John Travolta
Bolt
Search results
in: Bolt, Disney characters, Characters, and 2 more. Bolt characters. Category page. Characters from Bolt . A. Agent. B. Blake, Tom, and Billy.
Nov 21, 2008 · Bolt: Directed by Byron Howard, Chris Williams. With John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton. The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.
- (229K)
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Byron Howard, Chris Williams
- 2008-11-21
- Overview
- Background
- Appearances
- Disney Parks
- Trivia
“If you guys can help me find Penny, that girl from the television show, well, I'd love to hear more about this aliens idea, but on the way.”
―Bolt to the Pigeons about Penny
Development
“A dog is so pure. A dog is loving, loyal and practically nothing else. So to be able to take a character like that, who is so trusting, and put him into a premise like this really seemed to work. And to give him such an over the top, ridiculous, fictional frame work for his understanding of the world, and have all that go away, and then be left with one idea which he holds on two which is "I love my owner and she loves me" and that is somehow just so *dog*. So we kept referencing back to that idea, that this is a movie about trust. A movie about the risks and rewards that comes with giving your heart to somebody, and it argues that it is worth the risk.” ―Byron Howard. After the release of Meet the Robinsons, Disney animators and filmmakers had an extensive training program to prepare for the work on what would later be called "Bolt". At the time, former director and storyboard artist, Chris Sanders was in lead of the project. The working name for the film was initially American Dog when Sanders helmed the project. He had started working on a character, a dog, whose overall appearance and personality was predominantly different from the "current" Bolt. Sander's character would be named Henry and, indifference to Bolt, he was an actual actor who would one day find himself lost in the Nevada desert. Henry would meet a radioactive hamster and a one-eyed cat, two characters that would help him find a new home. "Henry" from Chris Sanders' American Dog, was also smaller, red, and had a more cartoonish appearance. When John Lasseter became Chief Creative Officer at Disney in 2008, he demanded to see Chris Sanders project. John Lasseter and his colleagues from Pixar viewed a couple of early cuts of the film, but they were not impressed. They suggested a series of changes improve the character Henry and his story. Chris Sanders refused and was, therefore, replaced by two new directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard. John Lasseter was quoted saying that "Chris Sanders is extremely talented but couldn't take it to the place it had to be", adding that "the story was too quirky for his own good". Many changes were made to both the story and the character Henry, who was now renamed "Bolt". Byron Howard and Tony Fucile were put in charge for the animation and design of the dog while Chris Williams worked on the storyline. Under the new direction, a new dog emerged, more similar to the Bolt we know. John Lasseter was spending most of his time shaping up the plot, providing the animators with his vision of who the character was supposed to be, as well as his role in the movie. The directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard premeditated the character from scratch but relied heavily on the help from the design team led by chief designer Joe Moshier and various filmmakers who worked at the studio, such as Wayne Unten. The new story emphasized Bolt's relationship to his owner, making the entire plot more centered on the typical canine characteristics, which according to the directors, were innocence, loyalty, and trust.
Voice
As the development of Bolt's personality and role in the movie continued, it became apparent that Bolt would have a certain "duo-personality", being a contrasting mix between his adventurous action-hero persona, and his more sensitive, loving, and sympathetic side. John Travolta was chosen as they thought he would bring the right blend of toughness, humor, and appeal needed for Bolt's voice. The actor was actually chosen among several other alternatives, as he is someone who has had a lot of success playing tough characters in his career. In the animators' opinion, one of the reasons he has been so successful is because there is an innate "sweet quality" in him, and therefore, as bad and mesmerizing as a character can be, he is still making them likable. This ability was very desirable amongst the storyboard artists and filmmakers, as they thought it the perfect combination for playing a dog who thinks that he's a very threatening, menacing figure but underneath it, all is really a normal puppy who loves his owner. John Travolta took a liking to the character Bolt, even before he started recording his voice. Despite being asked several times over the years, the actor had never worked with any animated feature before and was consequently comparably inexperienced in the field of voice casting. Bolt was the first animated character that he agreed on providing the voice for. According to the actor himself, Bolt was the first time that "indicated as the right character". In many ways, the character Bolt was animated after Travolta's voice, expressions and his personal interpretations of the dialogues. Bolt's mimics in the movie was inspired by Travolta's performance and the animators would, when working with the storyboard, take inspiration from and sketch after John Travolta's facial expression. His facial expressions were therefore taped during the recording sections by a video camera. As such, John Travolta would give the animators different takes of every dialog, which at times, could mean up to 20-30 different versions of the same sentence for the animators to choose from. A "Chinese menu" as John Travolta called it.
Animation
When Bolt had an initially realistic design, the more realistic American Shepherd design didn't fit in the movie's backdrop. The animators were also irritated with Bolt's paws and ears, thinking that his ears looked too long and his paws were too small. Bolt was redesigned to be smaller and sturdy in contrast to the earlier tall and feeble design. Once the refinement of Bolt's design was finished, it was up to Jim Kim to flesh out the design team's drawing and sketches in animatable poses. Jim Kim worked as a visual development artist and was very important in the project. Thus far, the character Bolt was nothing more than sketches and drawings, so in order to meet the challenge of transforming Bolt into a computer-generated figure, Jim Kim started working with Joe Moshier's different designs, putting them in different orthographic poses, experimenting with the mimics. He worked to give Bolt his communicative facial expressions and expressive body language. The last stage in Bolt's design development had to do with canine movement and skeleton studies. To make Bolt's movements seem natural and realistic was of utmost importance to the studio and John Lasseter even required the animation team to use visual references during the animation. Therefore, the team watched and analyzed live-clips of dog movement and behavior, and Dr. Staurt Sumida, a professor in biology from California State University in San Bernardino, gave the team circa a dozen lectures on animal mechanics, muscle and bone structure, as well as canine body language and behavior tendencies. He also returned as much as four times to the studio to review how the animators applied his lessons during the animation of Bolt. Throughout the entire production period, Bolt was animated with naturalistic dog mechanics in mind. When animating Bolt's model during the production, one of their many goals was to successfully marry the realistic, natural body language of real dogs with Bolt's more anthropomorphic facial expressions, to make the character dynamic and expressive. In this project, supervising animator Wayne Unten played an important role, and once again, John Travolta's recorded mimics were used during the animation of Bolt's mimics, while Bolt's overall movements and canine body language reminded natural and realistic. By now, after months of redesigning, the character Bolt looked and behaved like from the movie.
Bolt
In March 2003, an 8-week-old Bolt is raised at the Silverlake Animal Rescue Center. One day, a girl named Penny enters the locale and spots Bolt almost immediately. Bolt turns to Penny, smiling and wagging happily before being distracted by his own tail and starting chasing it. Penny adopts the puppy, hugs him, and gives him his iconic dog collar. Five years later, Penny has received a call from her "father" alerting his daughter she is in danger from the evil Dr. Calico. To protect Penny, her father genetically manipulated Bolt to have superpowers, like super-strength, the super-speed, heat vision, and his legendary "superbark". His mission is to protect his owner from Dr. Calico and his minions and save Penny's father who is being held, prisoner. Using these powers, Bolt helps Penny foil Calico's plans, playing the role of a stereotypical, nerveless superhero. However, it is soon revealed that the entire premise is part of a popular TV show where Bolt plays the lead role. Bolt, however, believes that his adventures are real and that Penny, his actual owner and whom he directs all of his considerable love and devotion to, is in real danger. The directors nurture this illusion through the use of extensive stenography and live-effects, hence tricking the apprehensive canine, year after year, into believing that Penny is in serious danger and in need of constant protection. Everything is done in order to achieve a more realistic, genuine performance from the poor dog whose only real interest is to be with his owner. Penny, as a child actress who knows the drill, nonetheless returns Bolt's love when she is not being pulled away by other workers or her greedy agent. After each recording session, at the end of each day, Bolt and Penny spend some time alone in a trailer located inside the studio. Aside from the recording, this is seemingly the only time the two get to have together. Penny is forced to leave Bolt every night, alone in the trailer, as the directors are very keen to keep Bolt isolated from reality out of fear it would have on his performance, but she aspires to one day take him home with her and let him enjoy the life as a real dog. After a recording session, the two have some time on their own, but the dog is too worried and triggered to play or even eat. Instead, he persistently guards the door against the potential evils he is convinced might still be outside. Penny seems worried and tries to connect with Bolt by getting him to play or calm him down but soon must give up when her pink cell phone rings, reminding her that it is time to leave Bolt alone. Bolt, obviously knowing from earlier experience what the ringtone means, looks insistently at Penny and tries to block the door with his body, trying to keep her from leaving. Penny sighs saying, "You know I have to go" and hugs Bolt before leaving, who stands by the door after that she left, whining uneasily. During the night, two cats who play Calico's cats on the TV show visit Bolt's trailer to mock him and harshly and inconsiderately play on the fact that he thinks it is all real. Bolt does not realize that the cats are making fun of him and gets extremely frustrated when the cats ignore his threats and attempted intimidation. The cats leave him barking crazily. When the ratings are dropping, the directors decide to make a "cliff-hanger" as a comeback with Bolt not getting to rescue Penny, who knows Bolt's condition will get even worse, at the end of the shooting. Instead, he is restrained and dragged to his trailer where they try to lock him in. Thinking that Penny needs to be rescued, he effortlessly tricks the guard and escapes the trailer. Spotting some props from the TV set outside a window, he throws himself against the hard surface, convinced that he will be able to break through. Instead, he knocks himself unconscious and falls backward into a box stuffed with packing Styrofoam which is then sealed and Bolt is shipped cross-country to New York without anyone knowing where he really is.
Super Rhino
Since it takes place within Rhino's dream, Bolt is shown being held captive by Dr. Calico who he shut Bolt's mouth with a dog muzzle so Bolt can't use his Super Bark, they were captive until Rhino saved them. Outside of Rhino's dream, it's shown that Bolt is still sleeping happily with Penny and still enjoying his normal life.
Once Upon a Studio
Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino appear with Minnie, seeing Bernard, Miss Bianca, and Orville crashing after popping out of their frame and Minnie tells Peter Pan to get the rest of the characters upstairs. They also join in the group photo alongside Penny.
Bolt is very rarely seen at Epcot's The American Adventure.
•According to dates seen on posters and in magazines that appear in the movie, Bolt was born in March 2003 and was 8 weeks old when adopted by Penny.
•By size and behavior, he is probably or most likely 31~35 years old in human age.
•The number on Bolt's dog tag is the address of Disney's feature animation building.
•Bolt was adopted from the Silverlake Animal Rescue center. There is a real animal rescue organization named Silver Lake Animal Rescue League, located in Michigan, although in the film the Silver Lake they are referring to is Silver Lake, Los Angeles, an area just 15 minutes away from Walt Disney's original studio.
•Bolt seems to have a habit of talking to himself. He is seen talking to himself in one of the early scenes, trying to calm down. He also called himself "Bolty", a name that Penny also uses on him.
•Bolt's name was changed to "Volt" in Russia, since the word "bolt" can be used as a vulgar word, meaning a male organ in Russian.
Bolt is a 2008 American animated action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard (in their feature directorial debuts) and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Williams and Dan Fogelman.
Together with his hilarious new sidekicks Rhino, Bolt's #1 Fan, and a street-smart cat named Mittens, Bolt sets off on an amazing journey where he discovers he doesn't need super powers to be a hero. Cast of Characters / Credits
Bolt's character, alongside Travolta's vocal performance, has received mostly positive critical acclaim from film critics and became a breakout character, leading to strong sales of merchandise and toys following the film's release.
People also ask
How old is Bolt (character)?
Who voiced bolt?
Who is bolt in Disney heroes battle mode?
Is bolt a good character?
Nov 21, 2008 · 26 images of the Bolt cast of characters. Photos of the Bolt (Movie) voice actors.
