It was such a sweet process. He then goes to Wolfgang and says, "I think Moon Child is right," so they decided to stick with that. This is a serious business and they were serious actors. We are all very different. I would say Noah was very athletic and he was a dancer—very confident. Barret was a little more into his G. Joe action figures, and a little bit more introverted. And I was a girl, during this weird age around 10 or 11 where boys and girls are not supposed to hang out.
They're so weird with each other, with no idea if they're supposed to be friends or not like each other or be romantic with each other. It was just a very strange age for us as kids. But we're all stuck in the middle of nowhere in Germany together and we became these unlikely friends. I'm not sure we would've gravitated towards one another outside of that context but in that context we really did.
He showed me a drawing or a cell of [Falkor]. At this point, the shooting of the film had already been completed and now, they had to put a voice to the character. He had a scratch track with him that somebody had done of it and so I had somewhat of an idea of what he was looking for. I immediately saw this furry luckdragon and the voice came to me.
He told me, "That was fine," and they made arrangements to fly me to Munich. I went into the studios and they played the film for me and I put a voice to it.
After I completed the whole thing, I asked them for a playback. I knew as I was listening that I didn't get it quite right, so I said I wanted to do it again. Wolfgang was surprised because he liked what we recorded but agreed that we could try again the next day. They ended up using my second take in the film. The big difference between the first and the second is that in the second, Falkor had great heart and humanity.
When I finished, Wolfgang asked me to have a look at the Rockbiter. I immediately identified with the Rockbiter and knew just what I would do. It was so easy to give him a voice and I love that character. As I finished up that one, Wolfgang tells me, "Wait, there's one more! Would you do the character of Gmork? Again, I thanked him, but he had one more request, "Would you also be the narrator?
That day, Wolfgang got four voices for the price of one and I really loved it. I just really love that movie. PETERSEN: If you have this creature that is so tough and difficult to put together with all its movements and its body language, you really needed the perfect voice to make him believable.
Especially because he's a luckdragon, a creature full of positivity and that is very, very friendly. We needed a voice that had a special gravitas and depth to it, with a low, low voice because of his size. But on the other hand, he should also have a smile in his voice with warmth. It was very hard to find, and finally, I was introduced to Alan and when I heard that voice, I thought he was just fantastic.
He really brought to life the last and probably the most important character left, Falkor. He brought this rich, beautiful, and warm voice. The way he read those lines was truly unforgettable, just beautiful. That's why kids all over the world wanted to fly all over the world with a big, incredible creature like Falkor. They had this foot head and neck attached to a forklift motor and it was probably about 15 or 20 feet off the ground with some boxes and pads underneath in case you fell off.
Sometimes, it would overheat, and it would start going out of control probably once every 20 minutes. It ended up being like riding a bucking bronco. I just had to hold on for dear life from time to time, but it was fun! Being a year-old maniac like I was back then, it was a blast. We had to create all these beings and creatures, build them and animate them mechanically.
For example, with the luckdragon Falkor, he's this huge creature that we had to build. You could actually touch it; it was not a computer animation. It took about 15 people to animate this creature, but they were all invisible, of course.
They had their strings to use as they were hiding somewhere underneath the costume and sometimes even under the floor. There was a little monitor they had where they could check their work.
So, there was one person that was in charge of the movements of the nose, and there were two others in charge of either eyebrow. Altogether, they had this concerto grosso of movements with 15 people to bring this creature to life.
This task was very, very unusual and very difficult to coordinate it all. At the same time, this creature was talking so we had a tape running with a pre-recorded voice and it all had to go smoothly together so that the body language and his smile, and things like that all were perfect.
It was just fascinating to watch that and how that came together. It took a lot of work to have it come out the way it did on film, and I believe that's what gives this movie such a great quality that can be appreciated after all these years.
The creatures were so real how they had to interact with the actors, it wasn't like they were just standing in front of this green screen and pretending. The actors had to work directly with the creatures. That's the special thing about The NeverEnding Story that gives the whole project its special charm.
It was truly magical. I'm really so lucky that it wasn't shot with CGI. There were human being's puppeteering all of those creatures, and multiple humans pressing levels making the expressions on all of the faces of the puppets. There's something really charming about the fact that the human hand was really involved in everything. An astonishing amount of people go every year and visit the luckdragon. There's also some sets from the film available for visits, too.
First of all, we had two identical white horses that played Artax. They were so beautiful. They were trained for a long, long time by a professional horse handler with this almost impossible task for a horse to, without resistance, sink slowly down in the mud all the way up to their head.
It did not go over their head, no horse would ever do that. It took months to train them. I'm always asked about this and the rumors aren't true. In the film, you never see the horse's face go into the mud.
And also, by having two horses, we would alternate which would be in the scene while the other relaxed. It's really meant to be a sad scene; this was a crucial part of the film.
People always tell me that when that scene comes on, they have to close their eyes. I tell them that I understand, it's very sad and difficult to watch but it was crucial for the story. It's all about being drawn into the darkness, and, unfortunately, the horse doesn't make it [in the movie]. And because of that, even more so, Atreyu has to do it by himself without his friend and he does.
But yes, the horses were really good, and both were fine. The horse they used was really wonderful and they spent a couple of months teaching her to be ok with being up to her neck with water. That's something unfamiliar for them. So, the way they did that scene was that they had this little elevator under the water that slowly dropped the horse lower and lower.
When it got to its chin area, we'd cut the scene. That one scene took over two and a half weeks. The real horse never really died. They were more careful with that horse than they were with me!
I got hurt a hell of a lot more. The horse was definitely looked after well. I broke my back working on the movie and was in the hospital in traction for like a month before we started filming. We had a horse that we were training to fall on me while we were working with the horses maybe a couple of weeks before shooting. After I broke my back, we didn't know if I'd be able to continue but I ended up healing up enough to be able to work. It was scary for a little while; I had a couple of injuries on this movie.
I did a lot of my own stunts; it was just a very physical movie. The movie is still a source of pride for the country—so much so that props from the film are some of the main attractions at Munich's Bavaria Film Studios.
Visitors to the studio will find props and prop recreations from various movies. Some, like Falkor, are rideable.
Guests of all ages can climb aboard the loveable, dog-like creature and pretend to soar through the air as they pose for pictures. The model is located in front of a green or blue screen , and a monitor nearby shows Falkor and riders against a cloudy backdrop. Along Falkor's back he is covered in pink and white scales.
His eyes are the same color of rubies but often are mistaken for deep brown or oak. In the novel, he looks very different. In short he is more like a lion dragon, not a dog. Director Wolfgang Petersen wanted to make a friendly-looking creature that his son would find adorable. Little is known about Falkor's home or where he goes. He sleeps on the ground or whilst flying. He is a creature of earth, air, water, and fire.
In non-canon Neverending Story material, Falkor came from Sky Haven in Fantasia, a cloud like land that floats above Fantasia itself and this is where Luck Dragons live as well as this is where they are born. Falkor was one of the few beings to survive the first encounters with The Nothing.
The Nothing's creation being a result of neglect and forgotten hopes from Mankind's universe. Falkor's first appearance was when he mysteriously came out of a nebulous orange cloud formation, and he soared low over the Swamps of Sadness and to save Atreyu's life before he drowned by succumbing to his sadness. In the process carrying him 9, miles to his destination as a dragon flies. In the meantime The Nothing continued to destroy the Fantasia world and everything looked entirely bleak.
Bastian Balthazar Bux, who by that time was deep into reading The Neverending Story book in the school attic, wasn't realizing his own powers over Fantasia. Atreyu and Falkor had become very good friends after he saved his life from the Swamps of Sadness. Atreyu knew he now had a shot at saving Fantasia with Falkor. The two later decide to journey together to beyond the boundaries of Fantasia from the Southern Oracle's guidance. They soar over mountains, oceans and deserts.
However they cannot outrun The Nothing, and is faced with it over the Sea of Possibilities. Falkor and Atreyu were thrown about by The Nothing's incredible power and in the unfortunate result Atreyu fell off Falkor's back with Atreyu plunging hundreds of feet into the ocean and being washed on the beach of a ruined city. In the novel, however, Atreyu and Falkor are flung about the sky because they end up in the middle of a fierce battle with the Wind Giants from the north, south, east, and west.
On the beach, Atreyu wakes with confusion, realizing he lost the Auryn necklace and begins to accept that without it his mission could not be completed.
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