Just want to share my thoughts on
Waking Sleeping Beauty. Will be back later.
<b><i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i>: The Documentary Every Disney Fan Should See</b>
by Escapay
Earlier in the month, there were e-mails sent to D23 members about preview screenings of <i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> in select cities. My brother (Kram Nebuer on UD) is a member and we had planned on going to one of the screenings in Philadelphia. However, we soon learned from our friend Becky that there would be a special FREE screening of the film (paid for by Broadway Cares) at the Directors Guild Theater in NYC on March 16, followed by a Q&A with Don Hahn, Pete Schneider, and Patrick Pacheco. We immediately reserved tickets for that event, and decided that since the screening would be at 7:30, to simply drive up early and make a day trip of our New York adventure.
We would be staying at a friend's house rather than drive into the city, and since Kram knew the way better than I did, he drove that morning. By the time we got to Becca's house, it was noon, and we picked up Jackie then took a twenty-minute bus ride to Port Authority. Our friend Becky wouldn't join us until she finished work, and so we browsed around Times Square for a bit, had lunch at Junior's (where Becky eventually joined us), then took the subway to Central Park, where we hung out by the big rocks, watched a kid learning how to ride his Razor RipStik, and accidentally got Becca excited when Kram said, "Hey look, 'Gossip Girl' people!" He had simply meant some preppy teenagers in their school uniforms, but Becca thought the likes of Ed Westwick and Leighton Meester were actually there. Needless to say, she was disappointed.
After our Central Park time, we checked out the Time Warner building, marveling over the same statue that Giselle did in <i>Enchanted</i> and then spending some time at Borders. By 7:00 we started walking to the Directors Guild Theater. On the way we passed by the Russian Tea Room and I got excited at seeing someone wearing a top hat (worn by the doorman). Silly, I know, but how often does one see a top hat these days? I would have asked for a picture, but we were cutting it close as it was. We got to the theater at 7:15, and while I was waiting for Kram to sign in and get our tickets, I noticed a guy having a pleasant conversation by the doors. He looked vaguely familiar, and I pretended to walk around to try and find a bathroom in order to get a better look.
It was Pete Schneider. I used to confuse him with Tom Schumacher whenever watching any of the Disney DVDs that feature them in interviews, but I was sure it was Pete Schneider this time, since he wore a jacket that had "Peter" written on the right side.
Figuring I'd never get a chance like this again, and wanting to confirm my suspicion, I went up to him.
"Excuse me, are you Pete Schneider?" I asked. He looked over at me. Some twentysomething with a Walt Disney World jacket, Ellie Badge, and fedora.
"Yes, I am," he said.
"Oh. That's good to know," I said. What a stupid reply. But really, I didn't know what else I could say. There was a 0.5 second pause that seemed much longer.
"And you are?" he asked, probably more out of courtesy rather than actual interest.
"I'm [Escapay]."
"Hope you enjoy the show."
"Thanks."
The guy that Pete Schneider was with was Someone Murphy, I feel bad for not remembering his name. He also told me to enjoy the show, and with that, I walked away. I felt excited at meeting the former President of Feature Animation, but also embarrassed that the best I could do was "That's good to know" when I found out it was him. When I told Kram, he laughed, as did our friends Becca, Becky, and Jackie.
As we entered the theatre, we walked towards some seats in the upper level. Most of the other seats in front and center were reserved. Whilst waiting, I noticed none other than Don Hahn was on the main level, talking to Tom Schumacher. Since there was still fifteen minute before the documentary would start, Kram and I kept arguing back and forth over whether or not to go down and say, "Hi". As it turns out, neither of us had the courage to go down, and so we simply stayed in our seats, talking amongst our little group until the documentary started.
Don Hahn and Pete Schneider gave a brief introduction before the documentary started. They pointed out that among those in the audience were Marge Champion (live model for Snow White), Sarah Gillespie (Howard Ashman's sister), and William Lauch (Howard's partner). They then took their seats, the curtain opened, the lights dimmed, and <i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> began.
I will say this now. It is not a backpatting self-congratulatory praise fest. Nor is it a critical analysis of one of the most turbulent, and successful, time periods in Disney history. It is about a company doing whatever it needed to in order to survive in a business. Just like any other business. That it happens to be the Disney Company, and that it happens to focus on the Animation studio...well, that's just the particular story they wanted to tell.
Cynical and jaded Disney fans may think the documentary only glosses over what really happened. After all, it's a Disney-produced documentary about what Disney Animation was in 1984-1994. And they will surely be disappointed when they watch this documentary. Because to them, it won't be salacious enough with lots of disparaging remarks about the company. Honestly, if you were expecting something along the lines of Jerry Springer: Disney style, you don't deserve to be a Disney fan. That's that.
After all, this movie is by the people who lived it. And so yes, sometimes the memory will cheat and sugarcoat things. But for the most part, it is brutally honest and remarkably emotional. Not just about their films, but about each other. Gloves are taken off, feelings are inevitably hurt, and betrayals and dirty laundry do hang in the air to dry. It's not pretty, but it happened. Some fans thrive on reading about this, others prefer to turn a blind eye. After all, the all-great all-powerful Disney couldn't possibly ever have any troubles. Oh, how you wish that were true.
At the same time, there is a heart and soul to the picture. Animators discuss how they were unsure if they'd be working the next day or the next, how the pressures to maintain high quality in the revitalized Feature Animation department meant less time at home with the family, less time being able to start a family. The Feature Animation department became a family, their blood, sweat, and tears went into those films. It's especially heartbreaking in the middle of the film, which, in my opinion, was the strongest part of the entire thing. But I'll get that later.
<i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> is essentially divided into three parts, each getting equal time (roughly 30 minutes each). The first third of the movie is called "The Island of the Lost Boys" and was about how the company was at a low point in the early 80s. And it was, both critically and commercially. That's a hard fact and it doesn't matter what anyone's opinion on "Dark Age" films like <i>The Fox and the Hound</i> is. Most of their movies stunk at the box office and with critics, their theme parks were barely scraping by, and their stock was severely undervalued. The whole company could have been bought and sold bit by bit. Instead, there was radical change brought on. Outsiders who knew moviemaking and business were brought in. Frank Wells and Michael Eisner saved Disney, whether Disney fans want to accept/believe it or not.
Throughout the first third, you see how the animators had to grow close and stay close, how the new breed were adjusting to working for a company that they grew up with. Early on, there is a few moments about how Don Bluth, disillusioned with Disney animation, left and took half the staff, and the ramifications of that on the remaining staff. He is mentioned now and again throughout the rest of the documentary, and a couple times is referred to as betraying the animation department. Understandable, but it would have been more interesting if Bluth had been interviewed for the documentary and able to tell his side of that famous defection.
It was really amazing to watch the first third, as its focus was generally on the 1984 to 1988 period (with early stuff about 1980-1984). Since there's no proper making-of documentaries for the 1970 to 1988 DACs, , it makes the discussion of such films like <i>The Black Cauldron</i> and <i>Oliver & Company</i> in <i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> all the more important. <i>The Black Cauldron</i> was beat at the box office by <i>The Care Bears Movie</i>, <i>The Great Mouse Detective</i> by <i>An American Tail</i>, and <i>Oliver & Company</i> by <i>The Land Before Time</i>. But with each passing film, there was better critical praise and higher box office numbers. <i>Oliver & Company</i> eventually surpassed <i>The Land Before Time</i> and there is a fair amount of discussion on <i>Who Framed Roger Rabbit</i> and how Disney elected to animate it in London with Richard Williams rather than their own department. Pete Schneider even talks about how when he'd take trips from LA to London, he'd gush to one animation team about the other, as a way to make the want to work harder (e.g. in LA he'd gush about Roger Rabbit, in London he'd gush about Oliver). One thing I found funny was that there were remarks (I forget by who) along the lines of "And we knew we wouldn't make movies as bad as <i>The Black Cauldron</i>."
The second third of the movie is "The Boy Who Would Be Peter Pan", focusing on how the moderate success of films like <i>The Great Mouse Detective</i> and <i>Oliver & Company</i> led to more ambitious films like <i>Who Framed Roger Rabbit</i> and <i>The Little Mermaid</i>, and the introduction of Howard Ashman to the Disney fold. The studio was looking to making bigger and bolder projects (WFRR and TLM were successful, <i>The Rescuers Down Under</i> was not). <i>Who Framed Roger Rabbit</i> put animated Disney back on the map, <i>The Little Mermaid</i> brought prestige back to Disney animation, and CAPS-animated <i>The Rescuers Down Under</i> opened at the box office against <i>Home Alone</i> (which wasn't mentioned by name in the documentary, only that TRDU had a bad box office, Schneider told the audience during the Q&A). It didn't stand a chance, and there's a great moment when Mike Gabriel talks about how Pete Schneider called him to tell him the bad news. Because of the bad box-office returns, they'd be pulling all their advertising for <i>The Rescuers Down Under</i>, and initially he (Gabriel) thought it meant that his film was the one that would shut down the then-new CAPS system. "But," Schneider says, "we'll keep going." That even though they had the setback from <i>The Rescuers Down Under</i>, they would continue making films in CAPS, and experimenting in making better ways to animate beyond ink/paint.
As I said earlier, I loved the middle of the film the most. It was truly the most emotional. It's focused more on Howard Ashman and his contributions to the animated films than on the animated films themselves, and as a result, we get some rare Ashman interviews that aren't on the DVDs. One of the best things you'll see in this documentary, and one of the most unexpected things that Hahn & Schneider uncovered in making the documentary, is footage of Howard Ashman coaching Jodi Benson in the shoebox as she records "Part Of Your World". This stuff isn't even on the TLM DVD, they only just discovered it and knew they had to put it in the documentary. It's old and very worn-out, but to see that kind of thing...just amazing. I'm not even a big fan of <i>The Little Mermaid</i> but I was blown away by watching that rare bit of film.
Towards the end of the middle third, it gets into how Ashman was sick and how he eventually passed away before ever seeing <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>. Don Hahn narrates throughout the whole documentary, and you can even hear in this narration how hard it was for him to talk about it. It gets really emotional when he talks about their last meeting with Howard, in a hospital room, then it cuts to a slow zoom-out of a hospital hallway, and Hahn says that Howard died. I nearly cried.
"The Men Who Would Be Kings" is as tumultuous as "The Island of the Lost Boys". Instead of a struggling group of animators who don't know how long they have their jobs, we come to the power struggles between the big three: Michael Eisner, Roy E. Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> came and brought phenomenal critical and audience praise, attention from Hollywood, and bigger expectations. With bigger expectations came bigger experiments, bigger paychecks, and bigger egos. All of it comes with a price. The success really led to the gradual crumbling of this powerhouse at Disney. Michael Eisner, Roy E. Disney, and Jeffrey Katzenberg all were vying for what ultimately was an unfillable job: the next Walt. As a result, they pushed and pushed each other and the studio for so much that while The Lion King became their biggest film in 1994 (and at the time, likely of all time), there was such tense and bitter drama within the company that the blissfully ignorant audience was unaware of it.
I really won't say much else about "The Men Who Would Be Kings". Anyone who's read <u>Disney War</u> or already knows the general story won't learn very many new things, though it is still quite interesting to hear all three sides of the story for once. No one is villified, no one is painted to be the scapegoat, no one is made to be the victim. All three acknowledge that there were things they would have done differently, that they didn't like, that they shouldn't have done. It's quite interesting to see, especially when you see things like the news clips. A good half of the final third focuses on 1994, especially how everything pretty much went to hell after Frank Wells' death.
The film ends, but not with a resolution to this ten year period of 1984 to 1994. It acknowledges this, by stating in the beginning (it actually begins in 1994 with the cast/crew premiere of <i>The Lion King</i>). It really shows how the company rebuilt itself from near-ruin to become a prestigious powerhouse. And then, the powerhouse continues, but the people behind it have changed. Whether it was for the better or worse, well, that's another story, and one I certainly wouldn't mind seeing in another documentary covering 1995 to 2005.
<i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> is an affectionate, bittersweet, and very subdued documentary. It's about the emotion in those who worked for Disney, it's not about "Yay, we did this, we're so proud of ourselves." If that's what you're looking for, you're watching the wrong documentary.
There's so much that I'm unintentionally leaving out in my discussion of this documentary, because I don't want to spoil too much (even though I've spoiled enough, especially the Ashman/Benson footage). But really, there are some key things to look out for when watching this documentary:
Randy Cartwright's tour of the animation department circa 1980 is something not to be missed. It provides the bulk of content for the first third, and there's a lot of treasures you'll see there. I loved the <i>Apocalypse Now</i> re-enactment.
One of Roy's interviews was done over the phone, and so you'll hear Patrick Pacheco typing away on his keyboard in the background. Roy died before a proper interview could be done about what he was discussing, and so they had to use the phone interview.
There are various caricatures that were drawn by animators both during the time period, and afterewards, and it's amazing to look at. Especially when there's the montage of Pete Schneider caricatures when the animators all talk about how they didn't like how he was brought in as the President of Feature Animation because they thought he was just a Hollywood executive coming in, an outsider.
The infamous list of retitled Disney Animated Classics (after "Basil of Baker Street" turned into "The Great Mouse Detective") is mentioned, along with footage from an episode of "Jeopardy" that used them for a category. Each title got a lot of laughs from the audience.
The aforementioned footage of Howard Ashman and Jodi Benson in the Shoebox is worth the ticket price alone. There is also footage of Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach before they start recording "Be Our Guest", and there was even pencil animation from <i>The Black Cauldron</i>. This stuff isn't on any of the DVDs for their respective movies, and is all the more valuable.
Don Hahn videotaped some footage during a trip to France when he, Richard Williams, and George Purdum were working on the non-musical version of <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, and we also see some of the presentation reel for that version. And he is wearing pants. (You'll get it when you see it)
One of my favorite moments is from the middle third, when Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise talk about a story meeting with Howard. Howard was insistent that the prologue be an actual sequence of Beast being a very beastly little boy. But Wise & Trousdale simply could not envision it working, and they always compared Little Boy Beast to Eddie Munster. When Wise tried to explain this to Howard, believing that Howard would simply say, "Okay, I disagree", instead, Howard got really mad. The caricature depicting this is hilarious, and I won't describe it so that people can see for themselves when they watch it.
Well, I think that's all I can say about the actual documentary. The Q&A afterwards was really interesting. Among other things discussed, there is over 250 hours of interview material recorded (in audio form), and so there are possibilities of a sequel. Pete Schneider or Patric Pacheco talked about how one of the best interview bits that was not included was with Jeffrey Katzenberg about Howard Ashman. They wanted to include it, but couldn't find a proper place. He was asked "What did Howard teach you about animation?" and Jeffrey pauses, then simply says "Everything."
Don Hahn talked about how the documentary, even though it's about animation and Disney, is more about the emotional journey they all went through. He then continued on about how it played before different audiences and that the audiences couuld respond to it with things they can identify with. It was a big hit at the University of Chicago, and not just by animation students, but by business students and other students as well.
One of my favorite questions brought up, though, was when an audience member asked why the interviews were only done in audio, and Hahn explained that they decided to do that for two reasons. The first was that when someone has to get dressed up, lighted, and made up in front of a camera, their demeanor and their answers will be different from someone who just sits and talks. And they wanted to get open and honest answers, and so all the interviews were done only in audio, so that the participants can feel free to talk and not worry about things like how they look, what people will think their faces are when they mention something (like, if Katzenberg smirks while talking about something, or if Eisner has a dour face when talking about someone). The second reason they only did audio was so that the audience would be more focused on the footage on the screen. Everything was either home movies recorded from 1984-1994, news interviews or studio interviews from 1984-1994, or just random clips they've acquired, or from some other interview (e.g. I noticed a bit of the 2002 Wise/Trousdale interview that was in the <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> Platinum Edition). In fact, there is some great footage from Diane Sawyer's interview of Michael Eisner on "60 Minutes" from the late 80s.
After the Q&A, the event was pretty much done and people were either leaving the theater or hanging around to talk to other people. We went down to see if we could get Don Hahn to autograph some things we brought, and on the way, we saw John Canemaker (animation historian) talking with Marge Champion. Canemaker left before we could take a picture with him, but we did get to talk and take a picture with Marge Champion. As she was signing a book I brought with me, I told her I loved her in <i>Show Boat</i>. She looked up at me and said, "That was over 60 years ago" and I said, "And you were a wonderful dancer in it". She then sassily replied, "I still am!" and I just laughed and agreed with her. We took a picture with her, and then waited for Don Hahn to finish talking to some people.
He was very friendly and answered our questions about the documentary as well as our general "Oh em gee, you're really you, thanks for making the films that defined our childhood!" kinds of fawnings. I got him to sign my book <u>Screenplay by Disney</u>, and Kram had him sign his DVD insert for <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>. We were talking about the upcoming <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> 3-D version, which he confirmed is definite for 2011 (but that's old news). I asked him if he could tell us about some of the features for the Blu-Ray and DVD, and he said that he just received them (to look over for approval). Among some of the special features will be a new 45-minute documentary (featuring Sarah Gillespie, Howard Ashman's sister, so I'm not sure if it's about the film or about Howard Ashman, but either way it sounds like it'll be good). There will also be more material from the non-musical Purdum version, including some of the stuff seen in <i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i>. I didn't ask about the changed IMAX colors or which aspect ratio will be used, simply because they're fan arguments that I've grown sick of and I didn't want to have to mention them at all.
He then said that <i>Waking Sleeping Beauty</i> will be available on DVD in August or September, and that they had just started working on the bonus features (including some segments that were not included in the documentary, such as more about <i>Aladdin</i> and its story problems).
There was so much more we wanted to ask him, but we had to catch a subway, so after we thanked him for the documentary, then took a brief picture with Pete Schneider, we left. Passed by the Russian Tea Room, and the guy with the top hat was still there! He gave us directions to the subway, and again, no picture. I want that hat.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable day trip to NYC and I'm glad that I got to watch the documentary. It was very eye-opening and emotional, one of the best documentaries I've seen about/by Disney. Currently, it's playing in several cities, if you can see it, great! If not, the DVD is only a few months away!
http://www.wakingsleepingbeautymovie.com/
The Great Don Hahn and me. I'm holding up my book which he signed "To Albert, From Yer Pal Don Hahn". Cropped to remove Kram and Becky, since I'm not sure if they want their picture posted.
The Still Wonderful Marge Champion and me. Photoshopped to remove Kram and Becky (she was between Marge and me), since I'm not sure if they want their picture posted.
Random strangers and Russian Tea Room door man I found via Google Image.
And I suppose they hated Jungle Book as well? 
I've been really curious about this one and I like what I'm hearing so far. Looks like it won't come to my neck of the woods but at least I'll have the DVD to look forward to.