General

O Gnomeo, Gnomeo. Wherefore art thou, Gnomeo?

Did Disney Feature Animation shut down production of yet another promising project last month? Jim Hill provides the depressing details.

Published

21 years ago

January 26, 2004

Jim Hill

Say you were the head of a major Hollywood studio. And you had the option of producing a picture that would be helmed by one of the directors of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which would feature vocals by the stars of box office blockbusters “Titanic” and “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,” a script by the guys who wrote “Chicken Run” as well as music by the two gentlemen who produced the Academy Award winning score for “The Lion King.” Oh — and did I also mention that this film would be based on one of William Shakespeare’s best-known works?

Soooo … with all that info on the table, if you were a major player in Tinsel Town, would you opt to produce a picture like that or take a pass on that project?

I know, I know. Any movie with all that talent on board would almost HAVE TO make money, wouldn’t it? Which is why greenlighting a project like that would almost be a no brainer.

Which makes me wonder: Does anyone in management at Disney Feature Animation actually have a brain anymore? The reason I ask this rather insulting question is — early last month — WDFA actually shut down production of a picture which had the production team I just described, “Gnomeo and Juliet.”

Why would the Mouse do something as stupid as that? Turn its back on a potential hit? Well, before we can accurately ponder that question, I need to give a wee bit more background on this WDFA project.

As you might expect from that groan-inducing title, “Gnomeo and Juliet” was to have been based on Shakespeare’s tragic romance, “Romeo and Juliet.” Which (for those of you who weren’t forced to read this play while you were in high school) details the tragic consequences of a long running feud between two noble families in Verona, the Capulets and the Montagues.

Of course, “G and J” was to have put a very different spin on this classic tale. How so? Well, for one thing, the story would not have been set in sunny Italy. But — rather — inside a cozy English cottage as well as in the quaint gardens outside.

You see, in “Gnomeo and Juliet,” the Capulets were to be represented by a fragile family of gnome knickknacks who “live” inside the house. While the Montagues … well, they were supposed to be the sturdier sort of decorative gnomes. You know, the type that you see outside in English country gardens, where they’re used as lawn ornaments?

Anyway … according to folks who are familiar with how this rather silly version of Shakespeare’s story was supposed to play out: For years, a feud has been brewing between the Capulets (who wear red caps) and the Montagues (who wear blue caps). The inside gnomes think that they’re better than the outside gnomes because they reside in china cabinets and are made of much finer matters (I.E. porcelain) than the more common concrete lawn ornaments.

Whereas the Montagues … they think of the Capulets as a bunch of dainty doofuses. Always putting on airs about how much better their lives indoors are. While the outside ornaments actually enjoy being out in the elements, smelling the flowers, battling with the squirrels, etc.

As you might expect, a romance develops between Juliet Capulet (who — in this version of the story — is a female figurine who’s tired of being locked away in a china cabinet. She wants to get out in the world and explore) and Romeo Montague (q lowly yard gnome who longs to experience the finer things in life). The film’s story was supposed to have followed the beats of Shakespeare’s classic tale, but then put a somewhat silly spin on things.

Take — for example — “Romeo and Juliet”‘s balcony scene. The height of romance, right? Well, in “Gnomeo and Juliet,” Ms. Capulet was to have called to her beloved while standing on the window sill of a child’s bedroom. And Gnomeo? The poor slob was going to have to scale a rose trellis in order to reach his lady love. Which would eventually bow and break under his weight.

Okay, I know. This sounds like a very slight piece of material. But — provided that this material is handled properly — the potential is there for a very charming motion picture. Something that would have a lot of humor and heart … which is just the sort of film that WDFA President David Stainton has reportedly said that he wanted Disney Feature Animation to start producing again.

And yet — sometime during the week of December 8th — Stainton supposedly ordered that the production of “Gnomeo and Juliet” be shut down. Which effectively put the large number of artists and pre-production people who had already put months of work into this film out of work.

“So how is it that we’re just now learning about this, Jim?” you ask. “Shouldn’t the people who were working on ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ put out the word about their plight weeks ago?”

Well, here’s the thing, folks. You have to understand that “Gnomeo and Juliet” was supposed to have been a co-production between Disney Feature Animation and Rocket Films. Which (for those of you who don’t know) is Sir Elton John’s U.K.-based production house.

And Elton had really enjoyed his two previously collaborations with the Mouse, “The Lion King” and “Aida.” Not in a purely creative way, mind you. But more in a sort of I-can’t-believe-how-much-money-that-movie-and-those-musicals-had-made-for-me-and-Mickey sort of way.

So — in May of 1998 — John and his Rocket Films production partner, Canadian film-maker David Furnish signed a deal with Disney. This five-year-long agreement give Mickey the right of first refusal at whatever film projects that Elton and his creative team could dream up. Which meant that the Mouse got first dibs on all of Rocket Pictures’ projects.

This collaborative arrangement started out rather promising with Disney Feature Animation and Rocket reportedly agreeing to co-produce an animated feature that was to have been based on Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories.” But story problems supposedly derailed the “Just So” project. Meaning that John and WDFA’s story staff were never able to figure out how they could pull a coherent feature-length story line out of Kipling’s admittedly charming but still rather short stories (EX: “How the Elephant got his Trunk” and “How the Camel got his Hump”).

Still, Elton and David weren’t discouraged. Particularly when they learned about a script that Rob Sprackling and John Smith — the screenwriters of Dreamworks’ June 2000 animated hit, “Chicken Run” — had written. This screenplay — which was then called “A Gnome’s Story” — had a much solider premise than “Just So Stories.” Particularly given that the film’s story was one long riff on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Sprackling and Smith’s script was long on charm. But — in order to clinch the deal with Disney — Elton and Furnish thought that “A Gnome’s Story” could use a bit more edge. Which is why they hired comedy writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil (Best known in the U.K. for their work on the controversial Sky One comedy program, “Harry Enfield’s Brand Spanking New Show”) to punch up the project a bit.

Riley and Cecil’s additions evidently met with Disney’s approval. For — starting in January 2002 — active development of this Rocket Pictures / Disney Feature Animation co-production officially began. Disney experimented with a variety of styles for this proposed film, first seeing what the movie’s central characters would look like if they were traditionally animated, followed by tests which showed how Gnomeo and Juliet would like as computer animated characters who performed in front of live action background plates.

It was this last approach — I.E. CG mixed in with live action — that seemed to work best for the production. Noted computer animation production house cgCharacter spent 10 week in the Fall of 2002 working on a proof-of-concept film. A demo reel (if you will) that allegedly proved to the execs at both Disney and Rocket that such a movie could be entertaining as well as financially feasible.

By February 2003, the project began picking up speed. The trades were full of stories about how “Disney has reportedly fast-tracked Rocket Pictures’ CGI and live-action garden gnome love story, ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’.” The Mouse then assigned “G and S” to veteran WDFA director Gary Trousdale (Best known for with his work with his longtime co-helmer Kirk Wise on Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”) as his first solo project for the studio.

And Gary wasted no time in getting this Disney Feature Animation and Rocket Pictures co-production going. Trousdale ordered that an elaborate 1′ to 1″ model of the garden be made so that he could study possible composition of shots. He also moved aggressively to line up some big name talent for the project.

By March of 2003, Disney’s PR department was proudly crowing that “Titanic” star Kate Winslet had been signed to provide vocals for one of the title characters of “Gnomeo and Juliet.” Sir Elton John was reportedly quoted as saying that he looked forward to getting to work with Sir Tim Rice on the score for the picture so that they could provide Kate (who supposedly has a rather fine singing voice) with some lovely new songs to sing.

Weeks later, Dame Judi Dench was hired to be the voice of Juliet’s nurse in the film. And Trousdale was supposedly just about to sign “Star Wars” star Ewan McGregor to do the voice of the film’s other title character when the wheels suddenly began to come off of the “Gnomeo and Juliet” production bus.

So why did this once-promising production suddenly go south? The first public hint that “Gnomeo and Juliet” might be headed for trouble came with a May 2003 “Newsweek” article which profiled Disney’s CEO. In the article, Eisner is described as a man who …

“… can’t help himself from getting involved in the details when he’s passionate–about making a movie or, better yet, making a deal. ‘I’ve been nervous about these gnomes since day one,’ Eisner warned his animators during a recent meeting. Eisner fears the protagonists of ‘Gnomeo and Juliet,’ a tale of forbidden love among lawn ornaments, may look klutzy and tacky. His new animation chief, David Stainton–whom Eisner plucked from the TV-animation division with an eye toward holding down feature costs–assures him the gnomes will be nimble and their gardens only ‘a bit garish,’ with a supporting cast of plaster frogs, a Greek torso and a pink flamingo. Eisner likes the flamingo. ‘Remember the flamingos in Fantasia 2000?’ he muses. ‘That came from 10 years of my wife and a major shareholder sending uglier and uglier flamingos to each other as a joke.'”

Eisner’s nervousness at the project reportedly escalated as May slid into June. Disney’s CEO expressed his concerns about “Gnomeo and Juliet” to WDFA David Stainton, insisting that something be done to improve this picture’s box office prospects. Stainton’s response? He removed director Gary Trousdale from the project.

Mind you, the rumors that surround Trousdale’s dismissal from “Gnomeo and Juliet” suggest that this WDFA vet’s meeting with Stainton did NOT go well. One version of the story even alleges that things got so heated between Gary and David that Stainton actually called Disney studio security and had Trousdale escorted off the lot.

Only two men actually know what happened in that office in the Sorcerer Mickey building. And Gary and David aren’t talking. But — given that Trousdale is now over in Glendale working for Dreamworks Feature Animation — one has to assume that this meeting didn’t go quite as Stainton intended.

By the time August was rolling around, WDFA veteran producer Don Hahn was already meeting with the press, trying to do some damage control on “Gnomeo and Juliet.” In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Don talked about how charming this Disney / Rocket Pictures co-production was going to be:

“It’s funny, because gnomes are so low-tech. You’re dealing with these little concrete sculptures in your backyard, little cement squirrels and mushrooms and things, so I think (this film will be) less about creating some splashy new technology and more about creating something that’s really irreverent and bordering on stupid. It’s a comedy.”

But — behind the scenes — “Gnomeo and Juliet” was already reportedly entering its death spiral. As one unnamed Feature Animation insider explained it to me yesterday:

“You have to understand that ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ was Tom Schumacher’s baby, Jim. That — if Tom were still running the show at Feature Animation — this project would still probably be in production.

But Stainton? He just didn’t get the whole English garden concept. That this was supposed to be a charm piece, like all of those ‘Wallace and Gromit’ shorts that Aardman makes. The jokes in the script that riff on Shakespeare and English customs just went right over Stainton’s head.

Neither he or Eisner ever really liked this movie. They were always worried that ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ wouldn’t be commercial enough. That this film would probably play great in the U.K. but not really connect with audiences anywhere else.”

So — for much the same reason that Stainton shut down production of “A Few Good Ghosts” in November 2003 (I.E. that he felt that WDFA-F production’s folk art-based characters, Appalachia setting and blue-grass score meant that this Disney Feature Animation production wouldn’t play well in urban areas and/or overseas) — David quietly pulled the plug on “Gnomeo and Juliet” the week after Thanksgiving.

What was Sir Elton John’s reaction to this news? I’ve heard that he was severely disappointed that — after Rocket Pictures had poured three years of hard work and funding into the pre-production of “Gnomeo and Juliet” — that Disney would suddenly opt to pull the plug on the picture last December. But — given the well publicized tantrums that Elton reportedly threw during “Aida”‘s try-out period — many industry insiders are wondering why John hasn’t made a bigger public fuss about Stainton’s decision to shut down “Gnomeo.”

So why is Elton holding his tongue? Could it be — as some Elton watchers suggested to me yesterday — that the singer/songwriter is well aware that there’s a move afoot to replace Disney’s CEO? And that — if Michael Eisner were ever to be removed from power — that would probably mean that David Stainton would get fired as well?

Which could mean that — in just a couple of months — that there might be a brand new management team in place at the Walt Disney Company. One that might be able to see the wisdom of putting into production a film that would be based on one of William Shakespeare’s best-known works, that would feature vocals by the stars of “Titantic” and “Star Wars,” a script by the guys who wrote “Chicken Run” as well as music by the two gentlemen who produced the Academy Award winning score for “The Lion King.”

Remember that this is Sir Elton John that we’re talking about here, folks. The guy who wrote “I’m Still Standing.” So — if he has to wait another year or so ’til “Gnomeo and Juliet” can get another shot at possibly being produced by Disney Feature Animation — John’s willing to wait.

In the meantime, Elton’s keeping busy by moving in the Walt Disney Company’s latest turf. Which is creating new musicals for the stage. Right now, he’s reportedly working on the score for a theatrical version of “Billy Elliot.” And — just recently — John announced that he and his longtime song-writing partner, Bernie Taupin, will be collaborating on a musical that’s based on Anne Rice’s “Vampire Lestat” book.

A musical that features a character that rises from the dead? Here’s hoping that — in the not-so-distant future — that “Gnomeo and Juliet” gets the chance to rise from the dead too. Given how charming this proposed WDFA production sounds, it seems a shame that this film may never make it to the big screen.

Your thoughts?

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

10 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

10 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

10 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015