Indie filmmaker David Lowery spent $12,000 to make his breakout film, the 2009 drama St. Nick. He's pretty sure that was the daily catering budget on the set of Disney's live-action remake of Pete's Dragon, which Lowery wrote and directed and lands in theaters today.

Despite the Disney treatment, Lowery says it didn't feel like making a big-budget movie. His bottom line is curating an honest, emotional experience, and Pete's Dragon is no exception.

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Lowery is probably best known for his 2013 Texas crime drama Ain't Them Bodies Saints, which debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and starred Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. The film follows the story of outlaw Casey Affleck on the run to reunite with his wife and the daughter he's never met. A common theme often pops up in Lowery's films as well as the films he's drawn from: children on their own. St. Nick is the story of two children who have been abandoned by their guardians. Lowery says in some ways he considered Casey Affleck's character in Saints to be a bit of a lost child finding his way. For Pete's Dragon, he re-watched a childhood favorite, Disney's The Journey of Natty Gann, about a Depression-era girl searching for her father.

Lowery isn't ready to self-analyze what this theme means in his own life, but it's likely something to do with the size of his family. Lowery, the eldest of nine, is a native of Irving, Texas, a town just west of Dallas that was the former home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Director David Lowery Barry King Getty Images

Growing up, Lowery immersed himself in Swiss Family Robinson, The Boxcar Children and Calvin and Hobbes comics, particularly taken with Bill Waterson's Yukon Ho! in which Calvin decides to run away to the Yukon territory. Lowery says the comics had the biggest impact on him as a kid. The idea of "striking out on his own" was very enticing. Anything about kids fending for themselves appealed to him. In a house of nine kids finding time alone is tricky.

And so this quiet, humble filmmaker finds himself the somewhat accidental Disney darling. After striking out on a journey of his own after high school, Lowery has had success writing, directing, and editing smaller independent films. He never expected to remake Pete's Dragon—it wasn't a project that was even on his radar. And yet, the chance to pitch a story turned into the opportunity to direct a live-action film with a dragon.

The filmmaker talked with Esquire about flying to tops of mountains in New Zealand to get the perfect shot and the inspiration for the furry, green dragon.

You are the oldest of nine kids and the son of a Catholic theology professor. How does that translate into your work?

I grew up in a deeply Catholic home. Our parents always encouraged us to march to our own drums though, so some of us are still Catholic and some are not. That's always going to be a part of me though, little bits of it trickle into my work. Whether it's an embrace or a rejection I'm not always sure, but I can't avoid it. Sometimes I wonder if my prudish aversion to nudity in movies has something to do with it.

Besides a theologian, your dad is an academic. Did you have access to literature or texts beyond your age before you got to college?

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't finish college. I did a few semesters [at The University of Dallas, where his father taught] in 2001 and then again in 2005. I loved the one semester we spent on Moby-Dick. I really do think it's the classic American novel. I loved the core curriculum and classic texts at UD, but I just wish I had finished somewhere.

Does your dad still teach?

No, he just retired this year. He's currently working on transforming our childhood treehouse into a backyard office, complete with a zipline. He would be more than happy to show it to you.

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Tell me about the dragon.

We worked with WETA Workshop to create him. He's very much modeled after my cats. I really wanted him to look like what I would want a dragon to look like if he was my best friend. I love animals and their behavior. I watch cat videos all the time. I really wanted to dig into that appeal and extrapolate something from it. He's 20 feet tall, but on an aesthetic level I wanted him to be friendly and furry. Like my cats.

So is the dragon real? Or does he just exist to the boy?

He can't exist in any other realm but reality. When I was a kid, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, my stuffed animals—they were real. There is the tremendous suspension of disbelief that you have as a child. It's harder as an adult. But this is our baseline—we have to accept the dragon as the reality, and therefore everyone else must react to it. I wanted to treat the dragon as if we believed he was real.

There is the tremendous suspension of disbelief that you have as a child. It's harder as an adult.

Your films sometimes have a dark feel to them. Does Pete's Dragon tap into that style?

I don't actually consider it darkness. I think it's more an accurate representation of emotions. I remember feeling very serious about things as a kid. I didn't think it was all fun and games. And so I don't want to be glib about those feelings and emotions that children experience. I've obviously changed as an "emotional creature" now that I'm an adult, but that really just means that I have the tools to understand those emotions. I can contextualize them now and have a better grasp on what they mean, but they persist throughout our lives. I want to treat those emotions that kids experience honestly and accurately.

Disney

Was this movie something you had dreamed about doing?

Honestly, no! I had seen it maybe once or twice, but this opportunity came out of the blue. I got an email asking if I'd be interested in maybe pitching a story idea. Once I had the green light to write a story about a boy and a dragon it felt like fertile ground. Anything seemed possible.

You're used to making small indie films. How did it feel working on such a large movie?

It actually didn't feel like a big budget movie. At least to me it didn't always feel that way. The bells and whistles did not change the integrity of the story. It was shockingly similar to making a small film, and that surprised me at times. Although there was one time when we took a helicopter to the top of a mountain in New Zealand to get this exact shot, and it occurred to me that this was a pretty huge deal…

Director David Lowery and Robert Redford on the set of Matt Klitscher

Now that you've made a huge Disney movie, will you stay in L.A.?

Actually, I think I might go back to Dallas. With the Internet, now everyone is your neighbor. Geography doesn't matter anymore. I think there is this idea that you have to be in L.A. to be a filmmaker. Most people think I'm Austin-based when I say I'm from Texas. Dallas is comfortable to me. It makes sense to me.

Did you ever go to Disneyland as a kid?

No. It wasn't really the most feasible vacation for a family of 11. But I've been now. I got the VIP tour, I guess. I didn't have to wait in any lines. And it was amazing. I loved it.

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