Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a
1988 fantasy
comedy film directed by
Robert Zemeckis, produced by
Steven Spielberg and based on
Gary K. Wolf's
novel
Who Censored Roger
Rabbit?. It was released by
Walt Disney Pictures, under the
Touchstone banner and
co-produced by
Amblin
Entertainment. The film combines the use of
traditional
animation and live action
with elements of
film noir, and stars
Bob Hoskins,
Charles Fleischer,
Christopher Lloyd,
Kathleen Turner and
Joanna Cassidy.
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit is set in 1947 Hollywood
, where cartoon characters (referred to as "Toons") commonly interact with the studio system of Classical Hollywood
cinema. The film tells the story of
private investigator Eddie Valiant
caught in a mystery that involves Roger Rabbit, an
A-list Toon who is
framed for
murder.
Walt Disney Pictures purchased the
film
rights to
Who Censored Roger Rabbit? in 1981.
Jeffrey Price and Peter S.
Seaman wrote two
drafts of the script before Disney brought Spielberg and Amblin
Entertainment to help finance the film. Zemeckis was hired to
direct the live-action scenes with
Richard Williams overseeing
animation sequences. For inspiration, Price and Seaman studied the
work of
Walt Disney and
Warner Bros. Cartoons from the
Golden Age of American
animation, especially
Tex Avery and
Bob Clampett cartoons.
Production was moved
from Los Angeles to Elstree Studios
in England to accommodate Williams and his group of
animators. During filming, the production budget began to
rapidly expand and the
shooting
schedule lapsed longer than expected. However,
Who Framed
Roger Rabbit was released with financial success and critical
acclaim. The film brought a re-emerging interest from the golden
age of American animation and became the forefront for the
modern era, especially
the
Disney Renaissance.
Roger
Rabbit left behind an impact that included a
media franchise and
the unproduced
prequel,
Who Discovered
Roger Rabbit.
Plot
In an
alternate 1947 Los Angeles, California
, Toons commonly interact
with the Hollywood
studio system and live
in a section of the city known as Toontown. Roger Rabbit is the star of
"Maroon Cartoon" animated
short
subjects, but he has trouble following the director's commands,
delaying the production. Rumors are spreading that Roger's wife
Jessica is having an affair and studio head R.K. Maroon hires
private investigator Eddie
Valiant to look into the matter. Eddie, who for years had worked
Toontown with his brother Teddy, has been angry at them ever since
a Toon killed Teddy five years earlier and only reluctantly takes
the job.
While at a nightclub called the Ink & Paint Club, where Jessica
performs as a singer, Eddie discovers that the
buxom Mrs. Rabbit is "cheating" on Roger
by literally playing
pattycake with Marvin
Acme, owner of the
Acme Corporation
and Toontown. Eddie reveals this photographic evidence to Roger,
who sinks into depression. Marvin Acme is found murdered the next
day, and Roger becomes the prime suspect.

Judge Doom threatens Roger Rabbit
before introducing him to "The Dip"
At the crime scene, Eddie is met by Judge Doom of the Toontown
District Superior Court and his Toon Patrol
weasel henchmen. Doom is eager to use "The Dip", a
mixture of chemicals that can dissolve any Toon character on
contact, on Roger once he can be found. Eddie encounters Baby
Herman, Roger's co-star, who swears that Roger is innocent and that
Acme's
will, which would have left
Toontown to the Toons, has gone missing; if the will is not found
by midnight, Toontown would be sold at a
public auction, and Eddie discovers that a
conglomerate named Cloverleaf Industries, which has recently bought
the
Red Car trolley line
and put several of Eddie's friends out of work, has placed the
highest bid for the property.
Roger himself turns up at Eddie's office and pleads his innocence.
Eddie begins to investigate the case deeper with his on-off
girlfriend Dolores and Roger's Toon taxicab friend Benny while
trying to keep Roger hidden from the Toon Patrol. Valiant is
visited by Jessica, who reveals that she was forced by Maroon to
get close to Acme or else he would have ruined Roger's career.
Despite this knowledge, Eddie still is having problems connecting
the events to try and lead himself to who might have killed Acme.
That, however, happens accidentally when he sees a newsreel report
on Maroon selling his studio to Cloverleaf for a large
amount.
Armed with this information Eddie and Roger head to Maroon's office
that night, with Eddie demanding answers. Maroon tells him that
Cloverleaf would not buy the studio unless Acme sold his factory to
them, but because Acme wouldn't sell Maroon's plan was to blackmail
him with the photos to get him to sell. Before he can explain any
further, Maroon is shot from behind by a mysterious assassin and
dies. Before he's killed, however, he mentions something about the
Toons being destroyed, which later proves crucial.
Eddie sees Jessica (who unbeknownst to him has Roger in her trunk)
fleeing from the studio and, overcoming his anxiety, pursues her
into Toontown. While chasing her into a back-alley, Jessica saves
Eddie from Doom, who attempts to kill him. She shoots the Judge,
which causes him to run away screaming. Jessica reveals that Maroon
was killed by the same gun Doom was going to use to kill Eddie and
that he also killed Marvin Acme in an attempt to get his hands on
Toontown. Not only that, Roger has gone missing and has taken
Eddie's car with him, and the two are forced to use Benny the cab
to get back into Hollywood. However, Doom and the weasels capture
them and take them to the Acme factory.
In the factory, Doom reveals what his plans are. Since the will has
yet to turn up, as the sole stockholder of Cloverleaf Industries he
will take control of the Acme property.
In addition, he is
going to destroy Toontown and raze the Maroon Cartoons property to
create a freeway that will stretch to
Pasadena
. In addition, he reveals that in order for
people to be forced to use his new freeway he will be dismantling
the entire Red Car trolley fleet. To wipe out Toontown, Doom has
built a vehicle with a large Dip vat that he plans to spray
throughout the district, wiping out all the Toons.
At the exact moment that Doom reveals his plans for the Red Car,
Roger bursts onto the scene and threatens the entire Toon Patrol.
However, he gets hit by a ton of bricks and both he and Jessica are
tied to a hook. As Doom starts the truck up, Eddie decides to take
matters into his own hands. Using various props, he performs a
comedic routine to make the weasels laugh, which in turn causes
them all to
die of laughter. Eddie's
routine has an unintended consequence, however, as one of the
weasels laughed so hard he accidentally tripped the sprayer, which
began shooting a steady stream of Dip at Roger and Jessica.
Eddie and Doom then fight, using assorted Toon props found within
the factory, until a mishap with some super-strong glue causes Doom
to be run over with a
road roller. The
crushing does not kill Doom, however; instead, Doom reveals himself
to be a Toon, the same one that killed Eddie's brother. Doom
threatens Eddie with a number of cartoon tools up his sleeve, from
an anvil to a buzz saw. Eddie manages to open the drain on the
Dipmobile, showering Doom with his own mixture and dissolving him.
Eddie frees Roger and Jessica, their relationship having been
mended, while the Dipmobile harmlessly crashes through the
warehouse wall into Toontown and immediately smashed by a Toon
train. As numerous Toons enter the warehouse to see what the
commotion is, Eddie discovers Acme's will written in
disappearing/reappearing ink on an apparent
blank piece of paper that Acme had given to Jessica, and on which
Roger had later written a love poem to his wife. With the will in
hand, the Toons celebrate their ownership of Toontown and sing
"Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" while Roger and Jessica, as well as Eddie
and Dolores, rekindle their relationships.
Cast
- Bob Hoskins as
Eddie Valiant: An alcoholic private investigator
who strongly dislikes Toons; five years
earlier, Eddie's brother was killed by a Toon dropping a piano on
his head. Producer Steven Spielberg's first choice for Eddie
Valiant was Harrison Ford, but he was
asking for too much money.
- Charles
Fleischer provides the voice of Roger
Rabbit: An A-list Toon working for
"Maroon Cartoons". Roger is eventually framed for murder for the
death of Marvin Acme. To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Fleischer
dressed in a Roger bunny suit and "stood in" behind camera for most
scenes. Animation director Richard Williams explained Roger
Rabbit was a combination of "Tex Avery's
cashew nut-shaped head, the swatch of red hair...like Droopy's, Oswald
the Lucky Rabbit's overalls, Porky
Pig's bow tie and Mickey Mouse's
gloves." Fleischer also provides the voices of Benny the Cab and
two members of Doom's Weasel Gang, Psycho and Greasy. Lou Hirsch,
who supplied the voice for Baby Herman, was the original choice for
Benny the Cab, but was replaced by Fleischer.
- Christopher
Lloyd as Judge Doom: The sadistic
judge of Toontown District Superior Court and main antagonist of the film. It is eventually revealed
that Doom is indeed a Toon, and responsible for the deaths of
Eddie's brother, Marvin Acme, and R.K. Maroon. Doom is killed when
Eddie opens the drain on the Dip sprayer vehicle, releasing a
massive torrent of dip that eventually causes Doom to melt away.
Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with director Robert
Zemeckis and Amblin
Entertainment in Back to the
Future. Lloyd decided it was best not to blink his eyes to
perfectly portray the character.
- Kathleen Turner
provides the voice of Jessica Rabbit: Roger
Rabbit's physically
attractive wife. Amy Irving supplied
the singing voice, while Betsy
Brantley served as the stand-in.
- Joanna Cassidy
as Dolores: Eddie's on-off girlfriend who helps
him and Roger solve the case against Judge Doom. Dolores is also a
waitress.
- Alan Tilvern as
R.K. Maroon: Short tempered owner
of "Maroon Cartoon" studios. Maroon hires Eddie to find out what is
bothering Roger in his poor acting performances. He is eventually
murdered by Judge Doom. This was Tilvern's final theatrical
performance before his death.
- Stubby Kaye as
Marvin Acme: Prankster-like
owner of the Acme Corporation. The
scandal of Acme playing pattycake with
Jessica leads to his own death.
- Lou Hirsch provides
the voice of Baby Herman: Roger's frequent co-star
in Maroon Cartoons. Williams said Baby Herman was a mixture of
"Elmer Fudd and Tweety crashed together". April Winchell provides the voice of Mrs.
Herman and the "baby noises".
Richard LeParmentier has a
small role as Lt. Santino.
Joel Silver
makes a
cameo appearance as the
frustrated director at the beginning of the film. Archive sound of
Frank Sinatra from "
Witchcraft" was used for the Singing
Sword. In addition to Charles Fleischer, The Weasel gang voices
were provided by
David L. Lander,
Fred
Newman and
June Foray.
Mel Blanc voiced
Bugs
Bunny,
Daffy Duck,
Tweety Bird,
Porky Pig
and
Sylvester (this would
be the final film in which Blanc would voice these characters,
except for Daffy Duck, for which Blanc would voice him one last
time later in 1988).
Joe Alaskey voiced
Yosemite Sam and
Foghorn Leghorn. Other voice work was
provided by
Wayne Allwine as
Mickey Mouse,
Tony
Pope as
The Big Bad Wolf and
Goofy,
Russi
Taylor as the
Birds and
Minnie Mouse, and
Tony
Anselmo as
Donald Duck.
Production
Development
Walt Disney Pictures purchased
the
film rights to
Gary K. Wolf's
novel
Who Censored Roger
Rabbit? shortly after its publication in 1981.
Ron W. Miller,
then president of
the Walt
Disney Company saw it as a perfect opportunity to produce a
blockbuster.
Jeffrey Price and Peter S.
Seaman were hired
to write the script, penning two drafts.
Robert Zemeckis offered his services as
director in 1982, but Disney acknowledged that his previous films
(I Wanna Hold Your
Hand and Used
Cars
) were box office
bombs, and thus let him go. When
Michael Eisner became the new Disney
president, he revamped the project in 1985.
Amblin Entertainment, which consisted
of
Steven Spielberg,
Frank Marshall and
Kathleen Kennedy, were
approached to produce
Who Framed Roger Rabbit alongside
Disney. The original budget was projected at $50 million, which
Disney felt was too expensive.
Roger Rabbit was finally
greenlit when the budget went down to $29.9
million, which at the time, still made it the most expensive
animated film ever greenlit. Disney executive
Jeffrey Katzenberg argued that the hybrid
of live action and animation would "save"
Disney's animation department.
Spielberg's contract included an extensive amount of creative
control and a large percentage of the
box
office profits. Disney kept all merchandising rights. Spielberg
convinced
Warner Bros.,
Paramount Pictures (
Famous Studios and
Fleischer Studios) and
Universal Pictures (
Winkler Pictures and
Walter Lantz Productions) to "lend"
their characters to appear in the film with (in some cases)
stipulations on how those characters were portrayed; for example,
Disney's
Donald Duck and Warner's
Daffy Duck appear as equally-talented
dueling pianists, and
Mickey Mouse and
Bugs Bunny also share a scene. (Besides
this agreement, Warner Bros. and the various other companies were
not involved or participated in the production of
Roger
Rabbit.) However, Spielberg was not able to acquire
Popeye,
Tom and Jerry,
or the
Terrytoons (except
Mighty Mouse) for appearances.
Terry Gilliam was offered the chance to
direct, but he found the project too technically challenging.
("Pure laziness on my part," he later admitted, "I completely
regret that decision.") Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct in
1985, based on the success of
Romancing the Stone and
Back to the Future.
Richard Williams was
hired to direct the animation sequences.
Writing
Jeffrey Price and
Peter S. Seaman were brought aboard
to continue writing the script once Spielberg and Zemeckis were
hired. For inspiration, the two writers studied the work of
Walt Disney and
Warner Bros. Cartoons from the
Golden Age of American
animation, especially
Tex Avery and
Bob Clampett cartoons.
Chinatown influenced the storyline.
Price and Seaman said that "the
Red Car plot,
suburb expansion and
urban political corruption really did
happen," Price stated. "In Los Angeles, during the 1940s, car and
tire companies teamed up against the Pacific Electric Railway
system and brought them out of business. Where the freeway runs in
Los Angeles is where the Red Car used to be." In Wolf's novel
Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the Toons were
comic strip characters rather than movie
stars.
During the writing process, Price and Seaman were unsure of whom to
include as antagonist. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica
Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final
decision with newly-created character Judge Doom. Doom was supposed
to have an animated
vulture sit on his
shoulder, but this was deleted for technical challenges. Doom's
five-man "Weasel Gang" (Stupid, Smart Ass, Greasy, Wheezy and
Psycho) satirizes the Seven Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy,
Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey) who appeared in
Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs (1937).
Further references included The "Ink and
Paint Club" resembling the Harlem Cotton Club
, while Zemeckis compared Judge Doom's invention of
"The Dip" to eliminate all the Toons as Hitler's Final
Solution Benny the Cab was first conceived to be a Volkswagen Beetle instead of a Taxicab. Before finally agreeing on
Who
Framed Roger Rabbit as the film's title,
working titles included
Murder in
Toontown,
Toons,
Dead Toons Don't Pay Bills,
The Toontown Trial,
Trouble in Toontown and
Eddie Goes To Toontown.
Filming
Animation director
Richard
Williams admitted he was "openly disdainful of the Disney
bureaucracy" and refused to work in Los
Angeles.
To accommodate him and his animators,
production was moved to Elstree Studios
in Hertfordshire
, England. Disney and Spielberg also told
Williams that in return for doing
Roger Rabbit, they would
help distribute his unproduced film
The Thief and the Cobbler.
Supervising animators included
Dale Baer,
James Baxter,
David Bowers,
Andreas
Deja,
Chris Jenkins,
Phil Nibbelink,
Nik
Ranieri and
Simon Wells. The
production budget continued to escalate while the
shooting schedule lapsed longer than
expected. When the budget was reaching $40 million, Disney
president
Michael Eisner heavily
considered shutting down production, but
Jeffrey Katzenberg talked him out of it.
Despite the escalating budget, Disney moved forward on production
because they were enthusiastic to work with Spielberg.
VistaVision cameras installed with
motion control technology were used
to accommodate the
split
screen photography of animation and live action.
Mime artists,
puppeteers,
mannequins
and
robotic arms were commonly used
during filming to help the actors interact with "open air and
imaginative cartoon characters". Filming began on December 5, 1986
and lasted for 7.5 months at Elstree Studios, with an additional
four weeks in Los Angeles and at
Industrial Light & Magic
(ILM) for
blue screen effects of
Toontown.
Post-production lasted for one year, and
during this time ILM finished the color compositing. Jessica's
dress in the night club scene, for instance, had flashing
sequins, an effect created by filtering light through
a
plastic bag scratched with
steel wool. Regular Zemeckis collaborator
Alan Silvestri composed the
film score with the
London Symphony Orchestra (LSO).
Zemeckis joked that "the British could not keep up with Silvestri's
Jazz tempo". The
music
theme written for Jessica Rabbit were entirely
improvised by the LSO. The work of
Carl Stalling heavily influenced Silvestri's
work on
Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Release
Michael Eisner, then president of
The Walt Disney Company,
complained
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was too risqué with
sexual
innuendos. Eisner and Zemeckis
disagreed over elements with the film, but since Zemeckis had
final cut privilege, he refused
to make alterations.
Jeffrey
Katzenberg felt it was appropriate to release the film under
their
Touchstone Pictures banner
instead of the traditional Walt Disney banner.
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit opened on June 22, 1988 in America, grossing
$11,226,239 in 1,045 theaters during its opening weekend. The film
went on to gross $156.45 million in North America and $173.35
million internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $329.8
million. At the time of release,
Roger Rabbit was the
twentieth highest-grossing film of all time. The film was also the
second highest grossing film of 1988, only behind
Rain Man.
Roger Ebert gave a largely positive
review, predicting it would carry "the type of
word of mouth that money can't buy. This movie
is not only great entertainment but a breakthrough in
craftsmanship."
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times
commented that "although this isn't the first time that cartoon
characters have shared the screen with live actors, it's the first
time they've done it on their own terms and make it look real."
Desson Thomson of
The Washington Post considered
Roger Rabbit to be "a definitive collaboration of pure
talent. Zemeckis had Walt Disney Pictures' enthusiastic backing,
producer Steven Spielberg's pull, Warner Bros.'s blessing, British
animator Richard Williams' ink and paint, Mel Blanc's voice,
Jeffrey Price's and Peter S. Seaman's witty, frenetic screenplay,
George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, and Bob Hoskins'
comical performance as the burliest, shaggiest private eye."
However,
Richard Corliss, writing
for
Time, gave a mixed
review. "The opening cartoon works just fine, but too fine. The
opening scene upstages the movie that emerges from it," he said.
Corliss was mainly annoyed by the
homages
towards the
Golden Age
of American animation.. Animation legend
Chuck Jones made a rather scathing attack of the
film in his book
Chuck Jones Conversations. Among his
complaints, Jones accused
Robert
Zemeckis of robbing
Richard
Williams of any creative input and ruining the piano duel that
both he and Williams storyboarded.
Today, 43 reviews collected by
Rotten
Tomatoes indicated 98% of reviewers enjoyed the film, earning
an average score of 8.2/10. The consensus reads: "
Who Framed
Roger Rabbit is an innovative and entertaining film that
features a groundbreaking mix of live action and animation, with a
touching and original story to boot."
By comparison,
Metacritic calculated an
average score of 83, based on 15 reviews.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit won
Academy Awards for
Sound Editing,
Visual Effects and
Film Editing. Nominations
included
Art
Direction,
Cinematography and
Sound. Richard Williams
received a
Special
Achievement Award "for animation direction and creation of the
cartoon characters".
Roger Rabbit won the
Saturn Award for Best Fantasy
Film, as well as
Best Direction for Zemeckis
and
Special Visual
Effects. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and Joanna Cassidy were
nominated for their performances, while
Alan Silvestri and the screenwriters received
nominations. The film was nominated for four categories at the
42nd British Academy
Film Awards and won an awards for its visual effects.
Roger
Rabbit was nominated the
Golden
Globe for Best Motion Picture , while Hoskins was also
nominated for his performance. The film also won the
Hugo Award for Best
Dramatic Presentation.
Legacy
The success of
Who Framed Roger Rabbit rekindled an
interest in the
golden
Age of American animation, and sparked the
modern animation
scene.
In 1991, Walt Disney Imagineering
began to develop Mickey's Toontown for Disneyland
, based on the Toontown that
appeared in the film. The attraction also features a ride called
Roger Rabbit's
Car Toon Spin
. Three theatrical short cartoons were also
produced.
Tummy Trouble played in front of
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,
Roller Coaster Rabbit was shown with
Dick Tracy and
Trail
Mix-Up was included with
A Far
Off Place. All of which were Walt Disney's first
theatrical shorts since
Goofy's Freeway Trouble in 1965.
The film also inspired a short-lived
comic
book and video game
spin-off,
including a
PC
game, the Japanese version of
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
(which features Roger instead of Bugs) and a
1989 game released on the
Nintendo Entertainment
System.
Controversies
With the film's
Laserdisc release,
Variety first reported
in March 1994 that observers uncovered several scenes of subliminal
antics from the animators that featured brief nudity of the Jessica
Rabbit character. While undetectable when played at the usual rate
of 24
film frames per second, the
Laserdisc player allowed the viewer to advance frame-by-frame to
uncover these visuals. Many retailers said that within minutes of
the Laserdisc debut, their entire inventory was sold out. The run
was fueled by media reports about the controversy, including
stories on
CNN and various newspapers.
A Disney exec responded to
Variety that "people need to
get a life than to notice stuff like
that. We were never aware of it, it was just a stupid gimmick the
animators pulled on us and we didn't notice it. At the same time,
people also need to develop a sense of humor with these things."
One scene involves Herman extending his middle finger as he passes
under a woman's dress and reemerging with drool on his lip.Other
rumors also exist.
Gary K. Wolf, author of the novel
Who Censored Roger Rabbit?,
filed a lawsuit in 2001 against
The Walt Disney Company. Wolf
claimed he was owed royalties based on the value of "gross
receipts" and merchandising sales. In 2002, the trial court in the
case ruled that these only referred to actual cash receipts Disney
collected and denied Wolf's claim. In its January 2004 ruling, the
California Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that expert testimony
introduced by Wolf regarding the customary use of "gross receipts"
in the entertainment business could support a broader reading of
the term. The ruling vacated the trial court's order in favor of
Disney and remanded the case for further proceedings. In a March
2005 hearing, Wolf estimated he was owed $7 million. Disney's
attorneys not only disputed the claim but said Wolf actually owed
Disney $500,000—$1 million because of an accounting error
discovered in preparing for the lawsuit.
Sequel
With the critical and financial success of
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit, Walt Disney Pictures and Steven Spielberg felt it was
obvious to plan a second installment.
Nat
Mauldin wrote a
prequel titled
Roger
Rabbit: The Toon Platoon, set in 1941. Similar to the previous
film,
Toon Platoon featured many
cameo appearances with characters
from the
golden Age of
American animation. It began with Roger Rabbit's early years,
living on a farm in the
Midwestern United States. With
human Richie Davenport, Roger travels west to seek his mother, in
the process meeting Jessica Krupnick (his future wife), a
struggling Hollywood actress. Jessica is kidnapped and forced to
make pro-
Nazi Germany broadcasts, thus
Roger and Ritchie must save her by going into Nazi-occupied Europe.
After
their triumph, Roger and Ritchie are given a Hollywood
Boulevard
parade, and Roger is finally reunited with his
mother, and father: Bugs Bunny.
The film would have gone
direct-to-video.
Mauldin later retitled the script
Who Discovered Roger
Rabbit. Spielberg left the project when deciding he could not
satirize Nazis after directing
Schindler's List.
Michael Eisner commissioned a rewrite in 1997
with
Sherri Stoner and
Deanna Oliver.
Although they kept Roger's search for his
mother, Stoner and Oliver changed the story to Roger’s inadvertent
rise to stardom on Broadway
and Hollywood. Disney was impressed and
Alan Menken was hired to write five
songs for the film and offered his services as executive producer.
One of the songs, "This Only Happens in the Movies", was recorded
in 2008 on the debut album of Broadway actress
Kerry Butler.
Eric Goldberg was set to be
the new animation director, and began to redesign Roger's new
character appearance.
Spielberg
had no interest with the project because he was establishing
DreamWorks
, although Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy decided to
stay on as producers. Test footage for Who Discovered Roger
Rabbit was shot sometime in 1998 at the Disney animation unit
in Lake Buena
Vista, Florida
; the results were an unwieldy mix of CGI,
traditional animation and live-action that did not please
Disney. A second test had the
Toons
completely converted to
CGI; but this was dropped as the
film's projected budget escalated well past $100 million. Eisner
felt it was best to cancel the film. In March 2003, producer
Don Hahn said "don't expect a
Roger
Rabbit sequel anytime soon. Animation today is completely
conquered by computers, and traditional animation just isn't the
forefront anymore." In December 2007, Marshall admitted he was
still "open" to the idea, and in April 2009, Zemeckis revealed he
was still interested. It is said that the original writers,
Jeffrey Price and
Peter S. Seaman are currently writing a new script
for the project. It is also said that the cartoon characters will
be in traditional 2D, while the rest will be in
MoCap.
The Roger Rabbit dance
The Roger Rabbit became a popular
dance move in the early 1990s. It was named after the
floppy movements of the Roger Rabbit cartoon character. In
movement, the Roger Rabbit dance is similar to
the Running Man, but done by
skipping backwards with arms performing a flapping gesture. Both
The Running Man and The Roger Rabbit have since been called
"outdated."
References
- Robert
Zemeckis, Richard Williams, Bob Hoskins, Charles
Fleischer, Frank Marshall, Alan Silvestri, Ken
Ralston, Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit,
2003, Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment
- Stewart, p.72
- Robert
Zemeckis, Jeffrey Price and Peter
S. Seaman, Ken Ralston, Frank Marshall, Steve
Starkey, DVD audio commentary, 2003, Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment
- DVD production notes
- Stewart, p.87
- Stewart, p.88
- [1]
- For example, fitness expert Monica Brant verifies her efforts to learn the
dance in the 1990s in Monica Brant, Monica Brant's Secrets to
Staying Fit and Loving Life (Sports Publishing LLC, 2005),
4.
- The dance is even used in the dedication of W. Michael Kelley,
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus (Alpha Books,
2002), ii.
- C. J. Pascoe, Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality
in High School (University of California Press, 2007),
1.
Further reading
External links