Interview With John Musker And Ron Clements
John Musker and Ron Clements have been a directorial, writing, and producing team on THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, THE LITTLE MERMAID, and ALADDIN for the Walt Disney Studio. Their unique blend of witty comedy, appealing heroines and heroes, and clever art direction is helping to redefine the Studio's styl – nd breaking box-office records. Here they discuss their background and training, and give some idea of how they work together.
NANCY BEIMAN: I guess we could start by asking you how you got interested in animation, and what your early training was.
RON CLEMENTS: One of the first movies I saw was CINDERELLA. I think I was 2-and that didn't make a real big impression on me.But, a few years later, when I saw PINOCCHIO, that had a profound impact. I went back and saw the movie about two more times, made drawings from the movie. That movie, and SLEEPING BEAUTY, were the two Disney pictures that had a big influence on me. I thought animation was so exciting-something to go into. I sort of fantasized - I played that I was an animator.
NB: How did you do that? By flipping drawings?
JOHN MUSKER: By drinking....
[…]
Persons
Ron Clements (interviewee)John Musker (interviewee)
Howard Ashman (reference)
Jodi Benson (reference)
Ted Berman (reference)
Don Bluth (reference)
Randy Cartwright (reference)
Michael Eisner (reference)
Christopher Finch (reference)
Eric Goldberg (reference)
Steve Hulett (reference)
Jeffrey Katzenberg (reference)
Eric Larson (reference)
Alan Menken (reference)
Phil Nibbelink (reference)
Mike Peraza (reference)
Tina Price (reference)
Woolie Reitherman (reference)
Tim Rice (reference)
Art Stevens (reference)
Bob Thomas (reference)
Frank Thomas (reference)
Richard Williams (reference)
Robin Williams (reference)
Pete Young (reference)
Keywords
101 Dalmatians (1961)Aladdin (1992)
Animation
Ariel
Background Art
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Books
California Institute of the Arts
Character Design
Chouinard Art Institute
Computer
Genie
Music, Sound effects/Sound design
Pinocchio (1940)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
The Art of Animation
The Black Cauldron (1985)
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Rescuers (1977)
Ursula
Walt Disney Studios
Writing