I was happily surprised to learn that director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Beowulf) has been thinking about bringing Roger Rabbit back to the big screen. Holy cow, that would be fantastic! I’ve been waiting 21 years for a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
At a recent red carpet event, which seems to happen everyday in Hollywood, MTV Movies editor Josh Horowitz asked Zemeckis, who has been focusing on 3D performance-capture movies of late (including the upcoming A Christmas Carol), about using the technology to revisit older movies. He was alluding to possibly a fourth Back to the Future movie. Zemeckis’ answer surprised Horowitz:
“I’ll tell you what is buzzing around in my head now that we have the ability—the digital tools, performance capture—I’m starting to think about Roger Rabbit”
Very unexpected answer, but not unwelcome! I remember seeing Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in theaters in 1988. I was 12 and a big fan of classic Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons, and the mix of live action and animation was fantastic.
The movie was funny, original, and who didn’t love seeing all our favorite Disney and WB characters together? Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Donald Duck, Mel Blanc providing voices, Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant, mega-producer Joel Silver as Raoul J. Raoul, Jessica Rabbit, and so much more. Some moments went really dark, like when Christopher Lloyd (as Judge Doom) put the animated shoe into The Dip, which is toxic to toons. Chilling!
Anyway, though Zemeckis is staying quiet at the moment, I am of the opinion that maybe they should stick with the traditional 2D animation and live-action mix, unless Zemeckis can truly make the performance capture and CGI animation look realistic. As Ain’t It Cool News put it, the mix of animation and live action was a major part of the plot and world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: toons are real. Then again, a 3D version sounds awesome.
Will they use a new script, or will they go with the unused prequel script, Who Discovered Roger Rabbit? Are they planning on making the film a sequel, prequel, or a reboot (which are getting as commonplace as remakes)? Will Charles Fleischer return as Roger? What about Bob Hoskins and Jessica Rabbit? We’ll keep you up-to-date as more news is forthcoming. I suspect we’ll hear more when A Christmas Carol opens on November 2009.
Here’s the full video of MTV’s interview with Robert Zemeckis:
Source: MTV News via Ain’t It Cool News
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5 Comments
I just wonder will they make Jessica Rabbit look more like Kim Kardashian or something.
I hope it is animation mixed with real life actors like they did in the original. Its alot more captivating and cool that way and it’ll give it that great feel that the original had. I’d definentlty go watch and I’m only 18! But I did watch the movie on VHS when I was younger and fell in love with it, so I think it will be a hit.
I don’t understand why anyone would want to use motion-capture for a cartoon character. The whole point of toons is that they move in ways that is NOT realistic, that they are decidedly more animated than their human counterparts. As Enchanted taught us, good quality 2D animation isn’t dead.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was well ahead of its time when it was released, using no computers the filmmakers and animators were able to convincingly put cartoons into the real world, made them interact with the environment, even when the camera was moving around. This is all stuff they could do today, very easily and frankly, they don’t need to do anything new. So what’s with the talk about performance capture?
And for the record, Who Framed Roger Rabbit does not need a sequel.
Oh, and as for Charles Fleischer returning as Roger, he did a lot of work on the DVD that came out a few years back so he’s still able to do the voice (and clearly needs work).
I’d like to see them introduce 3D cartoon characters living amongst the 2D characters.
Like, 3D cartoons are really popular and they’re taking over Toon town, so all the old characters like Roger Rabbit are out of work. They all ban together to prove there’s still some fight left in them.
The first film took place in the late forties, buts that not really a problem since cartoons don’t age. The human characters, like Hoskins, wouldn’t be able to come back, though.
I’ll watch it if they include most mainstream cartoon characters again, in bit roles. That was classy.
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