Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Rubbing elbows...


...with Angela Lansbury last night during a panel at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of Beauty & the Beast.
It was wonderful to see everybody again after so many years. From left to right:

The Academy's Randy Habercamp, Angela Lansbury, yours truly, Richard White (voice of Gaston),
David Ogden Stiers (narrator and voice of Cogsworth), Robby Benson (voice of the Beast), Glen Kean, Mark Henn, Page O'Hara (voice of Belle),  Brenda Chapman (story), Roger Allers (story), Gary Trousdale (co-director) and Don Hahn (producer).



I told the story of how my first scene with Gaston (above) was met with criticism by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who said that the acting was ok, but Gaston didn't look handsome enough. In the original pencil test I had drawn him with a large jaw and a mustache...much cartoonier looking.



I remember enjoying animating this scene, in which Gaston puts down Belle's love for books.
Here Belle was animated by Ken Duncan.



It was important to me that the character -despite the demand for realism- had moments when we could exaggerate his poses. Story material and voice recordings just called for that kind of an approach.


13 comments:

  1. It was great seeing you again at the event, Andreas!

    I misplaced your email address, so would you please send it? You can email me at jordanpoblete @ gmail.com.

    Thanks!

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  2. Sigh... I actually was at the event last night. I tried to look for Andreas after the movie, but I couldn't find him! I even brought my Nine Old Men book hoping he might sign it... oh well.
    I still got to meet a lot of cool people. It was such a great event.... and the film SOUNDED amazing!!

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  3. wow...25 years? Beauty and the Beast was the first movie I remember seeing in theaters

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  4. 25 years have passed, and I thank all of you for putting everything you had into this film.
    A big thank you to the "yours truly" artist as well!

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  5. Gaston has very exaggerated poses, so it was difficult to draw?

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  6. I would love to hear more about your experiences with Katzenberg. I've only read about some of the shady things he did to Pixar/Apple as a competitor. I've never been a fan of his style since his contributions founding Dreamworks SKG. Anything you can share?

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  7. There's a video of the panel here, folks
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2zCGvUo1dQ&index=1&list=PLJ8RjvesnvDMJm-DXNzqOe46GjLri37U9

    Congrats on your work holding up after years, Andreas!

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  8. Fantastic! You really do deserve the continued recognition.

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  9. A great evening to remember one of the last great animated features! Great photo, great people, great evening! Ciao, Andreas!

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  10. Hey Andreas, this is walaa a graphic design student i'm so inspired by your work it has been always my favorite animation movies. what has inspired you the most to begin this journey?

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    Replies
    1. The idea to someday work at a studio, which at the time was called Walt Disney Productions.

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  11. why do I feel so sad …magic is gone,youth flown away

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