‘Lilo & Stitch' Director Dean Fleischer Camp, Stars Maia Kealoha & Sydney Elizebeth Agudong & Producer Jonathan Eirich Talk Contemporary Updates To Classic Story

Yahoo

25-05-2025

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains details from Disney's 2025 Lilo & Stitch
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Even though it's been two decades since the release of the original animated film Lilo & Stitch, the theme of Ohana is anything but left behind or forgotten. In the new live-action remake directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who co-wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, the meaning of sisterhood, found family, and not sacrificing your dreams in the face of hardships are at the forefront.
Mostly similar to the animated film, the story follows a quirky young girl named Lilo (played here by newcomer Maia Kealoha) who unknowingly befriends a manic fugitive alien named Stitch (a role reprised by Chris Sanders, who also served as co-director and co-writer of the animated film) that inadvertently helps mend the relationship with her sister Nani (Sydney Elizebeth Agudong). In the 23 years between films, it's natural that the remake would have contemporary twists. This time around, Lilo and Nani's Ohana is expanded to her witty and wise neighbor Tūtū (Amy Hill), an original character, and Nani's easygoing crush David (Kaipo Dudoit), who is retconned here as Tūtū's grandson. These characters help Nani, who put her college dreams aside, to take care of Lilo as she tries to balance job stability under the threat of losing Lilo to the state and child protective services. During a press junket, Deadline spoke to Camp, producer Jonathan Eirich, Kealoha and Agudong about the new additions, casting and the joys of continuing the legacy of Lilo & Stitch.
DEADLINE: Talk about your relationship with Lilo & Stitch and your initial feelings upon being able to direct the remake.
DEAN FLEISCHER CAMP: It's always been my favorite Disney animated film, and it's always been the one that I felt like I could do a live-action adaptation of because when I saw the original in theaters, I was in high school, and it didn't look like any other animated Disney movie I'd ever seen. The characters felt so authentic and a little rough around the edges in a way that I now know is the influence of Chris Sanders' actual, original art style. But at the time, I just thought, wow, this is such a different look for a Disney movie. It's also the thing that made it seem like there's a great opportunity here to tell a live-action version of these characters because, unlike most Disney animated films, it takes place in contemporary society. It stars real, mostly humans going through some real stuff that many other humans go through daily. So, it felt like a great opportunity. I jumped at the chance.
DEADLINE: When did you find out that it would switch from being a Disney+-only release to a wide theatrical?
JONATHAN EIRICH: It was an ongoing conversation and a process. It wasn't official-official until right before D23, so that's when we sort of landed on what the release date was going to be and revealing Stitch to the world. But it was always being discussed, and I think there was always a conversation about which way it would go. Thankfully, we're so excited for this movie to be in theaters, so I think audiences will get what they hope for.
CAMP: I was so happy when I found that out because, sure, it will reach a different type of audience [on streaming] or whatever, but I think we're always trying to make a movie that you would want to see with a big group in a big theater and feel all the feelings together. The movie is about Ohana and all those things, so it really enhances the experience.
DEADLINE: There's this resonating theme about the imperfect family. In addition to changes in the story about Nani having these career ambitions as a marine biologist. Why were these themes important for your version of the film?
CAMP: I'm so glad you noticed that. I think that was one of the things that we talked about, thematically modernizing and updating for this live-action version was broadening the idea of Ohana and complicating it with a little more nuance. It just felt like the right thing to do. Given that Nani, who I always felt was a little too rose-colored glasses for somebody in her situation, was so smart and has had to abandon a lot of these dreams or defer them because she had to take care of her little sister and inherited all this responsibility at such a young age. It just felt like she might not have such an easy time buying into, 'Nobody gets left behind' because she certainly would feel like, well, I'm struggling here. So that informed the approach that we took with the story and with the arch between the two sisters and what the resolution ended up being.
DEADLINE: How did you find Maia? Why was she perfect for Lilo?
CAMP: She lit up the room when she walked in. I think we all felt like we had a real front-runner here. We cast a wide net and tried to see as many kids as we could because it's a really unusual thing to find somebody who checks all those boxes and has enthusiasm, maturity and imagination. She's a needle in a haystack and we're so glad that we found her. And I can remember thinking when she walked in, it was so clear, and this should be important to any casting director. It was so clear when Maia walked in that she was dragging her parents to these auditions and not the other way around at all.
EIRICH: The only other added element is that we were casting Sydney as Nani at that point too. So, when there was this scary moment where we're like, well, now we have to do a chemistry read, how do they feel together? Because she seems like she's the front-runner. When they met, it was like they had been sisters for 20 years. They've been that way ever since too. It's a beautiful relationship they have.
DEADLINE: What were some non-negotiables? Things that you absolutely had to do in this movie.
CAMP: I think we were all coming from a place of real love for the original. It's always been my favorite Disney movie. And so, I think there were a lot of those, and sometimes you have to let go and kill your darlings and it just doesn't work out for one reason or another. But I think the main things that we were really focused on, we got, and I'm proud that we nailed it. I think the character design of Stitch and his personality really coming through was one. I think that bringing back so much of the original Ohana that made the first one special like Chris Sanders and Tia Carrere [who voiced Nani in the 2002 film] and consulting with a lot of the original animation team were just super important to us and lucky enough that they worked out.
DEADLINE: Talk a bit more about getting Chris Sanders to return, as he's in the middle of a creative whirlwind right now, between and the live-action . Was there a universe where you didn't use Chris at all?
CAMP: No universe exists like that out there. It's the summer of Chris Sanders right now. Having him return was one of the first conversations we had. Luckily, he's the guy he is, and he was so supportive, enthusiastic, and happy to provide the voice and a little bit of guidance here and there. He was one of the first people, once we had landed on a concept art of live-action Stitch, who was proud of how it turned out.
DEADLINE: In what ways do you relate to your characters?
MAIA KEALOHA: I relate to her because we're both from Hawaii and we're a little bit sassy. We also like fun clothes, and we love surfing. I go surfing in my free time. We also love to dance hula because hula tells a story just like you can tell a story about any different kind of movie.
SYDNEY ELIZEBETH AGUDONG: I'm an absolute OG fan of the film. I was looking at this new one like a clean slate. So, I really took to a lot of her identity as the older sister. It was something I held on to the entire time. The idea of self-sacrifice to the point that you almost forget your own needs and wants because you want to make sure that you can make your sister happy or your family happy was a very similar thing for me.
DEADLINE: Nani gets a lot of agency in this movie. How did you view the modern adaptation of this story?
AGUDONG: I was stoked. Again, I'm a huge fan of the original and we really wanted to make sure that we paid homage to that. I think we did that well. But here we've balanced it out with a lot of the original aspects of the movie that everybody loves and holds dear. We were able to go deeper and that was cool to focus on not just the Lilo and Stitch aspect of things alongside the chaos, but also the familial architecture in paying mind to Nani's tough circumstances and how realistic her situation was. It isn't all sunshine and rainbows for her. That was really cool to explore.
DEADLINE: How did you get to do your first film role?
KEALOHA: I had tried out for the Mini Miss Kona Coffee [pageant] and I won. They asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said I wanted to be a star because Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. [a show on Disney+] got me into acting because I thought that was real. So, then sometime later, there was a [notice] about the live-action Lilo & Stitch on the news. So, then I was like, wow, I can be the youngest actor in the world, and I can be in a movie that I've always loved.
DEADLINE: What would you like people to take away from this version of ?
AGUDONG: It's a family film. That's why there's longevity and timelessness to it because its themes are timeless. The way that the movie is based in Hawaii is perfect because I feel there's no better place to represent family in the way that I think it doesn't matter if you're related by blood or if you come from a different country or what you look like. You're always going to find somewhere that you belong. With this reimagination, that's a huge thing that I want the world to be able to consider and be able to enjoy and remember. Everybody has a place to belong. Family means what you want it to mean.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
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