Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

By Carolina Edson

*Disney Plus invited Erin to attend the “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made” Press event, and she asked me to attend in her place for the purposes of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the press event for Timmy failure: Mistakes Were Made coming to Disney+ Friday February 7th. The event took place on The Walt Disney Studios lot. We had an intimate interview with the cast of the movie and learned about the deeper meaning of the movie, some acting skills & and if there was really a polar bear on set.

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made is a movie about an 11 year old boy who has a 1500 pound polar bear as an imaginary friend. Timmy is the founder of Total Failure Inc. and together they solve crimes and mysteries around the streets of Portland. It is a beautiful story of how important it is to continue to stay true to yourself and to embrace your imagination. 

During the first part of the press event we had the opportunity to sit with the adult actors – Ophelia Lovibond, who plays Timmy’s mom, Patty Failure, Kyle Bornheim, who plays Crispin & Wallace Shawn who plays Mr. Crocus. 

It was an open and casual round table discussion and the first question asked was what attracted them to be a part of the movie. Everyone agreed that the story of embracing one’s imagination and uniqueness are what attracted them to the film. Reading how Timmy had the most vivid imagination but also believing it was true was amazing to them. Also knowing how the Director Tom Mccarthy and Author Stephan Pastis would use their talents to bring the book to life you knew it wouldn’t be like any other family comedy out there, it would have its own flair and creativity. 

 Shawn joked about how thrilled he was to even be offered a job and to be paid for it no less. But in seriousness he was genuinely worried for Timmy. Here he had a kid who wasn’t doing his hw, flunking out of class and letting his imagination run wild. He felt a sort of responsibility to look out for him. He mentioned he had some imagination but his fear of being kicked out of school was much greater. So Timmy being fearless really drove Shawn’s anxiety to help him. 

When asked how their experience as working with kids it was unanimous on how it didn’t feel different at all. Once ‘action’ is called everyone behaves and does as they are told as everyone is there for the same reason. The kids on set would act more like little adults then kids at times and had a level of being professional everyone was impressed with.  

Shawn mentioned the times he and Winslow would shoot a scene together the director treated them both equally. There was a sense of equality throughout the set and it was flawless adapting to it. 

The question we all had on our mind was, was the Polar Bear real?