Thursday, July 20, 2017

An Oprah Story


Look who I was hanging out with at the recent D23 Legends lunch!
I actually had met Oprah before, way back in 1995. Disney had just purchased ABC, when management called me to let me know that Oprah would be stopping by my office. All of a sudden I found myself trying to make small talk with one of the most famous people in the world. There were also Disney management folks present as well as a few members from Oprah's team.
So this is how the visit went:
Oprah right away notices the maquette of Scar on my book shelf. "Did you draw Scar?" she asks me.
I said:"Yes."  "Tell me, all my gay friends say that Scar is gay...is he gay?"
O-k-a-a-y-y-y, how do I answer that, I thought for a split second. Well...truthfully of course.
I remember saying something like this:"I can see why people might assume that, but I never thought of Scar being gay. In an early version of The Lion King we had a lengthy sequence in which Scar is coming on to Nala, and offers her to rule the kingdom with him. She refuses and scratches his cheek."

There you have it, Scar is straight. And while I am at it, so are Gaston and Jafar...at least as far as I know.

8 comments:

  1. Well, a gay villain would be a welcome change. Or a gay character regardless of good or evil.

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  2. That's a pretty weird question, but I suppose real male lions do get intimate sometimes!
    Since D23 there's been a rumour that the Mary Poppins sequel is going to feature drawn animation, have you seen any of that stuff?

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  3. Andreas your very lucky, I will like to meet you one day but did you do classes with young people for training Art desing.

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    1. He did some really great classes on Virtual Animators a few years ago, maybe we'll see more stuff like that when he's between films again

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  4. What a strange question to ask... especially from her...
    Of ALLL the questions to ask one of the best animators in the world about any of the amazing characters he gave us, she asks if Scar was gay?
    Does it matter?
    O

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  5. But Scar sure acts like a "Diva"

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