![]() ![]() The final compositing of live-action and animation was done by the effects artists at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), headed by Ken Ralston. The final animation, on sheets of celluloid (cels), was flat colors another layer of cels, called shadow mattes, indicated shadows on the characters. The plan was to shoot all of the live-action footage first, then have Williams and his team in England laboriously animate the "Toon" characters. Spielberg and Zemeckis screened footage from Williams' unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler, and were floored by the animator's obvious technical skills. Jones and Williams had worked together on an Oscar®-winning animated version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1971). Looney Tunes director Chuck Jones had been brought on as a consultant for the picture by his friend Spielberg, and he recommended a Canadian animator working in England, Richard Williams. The task would also require an expert animation director, someone capable of handling the unique requirements of the type of perspective changes seen in live-action photography. With its unique blending of Film Noir and golden age cartoons, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is the only movie that can be unhesitatingly mentioned in the same breath as both Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974) and Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)!Įarly in pre-production it was realized that there would be an enormous amount of animation required for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, much more than in any previous mixture of cartoons and live-action. Roger has been framed, though, and Eddie agrees to help him clear his name, uncovering a complex plot which involves larger economic and political forces and a plan to eliminate Los Angeles' trolley-car transit system. When Acme is later found dead (a safe has been dropped on his head), Roger seems to be the natural suspect. Tailing Jessica, Eddie discovers that she indeed seems to be "playing patty cake" with a human, Marvin Acme, a prop-supplier for the cartoon industry. Eddie hates Toons because he had to patrol Toontown when he was a cop his brother was killed there when a Toon dropped a safe on his head. The Toons, who are a carefree bunch with an "anything for a laugh" attitude, live in a segregated area near Hollywood called Toontown. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) hires a down-and-out private detective named Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) to tail Roger's wife, Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner). In 1947 Hollywood, "Toon" star Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer) is having trouble concentrating on his work. Zemeckis brought in scriptwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman to knock the story into shape. As he told Animation Magazine, "I had three reasons for that change: First, that it would make it timeless, second, it would help suspend the disbelief that this was happening in a 'Once upon a time' era and third, I couldn't figure out how you could mix the different styles of animation, so I felt we had to draw the line before the era of television." Zemeckis turned the story into a period piece, specifically setting it in 1947. Steven Spielberg later saw the script and arranged for his production company, Amblin Entertainment, to co-produce the film with Disney, and bring Zemeckis in as director. ![]() ![]() Director Robert Zemeckis was shown a draft of the script in 1982 he was enthusiastic, but the Disney regime of the time backed off due to budgetary concerns. Early in Disney's script development, the concept was changed to cartoon characters living amongst humans. He and his comic strip friends exist three-dimensionally in the real world, their word balloons visible above their heads when they speak. The book is set in modern day, and Roger is the star of a newspaper comic strip. Shortly after its publication, Walt Disney Pictures bought the film rights to the 1981 novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, by Gary K. Robert Zemeckis' film felt like something entirely new upon release, and because of the painstaking, hand-crafted animation and effects employed, and the unheard-of cooperation between studios, it remains a unique movie experience to this day. Among the summer blockbusters of the 1980s, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) stands out as a true original - audacious in concept, and bursting with ideas and innovation. ![]()
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