How Aladdin Changed Animation (by Screwing Over Robin Williams)

When did animated movies start selling for their profitable celebrity talent? Because it wasn't always like this. For most of the animated feature film's life, it was more analogous to how anime dubs are done in America today: professional, non-celebrity voice actors and character actors provided the voices, and the animated films were sold in almost all facets, except his celebrity. voice talent. And then came... And the celebrity-driven post-Shrek world of animated movies, well, it's not ALL there is, but in terms of volume, it's most of it. But you know where this is going: Shrek might have coded the thing, but he didn't start it; that dubious honor goes to Aladdin.

But here's the thing: the big celebrity behind whose back Aladdin was marketed didn't want this to happen. This current hell of James Corden playing Peter Rabbit and Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji is a hellish version of what happened with William's experience with Disney. Williams didn't want to be the celebrity that Aladdin was marketed on. The use of his name to market the film and its related products created a massive rift between him and the Walt Disney Company that lasted for YEARS, all because Disney simply couldn't resist ignoring this man's request NOT to be used as a marketing tool for Aladdin.

This. It's the story. Before the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s and the prestige value that came with being in one of its films, animated films were rarely the playground of A-list actors and rather the territory of characters and voice actors. relatively unknown with the occasional second-rate character and C-lister included. For example, Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings had... John Hurt. The Rescuers caught Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor. The Fox and the Hound had… Kurt Russell? The same year as Okay. The point is that voice casting for animated films was less of a star-studded affair and more of a "people you might see on Nick at Night" kind of deal.

Next comes 1986's The Great Mouse Detective, which was the first animated film for which Eisner and Katzenberg oversaw most of the production and distribution. And while Mouse Detective had Vincent Price as the world's most bitter ex-boyfriend, it wasn't what one would call a star vehicle. However, it made enough profits to convince new studio bosses that there was still money to be made from Disney's

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division. Enter Oliver and Company, whose cast not only had much more considerable star power, including its marketing also relied heavily on pushing said cast as a feature of the film. Oliver and Company's $31 million budget was twice that of Mouse Detective (presumably due to the voice cast), but it also earned twice what Great Mouse Detective earned.

The big takeaway for Eisner and Katzenberg is that star power draws attention, especially from the adults attending the movement. Howard Ashman, one of Oliver's lyricists and a rising star in the theater world with Little Shop of Horrors, is hired to work on the next two Disney films, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. And while they are (obviously) critical and financial successes for Disney, much of their charm comes from being much more traditional “book” musicals that feature proper stage actors. The biggest star of The Little Mermaid is... I guess Buddy Hackett? And the great Broadway characters from Beauty and the Beast are Angela Lansbury and… Jerry Orbach.

I can't believe they got Mrs. Lovett and Baby's dad from Dirty Dancing. But then Aladdin arrived. Robin Williams became famous thanks to his stand-up comedy career, especially as an improvisational comedian. And his leading role in the television series Mork and Mindy, but at first it was difficult for him to translate that success to film. His first major starring role, Robert Altman's 1980 flop Popeye, which was partially produced by the Walt Disney Company, was... yes, it was a disaster. Which led to a decline in Williams' film career that lasted until the early '80s. But right around the time of Eisner's rise at Disney, two opportunities arose for Robin Williams, produced under the Disney umbrella.

His most beloved and passionate projects, Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society, both of which earned him Oscar nominations. And then came Hook, a couple of years later, which finally cemented Robin Williams as a bankable, A-list star. But none of these are as relevant to the story of Aladdin as a charming little controversy called... While on paper it seems like this should be the cheap imitation that was capitalizing on Williams' popularity as the Genie, Ferngully was actually a workforce. of love that had been developing for years before Aladdin. But it only really took off after Robin Williams was cast as a character who references pop culture, is bigoted against humans, and raps with a bat with PTSD: Batty Koda.

And, believe it or not, Williams signed Ferngully before he was even cast. He approached Aladdin. Ferngully screenwriter Jim Cox (who coincidentally had worked on the first two film versions of Beauty and the Beast) had seen Williams perform at open mics in Los Angeles comedy clubs between her two Oscar nominations, and wrote Batty's role specifically around Williams. frenetic energy. Williams agreed to do it, according to Young, because he “felt strongly about the viable ecological message.” So, as Ferngully goes into production, by pure chance, we have an almost identical situation at Disney with the Aladdin movie. Williams' involvement didn't stem from the studio cynically wanting an A-list celebrity to appeal to adult audiences: Williams had a very cartoonish personality and was inspiring more than one

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studio at the same time.

Not only was the role written for him, but they had pitched Aladdin as a Robin Williams vehicle before they even approached the actor. Musker said: “'Yes, we wrote this part with Robin in mind. We didn't know if he would do it... We were totally walking the plank. “If he said no, we were going to have a big problem because the whole concept of Aladdin was built around Robin.” Williams was hesitant, but was convinced to sign up when Musker and Clements asked supervising animator Eric Goldberg to create a Genie sample reel set to one of Williams' old stand-up routines.

Williams reportedly “laughed out loud” and then immediately signed up. According to Goldberg: And so, an agreement was reached between Disney and Williams, who agreed to voice the Genie on the SAG pay scale (around $70,000) with the following caveat: He specifically requested that Disney use his name for 25%. or less of the film's promotional and marketing material. Part of the reason behind this was because Williams was worried that this would cannibalize the audience for his next movie and passion project, Toys, which will be released a few months after Aladdin. Which, um... you could say that's what happened. But what was most important to Williams was a certain ethical inclination: he did not want his voice to be used to sell merchandise.

Williams said, "I love animation and Disney is the Rolls-Royce of animation. But I told them, 'Don't use my voice to sell merchandise,' and they agreed." When Disney went ahead and used his voice in its marketing, Williams said, it felt "like a violation of trust." Williams said: Don't commercialize my character. To Disney. Initially, Disney honored their agreement, albeit indirectly. Here is the initial teaser poster. And there's no mention of Williams or the Genie in sight, just this fancy backlit lamp. But Disney quickly came up with a *cough* clever interpretation of this 25% marketing warning that really pushed its boundaries while still being technically...uh...within reason.

But that was nothing like a deal compared to... We can only guess why Disney reneged on its promise to Williams, but suffice to say it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he didn't back down from his involvement. Ferngully. Studio president Jeffrey Katzenberg, a small-time jerk, legitimately thought Williams would leave Ferngully to be in the bigger, more prestigious Aladdin. So Katzenberg, asshole, actively sabotaged Ferngully. Ferngully writer Diana Young said: “We rented premises twice and were cheated into paying more. When we found space in the brewery, Disney tried to buy it. One day, Katzenberg and eight others entered to inspect the facility;

We are quick to cover it all up! But it was also about Robin.” According to Ferngully screenwriter Jim Cox: “Robin was furious and said, 'It's my voice! You can't stop me.'” It didn't help that Williams' own response to Katzenberg's anger was like *bleep* you, Ferngully hired me first, I'm rapping the wacky rap Then Disney says, well, *bleep* Come right back, we're going to break our promise. And so began the now infamous feud between Williams and the Walt Disney Company, in which Williams was more than happy to start publicly shitting on Disney while they continued using the Genie to make money.

Additionally, he chafed at the moral implications of using his work: "The only thing I said was that I would do the voice. I do it basically because I want to be part of this animation tradition. I want something to do." One deal is that I don't want to sell anything, not in Burger King, not in toys, not in things." Not only did they use my voice, but they took a character I did and overdubbed it to sell things. That was the only thing I said: 'I don't do that.' That was the only thing they crossed the line on." A Disney spokesperson responded that they had played a completely fair game with Williams and had supposedly presented every piece of marketing material to him and his then-wife, Martha Marsha.

Said the spokesperson: "We didn't use his voice in any way that he didn't agree to contractually. He took the deal, then made the movie, and then when the movie turned out to be a big hit, he didn't like it." The deal he had made." The bridge had been burned, that even when the Golden Globes gave Williams a special award for playing the Genie, he gave a 3-minute acceptance speech in which he mostly joked and didn't mention the company Disney not once. Although he threw shade at the petty idiot, Eisner tried to mend bridges with Williams by sending him a Picasso painting, but Williams, claiming he had some energy, remained unmoved.

So, of course, the real dramatic irony here. isn't Williams' involvement. Aladdin started the trend of celebrity voice acting as a marketing strategy, which was totally true, but the consequences were the last thing the man would have wanted. However, for better or worse, Lessons were learned from the success of Aladdin. We saw it starting to some extent with The Lion King, and then more with Pocahontas (Mel Gibson was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time), but then starting. with those who were seriously in production after Aladdin. was released, EVERY Disney movie had a Genie knockoff with some extremely bankable comedic talent.

But of course the most blatant and egregious example comes from But these examples are only from Disney's side. Let's not forget all the other haters and losers in the non-Disney animation world who were quick to adopt the same formula. . Don Bluth didn't have much success in the '90s until Anastasia. Which is not only a bald, blatant rip-off of Disney's story formula, but also how much it's packed with their erroneous and MARKETED A and B lists. HE. SHIT. OUTSIDE THE. Meg Ryan is horribly miscast as a plucky 18-year-old amnesiac, Hank Azaria is our genius, I guess.

And Christopher Lloyd Yeah, that's going to suck on my part, man. But the heyday of this trend of capturing adult interest in children's entertainment through celebrity voiceover artists comes to us with... Jeffrey Katzenberg, Petty Asshole finds his greatest post-Disney successes criticizing Disney's ideas and being, well, a tremendously petty asshole, with his first blatant copy of a Disney project: ANTZ! Featuring nightmare versions of Woody Allen's Uncanny Valley! Sharon Stone! Sylvester Stalone! Wow, those are some popular tickets in 1998, but mom and dad sure know who they are! Not only was Katzenberg rumored to have decided to take inspiration from Pixar's then-titled Bugs project, but he also bullied the PDI animation team into doing everything they could to make sure he hit theaters before A Bug's Life.

Right after we have the Prince of Egypt, aka asking all the famous people in Hollywood for a favor. Wow, Val Kilmer loves playing Moses. And then... Yes, I understand that you love Shrek, but it's an extremely petty and stupid movie, from its cheap and superficial investigations into Disney to its villain who is not completelyinspired by Michael Eisner, right down to its cheeky pop culture references to a celebrity. - Driven marketing campaign that makes Aladdin look downright SUBTLE And joining Dreamworks were the knockoffs that haunt us to this day! Wow. Of course, there's the lighting animation. And even further down the totem pole, Sony Pictures Animation, with even cheaper and shittier movies.

Most of the time, yes, they have a single exception. Like incredibly cheap. Probably more than half of the budget goes to the voice actors. What the hell is what? How did that get to Oprah? By the time Lilo and Stitch arrived, there seemed to be a return to the way Disney cast based on roles, rather than writing roles for a celebrity. And since Disney's animation studio got back on track, say starting with Tangled, the company has more or less returned to the spirit with which it originally started. Both the Disney animation studio and PIxar produce about one film a year, and while they don't, we necessarily want to for lack of known talent, casting is less a gimmick to get butts in seats and more a creative choice that takes advantage of opportunities. strengths of the character and the actor playing the role.

Whether they are super famous or not. But hey, Disney now fully owns Blue Sky Animation after the 20th Century Fox merger, so they now own shit like Epic with their slug Aziz Ansari. Hey, if you can't beat them, buy them! But hey, I think we're forgetting the most important question. What about Jafar's return? Was the big dispute the reason Williams didn't appear in the beloved direct-to-video classic, The Return of Jaf? Yes, he was. Quite. Williams declined to reprise the role of the genie in the not-good, rather bad direct-to-video sequel, itself the spark of another long, sad trend that would last more than a decade, and we won't get into that now.

Not because he thought a sequel was necessarily beneath him, but because he was still furious about the way Disney handled Aladdin. So Disney went ahead and did it and replaced Robin Williams with Homer Simpson. That was probably also why they didn't bother giving that movie a budget. Or make it look like it's not an ass. But in the end, the dispute was not settled with money or Picassos, but with sincerity, or at least, the public manifestation of sincerity. And in firing jerk Joe Roth, Katzenberg's successor as studio boss, he sincerely apologized for the debacle, saying: "Robin complained that we took advantage of his performance as the Genie in the movie.

We had a specific agreement with Robin that we would do it." We don't do that. (However) we did it. We apologize for that." "I have known Robin for years and I know that none of these issues have to do with money. It's just about principles." And once peace was restored, Williams went on to voice the Genie in other projects, including the slightly less screwed-up third installment. And boy, did Disney want you to know he was back? I mean, Of course they did. Williams was decidedly not paid scale this time, earning a cool million dollars for reprising his role.

After that, Williams reprized the role of the Genie several times, but only in educational content in addition to starring. other Disney-produced films like... Jack... and Bicentennial Man. Well, it was through a Disney subsidiary that he finally got his Oscar for Good Will Hunting, through Disney-owned Miramax, which was owned by Bob and Harvey Wei. Oh, damn. You could argue that Disney's attempts to replicate the success of Genie, while they might have been lucrative for the company, were hollow imitations that overlooked what worked on paper: that was molded for Robin, that the role and the actor molded each other, that a magical entity was the perfect animated vehicle for his frenetic, pop-culture-laden stand-up style.

So Danny DeVito as a satyr who says he has a fur wedgie or Jason Alexander losing to a bird... It just doesn't fit the same way. Having Jason Alexander do a bad 14th century ad-lib about how he wants to *bleep* at a goat is such a sloppy attempt to recapture the magic of the genie, because it glosses over what made the genie work in the first place. Musker and Clements wanted Williams not because he was famous, but because his personality was the inspiration for the role. And on some level, with art, people can tell when inspiration comes from a genuine place of sincerity, rather than a place of corporate cynicism.

And while that's not to say that Disney has never been able to replicate that kind of performance with an A- on the celebrity list since then, there's a reason why Robin Williams' role as the Genie still remains with us after almost 30 years and chances are it won't be affected by a legacy of heartless, cash-grabbing messes. Genie is not loved because Aladdin was successful. It wasn't about money. They weren't pop culture references. It wasn't because our animal brains said "oh hey, it's Mork." It's heart.