Neils Skellig

Neils Skellig is a hunter who hails from South Africa. He is summoned by V.A. Vandevere to take care of a certain mother elephant who he fears will distract Dumbo from performing at his very best.

Background
Joseph Gatt was enlisted to play the hard-nosed hunter, but he didn’t want to overdo the performance. “It would be very easy to play him that way,” says Gatt. “That’s not my personal style of how I like to work, and I was really pleased when I met Tim Burton and one of the first things he said to me was, ‘You know, you’re going to be frightening enough just by doing nothing, by being.’ I said, ‘Oh. I think that’s a compliment.’ So, everything is just played very real, very down to earth.”