In 1968, a children’s book by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was published—its title in the U.K. was The Iron Man and, in the United States, The Iron Giant. The story of a huge robot and its friendship with a young boy grew out of a story told by Hughes to comfort his and American poet Slyvia Plath’s (1932-1963) two children following their mother’s death.

In 1986, rock musician Pete Townshend (one of the founders of the British band The Who) became interested in writing "a modern song-cycle in the manner of ‘Tommy’" and chose as his subject Hughes’ book, The Iron Man. Three years later, "The Iron Man" album was released and, in 1993, a stage version was mounted at London’s Old Vic.

Prolific theatrical producer/director Des McAnuff, who had adapted the Tony Award-winning "The Who’s ‘Tommy’" with Townshend for the stage, believed that "The Iron Man" could translate to the screen, and the project was ultimately acquired by Warner Bros.

Towards the end of 1996, while "The Iron Man" project was working its way through development, Brad Bird was developing a feature for Turner Feature Animation during the period when Turner merged with Warner Bros. The noted animation writer and director had worked on such groundbreaking television projects as "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" and had rightfully earned the reputation as an up-and-coming force in the resurgence of the popularity of animation. (Bird had also written, directed and co-produced the acclaimed "Family Dog" that aired on Steven Spielberg’s television anthology series, "Amazing Stories.")

Following the Turner/Warner Bros. merger, Bird was invited to come to Warner Bros. Animation—the studio of such classic animators as Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones—to discuss working on a film for the studio. While at Warners, Bird viewed sample artwork from projects the studio had in development and there he saw a drawing "of a young boy and a giant robot. It stuck with me. Later, when the Turner thing didn’t work out, Warners asked me if there was anything I was interested in. I read the Ted Hughes book and I really liked the basic mythology of the story, but I had something pretty different in mind. So I pitched my version of ‘The Iron Giant’ and they went for it."

Bird’s version of Hughes’ tale kept the central characters of the story, but surrounding the relationship between Hogarth and the Giant, the director put a distinctly American spin on the 30-year-old British children’s book.

He explains, "Hughes’ book is a great story that tries to show kids about the cycle of life—even though there is death, life has a continuity. My version is based around a question I asked the execs at Warner Bros.—what if a gun had a soul and chose not to be a gun? Basically I wanted to honor the book, but also take it in a new direction."

Screenwriter Tim McCanlies worked with Bird to realize the script. Bird comments, "Tim and I had a wonderful experience collaborating on ‘The Iron Giant.’ I first fell in love with Tim’s work when I read his screenplay ‘Second Hand Lions.’ I knew then that he was the perfect writer to help bring ‘The Iron Giant’ to the screen. Tim’s writing has a sweetness and an innocence to it which speak to the very core of our film."

Later during production, the filmmakers sent Ted Hughes a copy of "The Iron Giant" script. The author sent a letter back, saying how pleased he was with Bird’s version. In the letter, Hughes rather poetically stated, "I want to tell you how much I like what Brad Bird has done. He’s made something all of a piece, with terrific sinister gathering momentum and the ending came to me as a glorious piece of amazement. He’s made a terrific dramatic situation out of the way he’s developed The Iron Giant. I can’t stop thinking about it…"

Bird broke with Hughes’ tale by adding key new characters and altering both the setting of the story and the origin of the giant. He explains, "It’s now set in America in 1957. It deals with things like Cold War paranoia, and we have new characters like Dean, the beatnik, and Kent Mansley, the government agent. Also, the giant comes from outer space, where in the original story, he just emerges from the ocean."

The shift in setting was carefully considered by Bird. He continues, "The 50s are a wonderful time in which to set this movie. America was at a crossroads. We were learning to live with the atom bomb; the space race was just beginning; paranoia was at a high; and all of this got into the movies of the time…giant ants and mutated Martian men. That’s a pretty funny response to all of those influences. So if you’re going to have a story about a human boy who befriends a metal man, it’s fitting to put it into the context of the fear that existed at that time.

"Maine is primarily a rural setting. There’s something about juxtaposing a large technological creation with farmland and trees—a big, shiny metal thing looks completely out of place. There’s also an innocence and a Norman Rockwell-type of feeling to that place, and I liked the idea of innocence being visited by paranoia," he explains.

Key to the filmmaker’s retelling of The Iron Man is the giant’s fundamental purpose—whatever its origin, it was undoubtedly created as a weapon…a gun with a soul.

"In our version of the story, the boy is basically the parent and the giant is the child. I think that each one of us has both the potential for great good and for horrible destruction. Every day, in big and small ways, we are choosing which side of us we are going to act on. Hogarth helps this machine—that is built for another purpose—to find a different side of itself, and it becomes somewhat human in the process," the director concludes.

Bird’s pitch to Warner Bros. was in late 1996. A deal was made, and work bgan on "The Iron Giant" on January 2, 1997.