A Prince of a Preview

09.13.09 - Disney has done it again! With its triumphant return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog is sure to become Disney's next classic film. And judging by the reaction to the sneak preview panel on day three of the D23 Expo, fans will definitely be lining up at theaters around the country to catch this film on opening day this November.

Disney animator Eric Goldberg shows a packed Walt Disney Studios Theater crowd how he animated the character of Louis.

On board for the jam-packed presentation were all-star artists and animators Mike Gabriel, Ian Gooding, Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg, Bruce Smith and Michael Surrey, as well as co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker, story supervisor Don Hall, writer Rob Edwards and storyboard artist Josie Trinidad. After starting off the event by showing a musical number from the movie, "Friends on the Other Side," the crew spent the next hour and a half, spilling their movie-making secrets telling the story of how the simple tale of a princess and a frog came to fruition.

Once Ron and John (with the suggestion from John Lasseter) decided to set the film in New Orleans, which just happens to be Walt Disney's favorite city, they took a few trips to Louisiana to do some hands on research where they experienced Jazz Fest, the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, many Southern restaurants and of course the iconic Bayou. "Our Cajun tour guide on the Bayou, Reggie, actually became the basis for our firefly [in the film] and he took us to see some real gators!" recalled John. "But the best part of our third trip was when we met with a woman named Leah Chase who was our inspiration for Tiana, really. She is an 86-year-old entrepreneur who started out as a waitress and eventually came to own her own restaurant with her husband that is now a New Orleans landmark, the Dooky Chase Restaurant." Leah shared with them her philosophy of how food can bring people together, which in turn became a big storyline in the script.

The talented panel then took the audience through their process of storyboarding the movie from the first character renderings and plot lines to fully animated images with personalities and emotions. As a special treat, four of the animators each gave a live drawing demonstration of the characters they created and explained how they brought their ideas to life. Randy, who drew Prince Naveen as both a man and a frog joked, "They wanted him to be handsome and here we are, a bunch of guys trying to figure out what a handsome guy looks like. So I took some of my favorite drawings home to my teenage daughter and asked, 'Which one of these guys would you go out with?'" After settling on one, he added, "So I figured I'd give him nice, heavy Jonas Brothers eyebrows and everybody would like that!"

As Bruce drew Dr. Facilier, he revealed his inspiration for the evil character. "I didn't pull from the Jonas Brothers, I simply watched a lot of Soul Train!" he laughed. "I thought about some of my favorite villains and asked myself, 'What would happen if Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil actually got together?' I imagined if they hooked up, they would sort of create a Dr. Facilier. So I used that as sort of a jumping off point and added elements of actors like Jim Carrey and added the types of moves Usher and Michael Jackson would have as they moved across the screen."

Mike and Andreas also took their turns at the drawing board, entertaining the audience with their natural humor which found its way into their characters of Ray and Mama Odie. Next on the schedule was giving the D23 fans a rare look at the animation evolution of a scene from black and white to full-blown color, followed by the journey of how the backgrounds in every scene came to life and how some of the costumes were created — many, many incarnations after the original sketches! Now, no one wanted to give away the ending of the movie, but there was A LOT of talk about the costumes designed for a wedding…that may or may not be in there, of course.

(L-R) Storyboard artist Josie Trinidad, story supervisor Don Hall, writer Rob Edwards and co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements preview The Princess and the Frog.

And here's a few interesting trivia facts for all those movie buffs out there — first, three of the dress designs for the character of Charlotte were actually designs done as dresses for Cinderella but never made it into that movie! Next — look for MANY hidden frogs in the background designs of several scenes. They somehow make their way into patterns on chairs, in wallpaper prints and even into iron carvings! As the presentation wrapped up, Mike expressed his gratitude to the fans. "We are so glad you came. We are in a medium that wasn't around just about a year and a half ago, so we are so thrilled you've shown us that you still care about hand-drawn animation! We are so glad that we get a chance to do this work still and we're thrilled."

To show their gratitude, the crew decided to unveil for this special audience another musical number from the film, "Dig a Little Deeper," that has never been shown to anyone outside their studio. And even in its nearly completed, yet still a bit raw form, it was spectacular! Listening to this panel was a unique experience that will stay with the fans in the crowd for many years to come.