Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) — History & Legacy of the Live‑Action/Animation Classic

[00:00:00] From Los Angeles, California, the entertainment capital of the world.

[00:00:12] It's the 80s Movie Podcast.

[00:00:14] I'm your host Edward Havens.

[00:00:16] Thank you for listening today.

[00:00:18] On this episode are 125th episode.

[00:00:21] We'll be tackling one of the best movies of the decade as well as one of my favorites

[00:00:25] of the decade.

[00:00:27] Robert Simex's Ooframed Roger Rabbit.

[00:00:31] But before we get started on this final podcast for 2023, I wanted to remind listeners that

[00:00:36] the podcast will be going on a hiatus from late February to early May 2024.

[00:00:42] My daughter Penny will be delivered on February 22nd and I will be spending the next two months

[00:00:48] making sure Mother and Daughter are well taken care of.

[00:00:51] But before that, there'll be at least three new episodes for the new year.

[00:00:56] First I'll be tackling our first ever listener suggestion.

[00:00:59] On British filmmaker Mick Jackson's first traumatic narrative feature, 1984's Threads.

[00:01:05] In late January we'll be taking a look back at the short career of actor, writer, producer,

[00:01:10] director and distributor H.B. Toby Holicky, best known for his 1974 film Gone in 60

[00:01:17] Seconds.

[00:01:18] The first time this show was spending a good amount of time talking about a non-80s movie.

[00:01:25] And then for Valentine's Day, we'll be visiting my favorite romantic comedy of the

[00:01:28] decade, 1987's Roxanne, written by Anne Starring, Steve Martin.

[00:01:34] So if you haven't done so already, please make sure to follow us on whichever podcasting

[00:01:38] source that you get the show on so you know when those episodes become available and

[00:01:43] when I return from that hiatus.

[00:01:46] And with that, let's get to our feature presentation, Ooframed Roger Rabbit.

[00:01:52] And as always before we get to the movie, we have to go back in time.

[00:01:56] But this time, not that far back.

[00:01:59] June 6th, 1981 to be precise.

[00:02:03] Gary K. Wolfe a 40-year-old author of such sci-fi dystopian books as Killer Bowl and A Generation

[00:02:09] Removed would see the publication of his fourth novel, Who Sensored Roger Rabbit, released

[00:02:15] in the United States.

[00:02:17] Unlike his previous novels, this one was squarely centered in the mystery genre.

[00:02:22] I'll be it with many genre-bending plot points.

[00:02:26] In the book, it's the early 1980s and we are in a world where humans live side by side

[00:02:31] with life-sized cartoon characters.

[00:02:34] On page 1 we are introduced to our two main characters, Eddie Valleant, a hard-boiled detective

[00:02:39] in the mold of Philip Marlow and Sam Spade, and Roger Rabbit, a second-tier comic-strip

[00:02:45] character who wants a higher valiant to find out why his employers, Rocco and Dominic

[00:02:50] Decreacy, will neither give Roger his own comic strip as he says they promised when he signed

[00:02:56] eight-twenty-year contract with them or self-his-contract to a mystery person who Roger has heard

[00:03:03] once to buy the contract.

[00:03:06] Roger was once a promising comic-strip character who since signing his contract has been reduced

[00:03:11] to basically appearing in the background of a strip led by Baby Herman, a dopey obese

[00:03:17] thumb-sucking snivler.

[00:03:19] But he's got enough still to put Valleant on retainer for at least a week, so Valleant

[00:03:24] decides to take the case.

[00:03:26] It's important to note that for the sake of this story, comic strip characters like Roger

[00:03:30] and Baby Herman don't actually speak but communicate through word balloons.

[00:03:36] Valleant strips are not drawn but photographed, and the word balloons you see in those strips

[00:03:41] are the characters giving their lines, and that tunes like Roger and Jessica can create

[00:03:46] mentally-created projection of themselves, doppelgangers, to handle dangerous stunts

[00:03:52] like having a piano dropped on their heads.

[00:03:55] As Valleant starts to look into the case, it looks like this may be illegal matter.

[00:04:00] Valleant goes to see the Degreesy brothers who show Valleant Roger's contract which makes

[00:04:05] no mention of a solo starring strip for the rabbit, and they mention they have not received

[00:04:09] any offers to buy Roger's contract.

[00:04:13] As he continues his investigation, Valleant learns that Roger and his wife Jessica separated

[00:04:18] a few weeks earlier, and that she may now be together with one of the Degreesy brothers.

[00:04:24] After an attack on Roger that may have been perpetrated by the rabbit himself, Valleant

[00:04:29] finds Roger dead in the rabbit's home, with his last word bubble implicating his wife

[00:04:36] as the murderer.

[00:04:38] And then things get really weird.

[00:04:41] One thing who censored Roger Rabbit definitely is not, is a Disney story.

[00:04:47] But someone at the Walt Disney Company read the book and saw something that could be revolutionary

[00:04:52] for the company, a live-action animated hybrid movie not unlike Mary Poppins.

[00:04:57] The 1964 musical, that would be the only film from the company nominated for Best Picture

[00:05:03] in Walt's Lifetime.

[00:05:06] That unknown person brought the book to Ron Miller, the president of Walt Disney Productions

[00:05:10] and the son-in-law of the namesake founder of the company.

[00:05:15] Miller had been looking for projects that would push the company to explore new avenues of

[00:05:19] storytelling, and while he agreed that whose censored Roger Rabbit might be a bridge too

[00:05:25] far in terms of what defined a Disney movie, the seeds for a classic were present and

[00:05:31] allowed for the movie rights to be purchased.

[00:05:34] Once those rights had been secured the company spent some time looking for the right writer

[00:05:38] or writers to adapt the novel into a movie but make it a Disney movie.

[00:05:44] Keep the tone of the story, a detective trying to solve a mystery and attack, but tone down

[00:05:49] the story from its more risque aspects and they would find the right pair of writers

[00:05:54] in-house.

[00:05:56] Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman had come to the studio when their screenplay for the

[00:06:01] movie that would become the 1983 film Trench Coat was brought to Disney shortly after

[00:06:06] the movie rights to whose censored Roger Rabbit had been purchased.

[00:06:09] Their marching orders were simple, use whatever you want from the book but keep everything

[00:06:15] in the key-G area.

[00:06:18] Price and Seaman would end up throwing out the vast majority of the book, keeping only

[00:06:22] four major characters, Valiant Roger, Jessica, and Baby Herman, and a handful of dialogue.

[00:06:30] They would move the story from the modern age to the 1940s but decided to dump the

[00:06:35] Degreesi brothers for a new villain, but they weren't sure if the villain should be

[00:06:39] Jessica, Baby Herman, or another character.

[00:06:44] With sections of the script in hand, Disney brought in 25-year-old animator Darryl Van

[00:06:48] Sitter's, who had just finished work on The Fox and the Hound, to work on test footage

[00:06:53] combining the animation and live-action aspects of the project.

[00:06:58] As many of the groundbreaking and award-winning effects used to create Mary Poppins would

[00:07:02] not work for a movie like Roger Rabbit.

[00:07:05] Van Sitter's would hire Paul Rubens, a Los Angeles comedian who had already created the

[00:07:10] P.E. Herman character, but was still years away from making his breakthrough movie, to

[00:07:15] Voice Run, to Rabbit.

[00:07:17] And bring in Disney actor Peter Renade of Veteran of No Less than 16 Disney movies over the

[00:07:23] previous 15 years to play the live-action Eddie Valiant.

[00:07:29] An up-and-coming filmmaker named Robert Semeckis had heard about Roger Rabbit through the

[00:07:32] filmmaking grapevine in 1982 and contacted Disney about becoming the director of the film.

[00:07:39] They would decline his services, despite Semeckis' connection to Steven Spielberg.

[00:07:44] As the young directors to previous movies I want to hold your hand and use cars or box

[00:07:49] office disappointments.

[00:07:51] As was 1941, the comedies Semeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale had written for Stephen

[00:07:57] Spielberg.

[00:07:59] The Roger Rabbit project would lose some steam in the Disney pipeline in 1984 when Ron Miller

[00:08:05] was ousted from the presidency of the company due to a stockholder revolt over the direction

[00:08:10] of the company.

[00:08:12] But Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the executives brought in to replace the Miller regime,

[00:08:16] would soon discover Roger Rabbit and, like Miller, saw this project as the movie that

[00:08:21] would quote unquote, save the feature animation division, which had seen nearly two decades

[00:08:27] of declining status following the death of Walt Disney in 1966.

[00:08:34] With the approval of Michael Eisner, the new president at Walt Disney Productions and

[00:08:38] Katzenberg's partner at Paramount before they were both brought over to Disney,

[00:08:43] Katzenberg would approach Steven Spielberg and Spielberg's producing partners at Ambulin

[00:08:47] Entertainment, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1985 to produce Roger Rabbit alongside

[00:08:54] Disney.

[00:08:55] While he would not be available to direct the film himself, Spielberg would relish the

[00:09:00] opportunity to make a movie of such technical wizardry.

[00:09:04] But there would be a roadblock to getting the movie made rather quickly.

[00:09:09] Based on the most recent version of the price and seamen script, the budget Ambulin envisioned

[00:09:13] on the film was $50 million, which would have made the film the most expensive movie

[00:09:19] produced since 1978's Superman, although that films $55 million budget included sections

[00:09:25] that were filmed specifically for Superman II.

[00:09:29] Spielberg bought a lot of the book and spent time whittling the project down to a $30 million

[00:09:34] budget.

[00:09:35] But that price would come with a lot of creative control seated to Spielberg as well as

[00:09:39] a large percentage of the box office profits.

[00:09:43] This would end up greatly benefiting the film.

[00:09:47] Spielberg worked hard with Robert Daly and Terry Semmel, the heads of Warner Bros. to

[00:09:52] get the studio to lend Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and a number of other Looney

[00:09:58] Toon's characters to the production.

[00:10:01] Never before had Bugs and Mickey Mouse, or Daffy and Donald Duck appeared together on screen,

[00:10:07] which would be sure to delight children of all ages.

[00:10:10] Spielberg would also be able to secure the use of other non-Disney non-Warner's cartoon

[00:10:14] characters like Betty Boop, Droopy and Woody Woodpecker for the film to add extra levels

[00:10:20] of authenticity.

[00:10:22] In 1985 while he was deep in the fight to get his version of Brazil released in the theaters,

[00:10:28] Terry Gilliam was approached to direct the film.

[00:10:31] Gilliam was thrilled to be offered a job but felt the film would be too technologically

[00:10:35] challenging for him and turned the offer down.

[00:10:39] In 1996 Gilliam would express regret turning the film down to a reporter for the British

[00:10:44] Film Magazine Empire, saying that it was pure laziness on his part that led to that decision

[00:10:50] to turn it down.

[00:10:52] Spielberg's second choice would jump at the chance to make it.

[00:10:55] Thankfully for Robert Zemeckis in the three years since Disney rejected his offer to

[00:10:59] direct the film, he had made two hit films, 1984's Romancing the Stone and 1985's Back

[00:11:07] to the Future, the latter having been produced by Ambulin Entertainment.

[00:11:13] While Spielberg worked the foreground, writer's price and semen were brought back a board

[00:11:17] and were given carte blanche to study the Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons of the Golden Age

[00:11:23] of Animation, with a specific interest in the works of tech savory and Bob Clampett.

[00:11:30] They also studied the real-life history of Los Angeles in the post-World War II era and

[00:11:34] discovered a real-life plot line almost as good as the one that inspired Robert Town

[00:11:40] to write Chinatown.

[00:11:43] Beginning in 1901 there was a trolley system in the Los Angeles area called the Pacific

[00:11:47] Electric Railway Company that ran from San Fernando in the north to Santa Monica in

[00:11:52] the west to Newport Beach in the south and San Bernardino in the east.

[00:11:57] Within the first ten years, the system affectionately dubbed the Red Carves by locals for their

[00:12:02] distinctive color covered more than 1,000 miles of track in the greater Southern California

[00:12:07] area.

[00:12:09] And with tickets costing only in nickel, most citizens relied on the Red Car instead

[00:12:13] of a personal motorized vehicle simply out of cost.

[00:12:17] Much of what price and semen would incorporate about the red lines demise into the final

[00:12:21] screenplay really did happen in Los Angeles, although the large-scale acquisition of land

[00:12:26] for the freeway system did not begin an artist until 1951 and certainly wasn't planned

[00:12:32] up by a psychotic cartoon.

[00:12:34] In fact, the character of Judge Doom would be one of the very last characters created

[00:12:39] for the movie, as neither writer liked the idea of Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as

[00:12:44] the big bad.

[00:12:47] For the animation, Disney wanted Darrel Van Citters to continue on as the animation director,

[00:12:53] but Spielberg and Zemeckis wanted Richard Williams an Oscar-winning animation director

[00:12:57] with more than 25 years of animating experience under his belt.

[00:13:01] Disney reluctantly agreed even when learning that the production would need to move from

[00:13:06] the Disney Studios' Lod in Burbank to London, since Williams was reluctant to move to Los

[00:13:12] Angeles.

[00:13:14] When it came time to casting Spielberg knew who he wanted to play at Evaliant.

[00:13:19] Harrison Ford.

[00:13:20] Ford was inarguably one of the biggest movie stars of time, and Spielberg had been looking

[00:13:25] to work with Ford again in any capacity since the end of shooting on Indiana Jones and

[00:13:30] the Temple of Doom in 1983.

[00:13:33] That being one of the biggest movie stars in the world comes with a price tag that was

[00:13:37] too much for the production, especially with a price tag growing due to the production's

[00:13:41] move to London.

[00:13:44] Chevy Chase was second on Spielberg's list for Evaliant, but Chase was not interested.

[00:13:49] Bill Murray was offered the role but he apparently never got the message.

[00:13:53] Eddie Murphy said no because he didn't understand the concept of humans and cartoons existing

[00:13:57] in the same space, although as soon as he saw the film he instantly regretted his decision.

[00:14:04] Others considered for the role included such disparate actors as Charles Crooden, Ed Harris,

[00:14:10] Jack Nicholson, Edward James Olmos, Robert Redford, Wallace Sean, Sylvester Stallone and Robin

[00:14:19] Williams.

[00:14:20] But in the end Spielberg would decide on a little-known 44-year-old British actor, Bob Hoskins,

[00:14:26] who would sue be feature in a small role in Terry Killings, Brazil.

[00:14:30] But we become more famous in 1986 when Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa was released, netting

[00:14:35] the actor his first and only Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

[00:14:40] Spielberg had loved Hoskins in the 1980 British gangster drama The Long Good Friday and felt

[00:14:45] Hoskins looked like he belonged in the 1940s.

[00:14:49] For the role of Roger Rabbit, Paul Rubens was no longer available due to the success

[00:14:53] of Peewee's Big Adventure and his new commitment to its CBS Saturday Morning Show, Peewee's

[00:14:59] Playhouse.

[00:15:00] So the filmmakers decided on last Angela Spaced comedian Charles Fleischer, who ironically

[00:15:06] was best known at the time for his appearances in the 1981 Oliver Stone Horror film The Hand

[00:15:12] and the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

[00:15:15] For the Big Bad Judge Doom, Robert Semeckis wanted Tim Curry but when Curry's auditioned

[00:15:21] footage was edited together, Semeckis, Spielberg, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katsenberg

[00:15:27] all considered the performance too terrifying for the tone they were looking for.

[00:15:32] Conversely John Cleese's auditioned footage was found to be too funny and not scary enough.

[00:15:39] They also considered F-Merry Abraham, Eddie Deason, Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowell, Peter

[00:15:46] O'Toole and Sting for the lead villain role until Spielberg and Semeckis decided on

[00:15:51] Doc Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd, who based the character on his own cling-on role

[00:15:56] of Krug in Star Trek III The Search for Spock.

[00:16:01] The rest of the cast was filled with a mix of Hollywood veterans like Stubby K as Marvin

[00:16:04] Acme and Joanna Cassidy is Eddie's bar-made girlfriend Dolores, as well as veteran voice

[00:16:10] actors like Mel Blank, June Foray and May Castell, who in addition to being the best-known

[00:16:16] voice actor for the role of Betty Boob but also played Olive Oil in the original Max

[00:16:20] Flicer Popeye cartoons.

[00:16:23] As the production got closer to its filming star date, the budget kept climbing even higher

[00:16:28] and Semeckis and Spielberg and the writers started having to cut things from the script

[00:16:32] because of cost.

[00:16:34] Judge Doom would lose a majority of his entourage.

[00:16:37] He was supposed to have an animated vulture sitting on one of his shoulders, cut due

[00:16:41] to technical and budgetary reasons.

[00:16:44] Doom was also supposed to have a suitcase with him at all times, which when he opened

[00:16:49] would house well the small animated kangaroos who would act as an immediate jury, with baby

[00:16:54] joys who would pop out of the pouches holding letters that would read you are guilty when

[00:16:59] put together.

[00:17:00] In case he didn't get that it's a literal kangaroo court.

[00:17:05] And that was cut due to technical and budgetary reasons.

[00:17:09] Doom originally had seven high-enalakis mimicking the seven dwarves, but two of them slimy and

[00:17:14] sleazy were, well you got it, cut due to technical and budgetary reasons.

[00:17:20] Also cut, but not for budgetary or technical reasons, a reveal in the film that Doom was

[00:17:26] the hunter that killed Bambi's mother.

[00:17:31] And then there was an issue with the title.

[00:17:38] Says Roger was no longer being censored in the movie, the project would need a title.

[00:17:44] Now if you've read Jack Matthews the Battle of Brazil his excellent book about the fight

[00:17:49] between Terry Gilliam and Universal Studios on nearly every aspect of the final film,

[00:17:55] you know how stupid some of the titles Hollywood executives can come up with as a supposed

[00:18:00] viable film name.

[00:18:02] Brazil's potential selection of titles were truly bottom of the barrel muck, so seeing

[00:18:07] some of the working titles Disney came up with doesn't fill me with any sense of dread.

[00:18:13] Would you see a film about a human detective and a cartoon rabbit working together to

[00:18:18] solve a mystery called murder in Tuntown?

[00:18:21] Or how about just tunes, maybe dead tunes don't pay bills or the Tuntown trial, trouble

[00:18:33] in Tuntown, Eddie goes to Tuntown.

[00:18:37] Those are all lousy titles but still light years away from the direct suggested for Brazil

[00:18:43] like if Osmosis who are you, nude descending bathroom scale, DreamScape which incidentally

[00:18:51] was the name of a 1984 Dennis Quake sci-fi movie that had already been released into

[00:18:56] theaters by 20th Century Fox almost a year earlier.

[00:19:01] Or maybe Explanada for Tunata is not my real name.

[00:19:06] Blank slash blank.

[00:19:08] And anybody here play the symbols, the ball bearing electro memory circuit buster.

[00:19:16] This escalator doesn't stop at your station and my personal quote unquote favorite New

[00:19:21] Yak, New Yak and other bistille places.

[00:19:26] Finally, thankfully they settled on U-framed Roger Rabbit.

[00:19:32] Live action shooting on U-framed Roger Rabbit, Ganon London on November 2nd 1986 and lasted

[00:19:38] for seven and a half months.

[00:19:40] And as Spielberg expected, the complicated process of creating a live action film where plethora

[00:19:46] of gadgetry would need to be used on set so the animators knew where they needed to animate

[00:19:52] would cause delays in mechanical failures driving the budget up yet again.

[00:19:58] When the official budget hit $40 million about two months into the production with the

[00:20:03] film a few weeks over schedule already, Michael Eisner was ready to shut the whole thing

[00:20:07] down until Jeffrey Katsenberg reminded him how much they already invested in the film

[00:20:13] and how important it would be to forge a good working relationship with Steven Spielberg,

[00:20:18] who had already directed ten movies and produced dozen more.

[00:20:21] And this was the first time the studio had ever gotten to work with him.

[00:20:25] Shut this one down and they might never get the chance to make another film with him again.

[00:20:31] Your filming was completed in London, the production would move to Los Angeles for a month

[00:20:34] of effects plate shooting for industrial-like magic and some pickup shots of local flavor.

[00:20:41] For example, the fun entrance of the old Lucille Ball Desiarnas studio, Desilu, was used as

[00:20:47] the entrance for Maroon Cartoon Studios.

[00:20:51] Animation and effects work would continue for another year, up until just a few weeks before

[00:20:56] its expected June 1988 release.

[00:21:00] When the film was locked, the file budget would be just to over $50 million, right where

[00:21:05] Spielberg and his team said it would be two years earlier.

[00:21:09] Roy E. Disney, the head of Walt Disney feature animation, and the nephew of Walt Disney, agreed

[00:21:15] with Jeffrey Katsenberg that because of some of the still-risk gay moments within the

[00:21:20] film, the movie should be released under the Touchstone Pictures banner, which along

[00:21:25] with PG-Rating would hopefully indicate to parents that this movie might not be only

[00:21:30] appropriate for the little or kids.

[00:21:33] But the parents did not care.

[00:21:36] Opening on 1,045 screens on Wednesday June 22nd and supported by emotional partners like

[00:21:42] Coca-Cola, Macy's and McDonald's, Roger Rabbit would gross $11.22 million in its first

[00:21:50] weekend and a total of $14.85 million in its first five days, becoming the most successful

[00:21:57] Disney opening week release ever.

[00:22:01] For months, you couldn't get away from Roger Rabbit.

[00:22:04] He'd be seen drinking Diet Coke during commercial breaks on some of the biggest television

[00:22:09] shows the entire summer.

[00:22:11] Macy's stores across America had entire sections devoted to Robert Jurabert gear, Jacket's

[00:22:17] jewelry, t-shirts, toys and games.

[00:22:19] A McDonald's commercial would show Roger and Jessica in the back of a 1940s limo, getting

[00:22:25] a supersized meal through the drive-through which would include one of three collectible

[00:22:29] cups featuring the stars of the movie.

[00:22:32] A behind-the-scenes special Roger Rabbit and the secrets of Tune-Town would air on CBS

[00:22:37] in early September 1988, hosted by the film's female lead Joanne Cassidy and featuring

[00:22:43] appearances by Bob Hoskins and Kathleen Turner, as well as for some reason Jean Kelly and

[00:22:49] Dick Van Dyke.

[00:22:51] You can find that special in a number of Roger Rabbit themed commercials from 1988 on YouTube

[00:22:57] rather easily.

[00:22:59] By the end of 1988, more than six months after its release, Roger Rabbit would still be

[00:23:05] playing in 463 screens and would be the highest-grossing film of the year with nearly 150 million

[00:23:13] dollars in ticket sales.

[00:23:15] Rainman would eventually beat Roger Rabbit in total box office, but well into 1989 and

[00:23:21] after winning several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay

[00:23:27] and Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman.

[00:23:29] For the calendar year 1988, Roger would outgrow the second highest-grossing movie coming

[00:23:35] to America by nearly 30 million dollars.

[00:23:40] The movie was somewhat of a success on the awards front.

[00:23:43] Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were nominated by the writer's Guild of America for Best Adapted

[00:23:48] Screenplay and the director's Guild of America would nominate Robert Semeckas for Best

[00:23:52] Director.

[00:23:54] The Golden Globes that year would nominate the film for Best Musical or Comedy Film and

[00:23:58] Bob Hoskins would get a nod for Best Actor in a musical or comedy film.

[00:24:03] But when it came to the big ones, the Academy Awards, the movie would be nominated for six awards

[00:24:09] all in the technical categories like our direction, cinematography and best sound.

[00:24:14] It would end up winning three awards for Best Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing and for

[00:24:19] Best Visual Effects.

[00:24:21] Richard Williams would also be an award at a special achievement for his work on the film during

[00:24:26] a memorable six-minute presentation that included Robin Williams wearing Mickey Mouse

[00:24:31] ears and gloves.

[00:24:33] While Williams and fellow presenter Charles Fleischer wrapped about tuned consciousness.

[00:24:38] This is Fentany Williams, he's really in a bad, because he draws costumes much better than

[00:24:48] the rest.

[00:24:49] He draws his tunes with Tyler and Claire.

[00:24:53] He drew my wife and she's got a nice smile.

[00:24:57] He gives them life, he gives them smarts, he gives them smarts and he gives them life to

[00:25:03] bad, he didn't draw my wife.

[00:25:06] There would be three Roger Rabbit cartoon short follow-ups over the years.

[00:25:10] The first tummy trouble was attached to Prince of the 1989 film Honey I Shrunk the Kids

[00:25:16] and was the first new animated short Disney had produced in 16 years to accompany the

[00:25:21] original release of a feature film since winning the poo and Tigger 2 in 1974.

[00:25:29] In tummy trouble Roger must take Baby Herman to the emergency room after the baby swells

[00:25:34] a rattle hole.

[00:25:37] The second cartoon short Roller Coaster Rabbit would cause some friction between Disney

[00:25:41] and Spielberg, but that there was anything wrong with the short it's silly and funny.

[00:25:46] No the trouble came from which film the short would be attached to.

[00:25:50] Spielberg wanted the short to be put in front of a rack of phobia.

[00:25:54] The John Goodman Jeff Daniels horror comedy film that was a co-production between Disney

[00:25:58] and Amblin Entertainment, while Michael Eisner wanted it in front of Warren Beatty's film adaptation

[00:26:04] of the Dick Tracy comic series.

[00:26:07] Eisner won that battle but because Spielberg owned half of the Roger Rabbit character he retaliated

[00:26:14] by cancelling hair in my suit.

[00:26:17] Another Roger Rabbit cartoon short that had already started pre-production.

[00:26:21] The third and final Roger Rabbit cartoon short was called Trail Mixup which starts with

[00:26:26] Baby Herman and Roger going camping and ends with the literal destruction of the planet.

[00:26:33] You know, for the kids.

[00:26:35] Trail Mixup was placed in front of the Reese Witherspoon adventure drama of Bar off

[00:26:39] Place, another co-production between Disney and Amblin but when the movie failed at the

[00:26:44] box office even with the new Roger Rabbit short, three additional plans short called Clean

[00:26:50] and Oppressed, Beach Blanket Bay and Bronco Bust & Bunny were all canceled before beginning

[00:26:57] production.

[00:26:59] Gary K Wolf would also write three more books in the Roger Rabbit literary universe.

[00:27:04] The first called Poop-Pup-Pup-Pugged Roger Rabbit, yes with four P's was released in 1981

[00:27:12] and was a literal reboot of the original book to more closely match the details established

[00:27:17] in the film.

[00:27:19] Even going so far as to completely red-con the original who censored Roger Rabbit book

[00:27:24] halfway through the new book.

[00:27:26] Who whacked Roger Rabbit hitting bookshelves in 2013, finds Eddie enjoying his work as a

[00:27:32] bodyguard for Gary Cooper until he discovers his bosses about to make a screwball comedy

[00:27:38] with none other than Roger Rabbit himself.

[00:27:41] The final book in the series, Jessica Rabbit, Xerious Business, The Next, switched the

[00:27:47] focus to how an ordinary human woman from a tombeless world became the beloved tune goddess

[00:27:53] we know today.

[00:27:55] Then there were the comic books, the graphic novels, the video games, the theme park

[00:27:59] lands and rides, everything you could think of.

[00:28:04] Except for sequel.

[00:28:06] But not for lack of trying.

[00:28:08] In 1989, Steven Spielberg hired an up-and-coming 23-old writer, JJ Abrams, to work on the first

[00:28:14] draft of a post-sequel.

[00:28:17] But the original storyline Abrams came up with was abandoned.

[00:28:20] But at least he got a couple of original cells from tummy trouble for his effort.

[00:28:26] In 1991, Nat Modlin, a writer for such television shows as Barney Miller, Newhart and Nightcourt

[00:28:32] was hired to write a prequel called The Tune Platoon.

[00:28:37] Roger and his human friend, Richie, leave their Midwest home to find Roger's mother,

[00:28:42] taking them to Hollywood.

[00:28:44] In Hollywood, Roger meets a struggling young actress named Jessica Kropnik and gets

[00:28:49] himself enlisted in the army.

[00:28:52] Jessica's kidnapped by Nazis and forced to make pro-hitler broadcasts.

[00:28:56] And Roger and Richie head to Europe to rescue her.

[00:29:00] Jessica is saved.

[00:29:01] Roger and Richie are given a heroes welcome on Hollywood Boulevard.

[00:29:05] And Roger reunites with his mother and his father.

[00:29:10] Bugs Bunny.

[00:29:12] But in 1993, after making Schindler's list, Spielberg decided he could no longer use Nazis

[00:29:17] for satirical measures and allowed the project to die off.

[00:29:22] Four years later, in 1997, Michael Eisner would hire Sherry Stoner, an actress who was

[00:29:27] the human model for Ariel in the 1989 Disney animated feature, who had successfully turned

[00:29:34] a screenwriting with the Ambulin-produced 1995 adaptation of Casper the Friendly Ghost,

[00:29:41] and her writing partner, Deanne Oliver, to rework Maublin's script, now titled Who Discovered

[00:29:46] Roger Rabbit, to replace the World War II aspects of the story and move the action to

[00:29:52] the entertainment industry.

[00:29:54] Roger would still be looking for his mother, but now he inadvertently becomes a Broadway

[00:29:58] and Hollywood star.

[00:30:01] Eisner in the Disney Brass, minus Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had been fired from the company

[00:30:06] 1995 and soon joined Spielberg and David Geffen, at a new studio called Dreamworks, were

[00:30:12] so impressed with Stoner and Oliver's new take that they brought Alan Manken, the eight

[00:30:16] time Oscar-winning lyricist and composer, from the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin

[00:30:22] Pocahontas, The Hunchback at Notre Dame and Hercules, to write five new songs for the movie.

[00:30:29] In 1998, working with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, Disney commissioned some

[00:30:34] test footage to be shot and animated.

[00:30:37] At their animation unit in Lake Boena Vista, Florida, just outside the Disney World Resorts,

[00:30:42] to see how a new film could be made in this new world that included computer-generated

[00:30:47] images.

[00:30:48] A mix of CG, traditional hand-drawn animation, and live action footage, the test did not

[00:30:54] please anyone.

[00:30:56] A second test with the hand-drawn animated characters replaced 100% with CG characters

[00:31:02] was an even bigger disappointment.

[00:31:04] Not because it looked bad, but because the projected budget for the new film with the CG

[00:31:08] characters would have exceeded $100 million.

[00:31:13] The project movie shelved again, and only one of the five songs Alan Manken wrote

[00:31:17] for the new movie, ironically titled This Only Happens in the Movies, Would Ever Be

[00:31:22] Recorded by Broadway actress Carrie Butler in 2008 for her debut solo album.

[00:31:30] In 2007, Frank Marshall told a writer for the MTV Movies blog that he was still open to

[00:31:37] the idea of a Roger Rabbit sequel, and two years later Robert Zemeckis told a different

[00:31:42] writer for the MTV Movies blog that he was still interested in making it as well.

[00:31:48] A few months later while promoting his performance capture CG 3D version of a Christmas carol,

[00:31:53] during Jim Carrey, Zemeckis would tell reporters that not only was he still interested, but

[00:31:58] that the original writers of the film Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were writing a new

[00:32:03] script, and that the tunes would still be hand-drawn animation, while the human characters

[00:32:08] would be performance capture CG 3D characters.

[00:32:13] In 2010, Bob Hoskins reportedly signed on to reprise his role as Eddie Valleant in the

[00:32:18] new film but expressed some concerns about the performance capture stuff.

[00:32:24] Later that year Zemeckis changed his tune, No Pun intended, and stated that the film

[00:32:29] would be a mix of hand-drawn animation and live action just like the original film, although

[00:32:34] some lighting effects and tune props would be completed digitally.

[00:32:39] John Hahn, the producer of Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King in the Hunchback of Notre

[00:32:43] Dame, who was an associate producer on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, would tell a reporter for

[00:32:49] the British film magazine Empire in late 2010 that fans of the film would be quote, very

[00:32:55] very very happy unquote, in the near future.

[00:33:00] But in 2012 Bob Hoskins would do a retire from acting due to Parkinson's disease and

[00:33:05] pass away two years after that.

[00:33:08] But that wouldn't stop Zemeckis from dreaming big.

[00:33:11] While promoting his movie Allied in 2016, the director continued to talk about the Roger

[00:33:16] Rabbit sequel, which he said would take place a few years after the events of the first

[00:33:20] movie and include a digital version of Bob Hoskins to play a ghostly version of Eddie

[00:33:26] Valleant.

[00:33:28] But he would also note that the current corporate structure had no appreciation for Roger

[00:33:32] Rabbit and doubted another movie would be made.

[00:33:36] Seven years later, we're still here waiting for the return of Roger Rabbit.

[00:33:43] Thank you for joining us.

[00:33:44] We'll talk again early in the new year when episode 126 is released.

[00:33:50] Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, the 80smoviepodcast.com, for

[00:33:55] extra materials about who censored Roger Rabbit, who framed Roger Rabbit and other topics

[00:34:00] we covered this episode.

[00:34:03] The 80smoviepodcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for

[00:34:08] idiosyncratic entertainment.

[00:34:10] Thank you again.

[00:34:12] Good night.

[00:34:13] Happy New Year.