"Back to Neverland" by Bob Rogers and Company.
More of the discussion with Mark Kirkland ...
TAG Interview with Mark Kirkland
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Prior to joining The Simpsons crew, Mark was a key player at Bob Rogers and Company, where he was involved in several Rogers' projects. Steve Moore recalls one of them:
After months and months of dead-end development [on a Disney World short about how animation was made], producer Mark Kirkland brought Jerry Rees on to take the project in a totally new direction. Thom Enriquez was hired to storyboard, and I was hired, I guess, because I was funny.
The three of us holed up for a week in a paneled conference room at Bob Rogers' Victory Blvd. offices ... Out of those sessions, came the pitch for "Back to Neverland." ... The idea was pitched to two junior mucky-mucks at Disney Feature Animation. Jerry and Bob did all of the talking. The junior-mucks did all the screaming. ... They objected to Robin Williams as being "not Disney." They objected to animating the tourist as a Lost Boy. One muck insisted the tourist be changed into an animal, preferably a skunk. ... When Jerry pointed out that there were no talking animals, especially talking skunks, in Peter Pan, the muck's head exploded. ...
Despite the explosions, the film got made, ended up a big success for years and years at the animation exhibit at Disney World, and ultimately aided Mark in getting a job on The Simpsons a few years later.
One project in animation often becomes a stepping stone to the next.
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7 comments:
Interesting. I'd never heard of Kirkland before.
High time you did.
Which is why we put this up.
What other animators are you planning to interview, Steve?
A wide variety. I've got an ongoing list. There's one interview in the pipeline, two or three prospective interviews that I haven't yet scheduled.
And I have a wish list I'm developing. All depends on my schedule and energy level as to what gets done.
Hey Steve,
Get 'em before they're dead.
Wish I'd had one of those little recording dodads when the old guys were still around. Dang it!
Before it's over, I'll record you, Mr. Norman. Even though Diane Disney got there before me.
Noticed Mark mentioned working on a Disney TV intro. That would be the one for the last season or so of the Walt Disney anthology program that first aired on CBS back around 1981. I remember this intro fondly myself and you can see why here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHYEBH5XGLE
Thanks Mark!
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