Photo courtesy Disney/DISNEY – © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Today marks the debut of East Dallas-based director David Lowery‘s Peter Pan & Wendy on Disney channel, and as has become tradition for all Lowery-directed films, for good reason, Lake Highlands native Daniel Hart has written the mesmerizing musical score. Lowery has told the Advocate that Hart, his composer friend and constant collaborator, pushes him creatively.
The duo have worked together on several motion pictures including, my personal favorite, A Ghost Story, in which Daniel’s music is as pivotal a player as its powerhouse stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. Listen below — that’s Daniel and his band Dark Rooms. (Daniel Hart’s dad Ken once told us about Daniel teaching Casey Affleck how to seem like he could play piano.)
Also, they have made: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (another Casey Affleck flick, about outlaws in love), The Old Man and the Gun (Robert Redford’s last movie also starring Sissy Spacek), Disney’s Pete’s Dragon (starring Redford and Bryce Dallas Howard).
So I don’t care what grumpy critics (reviews are not bad but mixed) or Disney naysayers think about Peter Pan & Wendy. Watch if only for the tunes and truly brilliant special effects, and to support local luminaries like Lowery and Hart as well as Lowery’s co-writer Toby Halbrooks, also a Lake Highlands native, also a producer on many Lowery joints.
The last time we checked in with Lowery, who prefers discussing his cats and other people’s movies to his own, he said he and wife Augustine Frizzell — a director talent in her own right — were working together on a script.
Daniel Hart, who has been generous with his time, speaking with us on several occasions over the years, took to Instagram this week to thank all of his Peter Pan & Wendy collaborators:
