It has been 25 years since a group of talented people sent the cartoon world of Roger Rabbit careening into the live action world of private detective Eddie Valiant. Scarlett Stahl recently attended a reunion of the cast and crew at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. ~~Rick
FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?
A TOONTOWN 25TH REUNION
By
Scarlett Stahl
On Thursday evening, April 4th, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, Ca, the 25th reunion of Who Framed Roger Rabbit was held. Invited guests enjoyed lavish hors d’oeuvres and an open bar in the cordoned off lobby area. In addition to the food and drink, the guests enjoyed circulating and visiting with friends and fellow animation artists.
When the bell rang at 7:15 p.m., it signaled time for the guests to take their seats in the reserved area of the auditorium. The general public filled the remaining seats as tickets to the showing of the digitally restored film and panel discussion were available online, at the box office or by mail.
When Who Framed Roger Rabbit was filmed 25 years ago, it was a unique blending of live action and animation in a bold experiment by the Walt Disney Studios. The film received nominations in six categories and won Oscars in the following categories: Film Editing, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. A Special Achievement Award was given for Richard Williams’ animation direction.
After the viewing of the film, there was a discussion of the making of the film by a panel of cast and crew, moderated by Rich Moore, director of Wreak-It Ralph, which had received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film in this years recent Academy Award Ceremony. The Roger Rabbit panel included the following: director Robert Zemeckis, associate producers Don Hahn and Steve Starkey, actress Joanna Cassidy (Dolores), voice actor Charles Fleischer (Roger Rabbit), supervising animator of Roger Rabbit- Andreas Deja, and screenwriters Peter S. Seaman and Jeffrey Price.
The panel was lively and fun, as befitting a reunion of Roger Rabbit cast and crew members. Some information shared was that Richard Williams chose to begin production but waited to decide what Roger Rabbit would look like, which did cause some concern to other crew members. One of the screen writers told the audience that the film was filled with hidden icons and suggested that not only should they purchase the beautiful digitally restored version, but also try to find a VHS copy so they could stop it or freeze frame it to see the numerous hidden icons …especially on the windows of the train, which would be a real treat to view. Others said that they were still waiting to work on a sequel to the film, which the audience enthusiastically wanted.
After the panel discussion ended, some of the cast and crew in the audience began rounding others up for group photos on the stage. A sense of camaraderie and warmth was evident to all in the auditorium and many of the audience waited to meet and greet cast and crew, while obtaining autographs.
The following pictures of the panel participants in this mail were provided to press by the Academy. Not pictured were the screenwriters: Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman.
Do you have fond memories of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Would you like to see a sequel?