When a cartoon rabbit goes on the lam for a murder he didn’t commit, he looks to a top-notch detective with a long-standing hatred for toons to help clear his name. It leads to a much bigger and insidious plot that could spell the end of Toon Town and cartoons as we know it.
When Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released in 1988, it had achieved the unthinkable - pairing up so many cartoons from so many different companies all at the same time and mixing them up with live-action actors. The fact that it didn’t win Best Picture on that concept alone is a crime Eddie Valiant should investigate. Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
10 Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
The movie surprisingly is actually not an original idea (not much in Hollywood is), but an adaptation of Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 novel, “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” The novel couldn’t include all of these fantastic cartoon characters due to rights issues, but the story is nearly the same.
Instead, Wolf uses characters from several famous comic strips like Hagar The Horrible and Dick Tracy. It also changes what was a fairly dark ending.
9 Tim Curry As Judge Doom
Christopher Lloyd erased all of the inherent silliness of Doc Brown to tackle the maniacal Judge Doom - the guy doesn’t even blink. But he wasn’t the original idea for the menacing Judge. Tim Curry was tapped, but much like other villainous roles he was offered to try and tackle, he was deemed just too terrifying.
Doom, in general, was supposed to be even more menacing, with several more weasels and an animated vulture perched on his shoulder. But the animators were pressed for time and passed on the other characters.
8 Mickey And Bugs Together
Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny aren’t just the two most famous cartoons in the movie, they’re two of the biggest pop icons of the 20th century! The egos of both Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios wouldn’t allow any of their characters to have more screen time than the other. Besides making for a memorable piano sequence with Donald and Daffy, it’s also the reason no character from either company appears without the other.
The animators also pulled a rib during Mickey and Bugs’ parachute scene - if you pause the scene just right, it looks like Bugs is flipping the bird to Mickey.
7 Dip Really Does “Kill” Cartoons
Early on in the film, Judge Doom introduces a way to kill cartoons, which was once thought to be impossible. Dip, as he called it was a combination of pain thinners, Turpentine, Acetone, and Benzine.
Both in the movie and in real life, it is actually the best way to “kill” a toon. Any or all of these paint thinners can be used to erase drawings from animation cels.
6 Bill Murray As Eddie Valiant
With all due respect to Bob Hoskins, perhaps the one casting decision that might have made the film even better, if it was possible, would have been to cast Bill Murray as Detective Valiant. But thanks to the completely ridiculous ways that Murray does business (even back in 1988), he never got the phone call in time to show up.
It’s a role that the incomparable comic actor regrets not taking - he was devastated and would’ve taken the role in a heartbeat.
5 How Many Pre-Existing Characters Show Up?
Thanks to producer Steven Spielberg working the negotiations between Warner and Disney, the animators worked double and triple time to bring over 100 pre-existing characters together onscreen for the first time, not to mention original characters, like Jessica, Roger, and The Weasels.
The cartoon budget alone for this film helped bumped it up to one of the most expensive films ever made.
4 Bob Hoskins Inspired By His Daughter, Annoyed His Son
Bob Hoskins had a lot on his plate in this movie, acting against mostly characters who weren’t on set and would be animated in later. He was able to pull it off after being inspired by watching his three-year-old daughter play with her imaginary friends.
His son however was not as helpful. He didn't speak to Hoskins for several days because he worked with the famous Bugs Bunny and wouldn’t introduce him.
3 Who Didn’t Make The Cut
Despite forking over all kinds of money for rights fees, director Robert Zemeckis and producer Steven Spielberg weren’t able to bring every cartoon character they wanted to onscreen.
Popeye The Sailor, Tom and Jerry, Chip and Dale, Pepe LePew, and even Superman, along with many others, either didn’t make the cut or the two mega directors couldn’t obtain the rights for them.
2 No CGI
Today, the feat of making Who Framed Roger Rabbit would not be nearly as daunting as it was back when it was made. Just load the film into the computer and let the CGI artists animate all of the characters.
But in 1988, there was not an ounce of computer animation used. Dozens of animators worked tirelessly to hand draw all of the animated action in the movie.
1 Hoskins Had To Take A Year Off
After the filming of the movie, Bob Hoskins had to take a year off from acting to recuperate.
The late actor once said, “The voice of the Rabbit was there just behind the camera all the time ... the trouble was, I had to learn how to hallucinate. If you do that for eight months it becomes hard to get rid of. I had went [sic] to one event where I was talking to a lady with a big hat and there was this weasel in her hat.”
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