![]() She has to go to a school on scholarship, and wasn’t accepted because she was different economically and in her mannerisms. “It’s intentional that we moved the film’s action from Birdwell Island to New York City,” he continued, “that Emily Elizabeth had to go with her mom, and because they didn’t have a lot of money, they lived in a transitional area of Harlem that is incredibly diverse. That’s the journey we wanted to go in the movie.” “We started off with something red and big, and for half of the people that was a joy and a wonder, and for half of the people maybe it’s a genetic aberrance and you have to be afraid of it, something we can’t easily accept. Kerner said that Clifford represents the idea that can be seen two different ways, sometimes for good and sometimes bad. The neighbors in the community coming together around Clifford shows the power of that to change the world.” But the message about loving people, accepting people, not judging people is so important. “We didn’t start off filming with a lot of the stuff that’s happened that’s tearing us apart. ![]() “The movie is about accepting things that are different,” Becker proposed. It felt like a moment that was meant to be.”īoth men say that the film’s message is one of unconditional love, between Emily Elizabeth and Clifford, between Emily Elizabeth and her uncle (played by Jack Whitehall), and between members of the community and each other. I love to make family films, and I was fortunate enough to have them come to me about joining them in the process, a year before we started production. “About twenty years ago I tried to get the rights to it but it was tied up. “I read it at eleven or twelve, and for the next ten years, when people would have a child, I would encourage my parents and others to buy that book and its sequels as gifts,” he remembered. Producer Kerner read it later in his life than Becker, but he too fell in love with the fictional dog as a dog lover himself. To be able to bring that property to a live-action movie for the first time was special.” “Once I had little kids, I read them the Clifford books. ![]() “I’ve always loved dogs, having at least one all the time,” he shared. The director remembers reading the first book about Clifford as a kid, an added ingredient to his already pro-dog life. ![]() Together, they shared their vision for the story set in contemporary times, as a conduit of unconditional love. This is the work of director Walt Becker, who led the actors through the dramatization of Norman Bridwell’s beloved characters, alongside producer Jordan Kerner. Clifford the Big Red Dog tells the live-action story of the remarkable dog in question alongside his human friends, like Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp). ![]()
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