Peter Hedges often brings together unconventional characters or themes into his work, most notably with his first adapted book, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” which starred Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. His ability to tap into stories about uniquely formed relationships earned him an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay of the Nick Hornby novel “About a Boy.”

In 2003, Hedges ventured into directing with “Pieces of April,” featuring an up-and-coming actress (at the time) named Katie Holmes. His next gig behind the camera was the 2007 comedic drama “Dan in Real Life.” Now, in Disney’s “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” Hedges takes on a magical tale about a married couple who adopt a 10-year-old son... when he suddenly sprouts from their garden. We sat down with the screenwriter/director to talk about his most recent film, and some of the challenges he faced in telling the story of a boy who was born as a result of some unusual circumstances.

How did the idea for “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” make its way into your hands?

Ahmet [Zappa] came to me and said, “This is my baby and I want you to adopt it and raise it. I’ll help you, but I want you to do your thing with it.” So it was a very generous act on his part. I was resistant to hearing any ideas at that point of anybody’s, but he’s a laughable guy and it was a free croissant, so I said, “Tell it to me.”

Were there challenges to make live-action movie magic for a studio that captures it so well with animation?

I’ve never trafficked in magic on film, so that was its own challenge. I didn’t really think about any prior Disney myth of it, I just wanted to see if the magic could be born out of “Why does the magic happen?” And I thought that the trick to that was going to be to make [the characters] ache, longing for a child. That’s not to say that anybody watching the movie who wants to have a kid and can’t is going to create a child in the garden. I think everyone knows that’s probably not gonna happen.

I wanted magic to be born out of nature, which I thought was really interesting. If we could feel it in the rain, and in the leaves, and in the turning of the leaves, ‘cause those are all things we know. We don’t experience everyday magic dust or sprinkles, but we do experience leaves and rain and nature. It was difficult, because [you ask yourself], “Do you spend your time justifying the story in the literal sense, or do you try to justify the story in the emotional and metaphorical sense?” Trying to find that balance was a challenge.

Do you consider the film a new version of the “stork” story, telling kids they were born from the garden?

(Laughs) No, although that’s a really good question. I really do love the line [in the film] when he says, “So, you came from your mother’s tummies?”

A novel is challenging, because you have more story than you need and you have to select and narrow. With [“The Odd Life of Timothy Green”], there wasn’t enough story. It was really just a concept and then enormous possibility.

This film felt more like an original screenplay than it did an adaptation. But none of it exists without that incredible genius idea that Ahmet brought. It’s trying to figure out how you take those elements and which ones do you take. Like with “Gilbert Grape,” or “About a Boy,” you can’t take the whole novel; it’d be like a 20-hour movie, so you have to pick what those moments are and then re-order them and sometimes, when they’re so internalized, you have to make them external and make them visual.

What Ahmet brought me was a really great set-up for a situation where a lot could happen. I felt liberated because of the magic, and excited because I got to make up things as opposed to coming up with something where someone could say, “Where’s that other part?” There was no other part, so that felt really fun and made me want to write more original material.

What will people get out of seeing “Timothy Green”?

I want there to be as much humor as humanly possible [but] I definitely did not want to laugh for 15 minutes. I set out to very much establish that this is serious and that everything is born out of great ache and disappointment. I think there are kids that are too young for the movie for it to really mean anything. If I tried to put anything in the movie in a kid-ish way, the studio would call me and say, “What is that?” I was thinking about the kids, you don’t want kids to be tortured watching a movie. The ideal age [to see the film] is a pretty astonishing 8-year-old, many 9-year-olds, anybody 10 and above is gonna be fine.

How did you find the right Timothy for the film?

We did a big nationwide search, which is part of your job when you’re casting a kid, because you need to turn over every possibility. CJ [Adams], of course, had been in “Dan in Real Life,” and one day the casting director said, “CJ’s coming in.” Every kid I saw for the movie had been pre-screened except for CJ. I didn’t pre-screen him, he’s from Rhode Island…CJ is a kid who, after “Dan in Real Life,” was just being a kid. He hadn’t gone on and done a lot of auditions. I thought it was a very good audition, good enough to bring him back, but I didn’t, in any way feel after that first audition, that he was going to get the role of Timothy. He didn’t have enough experience, and this is a lead role in a film, and I need to find the male Abigail Breslin -- that kid who can do anything. So we auditioned many, many kids and great kids in the movie business. But they weren’t Timothy, and CJ kept coming back. About the third or fourth audition, he did something or said something in improv, and I remember turning to the casting director, and he looked at me, and we just had that look. But then I thought, “How do I go to the studio and say, ‘I wanna cast a kid who I cast in ‘Dan in Real Life,’ and he hasn’t done any other movies?’”

So I actually put more pressure on the casting department, and said we have to work harder because I thought, “Is this just my affection for CJ?” But I knew he was really special in it. Then we came to L.A. and did a whole bunch of tests, and then we brought CJ out, and each time it became more and more clear...it was really CJ’s role. And obviously, if you have the wrong kid in the film, you have the wrong movie.

If there were a sequel with Timothy all grown up, what would he be doing?

[Long pause] You got me there. I never had that thought. Wow. Yeah, he’d do something nurturing. I could see him working with kids, teaching. That would be nice, bringing him back. I miss the guy.