I remember years ago I just had to ask Marc Davis about his departure from Disney Animation after having animated the incredible character of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians.
At that time he was at the peak of his craft, why didn't he continue his animation career?
It turned out Marc had high hopes for a future project he helped to develop called Chanticleer.
It's story was based on a French folktale in which a rooster believed that his own crowing in the morning made the sun rise every day. Included were plenty of other anthropomorphic animals like a fox, an owl, a mole etc.
When presented to a group of executives, including Walt Disney, Marc remembered one of the execs exclaiming: "You can't get a personality out of a chicken."
And apparently that was the end of the meeting. An alternate project, developed by Bill Peet, called The Sword in the Stone got the green light instead.
Soon afterwards Walt asked Marc for help with Disneyland. Upcoming ideas for new rides needed a humorous touch, and Marc moved over to WED.
In the end Marc felt very happy and challenged with this new assignment, but I can't help but wonder how Chanticleer might have turned out. I do know that Marc's friend Milt Kahl was leaning more toward The Sword in the Stone.
Here is my first post on Chanticleer from 2012:
I had never heard of this project, thanks for sharing! It's especially interesting given that The Sword in the Stone ended up being one of the studio's less acclaimed movies. Maybe Chanticleer would have been a true Disney classic. We'll never know.
ReplyDeleteDo you have an opinion on Rockadoodle Andreas?
ReplyDeleteEven though I really like "Sword in the Stone", I'm glad that Marc worked on something else cause I don't know what kind of character he would do. If he did, maybe he would've had a ball with Mim. It would've been like if he animated Mim as a beautiful girl in the style of both Aurora and Cruella, but in Mim's true form, Marc would've animated in the same comedic style he did in "Song of the South".
ReplyDeleteIch glaube es gibt niemanden, der von Marc Davis Cruella und Maleficent nicht schwer beeindruckt oder begeistert ist! 😊
ReplyDeleteIch habe sämtlich von Ihnen gepostete Bilder zu Chanticleer noch gut in positiver Erinnerung! 😊
"You can't get a personality out of a chicken"
Ich hätte das jetzt so interpretiert, dass bezweifelt wird, dass sich das Publikum ausreichend genug mit den Hühnern identifizieren würde können, um die Story/Animation zu mögen. Was vielleicht ein Hinweis darauf wäre, dass die Story eventuell nur über einen Charakter mit starkem Identifikationsfaktor oder Sympathiefaktor interessant und ausbaufähig gewesen wäre.
Vielleicht wurde auch so etwas wie im Stil von Bambi von Marc Davis erwartet.
Spekulationen über Spekulationen, die das Projekt Chanticleer aber nicht Marc Davis Arbeit ins schlechte Licht rücken.
Manchmal springt der Funke trotz erhöhter Anstrengung nicht über, weil die Story selbst nicht optimal gewesen war, die Zeit für ein Projekt nicht reif genug war usw.
Auch wenn ich gerne mehr von Marc Davis gesehen hätte, freue ich mich zu lesen, dass er nach diesem Vorfall zufrieden und kreativ an anderer Stelle arbeiten konnte. 😊