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?