Who Framed Roger Rabbit (film)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters interact directly with human beings. Who Framed Roger Rabbit stars Bob Hoskins as a private detective who investigates a murder involving the famous cartoon character, Roger Rabbit. Charles Fleischer co-stars as the titular character's voice, Christopher Lloyd as the villain, Kathleen Turner as the voice of Roger's cartoon wife, and Joanna Cassidy as the detective's girlfriend.

Walt Disney Pictures purchased the film rights to the story in 1981. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote two drafts of the script before Disney brought in executive producer Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment to help finance the film. Zemeckis was hired to direct the live-action scenes with Richard Williams overseeing animation sequences. Production was moved from Los Angeles to Elstree Studios in England to accommodate Williams and his group of animators. While filming, the production budget began to rapidly expand and the shooting schedule ran longer than expected.

However, the film was released to financial success and critical acclaim. Who Framed Roger Rabbit brought a re-emerging interest in the golden age of American animation and became the forefront for the modern era, especially the Disney Renaissance. It also left behind an impact that included a media franchise and the unproduced prequel, Who Discovered Roger Rabbit.

[edit] Plot

In 1947, cartoon characters, commonly called "toons", are living beings who act out cartoons in the same way that human actors make live-action production. Toons interact freely with humans and live in Toontown, an area near Hollywood, California. R. K. Maroon is the human owner of Maroon Cartoon studios; Roger Rabbit is a fun-loving toon rabbit, one of Maroon's stars; Roger's wife Jessica is a gorgeous toon woman; and Baby Herman is Roger's costar, a 50-year-old toon who looks like an infant. Marvin Acme is the practical joke-loving owner of Toontown and the Acme Corporation.

Maroon hires private detective Eddie Valiant to investigate rumors that Jessica is having an affair. Eddie and his brother Teddy used to be friends of the toon community, but Eddie has hated them, and has been drinking heavily, since his brother Teddy was killed by a toon a few years earlier. When he shows Roger photographs of Jessica "cheating" on him by playing patty-cake with Acme, Roger becomes distraught and runs away. This makes him the main suspect when Acme is found murdered the next day. At the crime scene, Eddie meets Judge Doom and his Toon Patrol of weasel henchmen. Although toons are impervious to physical abuse, Doom has discovered that they can be killed by submerging them in a mixture of solvents he refers to as "Dip." He demonstrates this to Valiant by lowering a living cartoon shoe into a drum of Dip until it dissolves, leaving only a smear of paint floating on top.

Baby Herman insists that Acme's will, which is missing, bequeaths Toontown to the toons. If the will is not found by midnight, Toontown will be sold to Cloverleaf Industries, which recently bought the Pacific Electric system of trolley cars. One of Eddie's photos shows the will in Acme's pocket, proving Baby Herman's claim. After Roger shows up at his office professing his innocence, Eddie investigates the case with help from his girlfriend Dolores while hiding Roger from the Toon Patrol. Jessica tells Eddie that Maroon blackmailed her into compromising Acme, and Eddie learns that Maroon is selling his studio to Cloverleaf. Maroon explains to Eddie that Cloverleaf will not buy his studio unless they can also buy Acme's gag-making factory. His plan was to use the photos to blackmail Acme into selling. Before he can say more, he is killed by an unseen assassin and Eddie sees Jessica fleeing the scene. Thinking that she is the killer, Eddie pursues her into Toontown. When he finds her, she explains that Doom killed Maroon and Acme in an attempt to take over Toontown.

Eddie, Jessica, and Roger are captured by Doom and his weasels and held at the Acme Factory, where Doom reveals his plan. Since he owns Cloverleaf and Acme's will has yet to turn up, he will take control of Toontown and destroy it with a mobile Dip-sprayer to make room for a freeway, then force people to use it by dismantling the trolley fleet and make a fortune through a series of businesses built to appeal to the motorists. With Roger and Jessica tied up, Eddie performs a vaudeville act that makes the weasels literally die of laughter and confronts Doom. Doom survives being run over by a steamroller, revealing that he himself is a toon and admitting that he killed Teddy. Eddie eventually dissolves Doom in Dip by opening the drain on the Dip machine. As toons and the police arrive, Eddie discovers that an apparently blank piece of paper on which Roger wrote a love poem to Jessica is actually Acme's will, written in disappearing/reappearing ink. Eddie kisses Roger—proving that he has regained his sense of humor—and the toons celebrate their victory.

[edit] Cast

Main article: List of Who Framed Roger Rabbit characters*Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, an alcoholic private investigator who holds a grudge against Toons. Producer Steven Spielberg's first choice for Eddie Valiant was Harrison Ford, but Ford's price was too high. Bill Murray was also considered for the role; however, due to his method of receiving offers for roles he missed out.

• Charles Fleischer provides the voice of Roger Rabbit, an A-list Toon working for Maroon Cartoons. Roger is framed for the murder of Marvin Acme, and requests Eddie's help in proving his innocence. To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Fleischer dressed in a Roger bunny suit and "stood in" behind camera for most scenes. Animation director Richard Williams explained Roger Rabbit 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." Fleischer also provides the voices of Benny the Cab and two members of Doom's Weasel Gang, Psycho and Greasy. Lou Hirsch, who supplied the voice for Baby Herman, was the original choice for Benny the Cab, but was replaced by Fleischer.
• Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom, the extremely cold-hearted and power-hungry judge of Toontown District Superior Court. Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with Zemeckis and Amblin Entertainment in Back to the Future. Lloyd avoided blinking his eyes while on camera in order to perfectly portray the character.
• Kathleen Turner provides the uncredited voice of Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit's stunningly beautiful and flirtatious Toon wife. She loves Roger because, as she says, "he makes me laugh." Amy Irving supplied the singing voice, while Betsy Brantley served as the stand-in.
• Joanna Cassidy as Dolores, Eddie's on-off girlfriend who works as a waitress.
• Alan Tilvern as R. K. Maroon, the short-tempered and manipulative owner of "Maroon Cartoon" studios. This was Tilvern's final theatrical performance before his death.
• Stubby Kaye as Marvin Acme, prankster-like owner of the Acme Corporation.
• Lou Hirsch provides the voice of Baby Herman, Roger's middle-aged, foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping co-star in Maroon Cartoons. Williams said Baby Herman was a mixture of "Elmer Fudd and Tweety crashed together". April Winchell provides the voice of Mrs. Herman and the "baby noises".
• David Lander provides the voice of Smart Ass, the leader of the weasels.

Richard LeParmentier has a small role as Lt. Santino. Joel Silver makes a cameo appearance as Raoul, a director frustrated with Roger Rabbit's antics. Archive sound of Frank Sinatra performing "Witchcraft" was used for the Singing Sword. In addition to David Lander as Smart Ass and Charles Fleischer as Greasy and Psycho, Fred Newman voiced Stupid and June Foray voiced Wheezy. Foray also voiced Lena Hyena, a hag Toon woman who resembles Jessica Rabbit and provides a comical role which shows her falling for Eddie and pursuing him. Mel Blanc voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig and Sylvester. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of the final films in which Blanc voiced these characters before his death in 1989. Animation director Richard Williams voices Droopy. Joe Alaskey voiced Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn. Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey Mouse, Tony Pope voiced The Big Bad Wolf and Goofy, Russi Taylor voiced Minnie Mouse, Cherry Davis voiced Woody Woodpecker, Tony Anselmo voiced Donald Duck, Frank Welker voiced Dumbo, and Mae Questel voiced Betty Boop.

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

Walt Disney Pictures 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 The Walt Disney Company saw it as a perfect opportunity to produce a blockbuster. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were hired to write the script, penning two drafts. Robert Zemeckis offered his services as director in 1982, but Disney acknowledged that his previous films (I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars) were box office bombs, and thus let him go. 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.

Roger Rabbit was finally greenlit when the budget went down to $29.9 million, which at the time, still made it the most expensive animated film ever greenlit. Disney executive 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. Spielberg convinced Warner Bros., Fleischer 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's Daffy Duck appear as equally-talented dueling pianists, and Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny also share a scene. (Apart from this agreement, Warner Bros. and the various other companies were not involved in the production of Roger Rabbit.) However, Spielberg was not able to acquire the rights to use Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Little Lulu, Casper the Friendly Ghost or the Terrytoons (except Mighty Mouse) for appearances from their respective owners (King Features, Turner, Western Publishing, Harvey Comics and Viacom). 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.") Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct in 1985, based on the success of Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future. Richard Williams was hired to direct the animation sequences.

[edit] Writing

Jeffrey Price and Peter S. 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. Chinatown influenced the storyline. The subplot involving "Cloverleaf" was the planned story for the third chapter of a Chinatown trilogy (the trilogy was abandoned following the failure of 1990's The Two Jakes). 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." In Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the Toons were comic strip characters rather than movie stars.

During the writing process, Price and Seaman were unsure of whom to include as antagonist. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final decision with newly-created character Judge Doom. Doom was supposed to have an animated vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted for technical challenges. Doom also had a suitcase of 12 small animated kangaroos that act as a jury, by having their joeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, which put together would spell YOU ARE GUILTY. This was also cut for budget and technical reasons. Doom's five-man "Weasel Gang" (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). Due to this there were originally seven weasels, but eventually two were deleted (Slimey and Flasher). 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. Judge Doom was originally the hunter that killed Bambi's Mother, but Disney objected to the idea. Benny the Cab was first conceived to be a Volkswagen Beetle before being changed to a Taxicab. There was a whole sequence where Marvin Acme had a funeral (which Eddie witnessed) in which Foghorn Leghorn, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Heckle and Jeckle, Chip n' Dale, Mighty Mouse, Superman, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Clarabelle Cow and The Seven Dwarfs would have made cameo appearances. However the scene was cut for pacing reasons and never made it past the storyboard stage. 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.

[edit] Filming

Animation director Richard Williams admitted he was "openly disdainful of the Disney bureaucracy" and refused to work in Los Angeles. To accommodate him and his animators, production was moved to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Disney and Spielberg also told Williams that in return for doing Roger Rabbit, they would help distribute his uncompleted film The Thief and the Cobbler. Supervising animators included Dale Baer, James Baxter, David Bowers, Andreas Deja, Chris Jenkins, Phil Nibbelink, Nik Ranieri and Simon Wells. The animation production, headed by associate producer Don Hahn, was split between Richard Williams' London studio and a studio in Los Angeles supervised by Dale Baer. The production budget continued to escalate while the shooting schedule lapsed longer than expected. When the budget was reaching $40 million, Disney president Michael Eisner heavily considered shutting down production, but Jeffrey Katzenberg talked him out of it. Despite the escalating budget, Disney moved forward on production because they were enthusiastic to work with Spielberg.

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 Weasels would portray the animated characters during rehearsals in order to teach the actors where to look when acting with "open air and imaginative cartoon characters". Many of the live-action props held by cartoon characters were shot on set with either robotic arms holding the props or the props were manipulated by strings, similar to a marionette. The voice actors of the animated characters would perform off camera, giving "real time performances". The voice of Roger, Charles Fleischer insisted on wearing a Roger Rabbit costume while on the set, in order to get into character. Filming began on December 5, 1986, and lasted for 7½ months at Elstree Studios, with an additional four weeks in Los Angeles and at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for blue screen effects of Toontown.

[edit] Animation

Post-production lasted for one year. First, the animators and lay-out artists rotographed the live action scene. Rotographing is a process where the animators are given black and white stills of the live action scenes (known as "photo stats"), then their animation papers are placed on top of them, and the artists draw in relationship to the live action images. Due to Zemeckis's dynamic camera moves, the animators had to confront the challenge of ensuring the characters were not "slipping and slipping all over the place" After rough animation was complete, it would run through the normal process of traditional animation until the cels were shot on the Rostrum camera with no background. The footage of the cartoon characters was then sent to ILM, where technicians would animate three lighting layers (Shadows, Grimm lights and Tone Mattes) separately, later optically printed onto the toons. This made them look more three-dimensional and gave the illusion of the characters being affected by the lights on set. Finally the cartoon characters were optically composited onto the live action footage. One of the most difficult effects in the movie was Jessica's dress in the night club scene because it had flashing sequins, an effect created by filtering light through a plastic bag scratched with steel wool.