This is what we managed to squeeze out of them in 20 minutes…
The news that hand-drawn was coming back to the Disney studio was hugely important.
Ad content continues below
John:All of it.
They had gotten rid of many of the machines, even the animation desk that had lightboards in them.
It was almost like a fairy tale.
Ron:He disobeyed orders!
John:So he revealed them to us, and we were glad.
We really had to reassemble the team and restart the production process.
So even the software was gone.
So we had to get off the shelf software.
Ron:So, really, it was not just making a movie.
But building a studio at the same time.
And thenPrincesscame after that…
I was there with John Lasseter, Brad Bird.
Tim Burton was the year behind us.
We were learning animation.
But they love 2D so much that theyre studying that.
So we found some young talents, actually, who really did love hand-drawn and studied it.
Ron:Yeah, it was great.
We learned our craft from the older animators, the nine old men who had worked with Walt Disney.
We got to work with some of the artists who worked with Walt.
And thats always how its kind of been.
So, what was great on this movie was that we kind of had an all-star team of animators.
So we kind of could hand pick the people that we wanted in all areas.
We had a great team working on the movie.
It was really kind of emotional now seeing these veterans teaching the younger people.
Is the talent development programme at Disney still thriving?
Its really an adaptation of the programme that we came in with.
Ron:With animators too.
There were several young animators who really very quickly rose through the ranks and did some significant work.
John:Some of them women too, which was great.
Because, traditionally, women havent been animators for whatever reason.
But now theres a number of young women who have learned it at school and who really seem promising.
Ron:Some really strong talents.
Im thinking the scene with the fireflies, for instance.
But the one that really got me was the villain, Facilier.
There hasnt emerged a strong villain.
I think from either Disney or outside Disney…
The only one I think comes close isMonster House.
John:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thats the only one that comes anywhere near.
John:And, for some reason, Pixar movies havent tended to have strong villains.
Ron:They havent emphasised them in their storytelling.
But weve liked villains.
Most of the films weve done have had prominent villains.
Weve always enjoyed the villains, and particularly like stories that play up a strong antagonist and protagonist.
John:Bruce Smith was the great animator who did Facilier.
Wed never worked with Bruce before, but he worked onTarzanandEmperors New Groove.
And hes one brilliant draughtsman, so he really brought that side to life.
We did some fun things and hired a choreographer, and filmed some dance footage.
Ron:We go back to our own childhoods and, certainly, the Disney villains.
Cruella de Vil had a huge impact.
And when we were kids there was that witch inThe Wizard Of Oz.
John:She terrified me when I was about six.
And I saw her in my closet for a year!
Ron:But even though we were scared, we felt it gave the film more impact.
And so weve always had scary things in the movies.
My son then watched Snow White a day or two after…
John:What was his reaction?
He was scared a bit by that too!
John:Oh, really!
[Laughs]
I think its a thing with hand-drawn, though.
Ron:When we were kids, I know when I sawPinocchioit had a huge impact.
I was ten years old and I went home and I was drawing the characters.
And that was just a part of it.
A way to hold onto the movie a little bit was to draw.
It was actually after I sawPinocchiothat I thought I might try and work in that industry in some way.
And now, of course, people talk about films youve made in the same way.
And working with Howard Ashman, who did the music…
The lyrics to the songs inLittle Mermaidare so pitch perfect.
Weve got a hot crustacean band is a line that just shouldnt work!
John:Yeah, I know!
Every lyric in that song is pretty priceless, I think, and Howard excelled at that.
The clever wordplay, the jokes, heart and emotion in all of his lyrics, really.
Ron:It was our choice.
But it wasnt a hard choice from our point of view!
And certainly from the point of view of John Lasseter it wasnt a hard choice.
But he also was a Disney fan even before he went to CalArts, and worked at Disney.
And he loves hand-drawn animation just as much as we do.
He was really sad to see it leave Disney, I think.
I think John was probably the only person who had the clout to bring it back.
DidEnchantedhelp at all, because tonally thats quite close to the feel of many traditional Disney films?
John:It did help a bit, yeah.
We liked it, John Lasseter liked it.
Ron:We were in the midst of doing this film.
We pitched it as a musical, with an African-American heroine in it.
We pitched it as a hand-drawn film, and John said yes to all those things.
It ties quite closely to late 80s Disney?
John:It does.
Ron:Deliberately so.
So, it was really fun for us to go back and do a fairy tale again.
Fairy tales have always had a special place with Disney animation.
You moved on as well, of course.
But this one we deliberately said lets not blur it.
Let it be unapologetically hand-drawn.
What were you doing then in betweenTreasure PlanetandThe Princess & The Frog?
Ron:Theres a process in the movie industry in both live action and animation called development hell!
Which we hadnt actually experienced wed actually been pretty lucky in our careers.
For the most part when weve finished a movie, wed start the next movie.
And the film would get made.
But we didnt see the future and we didnt know that John Lasseter was coming.
Ron:Actually, they were CG projects, no hand-drawn projects.
Because at the time, there were just no hand-drawn animation being considered anywhere, really.
John:We were pitching both to Disney, and to outside Disney as well.
We had some ideas for some CG films, and some combination live action/animated things.
But we were very happy to come back.
So, it was really exciting to come back.
Its even down to inserting the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse animation at the start?
John:Oh yeah.
He changed the stationery so that it had things like that on.
Hes very much into the legacy.
We speak a common language.
Ron:Hes involved with parks, too.
And the rides, which he loves.
And the toys, which he loves.
Ursula is scary in those parks!They always put her at the back of the floats!
John[laughing]: Yeah!
They have her sneak up on you!
So we were very eager to get back to it.
We had a certain feeling of a mission, because it had gone away.
And all the artists, equally, had a feeling of a mission.
They were recharged and ready to jump into it.
Ron:I think also that there was viewing the fairy tale possibly from a different viewpoint.
With the whole wishing on a star, and fairy tale princess ideas.
We took some of those in a little bit of a different direction.
Culturally, the significance of the film has been played up quite a lot.
John:It was, really.
It grew out of the fact that it was set in New Orleans.
We thought it would be good to have an African/American heroine.
We liked the idea we were doing something that hadnt been done before.
It has more importance in the media than we necessarily gave it when we first started.
We liked that challenge.
We didnt really think of the princess brand.
When we didLittle Mermaidwe didnt think that.
Its Hans Christian Andersons fairy tale, its underwater.
Where we see the Disney princesses more as…
John:… a band of superheroes!
My last question is the obvious one: are you doing another hand-drawn film now?
Ron:Thats the plan.
And the animators are having a lot of fun with that.
And we are in the very early stages of planning another hand-drawn film.
We cant say what it is, but weve pitched some ideas to John.
Were honing that down.
But we are planning to do another hand-drawn movie!
Ron and John, thank you very much!
The Princess & The Frog is released in London today, and across the UK from Friday 5th February.
