Another blast from the past. Here I am still working in the original Disney Animation Studio in Burbank. And what I am holding is an early design for the Horned King from The Black Cauldron.
Below is the rough model sheet that was approved by a whole group of people, including myself. (I drew all of these poses, and they kind of hold up after all these years. But they don't reveal any personality, other than this guy being mean...and that's not enough for portraying an interesting villain.) The model sheet is dated March of 1981.
You know, these books by Lloyd Alexander are terrific. Here is one live action re-make I would love to see.
More of my early Cauldron stuff here:
https://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2011/11/early-black-cauldron.html
Would you have handled the character differently, in hindsight? Or do you think the film's problems were out of your control as a new animator?
ReplyDeleteThe film's problems were out of our control as new animators.
Deleteyeah. Come to think of it I think you spoke about it on a podcast somewhere. Your design of the character is really cool anyway, like something from a Black Sabbath poster!
DeleteThe Black Cauldron is the inspiration for the Japanese of Nintendo the most popular video game in history "THE LEGEND OF ZELDA" in 1987.
ReplyDeleteI love Lloyd Alexanders books and would love to see them redone in live action.
ReplyDeleteThese books are among my favorites of all time. I like what you said above to another comment about the problems being out of the control of you new animators. I actually just watched it a couple weeks ago for the first time in many many years and man... yeah. The animation is fun, but the bones of the movie are just missing.
ReplyDeleteI have a strange affection for this movie as I look it as the movie in which the animators that made my childhood amazing (Little Mermaid, Beauty & Beast, Aladdin, Lion King) found their "sea legs". It is an endearing piece of Disney history to me as I don't know without it we would have gotten everything that followed.
ReplyDeleteAndreas you may not fully grasp (because you guys were the ones making these movies) how awesome y'all made growing up in the 90's for so many of us.
Thank you, my heart feels warm.
DeleteIn my opinion, the only Disney movie that actually deserves a live-action remake would be The Black Cauldron, as long as they stay true to the books.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing The Black Cauldron on VHS and finding it... rather lackluster and underwhelming. At least the villain's death was pretty cool, in a messed-up way.