Jungle Cruise delighted audiences this summer by bringing the infamous Disney ride to life through movie magic. With hilarious performances and epic effects, the film brought in a hefty box office sum both internationally and domestically, and it can be considered good family fun any day of the week.
Producer Hiram Garcia, who took the expertise from bringing Jumanji off the board and onto the screen and applied it to the latest Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt film, spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film and his career overall.
Screen Rant: Jungle Cruise was such a fun movie on such an epic scale. Jaume Collet-Serra did an amazing job directing that film. And obviously, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, their chemistry was off the chart in this film. But can you talk to me a little bit about the unique experience of the Jungle Cruise opening in a pandemic? Because I feel like that was really the first movie that really got people back into theaters.
Hiram Garcia: Well, first off, thank you for all of the kind words. We're really excited [about] how Jungle Cruise turned out, especially the positive reaction from fans. We’re thrilled with our high audience score because we pride ourselves on being audience-focused. After all, that's who we make movies for. We always want to take care of the fans. To see such enthusiasm and warmth towards Jungle Cruise meant a lot to us. You're totally right. It was a very unique, unprecedented experience, but Disney was an amazing partner through it all. Despite the challenging times, new protocols, and restrictions, we were still able to do something big and utilize Disneyland for our premiere.
I don't believe they’ve had a premiere in Disneyland, I think since maybe the last Pirates of the Caribbean film. It’s been quite a while. To do it there, in that big open space, and take advantage of the park and the rides all where the Jungle Cruise ride was conceived was truly amazing. Jungle Cruise was one of the premier rides when Walt Disney opened the park in 1955. He wanted to create an experience that allowed people to be transported to places that they might not be able to go to in their regular daily lives.
To have that as the backdrop for our premiere and to have such a great reception, was incredible. It was an unforgettable experience and also felt like another step towards our industry getting back to whatever the new normal may be. We’ve had that project in the can for so long now that it was nice to finally share it with the world after all the delays and postponements from the pandemic. It was quite a celebration that night!
One thing that the film did extremely well, too, was captured the spirit of the ride. Because I feel like the Jungle Cruise ride is one of those rides that no matter when you go on it or when you get off of it, you have an experience with a skipper that is your own personal experience. Can you talk to me about keeping that spirit of the ride alive in Jungle Cruise?
Hiram Garcia: That was a big priority for us, too. From the get-go, Disney was so supportive and made sure we had all the resources and assets we needed to properly honor the ride. From the beginning, we worked very closely with the amazing Disney Imagineers.
At the start of this project, as we were all coming together, we did this awesome tour through the Disney archives and became immersed in everything from the history of Disneyland to Walt Disney’s initial vision to looking at his original schematics for what he envisioned for the park. Then we met with some iconic skippers who are now part of the Imagineer team and dove deep into the history of Jungle Cruise and what it means to the billions of fans around the world that love this ride.
For us, we wanted to make sure that we were honoring all the things that people love about the Jungle Cruise ride, and the things they continue to talk about once they get back home. We wanted to make sure we were embodying that, so that meant leaning into the puns, delivering on the boat ride, meeting some iconic characters from the Jungle Cruise universe, and ultimately telling a really fun story.
We established ourselves in that world and then had a blast crafting with DJ a skipper who uses horrible puns that are so bad you can’t help but laugh. Then we sprinkle in that he is a bit of a swindler and con-man and then pair him with this unbelievably brilliant explorer in Emily and her brother. The groundwork started to be laid there for something fun that we knew was going to pay proper homage to the ride while still building upon it, and opening up a universe that hopefully allowed us to take audiences on multiple rides to.
We already have a Jungle Cruise sequel in the works. What are you excited to explore this time around with skipper Frank, Lily and McGregor?
Hiram Garcia: Now that the fans [have] embraced us and have been asking for a sequel, we really start to have fun! We've met these two characters who share amazing chemistry and the world is at our disposal. We're talking about a lot of big, fun concepts that take us to different places in the world. Who knows what mysteries and supernatural things these guys are going to encounter? I can't give anything away, but I can tell you we are bringing the whole team back.
Through the first film, we formed great friendships and love and I think this will continue for the sequel. Our established relationships are going to benefit the film even more. We're excited with all the ideas we've been brainstorming on and we’re determined to get going as fast as possible.
What was it about some of these classic Disney attractions that made you want to tell their story in Behind the Attraction on Disney+?
Hiram Garcia: I think there's such a deep love for Disneyland, Disney World, and the magical experiences that come with them. I remember as a kid, my parents would work really hard to save up for a Disney trip when possible. We would do the old-school jump in the wagon and drive down from Jersey, which I have very fond memories of despite how long that wagon trip would take! But once you got there, as a kid, you’re just blown away.
And whether it's going on Jungle Cruise or Pirates or Haunted Mansion, the imprint that was left on you from those rides, just the experience, and the wish-fulfillment and the fun that comes with being with your family, being at a place like that. I think it's something that people all around the world hold very dear to their hearts. When you have beloved properties like that along with cherished personal experiences there's something interesting in going into the history behind how these rides were developed. When we started our research on Jungle Cruise and went through the archives and the history, there was such an amazing story behind the ride in terms of Walt Disney’s desire and ambition to create it.
As you dig in you learn fascinating facts. For example, at one point, Walt wanted to try and see if he could put real animals on the ride! When you hear amazing stories like that, and see what it finally evolved into, we realized that there are probably great stories like that behind every ride. Especially when you think about Pirates and Haunted Mansion and so forth. There's a lot of goodwill and a lot of love behind each attraction which also means there’s usually a very heartfelt story of what it took to get there.
The Behind the Attraction idea and our great relationship with Brian Volk-Weiss just made sense. We're so happy with being able to share those stories because we've gotten such amazing feedback from it and I think it gives fans an opportunity to revisit something they love so much in a unique way, and learn more about it. Also, it makes you want to go back to the ride again and look for some of these details that you never knew about before. It's really been a great experience and Disney's been a fantastic partner and we're excited to try and create more content in that space.
Were there any interesting takeaways that you may have discovered on Behind the Attraction that even hardcore Disney fans would be surprised by?
Hiram Garcia: I never want to disrespect a hardcore Disney fan's knowledge because they know a lot! But I'll say for me, some of the things that I was blown away by was Walt's ability to utilize amazing Hollywood talent to create this world at the parks. For instance, the talent he had working on Haunted Mansion to create scares and props were some of the industry’s best at that time.
You realize that, especially at that time, not only did Walt have this great vision, but the fact that he was already an amazing force in Hollywood in terms of the accolades he had, he was able to pull in these legendary cinematic giants and utilize them to bring these rides to life in different ways. I found that fascinating.
I never realized he was using such legends to create the props, the character designs, and do those these set decks. No wonder everything he came up with was executed at such a high level.
What was your favorite Disney attraction growing up?
Hiram Garcia: For me, I probably have to say it always went back and forth between Pirates and Haunted Mansion. I was a little too scared as a kid, but as I got older, then Space Mountain. All those rides always meant so much to me. Whenever we got to the park, we had to hit those right away.
Another amazing documentary that you had come out earlier this year was Stuntman on Disney+. Eddie Braun was a legend since the 1980s in the stunt world. How did you come across this incredible story?
Hiram Garcia: God, it's such a great story and Eddie Braun is an unbelievable stunt man in our business. I remember this started a few years ago. I'm horrible with dates, so I'm not going to try and date it, but I remember years ago there was an idea to try and do the jump as a live event on TV. We were really intrigued by it because we’ve always had a huge affection for the stunt community especially coming from our history in wrestling.
Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and I have always felt this kinship with any profession that involves putting your body on the line for your career. The stunt industry has so many similarities to professional wrestling. Both industries feature incredible individuals that tell stories with their bodies and put a lot on the line to entertain fans.
I think whether you look at stunt performers, MMA fighters, bull riders, you name it, there's this thread and this kinship. The idea of Eddie being able to do this jump was so inspiring to us but unfortunately, it didn't work out as a live televised event. But then down the road, it manifested itself into this beautiful documentary that we were instantly excited to come on board with. We were big fans of Eddie, and especially for his ambitions to recreate this jump.
We’re so proud of the doc and loved that it ended up receiving awards and critical acclaim. As our relationship with Disney grew from Jungle Cruise and Behind the Attraction, we saw that this was the kind of story that also just made sense on Disney+ because it matched one of the main things that all of us love, which are inspiring and uplifting stories.
Disney loved the documentary that we made, and it was ready to go. I think the reception has been really good and hats off to the filmmaking team and Eddie for doing something so incredible on top of an already legendary career.
Behind the Attraction and Stuntman are currently available to stream on Disney+. Jungle Cruise will be available on November 12.