The production, being directed by 11-time Emmy and four-time BAFTA nominee James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Flight of the Conchords) marks the lovable Latina character’s big screen debut (and first live-action adaptation on any platform) after fourteen seasons (2000-2014) and 172 episodes on Nickelodeon. The film is a Paramount Players and Nickelodeon production in association with Walden Media. The film is being supported by the Queensland Government via Screenland Queensland. Paramount is slated to release the film on August 2, 2019.
Dora the Explorer stars Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Instant Family) in the film’s title role. Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents nothing could prepare Dora (now a teenager) for the most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego, and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.
Seventeen-year-old actress Moner is joined in the film by one of Mexico’s biggest stars, Eugenio Derbez (Overboard, Instructions Not Included, How to Be A Latin Lover), who plays Alejandro, a mysterious jungle inhabitant who tries to protect the teenagers from the marauders. The film also features big screen newcomer Micke Moreno (Escobar: Paradise Lost), in the role of cousin Diego; Nicholas Coombe (Spy Kids: Mission Control, Midnight Sun, Search and Destroy, The Magicians, Imaginary Mary, Midnight Sun) as Randy, a fellow high schooler who develops an immediate crush on Dora; Madeleine Madden (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Tidelands) as the school’s snooty class president, Sammy; and Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel, Amores Perros, Thor, The 33) as Dora’s grandma, Abuelita Valerie. Temuera Morrison (Green Lantern, Moana) will play the role of Powell. Additional key casting announcements are forthcoming.
Coombe is represented by LINK Entertainment, The Characters Talent Agency and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
The film is produced by Christopher Robin producer Kristin Burr, who is joined by longtime Bobin associate, executive producer John G. Scotti (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Alice Through the Looking Glass) as well as executive producers Julia Pistor (The Spiderwick Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Eugenio Derbez.
Bobin has assembled a talented team behind the camera that also includes reunions with Oscar-winning production designer Dan Hennah (Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Alice Through the Looking Glass) and costume designer Rahel Afiley (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Flight of the Conchords). The pair will be joined by six-time Goya Award winning (and BAFTA nominated) cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, A.S.C. (Secretos del corazón, The Others, Blue Jasmine, Thor: Ragnarok), film editor Mark Everson (Paddington, Paddington 2) and BAFTA-nominated VFX supervisor Andy Brown (Black Panther, House of Flying Daggers, Moulin Rouge!)
Dora the Explorer will film entirely in Australia’s Gold Coast, in the state of Queensland on the continent’s east coast south of Brisbane. Village Roadshow Studios, where the production will headquarter, has been host to several major Hollywood movies in the last few years, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Shallows, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and, most recently, DC’s Aquaman. In addition to designer Hennah’s stage builds, the production will utilize Queensland’s diverse landscape, notably tropical forests near Tamborine Mountain and Tallebudgera, to portray Dora’s jungle habitat.
Moner actually has a history with the Dora franchise, having previously voiced the character Kate on the animated sequel TV series Dora and Friends: Into the City!, which aired for two seasons on Nickelodeon. Dora the Explorer will serve as the Peruvian-American actor's first-time standing in the spotlight on a studio franchise release by herself.
To celebrate shooting commencing on Dora the Explorer, Moner treated fans to the first photo of herself in character, sporting the animated Nickelodeon heroine's iconic signature pink shirt, orange shorts, short brown hair, yellow socks, white sneakers and purple backpack, of course. Moner was clearly the perfect choice to play Dora the Explorer - She looks exactly like the Latina character. In the hit Nickelodeon series, Dora is just a kid, but she will be a teenager in the live-action movie. They grow up so fast!
"So excited to show you the First Look of me as #DoraTheExplorer," she wrote.
So far, the response from loyal Dora fans has been positive.
“OMG THIS IS SO AWESOME,” raved one fan.
“This incredible,” read another comment. “You really are Dora.”
“You do look just like Dora!” added a follower.
“I’m crying — they made Dora a real thing,” another commenter remarked.
Moner is proud to step into the role of the intrepid and beloved Dora, the Latina character she's admired since childhood. "We don’t have Latina heroines in theaters; I haven't seen Marvel doing it," she told USA TODAY in June. "I'm excited to play that for young audiences."
"For me, especially as a Latina, Dora was an amazing role model – she is a strong, adventurous, and fun-loving girl," the actor said earlier this year. "I can't wait to put on the backpack and begin her next adventure!"
“I’m honored and excited to bring Dora to life. I grew up watching the show, and for me, especially as a Latina, Dora was an amazing role model — she is a strong, adventurous and fun-loving girl," Moner said in May upon her casting.
She already favors Dora's classic bob haircut, although the character's fantastical bangs have been added with extensions. Her friends gave her the nickname after Moner dressed as Dora for Halloween last year.
"My friends called me Dora for so long after that," Moner said. "And now this comes up, and they have a bigger reason to call me Dora. I love it."
Moner has already proven she's taking the exploring part of Dora seriously: She posted a photo scuba diving along Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
"The post that I made was not a joke. I repeat this is not a joke. There is a comedy action movie being made about D-D-D-D-Dora," she followed up on her Insta stories, putting the little theme song style twist on it. Isabela also took to her Insta stories to share something that's been on her mind regarding how people see Latina women.
"I hate nothing more than when people say that I look like every other Latina – Selena Gomez, Becky G, Vanessa Hudgens, Camila Mendes. Like you really need to get to know more Latinas because just like any other race, like we don't all look alike," the actress said.
Bobin, on his end, has a mixed but mostly solid track record with kid-friendly fare, so it's encouraging to hear that he's reportedly drawing from a Dora the Explorer script cowritten by names like his Muppets collaborator Nicholas Stoller and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (My Name is Earl, New Girl). The movie should also look pretty good visuals-wise, thanks to the efforts of creatives like production designer Dan Hennah and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe behind the scenes. And of course, any family-oriented Hollywood project led by a primarily latino cast (and a latina protagonist, no less), like Dora the Explorer does, is something worth applauding.
Below is Paramount Players' official press release announcing the news, via We Are Movie Geeks:
Paramount Players announced today that the motion picture adaptation of Nickelodeon’s Peabody Award-winning children’s animated series, Dora the Explorer, began principal photography on location in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, on Monday, August 6, 2018. The production, being directed by 11-time Emmy and four-time BAFTA nominee James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, “Flight of the Conchords”) marks the lovable Latina character’s big screen debut (and first live-action adaptation on any platform) after fourteen seasons (2000-2014) and 172 episodes on Viacom’s enduring children’s cable network. The film is a Paramount Players and Nickelodeon production in association with Walden Media. The film is being supported by the Queensland Government via Screenland Queensland. Paramount will release the film on August 2, 2019.
Dora the Explorer stars Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Instant Family) in the film’s title role. Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents nothing could prepare Dora for the most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego, and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.
Seventeen-year-old actress Moner is joined in the film by one of Mexico’s biggest stars, Eugenio Derbez (Overboard, Instructions Not Included, How to Be A Latin Lover), who plays Alejandro, a mysterious jungle inhabitant who tries to protect the teenagers from the marauders. The film also features big screen newcomer Micke Moreno (Escobar: Paradise Lost), in the role of cousin Diego; Nicholas Coombe (“Spy Kids: Mission Control,” Midnight Sun) as Randy, a fellow high schooler who develops an immediate crush on Dora; Madeleine Madden (Picnic at Hanging Rock,” “Tidelands”) as the school’s snooty class president, Sammy; and Academy Award® nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel, Amores Perros, Thor, The 33) as Dora’s grandma, Abuelita Valerie. Temuera Morrison (Green Lantern, Moana) will play the role of Powell. Additional key casting announcements are forthcoming.
The film is produced by Christopher Robin producer Kristin Burr, who is joined by longtime Bobin associate, executive producer John G. Scotti (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Alice Through the Looking Glass) as well as executive producers Julia Pistor (The Spiderwick Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Eugenio Derbez.
Bobin has assembled a talented team behind the camera that also includes reunions with Oscar®-winning production designer Dan Hennah (Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Alice Through the Looking Glass) and costume designer Rahel Afiley (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, “Flight of the Conchords”). The pair will be joined by six-time Goya Award winning (and BAFTA nominated) cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, A.S.C. (Secretos del corazón, The Others, Blue Jasmine, Thor: Ragnarok), film editor Mark Everson (Paddington, Paddington 2) and BAFTA-nominated VFX supervisor Andy Brown (Black Panther, House of Flying Daggers, Moulin Rouge!)
Dora the Explorer will film entirely in Australia’s Gold Coast, in the state of Queensland on the continent’s east coast south of Brisbane. Village Roadshow Studios, where the production will headquarter, has been host to several major Hollywood movies in the last few years, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Shallows, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and, most recently, DC’s Aquaman. In addition to designer Hennah’s stage builds, the production will utilize Queensland’s diverse landscape, notably tropical forests near Tamborine Mountain and Tallebudgera, to portray Dora’s jungle habitat.
Updates (13/8): Dora the Explorer will be distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures in the Philippines.
Additionally, Michael Bay's personnel blog has confirmed that, following reports in the press, that he nor Platinum Dunes has nothing to do with the Dora the Explorer film.
More Nick: Live-Action 'Dora The Explorer' Movie Will Be Everything Fans Want Says Star Isabela Moner!
Originally published: Friday, August 10, 2018.
Sources: Coming Soon, Hollywood Life, Entertainment Weekly, Screen Rant, E! Online, Yahoo! Movies, Deadline, J-14; Additional source: IMDb, Newsweek.
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