 million production went hog-wild for big-name talent as the voices behind the film's expanded menagerie.
Julia Roberts, who recorded her part at home in Taos, N.M., after the birth of her twins, speaks for Charlotte, the crafty arachnid whose way with words saves Wilbur from the butcher's knife.
Steve Buscemi is gluttonous rat Templeton. Kathy Bates and Reba McEntire do bovine duty as Bitsy and Betsy. Robert Redford (picked for "his gravelly voice," says Winick) is Ike, an old workhorse. John Cleese is chief sheep Samuel.
Yet to be announced: Wilbur. A decision is pending on whether to use multiple young actors as the oinker ages.
The book was made into a still-popular cartoon feature in 1973. Babe, another live action fantasy about a porcine hero filmed in Australia, beat Wilbur to the screen by over a decade. Blame technology. "You could never do this movie three years ago," Kerner says. Most creatures will feature Babe-style mouth movements. But the more sophisticated performances of Charlotte and Templeton will be totally dgital.
Unlike the book, Charlotte is irascible at the start. "She is a species scorned," Kerner says. "The birds want to eat her. The horse wants to step on her."
Expect more comedy and peril, although Winick assures the tale remains timeless. Which means, he says, "Fern isn't listening to her iPod."

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