There was much consternation a little over a year ago when Pixar confirmed that director Bob Peterson had been removed from one of its upcoming projects, The Good Dinosaur, and the film was being retooled. According to John Lithgow, who plays one of the main characters, the team has been hard at work reconceiving the prehistoric adventure much in the same way they reworked **Toy Story 2 **and Ratatouille, among others.
“I recorded the entire role in Good Dinosaur. They have now dismantled it and completely reimagined it, and it is a fantastic new story," Lithgow tells Collider. "So I’m gonna record again on it within the next month. Don’t worry. It’s coming and it’s gonna be better than I ever imagined.”
Such a comprehensive overhaul points to possible re-casting, though Lithgow notes that he and Francis McDormand are still aboard as adult dinosaurs. Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Greer and Lucas Neff were announced as fellow cast members at Disney’s D23 event last year, and it remains to be seen if they will all still be part of the movie when it arrives
As for the story? That’s anyone’s guess. Co-director Pete Sohn is still aboard and Neff told Empire at the Disney event that the plot was inspired loosely by Sohn’s life.
“Arlo is the good dinosaur. The film's about what that means. As a kid you're told to be good and that has certain connotations", he explained. "What this movie's trying to teach is that being a good dinosaur is being yourself. As long as your self is not a homicidal maniac! With that caveat. He's got the soul of an artist and it's about kids who don't necessarily fit in and to celebrate that. Pete wanted to do something very different from what his family wanted, in becoming an animator, and we talked about that making the film.”
The Good Dinosaur, in whatever form it now takes, will arrive on US screens on November 15, 2015, before hitting the UK on December 4 the same year. Pixar's Inside Out, meanwhile, will arrive on July 24.