Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Walt Disney Productions purchased the film rights to Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? shortly after its publication in 1981. Ron W. Miller, then president of Disney, saw it as a perfect opportunity to produce a blockbuster.[12] Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were hired to write the script, penning two drafts. Robert Zemeckis offered his services as director in 1982,[13] but Disney declined as his two previous films (I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars) had been box-office bombs.[14] Between 1981 and 1983 Disney developed test footage with Darrell Van Citters as animation director, Paul Reubens voicing Roger Rabbit, Peter Renaday as Eddie Valiant, and Russi Taylor as Jessica Rabbit.[15] The project was revamped in 1985 by Michael Eisner, the then-new CEO of Disney. Amblin Entertainment, which consisted of Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, were approached to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit alongside Disney. The original budget was projected at $50 million, which Disney felt was too expensive.[16]

The film was finally green-lit when the budget decreased to $30 million, which at the time still made it the most expensive animated film ever green-lit.[16] Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg argued that the hybrid of live-action and animation would "save" Disney's animation department. Spielberg's contract included an extensive amount of creative control and a large percentage of the box-office profits. Disney kept all merchandising rights.[16] Spielberg convinced Warner Bros., Fleischer Studios, Famous Studios, King Features Syndicate, Felix the Cat Productions, Turner Entertainment, and Universal Pictures/Walter Lantz Productions to "lend" their characters to appear in the film with (in some cases) stipulations on how those characters were portrayed; for example, Disney's Donald Duck and Warner Bros.' Daffy Duck appear as equally talented dueling pianists, and Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny also share a scene. Apart from this agreement, and some of the original Looney Tunes voice artists being hired to reprise their roles, Warner Bros. and the various other companies were not involved in the production of Roger Rabbit. However, executives at Warner Bros. expressed displeasure at the animators using the Daffy design by Bob Clampett and demanded they use the design by Chuck Jones; in response to this, Zemeckis had separate artists animate Daffy using Jones' design to satisfy Warner Bros. to use Clampett's design in the final film. The producers were unable to acquire the rights to use Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Little Lulu, Casper, or the Terrytoons characters for appearances from their respective owners (King Features, Turner, Western Publishing, Harvey Comics, and Viacom).[13][14]

Terry Gilliam was offered the chance to direct, but he found the project too technically challenging. ("Pure laziness on my part," he later admitted, "I completely regret that decision.")[17] Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct in 1985, based on the success of Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future. Disney executives were continuing to suggest Van Citters direct the animation, but Spielberg and Zemeckis decided against it.[16] Richard Williams was eventually hired to direct the animation. Zemeckis wanted the film to imbue "Disney's high quality of animation, Warner Bros.' characterization, and Tex Avery humor."[18]

Harrison Ford was Spielberg's original choice to play Eddie Valiant, but his price was too high.[19] Chevy Chase was the second choice, but he was not interested.[20] Bill Murray was also considered for the role, but due to his idiosyncratic method of receiving offers for roles, Murray missed out on it.[21] Eddie Murphy reportedly turned down the role as he misunderstood the concept of cartoon characters and human beings co-existing; he later regretted this decision.[22][23] Robin Williams, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Edward James Olmos, Wallace Shawn, Ed Harris, Charles Grodin and Don Lane were also considered for the role.[20] Ultimately Bob Hoskins was chosen by Spielberg because of his acting skill, and because Spielberg believed he had a hopeful demeanor and he looked like he belonged in that era.[24] To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Charles Fleischer dressed in a Roger Rabbit costume and "stood in" behind camera for most scenes.[25] Williams explained Roger was a combination of "Tex Avery's cashew nut-shaped head, the swatch of red hair... like Droopy's, Goofy's overalls, Porky Pig's bow tie, Mickey Mouse's gloves, and Bugs Bunny-like cheeks and ears."[13]

Kathleen Turner provided the uncredited voice of Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit's wife.[26]

Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Judge Doom, but was rejected because the producers found him too terrifying.[27] Christopher Lee was also considered for the role, but turned it down.[20] John Cleese also expressed interest for the role, but was deemed not scary enough.[20] Peter O'Toole, F. Murray Abraham, Roddy McDowall, Eddie Deezen and Sting were also considered for the role.[20] Christopher Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with Zemeckis and Spielberg on Back to the Future. He compared his part as Doom to his previous role as the Klingon commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, both being overly evil characters which he considered being "fun to play".[28] He avoided blinking his eyes while on camera to perfectly portray the character.[14]

Fleischer also voiced Benny the Cab, Psycho, and Greasy. Lou Hirsch, who voiced Baby Herman, was the original choice for Benny the Cab, but he was replaced by Fleischer.[25]

The plot incorporated the actual closing of Pacific Electric.

Price and Seaman were brought aboard to continue writing the script once Spielberg and Zemeckis were hired. For inspiration, the two writers studied the work of Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, especially Tex Avery and Bob Clampett cartoons. The Cloverleaf streetcar subplot was inspired by Chinatown.[13] Price and Seaman said that "the Red Car plot, suburb expansion, urban and political corruption really did happen," Price stated. "In Los Angeles, during the 1940s, car and tire companies teamed up against the Pacific Electric Railway system and bought them out of business. Where the freeway runs in Los Angeles is where the Red Car used to be."[14] In Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the toons were comic-strip characters rather than movie stars.[13]

During the writing process, Price and Seaman were unsure of whom to include as the villain in the plot. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final decision with the newly created character Judge Doom. Doom was supposed to have an animated vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted due to the technical challenges this posed.[14] Doom would also have a suitcase of 12 small animated kangaroos that act as a jury, by having their joeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, when put together would spell YOU ARE GUILTY. This was also cut for budget and technical reasons.[29]

The Toon Patrol (Stupid, Smart Ass, Greasy, Wheezy, and Psycho) satirizes the Seven Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey), who appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Originally, seven weasels were to mimic the dwarfs complement, but eventually, two of them, Slimey and Sleazy, were written out of the script.[14] Further references included The "Ink and Paint Club" resembling the Harlem Cotton Club, while Zemeckis compared Judge Doom's invention of the Dip to eliminate all the toons as Hitler's Final Solution.[13] Doom was originally the hunter who killed Bambi's mother.[29] Benny the Cab was first conceived to be a Volkswagen Beetle before being changed to a taxi cab. Ideas originally conceived for the story also included a sequence set at Marvin Acme's funeral, whose attendees included Eddie, Foghorn Leghorn, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Heckle and Jeckle, Chip n' Dale, Felix the Cat, Herman and Katnip, Mighty Mouse, Superman, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, the Seven Dwarfs, Baby Huey, and Casper the Friendly Ghost in cameo appearances. However, the scene was cut for pacing reasons and never made it past the storyboard stage.[29] Before finally agreeing on Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the film's title, working titles included Murder in Toontown, Toons, Dead Toons Don't Pay Bills, The Toontown Trial, Trouble in Toontown, and Eddie Goes to Toontown.[30]

Judge Doom (played by Christopher Lloyd) threatens Roger Rabbit before introducing him to the dip. Mime artists, puppeteers, mannequins, and robotic arms were commonly used during filming to help the actors interact with "open air and imaginative cartoon characters".[25]

Williams admitted he was "openly disdainful of the Disney bureaucracy"[31] and refused to work in Los Angeles. To accommodate him and his animators, production moved to England where a studio, Walt Disney Animation UK (subsuming Richard Williams Animation), was created for this purpose;[32][33] located at The Forum, 74-80 Camden Street, in Camden Town, London, while the live-action production was based at Elstree Studios. Disney and Spielberg also told Williams that in return for doing the film, they would help distribute his unfinished film The Thief and the Cobbler.[31] Supervising animators included Van Citters, Dale Baer, Michael Peraza, Joe Ranft, Tom Sito, James Baxter, David Bowers, Andreas Deja, Mike Gabriel, Chris Jenkins, Phil Nibbelink, Nik Ranieri, Simon Wells, and Bruce W. Smith, while Williams and associate producer Don Hahn spearheaded the animation production. The animation production was split between Walt Disney Animation UK and a specialized unit in Los Angeles, set up by Walt Disney Feature Animation and supervised by Baer.[34] The production budget continued to escalate, while the shooting schedule ran longer than expected. When the budget reached $40 million, Disney CEO Michael Eisner seriously considered shutting down production, but studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg talked him out of it.[31] Despite the budget escalating to over $50 million, Disney moved forward on production because they were enthusiastic to work with Spielberg.[16]

VistaVision cameras installed with motion-control technology were used for the photography of the live-action scenes, which would be composited with animation. Rubber mannequins of Roger Rabbit, Baby Herman, and the Toon Patrol portrayed the animated characters during rehearsals to teach the actors where to look when acting with "open air and imaginative cartoon characters".[25] Many of the live-action props held by cartoon characters were shot on set with the props either held by robotic arms or manipulated with strings, similar to a marionette.[14] For example, a test was shot at ILM with an actor playing the detective would climb down a fire escape and the rabbit is supposed to follow and he knocks down some stacked boxes. Naturally, there would not be a rabbit during the test, so the camera would go down the fire escape and the boxes would fall when a wire was pulled.[24] The actor who played the voice of Roger, Charles Fleischer, insisted on wearing a Roger Rabbit costume while on the set, to get into character.[25] Filming began on November 2, 1986, and lasted for seven and a half months at Elstree Studios, with an additional month in Los Angeles and at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for blue screen effects of Toontown. The entrance of Desilu Studios served as the fictional Maroon Cartoon Studio lot.[35]

Post-production lasted for 14 months.[14] ILM had already used CGI and digital compositing in a few movies, such as the stained glass knight scene in Young Sherlock Holmes, but the computers were still not powerful enough to make a complicated movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, so all the animation was done using cels and optical compositing.[36][25] First, the animators and layout artists were given black-and-white printouts of the live-action scenes (known as "photostats"), and they placed their animation paper on top of them. The artists then drew the animated characters in relationship to the live-action footage. Due to Zemeckis' dynamic camera moves, the animators had to confront the challenge of ensuring the characters were not "slipping and slipping all over the place."[14][25] To ensure this did not happen and that the characters looked real, Zemeckis and Spielberg met for about an hour and a half and came up with the idea that, "If the rabbit sits down in an old chair, dust comes up. He should always be touching something real."[24] After the rough animation was complete, it was run through the normal process of traditional animation until the cels were shot on the rostrum camera with no background. Williams came up with the idea of making the cartoon characters “2.5-dimensional”, and the animated footage was sent to ILM for compositing, where technicians animated three lighting layers (shadows, highlights, and tone mattes) separately, to give the characters a sense of depth and create the illusion of them being affected by the lighting on set.[37][25] Finally, the lighting effects were optically composited on to the cartoon characters, who were, in turn, composited into the live-action footage. One of the most difficult effects in the film was Jessica's dress in the nightclub scene because it had to flash sequins, an effect accomplished by filtering light through a plastic bag scratched with steel wool.[13]

Regular Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestri composed the film score, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under the direction of Silvestri. Zemeckis joked that "the British [musicians] could not keep up with Silvestri's jazz tempo". The performances of the music themes written for Jessica Rabbit were entirely improvised by the LSO. The work of American composer Carl Stalling heavily influenced Silvestri's work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[14][25] The film's soundtrack was originally released by Buena Vista Records on June 22, 1988, and reissued on CD on April 16, 2002.[38]

On January 23, 2018, Intrada Records released a three-CD set with the complete score, alternates, and a remastered version of the original 1988 album, plus music from three Roger Rabbit short films, composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton and James Horner.[39] Mondo Records and Walt Disney Records reissued the original 1998 album on vinyl on September 17, 2021.

The film features performances of "Hungarian Rhapsody" (Tony Anselmo and Mel Blanc), "Why Don't You Do Right?" (Amy Irving), "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (Charles Fleischer), and "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" (Toon Chorus).

The film opened in the United States on June 22, 1988, grossing $11,226,239 in 1,045 theaters during its opening weekend, ranking first place at the US box office.[41] It was Disney's biggest opening weekend ever at the time of its release.[42] It went on to gross $154,112,492 in the United States and Canada and $197,387,508 internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $351,500,000.[43] At the time of release, it was the 20th-highest-grossing film of all time.[44] It was also the second-highest-grossing film of 1988, behind only Rain Man.[45] In the United Kingdom, the film also set a record opening for a Disney film.[46]

The film was first released on VHS on October 12, 1989,[47] and on DVD on September 28, 1999.

On March 25, 2003, Buena Vista Home Entertainment released it as a part of the "Vista Series" line in a two-disc collection with many extra features including a documentary, Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit; a deleted scene in which a pig's head is "tooned" onto Eddie's; the three Roger Rabbit shorts, Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit, and Trail Mix-Up; as well as a booklet and interactive games. The only short on the 2003 VHS release was Tummy Trouble. The 2003 DVD release presents the film in Full Screen (1.33:1) on Disc 1 and Widescreen (1.85:1) on Disc 2.

On March 12, 2013, the film was released by on Blu-ray and DVD combo pack special edition for the film's 25th anniversary.[48][49] The film was also digitally restored for the release; frame-by-frame digital restoration was done by Prasad Studios removing dirt, tears, scratches, and other defects.[50][51] Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray on December 7, 2021.[52]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit received near-universal acclaim from critics, making Business Insider's "best comedy movies of all time, according to critics" list.[53] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 97% based on 66 reviews, and an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an innovative and entertaining film that features a groundbreaking mix of live action and animation, with a touching and original story to boot."[54] Aggregator Metacritic has calculated a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[55] Who Framed Roger Rabbit was placed on 43 critics' top ten lists, third to only The Thin Blue Line and Bull Durham in 1988.[56] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[57]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, predicting it would carry "the type of word of mouth that money can't buy. This movie is not only great entertainment but [also] a breakthrough in craftsmanship."[58] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune praised the film's "dazzling, jaw-dropping opening four-minute sequence", while noting that the sequence alone took nearly nine months to animate.[59] In reviewing the film, Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four.[60] Ebert and his colleague Siskel spent a considerable amount of time in the Siskel & Ebert episode in which they reviewed the film analyzing its painstaking filmmaking.[61] In evaluating their top ten films of the year, Siskel ranked it number two[62] while Ebert ranked it as number eight.[63] Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented that this is "a film whose best moments are so novel, so deliriously funny and so crazily unexpected that they truly must be seen to be believed."[64] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post considered Roger Rabbit to be "a definitive collaboration of pure talent. Zemeckis had Walt Disney Pictures' enthusiastic backing, producer Steven Spielberg's pull, Warner Bros.'s blessing, Canadian animator Richard Williams' ink and paint, Mel Blanc's voice, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman's witty, frenetic screenplay, George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, and Bob Hoskins' comical performance as the burliest, shaggiest private eye."[65] Gene Shalit on the Today Show also praised the film, calling it "one of the most extraordinary movies ever made".[66] Filmsite.org called it "a technically-marvelous film" and a "landmark" that resulted from "unprecedented cooperation" between Warner Bros. and Disney.[67] On CNN's 2019 miniseries The Movies, Tom Hanks called it the "most complicated movie ever made."[68]

Richard Corliss, writing for Time, gave a mixed review. "The opening cartoon works just fine but too fine. The opening scene upstages the movie that emerges from it," he said. Corliss was mainly annoyed by the homages to the Golden Age of American animation.[69] Chuck Jones made a rather scathing attack on the film in his book Chuck Jones Conversations. Among his complaints, Jones accused Robert Zemeckis of robbing Richard Williams of any creative input and ruining the piano duel that both Williams and he storyboarded.[70]

With the film's LaserDisc release, Variety first reported in March 1994 that observers uncovered several scenes of antics from the animators that supposedly featured brief nudity of Jessica Rabbit. While undetectable when played at the usual rate of 24 film frames per second, the LaserDisc player allowed the viewer to advance frame-by-frame to uncover these visuals. Whether or not they were actually intended to depict the nudity of the character remains unknown.[90][91] Many retailers said that within minutes of the LaserDisc debut, their entire inventory was sold out. The run was fueled by media reports about the controversy, including stories on CNN and various newspapers.[92]

Another frequently debated scene includes one in which Baby Herman extends his middle finger as he passes under a woman's dress and re-emerges with drool on his lip.[91][93] Also, controversy exists over the scene where Daffy Duck and Donald Duck are playing a piano duel, and during his trademark ranting gibberish, it is claimed that Donald calls Daffy a "goddamn stupid nigger"; however, this is a misinterpretation, with the line from the script being "doggone stubborn little—."[94][95][96]

Gary K. Wolf, author of the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, filed a lawsuit in 2001 against The Walt Disney Company. He claimed he was owed royalties based on the value of "gross receipts" and merchandising sales. In 2002, the trial court in the case ruled that these only referred to actual cash receipts Disney collected and denied Wolf's claim. In its January 2004 ruling, the California Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that expert testimony introduced by Wolf regarding the customary use of "gross receipts" in the entertainment business could support a broader reading of the term. The ruling vacated the trial court's order in favor of Disney and remanded the case for further proceedings.[97] In a March 2005 hearing, Wolf estimated he was owed $7 million. Disney's attorneys not only disputed the claim but also said Wolf owed Disney $500,000–$1 million because of an accounting error discovered in preparing for the lawsuit.[98] Wolf won the decision in 2005, receiving between $180,000 and $400,000 in damages.[99]

Spielberg discussed a sequel in 1989 with J. J. Abrams as writer and Zemeckis as producer. Abrams's outline was eventually abandoned.[100] Nat Mauldin was hired to write a prequel titled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon, set in 1941 to 1943. Similar to the previous film, Toon Platoon featured many cameo appearances by characters from The Golden Age of American Animation. It began with Roger Rabbit's early years, living on a farm in the midwestern United States.[86] With human Ritchie Davenport, Roger travels west to seek his mother, in the process meeting Jessica Krupnick (his future wife), a struggling Hollywood actress. While Roger and Ritchie are enlisting in the Army, Jessica is kidnapped and forced to make pro-Nazi German broadcasts. Roger and Ritchie must save her by going into Nazi-occupied Europe accompanied by several other Toons in their Army platoon. After their triumph, Roger and Ritchie are given a Hollywood Boulevard parade, and Roger is finally reunited with his mother and father, Bugs Bunny.[86][101]

Mauldin later retitled his script Who Discovered Roger Rabbit. Spielberg left the project when deciding he could not satirize Nazis after directing Schindler's List.[102][103] Eisner commissioned a rewrite in 1997 with Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver. Although they kept Roger's search for his mother, Stoner and Oliver replaced the WWII subplot with Roger's inadvertent rise to stardom on Broadway and Hollywood. Disney was impressed and Alan Menken was hired to write five songs for the film and offered his services as executive producer.[103] One of the songs, "This Only Happens in the Movies", was recorded in 2008 on the debut album of Broadway actress Kerry Butler.[104] Eric Goldberg was set to be the new animation director, and began to redesign Roger's new character appearance.[103]

Spielberg became busy establishing DreamWorks, while Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy decided to remain as producers. Test footage for Who Discovered Roger Rabbit was shot sometime in 1998 at the Disney animation unit in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; the results were a mix of CGI, traditional animation, and live-action that did not please Disney. A second test had the toons completely converted to CGI, but this was dropped as the film's projected budget would escalate past $100 million. Eisner felt it was best to cancel the film.[103] In March 2003, producer Don Hahn was doubtful about a sequel being made, arguing that public tastes had changed since the 1990s with the rise of computer animation. "There was something very special about that time when animation was not as much in the forefront as it is now."[105]

In December 2007, Marshall stated that he was still "open" to the idea,[106] and in April 2009, Zemeckis revealed he was still interested.[107] According to a 2009 MTV News story, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were writing a new script for the project, and the animated characters would be in traditional two-dimensional, while the rest would be in motion capture.[108] However, in 2010, Zemeckis said that the sequel would remain hand-drawn animated and live-action sequences will be filmed, just like in the original film, but the lighting effects on the cartoon characters and some of the props that the toons handle will be done digitally.[109] Also in 2010, Hahn, who was the film's original associate producer, confirmed the sequel's development in an interview with Empire. He stated, "Yeah, I couldn't possibly comment. I deny completely, but yeah... if you're a fan, pretty soon you're going to be very, very, very happy."[110] In 2010, Bob Hoskins stated he was interested in the project, reprising his role as Eddie Valiant. However, he retired from acting in 2012 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a year earlier, and died from pneumonia in 2014.[111] Marshall confirmed that the film would be a prequel, similar to earlier drafts, and that the writing was almost complete.[112] During an interview at the premiere of Flight, Zemeckis stated that the sequel was still possible, despite Hoskins' absence, and the script for the sequel was sent to Disney for approval from studio executives.[113]

In February 2013, Gary K. Wolf, writer of the original novel, said Erik Von Wodtke and he were working on a development proposal for an animated Disney buddy comedy starring Mickey Mouse and Roger Rabbit called The Stooge, based on the 1952 film of the same name. The proposed film is set in a prequel, taking place five years before Who Framed Roger Rabbit and part of the story is about how Roger met Jessica. Wolf has stated the film is currently wending its way through Disney.[114]

In November 2016, while promoting his film Allied in England, Zemeckis stated that the sequel "moves the story of Roger and Jessica Rabbit into the next few years of period film, moving on from film noir to the world of the 1950s". He also stated that the sequel would feature a "digital Bob Hoskins", as Eddie Valiant would return in "ghost form". While the director went on to state that the script is "terrific" and the film would still use hand-drawn animation, Zemeckis thinks that the chances of Disney green-lighting the sequel are "slim". As he explained more in detail, "The current corporate Disney culture has no interest in Roger, and they certainly don't like Jessica at all".[115] In December 2018, while promoting Welcome to Marwen, his latest film, and given the 30th anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis reiterated in an interview with Yahoo! Movies that though the sequel's script is "wonderful", Disney is still unlikely to ever produce it, and he does not see the possibility of producing it as an original film for the streaming service Disney+, as he feels that it does not make any sense as there is no "Princess" in it.[116]