Boxoffice-July.1997

decorative" than the traditional Disney animated
film, Musker notes. "But at the same
time we're still trying to work in three dimensions,
with the Disney illusion of moving in
deep space."
So that the creative team could absorb authentic
location atmosphere, Musker and
Clements took key department heads on a trip
to Greece and Turkey in summer 1994. Shooting
video footage and still photographs for
reference, they discovered unexpected details
they later incorporated into the film's visual
texture. "All the sites were overrun with goats,"
Musker recalls with amusement "Throughout
the film we sprinkled a more liberal dose of
goats. That helped give it a life, a certain color."
The noted British artist and political cartoonist
Gerald Scarfe, whose distinctive style
relies on bold caricature and finely filigreed
calligraphy, also came on board the
"Hercules" production, aiding with character
designs. Scarfe, whose conceptual drawings
flowed from England to Buifcank for three
years, "was basically our graphic designer,"
Clements says, although Andy Gaskill served
as art director.
On "Aladdin," the filmmakers employed
artist Al Hirschfeld in a similar capacity to
Scarfe's on "Hercules." In both films, animation
buffs also can detect the uncredited
influence of the boldly stylized UFA cartoons
that challenged Disney's hegemony in
the 1950s. "Hercules" makes intermittent
use of CGI techniques as well, for sequences
involving morphing clouds and a thirtyheaded
monster, the Hydra.
ting-edge animation directors.
Not only are
they "well-known around Disney for being
adventurous when it comes to technology,"
says their fellow "Hercules" producer Alice
'-ith animation profits soaring over the
past few years, the competition
T T among Hollywood studios for animation
artists
and directors has become in-
MOM & POP OUTFIT: Hera specializes in ambrosia batches, Zeus in ligtitning bolts.
Dewey, "they are unique because they are
writer/directors, so they have a very careful
sense of what their movie is and have thought
it through from the genesis.
creasingly feverish. Keeping Musker and
Clements on the lot has been a high priority for
Disney. When animation honcho Jeffrey
Katzenberg left as chairman of Walt Disney
Studios in 1994 and became a partner with
Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in
DreamWorks SKG, Musker wrote a memo to
his Disney colleagues declaring, "Well, guys,
I think everybody's salary just went up."
Musker and Clements held talks with
DreamWorks and Warner Bros., but last year
they decided to sign exclusive new agreements
with Disney. 'There were long-term projects
we wanted to do, and there are good people
here," Musker explains. The newly competitive
atmosphere is "good for artists, because
it's not so monolithic. It helped us when we did
'The Little Mermaid" that Spielberg [and Don
Bluth] had done 'An American Tail.'We talked
to Jeff and said, 'We've got to do the storm at
sea better. We've got to top them.'"
The next project for Musker and Qements is
another stylistic challenge, an aninwted sci-fi
feature titled 'Treasure Planet" A futuristic version
of 'Treasure Island," populated with robots
and cyborgs, it is being planned for release in
either the year 2000 or 200 1 . "It has to be at least
one ofthose dates," Qements explaias, "because
those are good graphic numbeni."
Hi
EARLYWORK: Musker and Clements '
The unusual blend of influences on Musker
and Clements, and their willingness to experiment
with diverse styles of animation, helps
account for their status as Disney's most cut-
T/ie Little Mermaid" swims back into ttieatres this Thanksgiving.
"Because this is their fourth picture,"
Dewey continues, "they have a tremendous
amount ofexperience, not only with animation
but with each other."
"Hercules. " Vaces by Tate Donovan, Janes
Wix)ds, Rip Tom and Danny DeVito. Dimctedhy
Jdim Musker cmd Ron CUimtUs. Written by Ron
ClemeiUs & Mm Musker, Bol) Slum' & Don
McEnery and Irene MecchL Pnxlmed by Alice
Deyvey, John MuskeratuiRon ClenwiUs. A Buena
Vfaw release. Anitiuited Oikhs wide June 27.