Wild Life

Wild Life, or Club Wildlife, or Club Glitterati, was a CGI film directed by Howard Baker and Roger Gould that was being developed at the Walt Disney Company in the late 1990s, but was shelved in 2000.http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2003/01/15/224.aspx It was to have been a satire of 70s American pop culture and would've paid homage to popular figures at the time, such as Andy Warhol, Anna Wintour, and Diana Vreeland.https://web.archive.org/web/20151223002758/http://jimhillmedia.com:80/columnists1/b/floyd_norman/archive/2008/10/06/the-elephant-in-the-room-part-i.aspx
==Plot==
Red Pittsain, the owner of a prestigious nightclub is quite distressed because Kitty Glitter, his once-beloved diva pop sensation has dwindled in popularity. Without a star attraction, everyone will go to the club owned by Magda, the editor of the trendy journal Magazizi, the city's most popular fashion-magazine and Red's biggest rival. When Magda declares "Kitty is over" and people cease fawning over the singer, she and Red plot revenge. They will find the "ultimate schlub" to pass off as the next superstar-when Magda proclaims the schlub the Next Big Thing, Kitty and Red will reveal the hoax and discredit Magda.
The schlub they find is Ella Font, an elephant from the local zoo who was born with the ability to talk, sing, and dance. Completely naive and trusting, "Ella is like a child in an adult's body. Bom yesterday, everything is new to her." However, things do not go well for Ella at first because she doesn't think she is good enough to be a star. In fact, she starts to have second thoughts about performing.
Although, one night, the elephant is attempting to plug in a neon sign. In a beat outline, the climax occurs when "Kitty goes onstage to еxроsе Magda as a know nothing, but through a wild chain reaction, a jolt zaps Ella and is knocked unconscious. When she comes to, Ella is now under the impression that she is a famous pop singer and quickly rises to fame, much to Kitty and Red's delight, fraud has the opposite result, because the crowd loves Ella Font, the singing elephant!. However, Ella soon tires of her the glamorous lifestyle and tells Red one night that she would like to return to the zoo.
Not wanting Ella to leave, Red attempts to sweet-talk her into staying. Kitty catches sight of this and mistakenly thinks that Red is trying to seduce the elephant, which upsets her greatly because she is secretly in love with him. After Kitty has angrily confronted Red about the situation, Ella, not wanting to cause any more trouble goes back to the zoo.
However, Red and Kitty soon clear up the misunderstanding and proceed to ask Ella to come back and perform for them. Although, after being told by the elephant that she would be much happier in her old environment, the two understand, at which point they finally admit their feelings for one another and become a couple.
==Development==
Wild Life began production in 1999, under a team of animators that included Hans Bacher, Floyd Norman Jim Hill, Mac George, Doug Walker, Craig Kellman, Buck Lewis, and Darryl Kidder, who also served as head of story. In the words of Jim Hill, the directors were hoping to create something that would really "knock the socks off the competition." However, because they wanted to give it a mature edge and wrote some adult-oriented humor into the script, the animators often worried that Disney would not want to release the film. This constant fear was realized when after viewing the presentation reel that fall, Roy Disney, then vice-chairman of the board, stated he was appalled at the mature humor (particularly one joke where two gay characters are about to enter the sewers and one remarked "have you ever been down a manhole before?") and ordered the film to be shut down. Baker later denied that said joke was the reason for the cancellation as it was removed before Disney saw it and was included to begin with so as to impress Thomas Schumacher. The joke was actually met with a positive response, but the crew knew it was going to be removed anyway. Baker stated that the final version of the film was not going to have any kind of mature theme to it.
The animation for Wild Life was to have been handled by Disney's then-current effects team The Secret Lab who had previously animated the characters in Dinosaur. After the film was shelved, they were closed down.https://web.archive.org/web/20210712035535/https://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2003/01/15/224.aspx
==Trivia==
*Alan Cumming and Kathy Bates were cast as the voices of Red Pittsain and Magda, respectively, while Debra Messing was being considered for the voice of Kitty Glitter.https://web.archive.org/web/20120822060640/https://jimhillmedia.com/columnists1/b/floyd_norman/archive/2008/10/13/the-elephant-in-the-room-part-2.aspx
*If it had been released, Wild Life would have predated Chicken Little as the first fully-CGI film that Disney produced without the assistance of Pixar.
*Ella, along with characters from My Peoples make a cameo in Meet the Robinsons as rejected inventions in the room DOR-15 is stored in before escaping to meet Bowler Hat Guy.
==Test footage==
Club Wildlife|Animation by Umesh Shukla
==Gallery==
File:Disney's Wild Life - Title Logo Concept Art by Hans Bacher.jpg
WildLifeVisDevelopment (10).jpg|Visual development by Mac George.
WildLifeTitleCard.jpg|Early title card for the film by Doug Walker.
Kitty Glitter Another concept by Howard Baker.jpeg|Concept of Kitty Glitter by Howard Baker.
WildLife Kitty Glitter by Howard Baker.jpeg|Concept of Kitty by Howard Baker.
Kitty Glitter.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt16.jpg
WildLifeKitty.jpg|Concept art of Kitty by Hans Bacher.
File:Red Pitsain Concept by Howard Baker.jpeg|Concept of Red Pittsain by Howard Baker.
File:WildLifeConceptArt12.jpg
WildLifeVisDevelopment (1).jpg|Visual development by Mac George.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (11).jpg|Visual Development by Mac George.
Wild-life-zoo-1999.jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
File:Dream-worlds-production-design-for-animation 0157.jpg
WildLifeVisDevelopment (3).jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (4).jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (5).jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
Ella Font by Howard Baker.jpeg|Concept of Ella Font by Howard Baker
File:Living it up with the Glitterati by Howard Baker.jpeg|Ella Font Living it up with the Glitterati, Art by Howard Baker.
WildLifeElla (4).jpg|Ella Font by Darryl Kidder.
WildLifeElla (1).jpg|Concept art of Ella Font by Darryl Kidder.
WildLifeElla (2).jpg
WildLifeElla (3).jpg|Ella Font unhappily performing by Floyd Norman.
WildLifeElla (9).jpg|Ella Font unhappily performing-again by Floyd Norman.
WildLifeElla (5).jpg|Ella Font about to plug in the neon sign by Darryl Kidder.
WildLifeElla (6).jpg|Ella Font about to get electrocuted by Floyd Norman.
WildLifeElla (7).jpg
WildLifeElla (8).jpg|Ella Font getting electrocuted by Darrly Kidder.
WildLifeElla12.jpg
File:WILDLIFE.jpg|Ella by Buck Lewis.
WildLifeMagdawithGlasses by Howard Baker.jpeg|Concept art of Magda by Howard Baker.
WildLifeMagda.jpg|Concept art of Magda by Hans Bacher.
File:WildLifeConceptArt2.jpg
WildLifeKitty (2).jpg|Concept art of Kitty by Doug Walker.
WildLifeElla (10).jpg|Ella performing on stage after he transformation by Doug Walker.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (8).jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (9).jpg|Visual development by Hans Bacher.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (6).jpg|Visual development by Doug Walker.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (7).jpg|Visual development by Doug Walker.
WildLifeElla&Kitty.jpg|Kitty forces Ella onstage by Doug Walker.
WildLifeElla&Red.jpg|Red attempting to sweet-talk Ella.
WildLifeKitty&Red (2).jpg|Red trasforms Ella while a horrified Kitty watches.
WildLifeElla (11).jpg|Ella by Darryl Kidder.
WildLifeElla&Kitty (2).jpg|Kitty and Ella.
Wild Life Concept Art (14).jpg
WildLifeMagda (2).jpg|Magda and her bodyguard toss party-crashers out of her club.
WildLifeMagda&Ella.jpg|Magda is angered upon seeing Ella.
WildLifeEllaInZoo (1).jpg|Ella in the zoo by Hans Bacher.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (12).jpg|Visual Development by Mac George.
WildLifeVisDevelopment (13).jpg
WildLifeVisDevelopment (14).jpg
WildLifeVisDevelopment (15).jpg
WildLifeStoryboards.jpg|Storyboards for Ella's first performance at the club.
WildLifeClubPatrons.jpg|Concept art for various club patrons by Jean Gillmore.
File:Disney's Wild Life Concept Poster 1.jpg
File:Disney's Wild Life Concept Poster 2.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt6.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt4.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt8.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt10.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt9.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt7.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt18.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt17.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt15.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt13.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt11.jpg
File:WildLifeConceptArt5.jpg
File:Coco Designed by Howard Baker from Disney's Wild Life.jpeg|Coco by Howard Baker.
File:Flo Designed by Howard Baker from Disney's Wild Life.jpeg|Flo by Howard Baker.
File:Zelda Zebra Designed by Howard Baker from Disney's Wild Life.jpeg|Zelda Zebra by Howard Baker.
==References==
Category:Cancelled projects
Category:Unused concepts
Category:Films
Category:2000 films
Category:Disney films
Category:Animated films
https://web.archive.org/web/20101227010501/http://artofdisney.canalblog.com/archives/2009/09/20/15141905.html#google_vignette