DiCamillo explained that when she arrived on her first visit to the Flora & Ulysses set, “Matilda was filming the scene where she was flipping through the comic books and explaining to Ulysses about what super heroes do and she was acting with an LED light where he would be.
The movie felt like a real gift,” she elaborated.īut as impressive as it was to see Ulysses on-screen, DiCamillo’s favorite moment on set was experiencing actress Matilda Lawler’s take on her beloved character, Flora. In my mind I go from me at my desk, to that.
“The image that’s in my head right now is Ulysses busting through the window of the donut shop and landing in a super hero pose. The squirrel star of Flora & Ulysses was obviously brought to life through CGI, but DiCamillo couldn’t help but gush over how incredible it was to see her imagination rendered on screen.
As DiCamillo consulted a friend about what she should do about the squirrel, she “thought about ways to save the squirrel's life, and combined it with the vacuum cleaner in the garage, and that's the story.” (Luckily, we were assured that the squirrel eventually ran away, unharmed!) The second was when a squirrel showed up on her front porch, “draped dramatically across the steps, clearly in distress,” DiCamillo described. In case you haven’t heard, DiCamillo’s acclaimed Newbery Medal–winning book was adapted into a Disney+ original movie called Flora & Ulysses, which will be streaming this Friday! Flora & Ulysses tells the story of a comic book–obsessed young girl named Flora (played in the movie by Matilda Lawler), whose world is turned upside down when she meets Ulysses, a squirrel who is imbued with superpowers through - you guessed it - a vacuum cleaner!ĭiCamillo shared that the initial inspiration for the story came from a combination of two memories, the first being her mother’s very well-loved vacuum cleaner that DiCamillo inherited upon her mother’s passing in 2006. When Kate DiCamillo, author of Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, was asked about her initial inspiration for this novel, she - like any great storyteller - was happy to tell us the tale! Kate DiCamillo on the Inspiration for Flora & Ulysses, and What It’s Like to See Her Story on Disney+!