How Kurt Russell Saved Disney's Sky High From A Disastrous Script Rewrite
Considering the Walt Disney Company owns, well, everything these days, calling one of their films "underrated" seems a little silly. And yet, if you ask me, "Sky High" is undoubtedly the leader of the underrated live-action Disney roster. Just before Disney became the parent company of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio put out a family-friendly coming-of-age superhero comedy that, as /Film's Rafael Motamayor once described, "poked fun at expanded universes, superhero legacies, and every trope in the book." The story centered on teenager Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), the son of famed superheroes Steve Stronghold/The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Josie DeMarco-Stronghold/Jetstream (Kelly Preston). He's poised to be the next great hero after he starts training at Sky High — a super-secret floating school for superheroes and sidekicks — but Will doesn't have any powers.
As superhero films exploded in popularity in the years that followed, there's been a reassessment of "Sky High" and how it perfectly married the John Hughes-esque style of coming-of-age teen stories with comic book hero's journey tales, with director Mike Mitchell hoping that one day he'll be able to make a sequel film with Marvel's help. Disney would be wise to revisit the world of "Sky High," especially if they can bring back Michael Angarano as a now-adult Will Stronghold possibly having to adjust to his parents' retirement from superhero activity while raising a little Supe of his own.
But for as loved as "Sky High" is by those in the know, the film was at risk of being a total disaster. According to a 2005 Blackfilm.com interview with Kurt Russell, "Sky High" almost traded its unassuming teen movie hijinks for a much nastier tone.
Sky High almost had a mean streak
While Mitchell served as the director, the film was written by Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley, and Mark McCorkle. Russell's role in "Sky High" was vital but didn't require too much screen time, and he enjoyed the script. "I saw lots of laughs, visually lots of laugh lines, could be a fun character to play and I think the movie has something to say at the end of the day," he said. "In that vein, I believe it's the classic approach to a Disney movie, the kind I used to do there." (In his child actor days, Russell acted in several Disney films.) He recalled Mitchell agreeing and claiming that the classic approach to Disney was precisely what he wanted to do. But then Russell was sent a rewrite — one that he absolutely hated.
"It was suddenly, I felt, because of the way it had been tweaked, it was nasty, it had a meanness to it that nobody else was seeing," he said. Russell spoke with Mitchell and emphasized that the film he wanted to make was the classic Disney take on the story, which, fortunately, was the film Mitchell was also fighting to make. In an interview with Inverse, McCorkle credited Mitchell with wanting to embrace the vibrant playfulness of comic books. "Mike had a vision of bright colors and it being friendly and upbeat," McCorkle said, knowing that the ask was in opposition of the popular superhero fare at the time, like Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins." Per the interview with Kurt Russell, he didn't want to do the darker-toned movie, and pushed for the family-friendly version. "They said, 'Yes, this is what we want to do. This is the road we want to go down,' I said, 'Okay, count me in, let's go.'" Russell and Mitchell were able to make the film they had envisioned, and the rest is history.