Hey folks, Harry here... Jim Hill just sent in a report that I still haven't quite been able to wrap my brain around. There are so many new projects here that sound so oddly appealing yet bizarre and possibly awful that I can't quite grasp it all. Like try figuring out that MY PEOPLES project he talks about... Just... bizarre. Here ya go...
Hey, Harry –
Greetings again from New Hampshire! It was nice to see that you were getting the word out earlier this week about “Lilo & Stitch” and “Treasure Planet.” Based on everything that I’ve heard, both of those films from Disney Feature Animation are definitely worth talking up. But – after that – the feature length cartoons that the Mouse House is thinking of sending out into the multi-plexes get … well …a bit bizarre.
How so? Well … Following the holiday 2003 release of “Home on the Range” & the Fall 2004 debut of “Bears,” Disney is basically turning its back on traditional animation. At least for the foreseeable future, Knowles. Every single project that Disney Feature Animation currently has in development to follow “Home” & “Bears” are films that either mix 2-D and 3-D animation (with most of the emphasis placed on computer animation) or are just straight CG projects.
Take – for instance – “My Peoples.” This backwoods bluegrass musical – written & directed by “Mulan” co-director Barry Cook with music by Ricky Skaggs – will feature 2-D characters that interact with 3-D props and settings. What sort of props? Well, how about a folk art puppet version of Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Hal Holbrook) that’s been crafted out of an old push broom. Disney hopes that – by using CG to create all of the puppets that play such a prominent role in “My Peoples” -- the whimsical moments of this movie will seem that much more magical.
Of course, given that country legend Dolly Parton is also reportedly voicing a character for “My Peoples” … Well, you can insert your own 2-D / 3-D / Double D joke here, Harry.
Meanwhile, over in WDFA’s “Snow Queen” pod (Another project that’s laboring to find a logical, stylistic way to blend 2-D and 3-D animation), the verdict is finally in: Disney’s latest attempt to turn Hans Christian Anderson’s icy tale into a full length animated feature didn’t turn out so hot. So -- even though temporary tracks had already been recorded for the work-in-progress reel for the studio’s latest stab at “The Snow Queen” (with Corey Burton – AKA the voice of Captain Hook from Disney’s “Back to Neverland” – providing many of the vocals ) – Disney execs have reportedly pulled the plug on this version of “The Snow Queen.” And – even as we speak, Harry – WDFA’s story staff is already hard at work, boarding a brand new take on the same material.
Now where this gets interesting, Knowles, is that master animator Glen Keane took advantage of this break in “The Snow Queen” ‘s development to announce that he was leaving the project. An d why did he do this, Harry? Well, after decades of doing stellar work on other people’s pictures, Keane has finally decided that he wants to direct a feature of his very own. So Glen is now supposedly holed up in his garret at the Disney lot, where he’s trying to come with a feature length story line for a film that's based on “Rapunzel.”
Now Disney studio execs were understandably upset when Keane upped and quit “The Snow Queen.” That film is being viewed as a project that’s extremely important to WDFA’s future. After all, “The Snow Queen” will be the first feature length cartoon that’s based on a classic fairy tale that Disney’s produced since the original “Aladdin” back in 1992. Mouse House execs are really counting on this movie to help the Walt Disney Company reconnect with its increasingly disenfranchised customers. So to have a big gun like Glen opt not to work on that project anymo re (and take a flyer on something as flaky as “Rapunzel”) was really a blow.
That said, Disney execs were still thrilled that Keane opted to stay at WDFA. These days, far too many of Mickey’s top artists are growing tired of all the cost-costing and corporate shenanigans. Which is why they go off in search of greener paychecks .. er … pastures.
Take – for example – Ken Duncan. The lead animator for Megara on 1997’s “Hercules” and Jane Porter in 1999’s “Tarzan.” Ken’s just announced that – at the end of the 5-month sabbatical that he’s currently taking from the Mouse House – he won’t be returning to Disney Feature Animation. Instead, Duncan’s decided to decamp for Dreamworks.
Noted animation director Kirk Wise is also bailing on WDFA. He recently packed up his office on the Burbank lot, abandoning his long time film-making partner, Gary Trousdale (Kirk & Gary were co-directors on 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast,” 1996’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and 2001’s “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”) in order to pursue live action opportunities. Which means that Trousdale will now have to develop his next project for Disney Feature Animation (“Gnomeo & Juliet” !?) all by himself.
Mind you, Harry, not everyone is bailing on the Mouse. I mean, Randy Haycock is staying put. Best known as the lead animator on “Tarzan” ‘s villainous great white hunter, Clayton, Randy’s also developing a film for Disney Feature Animation that’s based on a Hans Christian Anderson story: “The Emperor and the Nightingale.”
And there are even a few folks who are bucking the trend, Harry. Fighting the tide. Making their way INTO WDFA to come make movies for the Mouse. Chief among these is director Piet Kroon. Animation fans will probably know Piet best from his work on Warners Feature Animation’s “The Iron Giant” as well as “Osmosis Jones.” Now that he’s set up shop at Disney, Piet’s slated to helm “Fraidy Cat,” a Hitchcock-type mystery that’s set in London.
Mind you, Disney execs hope that “Fraidy Cat” will be another one of these hybrid projects. A film that combines the very best of the 2-D & 3-D animation traditions. Well, someone should tell that to Hans Bacher (the production designer who did such a wonderful job on Disney’s 1998 release, “Mulan”). For he’s been trying to win Kroon over to the idea of doing “Fraidy Cat” as a straight 3-D CG feature.
And why would Hans be trying to lure Piet over to CG? To avoid all of the behind-the-scenes headaches that are involved with making one of the se 2-D / 3-D hybrid projects. (If you ever want to hear an overly long, very involved explanation, Harry, just ask someone who works in the computer animation field to tell you what a 3-D ground plate is. Then ask them to explain how you’d put 3-D characters in a CG environment that uses 2-D hand drawn backgrounds. 15 hours later, these guys will still be yammering on about what a bitch it is to work on a project like this.)
Speaking of yammering on and overly long explanations … I really hadn’t intended to go on and on like this about what’s currently going on in the Mouse House. I just thought that you – and the rest of the AICN crew – might enjoy hearing about what lies out there we won’t get to see ‘til 2005 and beyond.
Anyway … It was nice to finally get to meet you, Harry (as well as schmooze with Father Geek and Quint), during your book signing at Book Soup. And – as I promised you back in March – I really do intend to up the number of reports that I’ll regularly be lobbing at Aint It Cool News.
In fact, I should be back in a day or so with another story that I think you’ll enjoy. It’s a tale filled with never-before-heard info about that infamous Disney dud, “Dinosaur” (Which makes its network television premiere this coming Sunday night on ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney”) as well as a preview of an event that you really ought to attend, Harry: “VES 2002 : A Festival of Visual Effects.”
Til I send that along … you take care, okay, Harry? And please give my best to your dad.
Later,
Jim Hill
