Who Framed Roger Rabbit saw the biggest names in animation come together for a fun-filled cameo-a-thon, and it, ironically, made the titular rabbit rather a big name in animation too. A film recently proposed to Disney looks to take advantage of that, pairing Roger with a certain Mickey Mouse.
The scoop comes via Gary K. Wolf, the author of Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the book which Roger Rabbit was based on, Wolf claims that a movie has been pitched to Disney execs, co-starring Mickey and Roger, in a remake of the 1952 Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis film, The Stooge. Wolf's original post drew a lot of doubters, who mistook the post for a joke:
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| Poster for the 1952 original, The Stooge. |
"The movie is called The Stooge. It will be based on the classic Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie of the same name. The story has the emotional empathy and sensibilities of Wall-E and Toy Story. It will be a (G) Rated Pixar type animated musical buddy comedy. Mickey takes on the Dean Martin role, Roger, who is already regarded as a comic genius in France, takes the Jerry Lewis part.
The film incorporates five specific locations from the Disneyland park. It also introduces the Toon Train, an exciting and interesting way to travel through Toontown.
The film features real-life people. Walt Disney costars. Orson Wells makes an appearance.
The packaged Development Proposal is currently being evaluated by Disney and Pixar. Meetings are happening! Directors and writers are being evaluated."
However, despite the doubt, Wolf later emailed Ain't It Cool News, apologising for any confusion he may have caused, but stressing that, yes, the film is real, saying it's not a direct remake of The Stooge, and adding:
"It has the same title as the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film and some of the same plot elements, but it’s not a remake. The storyline in this Stooge is quite different.
"This movie, which will be all animated, has nothing to do with the sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They are totally different concepts and projects. It’s not a case of making one instead of the other. In an ideal, rabbit-centric world, Disney will make both.
The Stooge development producer Erik von Wodtke came up with the story and wrote the treatment. He showed it to me hoping that I would see how special it was and would be interested in coming in on the project. With that, he did succeed. I love the idea of a Mickey Mouse and Roger Rabbit musical buddy comedy. This is a co-star pairing made in cartoon heaven. Two iconic cartoon characters playing off one another in a story that has the heart and emotional soul of films like Wall-E and Toy Story. What Disney fan wouldn’t want to see that?"
"Art director Doug A Sirois has been working on Stooge concept art. What I’ve seen so far is sensational. I will be involved in the project in a writing and creative capacity. Erik is currently talking to a number of top-flight screenwriters and directors."
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| Mickey Mouse's appearance, alongside Bugs Bunny in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. |
Wow. Now that's an exciting premise. This pairing has the potential to be a whole lot of fun - plus it's about time Disney's mouse-mascot had a big-screen outing of his own again. Despite Wolf's claims that The Stooge is unrelated in anyway tpo Robert Zemeckis's planned Roger Rabbit sequel, one can't help but think this might have contributed to why the sequel is probably not happening. Also, where does this leave the Mickey Mouse film that Burny Mattinson spoke about back in 2011?
As something of a sidebar - and I may be reading too far into absolutely nothing here - but it strikes me as curious that Brad Bird's newest film, Tomorrowland, which was previously going by 1952, is named after a part of Disneyland, and now we hear about a new film, also linked to Disneyland, which is a remake of a film from, yep, 1952. Of course, a musical buddy-comedy doesn't tally up with anything we've heard about Bird's supposedly sci-fi film so far. Hmm, so many questions, so few answers.
Via /Film.
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| Via Coroflot. |
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