The making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and its relation to the history of animation, is discussed in this rarely seen Wonderful World of Disney documentary hosted by Joanna Cassidy.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit won Academy Awards for Sound Editing, Visual Effects and Film Editing. Nominations included Art Direction, Cinematography and Sound. Richard Williams received a Special Achievement Award "for animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters". The film was nominated for four categories at the 42nd British Academy Film Awards and won an award for its visual effects. Roger Rabbit was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), while Hoskins was also nominated for his performance. The film also won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Roger Rabbit won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, as well as Best Direction for Zemeckis and Special Visual Effects. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and Joanna Cassidy were nominated for their performances, while Alan Silvestri and the screenwriters received nominations.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy-comedy-mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg. It was produced and released by Touchstone Pictures, and was co-produced by Amblin Entertainment. It is a live-action/animation hybrid, combining live action with traditional animation.
The film is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? about a world in which cartoon characters interact directly with human beings. It stars Bob Hoskins as a private detective who investigates a murder involving a famous cartoon character named Roger Rabbit, Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit's voice, Christopher Lloyd as the villain, Kathleen Turner as the voice of Roger's cartoon wife, and Joanna Cassidy as the detective's girlfriend. The setting is 1947 Hollywood, the era of Classical Hollywood cinema.
Walt Disney Pictures purchased the film rights to the story in 1981. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote two drafts of the script before Disney brought Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment to help finance the film. Zemeckis was hired to direct the live-action scenes with Richard Williams overseeing animation sequences. For inspiration, Price and Seaman studied the work of Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, especially Tex Avery and Bob Clampett cartoons. Production was moved from Los Angeles to Elstree Studios in England to accommodate Williams and his group of animators. During filming, the production budget began to rapidly expand and the shooting schedule lapsed longer than expected. However, the film was released with financial success and critical acclaim.
It brought a re-emerging interest from the golden age of American animation and became the forefront for the modern era, especially the Disney Renaissance. It also left behind an impact that included a media franchise and the unproduced prequel, Who Discovered Roger Rabbit. The success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit rekindled an interest in the golden Age of American animation, and sparked the modern animation scene.
Supervising animators included Dale Baer, James Baxter, David Bowers, Andreas Deja, Chris Jenkins, Phil Nibbelink, Nik Ranieri and Simon Wells.
