Director Peter Hastings (Dog Man) has opened up about Grammy winner Elton John‘s fun cameo in Disney’s musical road comedy The Country Bears. The 2002 movie was based on the Country Bear Jamboree, one of the Magic Kingdom’s popular theme park attractions.
“Like other celebrated rock and roll groups, the members of the legendary group, The Country Bears, were torn apart by the perils of their own success—ego, jealousy, and a little too much honey,” reads the movie’s official synopsis. “An eager young fan, Beary Barrington, tries to convince the bitter ex-members of the rock band—brothers Ted and Fred Bedderhead, Tennessee O’Neal, and Zeb Zoober—to put aside their differences and perform a benefit concert to save Country Bear Hall, the legendary venue where the band got its start.”
The Country Bears director recalls Elton John’s fun cameo
In a recent interview with ComingSoon, Hastings shared a fun behind-the-scenes story about Elton John’s cameo in The Country Bears, which involved a Hollywood tourist bus. He recalled how great the music icon was during the production, revealing that he even greeted tourists passing by while doing a scene with four animatronic bears.
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“Elton John was great. It was one day. Here’s a funny thing that happened, though. We’re shooting in a driveway of a mansion in Beverly Hills, and we have all of these animatronic bears on the street, and I’m standing there with Elton John, and then a tour bus comes by that’s usually like, ‘Oh, there’s the Beverly Hills mansion,’ stuff like that,” He said. “But the tour bus comes by, and there’s four giant animatronic bears standing in the street talking to Elton John when he came by. He just waved. He was great. It was super fun.”
The Country Bears movie served as Hastings’ feature directorial debut. Besides Elton John, the live-action cast also included Christopher Walken, Stephen Tobolowsky, Diedrich Bader, Alex Rocco, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, and M.C. Gainey, with guest cameos by signers Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, Brian Setzer, Xzibit, and more. The titular bears were voiced by Haley Joel Osment, Bader, Brad Garrett, Toby Huss, and Stephen Root.
