March 11, 2009

New DVD tells classic ‘Velveteen Rabbit’ story from child’s viewpoint

By Mark Pattison

WASHINGTON (CNS)—Rare is the child who hasn’t at least once heard the classic children’s story “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams.

It’s that familiarity that led Michael Landon Jr., son of the late actor-director Michael Landon, to pursue making a film version of the tale.

But anybody who sees the movie, once it reaches video stores on DVD March 17, will find an intensely reworked tale.

“There was no intention to do a based-upon” version of the story, Landon told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 27 telephone interview from Austin, Texas, where he makes his home. The book, long as it is for a children’s story, “pages out at around 40 pages, so there’s clearly not enough story,” he added.

“I didn’t want to tell an animated story from a toy’s point of view. So, right there, you’re obviously creating a different story,” he said.

The original is told through the eyes of a stuffed rabbit who hopes to become real through the love of his owner, a boy.

In Landon’s version the setting has been moved from a presumably English milieu to someplace that’s vaguely New England at a time when automobiles were rare, crank-started machines. That’s the live-action part. There are also several animated sequences set in the boy’s imagination. Landon didn’t direct the animated scenes, so he had to wait a long time for animators to present their contributions to him.

“I’m glad for what they did,” Landon said. “This is not a big studio film, this is not a $100-million-plus film that studios spend on animation these days. But ... it has plenty of heart.”

The actors aren’t household names, although the voice actors in the animated portions may be more familiar: Tom Skerritt as the voice of Horse (not the book’s “Skin Horse”), Ellen Burstyn as the voice of Swan (a character not in the book, either), and top-billed Jane Seymour in a brief appearance as the boy’s dead mother.

“I remember it being read to me as a child. It’s, though, more of a visceral experience,” Landon told CNS. “I can’t tell you why, but it stuck with me as a child.”

Landon added, “It was brought to my attention that Margery Williams’ classic was public domain, and, except for one animated short film, no one had tackled this classic piece of literature.”

The Hollywood credits of Landon include being producer, director and writer of made-for-TV versions of Janette Oke’s novels, including “Love Comes Softly,” “Love’s Enduring Promise,” “Love’s Long Journey,” “Love’s Abiding Joy” and “Love’s Unfolding Dream.” He also directed the theatrical film “The Last Sin Eater” that starred Henry Thomas of “E.T.” fame.

Landon wore three hats on “The Velveteen Rabbit,” producing, directing and writing the story.

Although Landon’s father gained a reputation for starring in such family-friendly fare as the “Little House on the Prairie” and “Highway to Heaven” TV series, Landon said he believes bearing the family name carries less weight than catering to “the family viewing audience.”

“There’s two things. There’s obviously a legacy there that’s connected to my name, and then there are movies that support wholesome family entertainment,” he said.
Landon added, “I grew up with everybody knowing who my father was, but if you ask generations coming up here, they have no idea.”

Still, “he had an impact on me, and I was very proud of his work,” Landon said of his father. “‘Little House on the Prairie’ was my personal favorite of my father’s work. ... I don’t try to do what he did; I just love what he did.”