Spirit Untamed builds on DreamWorks Animation's beloved franchise, which began in 2002 with the Oscar-nominated Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron and was followed up by the Emmy-winning Netflix series Series Riding Free. Out on June 4, the new movie takes the setting and characters of the previous series and updates them for the big screen.
While in mourning for his wife Milagro (Eiza Gonzalez, Godzilla Vs. Kong), a talented horse-rider who suffered from an unfortunate accident, Jim gives up the task of caring for his daughter Lucky (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) to relatives. But when they are reunited years later, he must accept that Lucky is more like her mother than he would like.
Elaine Bogan, who co-directed the film, spoke to Screen Rant about the joys of adapting the series into a film and the task of letting Spirit speak through the town of Miradero.
I know this is based on Spirit Riding Free, the Netflix series. Did you look at that for inspiration first, or did you start from just the script like it's a new story?
Elain Bogan: No, we absolutely started with a lot of inspiration from the TV series. Obviously, we're working with the same characters and similar settings. We even began with bringing in Aury Wallington, who was the creator of the TV series, just so that we could make sure we were being authentic enough and staying close enough to the Spirit Riding Free world. Yet we're diving into a much more cinematic feeling and scope and creating environments that when people sit down in that theater seat, it will pull them into the adventure with the girls as they're galloping across these insane landscapes.
Isabela Merced is such a charming actress, and she's great here. What made her right for Lucky?
Elaine Bogan: I feel like when we were first developing the characters for the film based on the TV series, within the first scripts and throughout the first stages of exploring the storyboards and the scenes with these characters in them, they evolved into characters that became very specific and unique. And with that is how we came to decide if we had the wish list cast, who would they be?
I think because we had created these characters that very much spoke to each actor and actress as they came in to be pitched the story, they gravitated to it right away. They understood that character, because it was already them. And I hope that we approached that in a way that now becomes a very authentic feeling and telling of a story, because the characters in it are deeply inspired by who these people are in real life.
Miradero takes on a life of its own and is a character in itself, and the horse Spirit gets to speak through that town even though he doesn't have a voice. How did you guys achieve that like symbiosis between the landscapes and the character?
Elaine Bogan: Yeah. What we tried to do, especially with the town, was create a space that felt like the real world we all live in, and that's one of very different, unique and diverse perspectives. And I think because it's made up of all of these different perspectives, that it speaks - and it hopefully speaks to every person in the audience in their own way. Our goal was to have every single person in that audience be able to really deeply relate and connect to at least one character in this film. And by way, we ended up with a very diverse cast and crew, and even people behind the scenes, in order to tell that authentically enough.
And same with Spirit. His storyline is one that I think all humans can relate to. It's feeling lost and having to rely on the support of friends and family around you in order to find your way home. I think we've all gone through that in our own ways, and will probably continue to forever. It's just a very universal story, and I think that's how Spirit speaks.
Spirit Untamed will be in theaters on June 4.