Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy-comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Steven Spielberg, and based on Gary K. Wolf's novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? It combines the use of traditional animation and live-action, with elements of film noir, and stars Bob Hoskins, Charles Fleischer, Christopher Lloyd, Kathleen Turner, and Joanna Cassidy.
Set in 1947 in Hollywood, where Toons commonly interact with the studio system of the Classical Hollywood cinema industry, it tells the story of private investigator Eddie Valiant, caught in a mystery that involves Roger Rabbit, an A-list Toon who is framed for murder. The film contains themes of racial and ethnic discrimination, along with sexual content and murder references. It is said that the movie is an allegory for this as well as segregation of people based on race in the United States during the mid 20th century.
Walt Disney Pictures purchased the film rights to Who Censored Roger Rabbit? in 1981. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote two drafts of the script before Disney brought Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment to help finance the film. Zemeckis was hired to direct the live-action scenes with Richard Williams overseeing the animation sequences. For inspiration, Price and Seaman studied the work of both Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, especially Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett cartoons. Production was moved from Los Angeles to Elstree Studios in England to accommodate Williams and his group of animators.
During filming, the production budget began to rapidly expand and the shooting schedule lapsed longer than expected. However, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released with financial success and critical acclaim. The film brought a re-emerging interest from the Golden Age of American animation and became the forefront of the modern animation era. Roger Rabbit left behind an impact that included a media franchise and an unproduced prequel.
In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
==Plot==
Set in 1947 Hollywood, cartoon characters are known as Toons and most, if not all, toons are paid as actors there. They live in the animated megacity of Toontown, which is owned by businessman Marvin Acme.
Perhaps one of the most famous stars in the business is Roger Rabbit, who co-stars with Baby Herman in comedy shorts. Lately, however, Roger's performances have been poor, so his employer, R.K. Maroon, hires private detective Eddie Valiant to investigate the cause of Roger's distractions. Rumor has it that Roger's bombshell wife, Jessica Rabbit, was having an affair. Following the death of his brother Teddy by the hands of a Toon, Eddie became an alcoholic and lost his sense of humor—thus, he acts very bigoted towards Toons (most of them at least—he gets along well with Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird at various points in the film, and his heart slowly warms up to Roger as well). Eddie reluctantly accepts the job and heads to the Ink and Paint Club, where he was told he would find Jessica. There he watches Jessica's performance on stage and is later visited by Marvin Acme after the show in her dressing room. He is caught eavesdropping by the club bouncer, Bongo the Gorilla, and is kicked out. Outside the club, Eddie finds the window to Jessica's dressing room and snaps photographs of Jessica playing patty cake with Marvin Acme. Back at the studio, Eddie shows the photographs to Maroon and a very heartbroken Roger, who runs off after vowing that he and Jessica will be happy again. Roger spends the night crying in a dark alley while looking at pictures of them.
The next morning, Marvin Acme is found dead, and Roger is the top suspect of the crime, at the crime scene, Eddie is met by Judge Doom of the Toontown District Superior Court and his henchmen, the Toon Patrol. He is anxious to use "Dip", a mixture of chemicals that can dissolve any Toon on contact, on Roger once he can be found. Eddie encounters Baby Herman, Roger's co-star, who swears that Roger is innocent and that Acme's will, which would have left Toontown to the Toons, has gone missing; if the will is not found by midnight, Toontown could be sold at a public auction.
Eddie begins further investigating the case with his on-off girlfriend, Dolores, and a Toon taxicab named Benny while trying to keep Roger hidden from the Toon Patrol. Eddie discovers that Jessica was forced by Maroon to get close to Acme or else he would have ruined Roger's career. Maroon himself admits that he was forced into blackmail by another person, but is shot before he can reveal who it was to Eddie.
Eddie overcomes his anxiety and chases the murderer into Toontown; though he loses the trail, he recovers Maroon's murder weapon. Eddie encounters Jessica in Toontown who points out that it is Doom's. As they attempt to bring Doom to the authorities and remove him from the judicial position permanently, Eddie, Jessica, and Roger are all captured by the Toon Patrol and taken to the Acme warehouse. Doom reveals his plans; as the sole stockholder in Cloverleaf Industries, he plans to buy Toontown, Acme Corporation, and Maroon Cartoons, and then destroy them to make way for a planned freeway for Los Angeles.
To wipe out Toontown, Doom has built a vehicle with a large Dip vat that he plans to spray throughout the area, wiping out all the Toons, called the Dip Machine. As Roger and Jessica struggle to avoid being hit by the spray of Dip, Eddie manages to free himself and causes (all but the leader, whom Eddie kicks into the Dip Machine) the Toon Patrol to literally "die of laughter" through various antics, leaving the Dip Machine automatically running.
Eddie and Doom then fight, using assorted Toon props in the factory, until Eddie is able to run Doom over with a steamroller. It does not kill him. Instead, he reveals himself to be a Toon, the same one that killed Eddie's brother five years earlier. Eddie manages to open the drain on the Dip Machine, showering Doom with the Dip and dissolving him with yellow oil paint, avenging Teddy's death. Eddie frees Roger and Jessica, while the Dip Machine harmlessly crashes through the warehouse wall into Toontown and immediately smashed by a Toon train.
Valiant washes the Dip away with the emergency fire hydrants, straight to the drain. As numerous Toons and local authorities enter the warehouse to see what all the commotion is, Eddie discovers Marvin Acme's will. It was an apparent blank piece of paper that Acme had given to Jessica that Roger later wrote a love poem to her on, but the will itself was written in disappearing/reappearing ink. With the will in hand and the Tooniverse at peace, the Toons celebrate the new ownership of Toontown and sing "Smile Darn Ya Smile" while Roger and Jessica, as well as Eddie and Dolores happily walk into Toontown. Porky Pig says his famous catchphrase, "That's all folks!", closing the film on a high note.
==Cast==
*Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant: An alcoholic private investigator who strongly dislikes Toons. Years ago, Valiant's brother was killed by a Toon after a piano was dropped on his head. Producer Steven Spielberg's first choice for Eddie Valiant was Harrison Ford, but he asked for too much money.
*Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom: The evil, sadistic judge of Toontown District Superior Court and also the evil CEO of Cloverleaf Industries before his death. It is eventually revealed that Doom is indeed a Toon, and responsible for the death of Valiant's brother. Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with director Robert Zemeckis and Amblin Entertainment in Back to the Future. Lloyd decided it was best not to blink his eyes to perfectly portray the character.
*Richard LeParmentier as Lt. Santino: LAPD Police Lieutenant and friend to Eddie Valiant.
*Joanna Cassidy as Dolores: Valiant's on-off girlfriend who helps him and Roger solve the case against Judge Doom. Dolores is also a waitress.
*Alan Tilvern as R.K. Maroon: Grumpy owner of "Maroon Cartoon" studios. Maroon hires Valiant to find out what is bothering Roger in his poor acting performances. He is eventually murdered by Judge Doom.
*Stubby Kaye as Marvin Acme: Prankster-like owner of the Acme Corporation. The scandal of Acme playing pattycake with Jessica leads to his own death.
*Richard Ridings as Angelo: A man who acts like a greedy, wise-cracking jerk who makes fun of Eddie Valiant and his detective work.
*Film producer Joel Silver as Raoul J. Raoul: the frustrated director at the beginning of the film.
===Voice cast===
*Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit: An A-list Toon working for "Maroon Cartoons" who is eventually framed for the murder of Marvin Acme. To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Fleischer dressed in a bunny suit and "stood in" behind camera for most scenes. Fleischer also provides the voices of Benny the Cab and Greasy and Psycho from the Toon Patrol.
*Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse: Mickey appears during the scene with Bugs Bunny when Eddie Valiant was falling from the apartment. The two agreed to be in the movie with their friends and loved ones on one condition: they each have the same amount of screentime and dialogue.
*Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck: Donald appears during a piano duel scene with Daffy Duck. He becomes angry at Daffy's antics and hides himself inside the piano and takes a cannon to shoot him.
*Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse and Toon Birds
*Tony Pope as Goofy and Big Bad Wolf
**Bill Farmer provided additional dialogue as Goofy and also voiced Koko the Clown.
*Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky Pig, and Sylvester
*Lou Hirsch as Baby Herman: Roger's frequent co-star in Maroon Cartoons. Williams said Baby Herman was a mixture of "Elmer Fudd and Tweety crashed together." Hirsch was the original choice for Benny the Cab.
*April Winchell provides the voice of Mrs. Herman and Baby Herman's baby voice at the beginning of the film.
*Les Perkins as J. Thaddeus Toad
*Cherry Davis as Woody Woodpecker
*Richard Williams as Droopy
*Joe Alaskey as Yosemite Sam
*David Lander as Smart Ass: The relatively intelligent, wise-cracking leader of the Toon Patrol.
*June Foray as Lena Hyena and Wheezy
*Fred Newman as Stupid
*Peter Westy as Pinocchio
*Mae Questel as Betty Boop
*Mary T. Radford as Hyacinth Hippo
*Jim Cummings, Pat Buttram, and Jim Gallant as Valiant's Bullets
*Morgan Deare as Bongo the Gorilla
*Jack Angel as the Toon Shoes
*Nancy Cartwright as the Dipped Toon Shoe
*Dave Spafford as Daffy Duck (woo-hoos)
*Kathleen Turner provides the voice of Jessica Rabbit: Roger Rabbit's astoundingly attractive wife. Amy Irving supplied the singing voice, while Betsy Brantley served as the model for animators to base their picture on. Jessica was also based on actress Veronica Lake.
*Frank Welker as Dumbo (uncredited)
Archive sound of Frank Sinatra from the song "Witchcraft" was used for the Singing Sword.
==Production==
===Development===
Walt Disney Pictures purchased the film rights to Gary Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? shortly after its publication in 1981. Ron W. Miller, then president of The Walt Disney Company, saw it as a perfect opportunity to produce a blockbuster. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were hired to write the script, penning two drafts. Robert Zemeckis offered his services as director in 1982, but Disney acknowledged that his previous films ( and ) were box office bombs, and thus let him go. Between 1981 to 1983 Disney developed test footage with Darrell Van Citters as animation director, Paul Reubens voicing Roger Rabbit, Peter Renaday as Eddie Valiant, and Russi Taylor as Jessica Rabbit. When Michael Eisner became the new Disney president, he revamped the project in 1985. Amblin Entertainment, which consisted of Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy, were approached to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit alongside Disney. The original budget was projected at $50 million, which Disney felt was too expensive.
Roger Rabbit was finally green-lighted when the budget went down to $29.9 million, which at the time, still made it the most expensive animated film ever green lighted. Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg argued that the hybrid of live-action and animation would "save" Disney's animation department. Spielberg's contract included an extensive amount of creative control and a large percentage of the box office profits. Disney kept all merchandising rights. Spielberg convinced Warner Bros., , and Universal Pictures and many other companies to "lend" their characters to appear in the film. was offered the chance to direct, but he found the project too technically challenging. "Pure laziness on my part," Gilliam said he "completely regret[s] that decision". Robert Zemeckis was hired to direct in 1985, based on the success of and . Richard Williams was hired to direct the animation sequences.
===Casting===
Harrison Ford was Spielberg's original choice to play Eddie Valiant, but was too expensive.http://uproxx.com/movies/harrison-ford-lost-roles/4/ Bill Murray was also considered for the part, but due to his method of receiving offers for roles, Murray missed out on it.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-farr/bill-murray-and-the-roles_b_5850434.html Eddie Murphy reportedly turned down the role of Eddie, but later regretted it. Several other actors were also considered for the role of Eddie Valiant such as Chevy Chase, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn, Ed Harris, Charles Grodin, and Don Lane.http://mentalfloss.com/article/62910/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-who-framed-roger-rabbit
Tim Curry original auditioned for the role of Judge Doom, but after his audition, the producers found him too terrifying for the role.https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-who-framed-roger-rabbit?utm_term=.jlW64JPbRV#.yoYxe2OLKV Christopher Lee was also considered for the role, but turned it down.http://mentalfloss.com/article/62910/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-who-framed-roger-rabbit John Cleese expressed interest in playing Doom, but both Spielberg and Zemeckis refused; they both thought nobody would take a former member of seriously as a sadistic villain. Several other actors were also considered for the role of Judge Doom such as Roddy McDowell, Eddie Deezen, Sting, and Jon Pertwee.http://mentalfloss.com/article/62910/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-who-framed-roger-rabbit Even with Christopher Lloyd being cast as Doom instead, viewers still find him very frightening, especially considering the fact that even if he was cast as a villain, most of Lloyd's roles were often comic relief, something Doom isn't.
===Writing===
Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were brought aboard to continue writing the script once Spielberg and Zemeckis were hired. For inspiration, the two writers studied the work of Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Cartoons from the Golden Age of American animation, especially Tex Avery and Bob Clampett cartoons. Chinatown influenced the storyline. In Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, the Toons were comic strip characters rather than movie stars. Price and Seaman also created the urban political corruption subplot.
During the writing process, Price and Seaman were unsure of who to include as antagonist. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final decision with the newly-created character Judge Doom. Doom was supposed to have a toon vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted for technical challenges. Doom's five-man "Weasel Gang" (Stupid, Smart Ass, Greasy, Wheezy, and Psycho) satires the Six Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey) who appeared in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Their main source of inspiration are the Weasels from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Further references included The "Ink and Paint Club" resembling the Harlem Cotton Club, while Zemeckis compared Judge Doom's invention of "The Dip" to eliminate all the Toons as Hitler's Final Solution. Benny the Cab was initially going to be a instead of a Taxicab. Before finally agreeing on Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the film's title, working titles included Murder in Toontown, Toons, Dead Toons Don't Pay Bills, The Toontown Trial, Trouble in Toontown, and Eddie Goes To Toontown.
===Filming===
Williams admitted he was "openly disdainful of the Disney bureaucracy" and refused to work in Los Angeles. To accommodate him and his animators, production was moved to Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Disney and Spielberg also told Williams that in return for doing Roger Rabbit, they would help distribute his unproduced film The Thief and the Cobbler. Supervising animators included Andreas Deja, Simon Wells, Phil Nibbelink, Nik Ranieri, and Dale Baer. The production budget continued to escalate while the shooting schedule lapsed longer than expected. When the budget was reaching $40 million, Disney president Michael Eisner heavily considered shutting down production, but Katzenberg refused. Disney moved forward on production despite the escalating budget because they were enthusiastic to work with Spielberg.
 cameras installed with motion control technology were used to accommodate the split screen photography of live-action and animation. Mime artists, puppeteers, mannequins, and robotic arms were commonly used during filming to help the actors interact with "open air". Filming began on December 5, 1986, and lasted for 7.5 months at Elstree Studios, with an additional four weeks in Los Angeles and at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) for blue screen effects of Toontown. Post-production lasted for one year. During that time, ILM finished the color compositing.
Jessica's dress in the night club scene, for instance, had flashing sequins, an effect created by filtering light through a plastic bag scratched with steel wool. Regular Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestri composed the film score, with the LSO. Zemeckis joked that "the British could not keep up with Silvestri's Jazz tempo". The music themes written for Jessica Rabbit were entirely improvised by the LSO. The work of Carl Stalling heavily influenced Silvestri.
==Release==
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was originally going to be released by Walt Disney Pictures and be part of the Walt Disney Feature Animation lineup, but Michael Eisner complained that the film was too risqué with sexual innuendos. Eisner and Zemeckis disagreed over elements with the film, but since Zemeckis had final cut privilege, he refused to make alterations. Jeffrey Katzenberg felt it was appropriate to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner. Who Framed Roger Rabbit opened on June 22, 1988, in America, grossing $11,226,239 in 1,045 theaters during its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $156.45 million in North America and $173.35 million internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $329.8 million. At the time of release, Roger Rabbit was the twentieth highest-grossing film of all time. The film was also the second highest grossing film of 1988, only behind .
Roger Ebert gave a largely positive review, predicting it would carry "the type of word of mouth that money can't buy. This movie is not only great entertainment but a breakthrough in craftsmanship." of The New York Times commented that "although this isn't the first time that cartoon characters have shared the screen with live actors, it's the first time they've done it on their own terms and make it look real." of The Washington Post considered Roger Rabbit to be "a definitive collaboration of pure talent. Zemeckis had Walt Disney Pictures' enthusiastic backing, producer Steven Spielberg's pull, Warner Bros.' blessing, British animator Richard Williams' ink and paint, Mel Blanc's voice, Jeffrey Price's and Peter S. Seaman's witty, frenetic screenplay, George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, and Bob Hoskins' comical performance as the burliest, shaggiest private eye."
However, of Time, gave the film a mixed review, saying "The opening cartoon works just fine but too fine. The opening scene upstages the movie that emerges from it." Corliss was mainly annoyed by the homages towards the Golden Age of American animation, despite the film being set in that time.
Today, 43 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes indicated 97% of reviewers enjoyed the film, earning an average score of 8.1/10. The consensus reads: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an innovative and entertaining film that features a groundbreaking mix of live-action and animation, with a touching and original story to boot."
Who Framed Roger Rabbit won Academy Awards for Sound Editing, Visual Effects, and Film Editing. Nominations included Art Direction, Cinematography, and Sound. Richard Williams received a Special Achievement Award "for animation direction and creation of the cartoon characters".
Roger Rabbit won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, as well as Best Direction for Zemeckis and Special Visual Effects. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, and Joanna Cassidy were nominated for their performances, while Alan Silvestri and the screenwriters received nominations. The film was nominated for four categories at the 42nd British Academy Film Awards and won awards for its visual effects. Roger Rabbit was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), while Hoskins was nominated for his performance. The film also won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
The film first premiered on television on The Disney Channel on June 1, 1990. It made its network television debut on CBS as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on November 12, 1991.
===Rating===
The film was rated PG by the for cartoon violence, adult content, drinking/smoking, and mild language. It would've been rated PG-13 due to the adult content, having been released in the late 80s. The film received a TV-G rating on both Disney Channel and Disney XD, with occasional TV-Y7 ratings, while it received a TV-PG-DLSV rating on , , and . It also received a TV-14 rating on ABC Family (now Freeform).
==Controversies==
Several mistakes were hidden in the film by its animators. Tape-based analog video such as VHS did not reveal these, but technologies with better image quality, such as the analog laserdisc, were said to reveal the phone number of then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Also, when Benny the Cab gets dipped and crashes and Eddie and Jessica roll out of him, there are two separate frames (2170-2172 on side 4 of the CAV laserdisc version), within two seconds, a brief scene is showing a blurry spot of what seems to be Jessica wearing no underwear. Disney recalled the laserdisc and issued another disc, later claiming that it was an incorrectly painted cell.
Disney also stated that the cell in question could be seen on the new disc and on the VHS version. Two DVD versions edit the scene where Jessica Rabbit rolls out of the cab after Benny the Cab crashes. The 1999 DVD version, which was based off a later laserdisc release, reanimated the scene so that Jessica is wearing white underwear underneath her dress. When the DVD set was reissued in 2002, the scene was reanimated so that a piece of Jessica's skirt strategically covers Jessica as she rolls down the hill.
A brief scene consisting of the toon Baby Herman passing by a human female extra on the set of the opening cartoon and sticking his middle finger up her dress, and then coming back from under the dress with a drool of spit on his lip. This was edited out of the DVD editions of the movie, though it can be found on editions of the VHS and laserdisc issues.
In the piano duel scene with Donald Duck and Daffy Duck, when Donald Duck wins the duel, Daffy says "I've worked with a lot of wise-quackers, but you are despicable!" and, according to some, Donald replies, in his duck-like voice, "g*d**** stupid n*****..." , a noted debunking website, debunks this with the closed-captioning and Cartoon Network airings which records Donald as saying "Goddurn stubborn nitwit," though Snopes actually believes he's saying something akin to his typical exclamation, "Doggone stubborn little...That did it...waaa-aaaghghgh!" as is heard in many old Disney cartoons. The Vista Series DVD release uses the latter quote in its closed-captioning. However, the 1989 VHS and the 1999 DVD has Donald's insults captioned as "Doggone stubborn nitwit...That did it...Quack!"
In the sequence where Bob Hoskins is seen falling an incredibly long distance flanked by Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, shockingly Mickey and Bugs are best friends. Gary K. Wolf (author of the original novel) corresponded with many fans of the film through written letters and the Internet, compiling an exhaustive listing of the many hidden "Easter eggs" in the film and in the later Roger Rabbit short films. Wolf also sued Disney in 2001 for unpaid earnings related to the film.
==Legacy==
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is widely considered one of the best movies of 1988. It is also seen as a landmark film that sparked the most recent era in American animation. The field of animation had suffered a recession during the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where even giants in the field such as The Walt Disney Company were considering giving up on major animated productions. This expensive film (production cost of $70 million - a staggering amount for the time) was a major risk for the company, but one that paid off handsomely. It inspired other studios to return to the field of animation; it also made animation acceptable with the movie-going public. After Roger Rabbit, interest in the history of animation expanded, and such legends in the field as , Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Walter Lantz, Max Fleischer, Stephen Hillenburg, and were seen in a new light and received credit and acclaim from audiences worldwide. It also provided the impetus for Disney and Warner Bros.' later animated television shows.
Roger Rabbit is also known for its numerous "spin-off" television series which include: Bonkers (1993-1995), (1993-1998), (1995-1997) and (1990-1995). The Disney Afternoon character Bonkers D. Bobcat from Bonkers and Raw Toonage was created as Amblin Entertainment, co-owner of all of the characters created for "Roger Rabbit" film, refused to allow Disney to produce a TV series incorporating characters from the film. As a result, the main characters from the film were also not allowed in the television series that even Amblin itself made and distributed. Later on, Disney produced the Toontown Online, which was originally going to include the main characters from the film as well. However, due to the legal issues with the author of the original novel, Gary K. Wolf, the characters were kicked out of the final game.
The film featured the last major voice role for two legendary cartoon voice artists: Mel Blanc (voiced Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, and also Sylvester in the final scene) and Mae Questel (voiced Betty Boop, but not Olive Oyl, who did not appear in the final film). Blanc (who would pass away shortly afterwards at the age of 81) did not voice Yosemite Sam in the movie, and was instead done by Joe Alaskey (Blanc had admitted that in his later years, he was no longer able to do the "yelling" voices such as which were very rough on his vocal cords during his old age. There was a scene with Foghorn Leghorn's dialogue recorded, but it was cut out, which also utilized Alaskey for the same reason). Blanc also voiced Porky Pig, who gets the last line of the film, dressed as a police officer.
The film was also the next-to-last screen appearance for veteran actors , who portrays R.K. Maroon in the film, and , who plays Marvin Acme. Tilvern appeared in only one other production before his retirement, the 1993 television version of , in which he played the non-singing role of the Detective. Alan Tilvern died in 2003. Stubby Kaye, best known for playing Nicely Nicely Johnson in the original stage and screen versions of , died in 1997.
Despite being produced by Disney (in association with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment), Roger Rabbit also marked the first time that characters from several animation studios appeared in one film. Studios that provided characters included:
*Universal/
* (the characters are now owned by )
*Metro Goldwyn Mayer/United Artists (though the characters had been owned separately by since 1986)
*Hanna-Barbera (though the characters from said studio were cut)
*
*/ (the characters are now owned by CBS since the 1960s and since 1997)
This allowed the first-ever interactions between Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. A contract was signed between Disney and Warner Bros. stating that their respective mascots, Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, would each receive exactly the same amount of screen time (they also have the same number of lines). This is why the script has Mickey, Bugs, and Eddie together in one scene falling from a building (However, a prototype Bugs Bunny can be seen for a brief second in the studio lot during the beginning of the film, and Mickey has a brief second of appearing on his own before Bugs arrives). Also, another scene features the first and so far the only time where Donald Duck and Daffy Duck interact with each other, while performing in a unique piano duel which ends in a draw. Finally, the unique pairing is given a final send-off at the end of the film when Porky Pig faces the audience and says his signature catchphrase "That's All, Folks!", just before Tinker Bell from Peter Pan appears to tap the scene in the traditional Disney ending manner.
Eventually, several animated shorts featuring Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman, and Droopy were released.
In 1991, the Disney Imagineers began to develop a new land for the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California, completely based on the Toontown of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Mickey's Toontown opened in 1993 and spawned "Toontown" (without the Mickey's prefix) at Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. The Californian and Japanese Toontowns featured a ride based on Roger Rabbit's adventures, called Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.
In 2016, the film was inducted into the National Film Registry, being deemed as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
===Proposed sequel/prequels===
*A prequel entitled Roger Rabbit II: The Toon Platoon was planned in 1989. Set in 1941 to 1943, the script had Roger expose the manager of the radio station where Jessica works at as a Nazi spy. However, after directing , Spielberg rejected making the film due to its cartoonish depiction of Nazis.
*Who Discovered Roger Rabbit was being written in 1994 by Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver, which focused on Roger looking for his mother during the . Alan Menken volunteered to serve as executive producer and wrote five songs for what was conceived as a parody of classic Hollywood musicals. (One of the songs, "This Only Happens In The Movies", was recorded in 2008 on the debut album of Broadway actress Kerry Butler).
*Walt Disney Pictures was planning to create the cartoon characters with computer animation. Michael Eisner pulled the project in 1999, when the budget rose to over $100 million, believing a prequel to a film made 12 years earlier would not be successful. In December 2007, Frank Marshall told MTV that he was willing to revive development of the film.
*In 2011, Bob Hoskins said he would not return to play Eddie Valiant (now an old man), but he later changed his mind. However, in 2012, he retired from acting due to his long battle with Parkinson's disease and unfortunately died from those complications in 2014.http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-08-08/bob-hoskins-retires-from-acting/
*Frank Marshall, executive producer of the film, has said that the film will be a prequel and the writing was almost complete. During an interview at the premiere of Flight, Zemeckis stated that the sequel is still possible, despite Hoskins' retirement in 2012 and the script for the sequel was sent to Disney for approval from studio executives.
*In February 2013, Gary K. Wolf, the creator of Roger Rabbit, announced that he as well as Erik Von Wodtke were working on a development proposal for an animated Disney buddy comedy starring Mickey Mouse and Roger Rabbit called "The Stooge", based on the 1952 film of the same name. The proposed film is set to be a prequel taking place 5 years before Who Framed Roger Rabbit and part of the story is about how Roger met Jessica, his future wife. Gary K. Wolf has stated that the film is currently wending its way through Disney. Unfortunately, following Hoskins' passing of pneumonia in April 2014, the sequel was shelved once again.http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30567
==Merchandising==
The success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit led to a moderate degree of merchandising for the film. In October 1989, McDonald's made a Halloween themed certificate offer for a free VHS copy of the film as well as a Roger Rabbit doll. Other memorabilia included cookie jars, Christmas ornaments, music boxes, snow globes, pin-back buttons, three video games, and a novelization of the film. While much of the merchandise was produced throughout the 1988–1989 promotion of the film, other items would later be offered as commemorative collectibles in celebration of Disney-related anniversaries.
In 1989, Marvel commissioned a special graphic novel as a novelization in comic-book form. The novel featured several ideas for the plot scrapped from the original film, such as Roger and Eddie actually making a getaway in Dooms' squad car (until the engine blows up after Roger constantly hammers the pedals), as well as the deleted Pighead sequence featured on the Laserdisc version of the DVD releases (as well as on its first broadcast on CBS). Today, these graphic novels are collectors' items due to their rarity. A follow-up graphic novel titled Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom was also published, which was later continued by Disney Comics with their own Roger Rabbit comic-book series, which lasted for 18 issues.
==Videos==
Early unmade version of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" Paul Reubens, Darrell Van Citters, Disney 1983
Roger Rabbit & the Secrets of Toon Town
Roger Rabbit - Screen Test
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This is the first Disney's live-action/animated hybrid film to be rated PG by the MPAA.
*Terry Gilliam was initially offered the job of directing this movie, but turned it down because he considered it "conceptually inauthentic to use the Looney Tunes genre/character stable as a springboard for a variation on the Howard the Duck story".
*One of the things that makes Who Framed Roger Rabbit famous is that it has non-Disney cartoon characters appear in a Disney film. Producer Steven Spielberg had negotiated deals with Warner Bros., Fleischer Studios, King Features Syndicate, Felix the Cat Productions, Turner Entertainment, and Universal Pictures/Walter Lantz Productions. However, not every famous cartoon character made it into the final film. Notably absent are Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Tom and Jerry, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Superman, Fauntleroy Fox and Crawford Crow, Baby Huey, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Yakky Doodle, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, and Raggedy Ann. They would have appeared in a sequence set at Marvin Acme's funeral, but the scene was cut out for pacing reasons. These characters would have also been revealed to live in Toontown too.
*Benny the Cab drives across a bridge while being pursued by the Weasels. The bridge is the "Hyperion Bridge," which crosses a freeway near the old Disney Studio down in Hollywood; the one they had before they built the one in Burbank (around 1939).
*Russi Taylor recorded dialogue for Minnie Mouse in the film, but her lines were removed from the film for unknown reasons.
*Bob Hoskins watched his young daughter learn how to act with imaginary characters. He later said he had problems with hallucinations after working on the film for so long. Hoskins' son was reportedly furious that his father hadn't brought any of his cartoon co-stars home to meet him, innocently believing they were real like how the movie depicts them as.
*A few frames of Eddie Valiant in the taxi are actually drawings of Eddie Valiant instead of the real Bob Hoskins. This was done because the spinning and jostling around were deemed too dangerous to put a real actor like Hoskins through.
*Bob Hoskins and Charles Fleischer later did both voices for Boris Goosninov in Universal Studios' Balto film trilogy; Hoskins did his voice in the first film, while Fleischer did the voice in the two sequels.
*Another scene that came about by accident was when Roger and Eddie Valiant arrive at Maroon Studios to interrogate Mr. Maroon. As Bob Hoskins delivered his lines, he looked straight ahead, instead of down at a three-foot rabbit. The animators decided to have Roger stand on tiptoe against the wall to cover up the gaffe.
*During filming, Charles Fleischer delivered Roger Rabbit's lines off camera in a full Roger costume including rabbit ears, yellow gloves, and orange coveralls. During breaks when he was in the costume, other staffs at the studios would see him and make comments about the poor caliber of the effects in the "rabbit movie". Bob Hoskins even thought Charles was out of his mind at first, but went along with it anyway.
*Exteriors of the Maroon Cartoon studios were shot at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood, California.
*Judge Doom picks up a record and reads its label: "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". Then he says, "quite a loony selection for a bunch of drunken reprobates." The song "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" is the theme song for the Looney Tunes cartoons.
*Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston donned the Judge Doom costume for the scene where Eddie Valiant shoots cartoon bullets at Doom in Toontown, as he runs away from Valiant.
*The song "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile," which the Toons sing when Eddie Valiant first arrives in Toontown and near the end of the movie, is featured in an eponymous Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short Smile Darn Ya Smile (1931), starring Foxy and Roxy.
*Some versions of the movie include an extra scene (called "Pig Head"): As punishment for interfering with Judge Doom's plan, Eddie Valiant is driven into Toontown, ambushed by the weasels during the night, and has a large pig's head "tooned" onto his. He runs home screaming and washes it off in the shower, presumably with a Dip-like substance, during which Jessica walked into his apartment. Zemeckis stated that despite not wanting to do it since it was the first completed scene for the film, he had to remove it because it slowed the movie down. The scene was cut from the original theatrical release and most home media prints, but did appear in theatrical trailers, LaserDisc releases, and its premiere television broadcast on CBS, as well as being a bonus feature on most DVDs. A scene cut from the theatrical version where Jessica rolls up her dress to reveal her stockings as she sits cross-legged is also included in this sequence.
*Eddie enters a Toontown men's room which has the graffiti "For a Good Time, call Allyson Wonderland" in the background. In the original theatrical version, a phone number was visible beside the words—rumored to be either Michael Eisner's or Jeffrey Katzenberg's. The phone number was removed for the VHS and Laserdisc releases.
*Although the film's title is said in the form of a question, a question mark doesn't appear in the title, as this is considered bad luck in the industry, according to superstition.
*Several voice actors make cameos as the voice of the character(s) they have played before. These are Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), Wayne Allwine (Mickey Mouse), and Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, and Tweety Bird). But most noticeable is Mae Questell as Betty Boop. Mae did Betty's voice from 1930 - 1938, which the character was retired in 1939. Betty even points this out herself. Recently though, the character has re-emerged, regaining her popularity with meet-and-greet opportunities and a retail location at Walt Disney World's competing park, Universal Orlando Resort.
*During production, one of the biggest challenges faced by the filmmakers was how to get the cartoon characters to realistically interact with real on-set props. This was ultimately accomplished in two different ways. Certain props (such as Baby Herman's cigar or the plates Roger smashes over his head) were moved on-set via motion control machines hooked up to an operator who would move the objects in exactly the desired manner. Then, in post, the character was simply drawn 'over' the machine. The other way of doing it was by using puppeteers. This is most clearly seen in the scene in the Ink & Paint Club. The glasses held by the octopus bartender were, in fact, being controlled by puppeteers from above, while the trays carried by the penguin waiters were on sticks being controlled from below - both the wires and the sticks were simply removed in post and the cartoons added in.
*The song played by Daffy and Donald Duck in the Ink and Paint Club is the Second Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt, a song featured in numerous cartoons, including the Oscar winning Tom and Jerry short (1947) and the Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodie (1946).
*Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner also appear as silhouettes behind the elevator door as it goes up. They later appear at the end of the film with the other toons to see Doom's remainings and during the song "Smile Darn Ya Smile". In the same scene, Wile E. Coyote has his arm affectionately around the Road Runner's shoulders, an incredibly sweet contrast to the attitude normally portrayed in their shorts.
*'s face appears as the masks of tragedy and comedy on the keystone of the bridge that leads to the entrance of Toontown.
*To create the animation, over 85,000 hand-inked and painted cels were created and composited with the live-action backdrops, live-action characters, and hand-animated tone mattes (shading) and cast shadows using optical film printers. No computer animation (CG) was used in creating the animations. Some scenes involved up to 100 individual film elements. Any live-action that had to be later composited was shot in VistaVision to take advantage of the double-area frame of the horizontal 35mm format. The finished film thus does not suffer from the increased grain that plagued previous live-action/animation combos such as Mary Poppins (1964).
*Originally, Harrison Ford was Spielberg's first choice to play Eddie Valiant.
**Bill Murray was also considered for the role of Eddie, but due to his method of receiving offers for roles, he missed out.
**Eddie Murphy turned down the role of Eddie, but later regretted it when the film became popular.
**Chevy Chase, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn, Ed Harris, Charles Grodin, and Don Lane were also considered for the role of Eddie.
*Originally, Tim Curry was considered for the role of Doom, but the writers were afraid that viewers would find him too terrifying. However, even with Lloyd being cast as Doom instead, viewers still find him very frightening, especially considering the fact that even if he was cast as a villain, most of Christopher Lloyd's roles were often comic relief, something Doom isn't.
**John Cleese was also interested for the role of Judge Doom.
**Christopher Lee turned down the role of Judge Doom.
**Roddy McDowall, Eddie Deezen (who would later go on to voice Mandark in Dexter's Laboratory), Sting, and Jon Pertwee were also considered for the role of Doom.
*The photograph that Eddie takes of Marvin Acme and Jessica playing "patty-cake" was created during pre-production, and features an earlier design of Jessica than the one that is used in the final character animation. The one shot that was re-done to incorporate the new Jessica design was the insert shot of the picture after it is first developed.
*At the time of its release, this was the most expensive film produced and had the longest on-screen credits for a film.
*When the toon train hits the Dip Machine, each window of the train shows a murder or death event taking place (if viewed frame-by-frame).
*The opening track on the Sting album "...Nothing Like the Sun", the song "The Lazarus Heart" was originally written as the movie's musical finale, at an early stage of the movie's production when the book's tragic ending, where Roger is killed in the crossfire during the final duel, was still in the script. When the studio ordered its default ending to be used at the film's end, in which Roger is alive at the end of the duel, however, the song was deleted from the script and ended up on Sting's album instead.
*The gag of Monte the Pelican falling off his bicycle came about by accident. Originally, the pelican would have ridden straight past the camera, but the effect technicians were unable to keep the bike upright. The filmmakers decided to let the bicycle fall and animate the pelican losing his balance.
*An exposure sheet (a chart for keeping track of the drawings to be shot for animation) can be seen in R.K. Maroon's desk. The exposure sheet can also be seen clinging to Eddie Valiant as Roger jumps up screaming after drinking scotch in Maroon's office.
*Animation director Richard Williams strove for three things while creating this film's animation: Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes-type characters; Disney-quality animation and Tex Avery-style humor..."but not so brutal." (though would later be brutal in Animaniacs.)
*Roger Rabbit is described (design-wise) as having a "Warner's face", a "Disney body", a "Tex Avery attitude", Goofy's overalls, Mickey Mouse's gloves, Bugs Bunny's cheeks and ears, Droopy's hairstyle, and Porky Pig's bowtie. Animation director Richard Williams said he based Roger's color model on the American flag (red overalls, white body, blue tie) so that "everyone would subliminally like it".
*To give Jessica's ample bosom an unusual bounce, her supervising animator Russell Hall reversed the natural up-down movements of her breasts as she walked: they bounce up when a real woman's breasts bounce down and vice versa.
*Animation director Richard Williams admired the character of "adult" Baby Herman, and insisted on animating practically every frame of the character himself.
*The bottle of chili sauce falling in the opening cartoon had to be reanimated several times as British animators used the UK spelling "chilli", while Baby Herman says "Cookie".
*One of the photos in Roger's wallet is of him and Jessica dining at the Brown Derby. The caricatures on the walls are of some of the filmmakers, including Robert Zemeckis, Richard Williams, and Steven Spielberg, as well as one of Mickey Mouse.
*The crowd scenes at the beginning of the Toontown sequence consist mostly of animation from previous Disney films. (Reusing animation was a common practice for Disney until the early 1990s.)
*When Eddie takes Roger into the back room at the bar where Dolores works to cut apart the hand-cuffs, the lamp from ceiling is bumped and swinging. Lots of extra work was needed to make the shadows match between the actual room shots and the animation for very little viewer benefit. Today, "Bump the Lamp" is a term used by many Disney employees to refer to going that extra mile on an effect just to make it a little more special even though most viewers (or guests, in the case of the parks and resorts) will never notice it.
*The Ink and Paint Club is the name of a show on Walt Disney's from back in the 1950s.
*The password to get in to the Ink and Paint Club is "Walt Sent Me". This is likely a homage to the "The Golden Horseshoe Revue" episode of the Wonderful World of Disney, where Walt Disney (in an introduction to the episode) says that he has the viewer's table reserved, and to "Tell them Walt sent you!"
*Judge Doom was originally going to have a toon pet vulture that sat on his shoulder, but the idea was dropped in favor of saving time. However, the vulture later appeared with Judge Doom when a bendable action figure was made.
*There were over 40 drafts of the script, including drafts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain.
*In early drafts of the script for the film, Judge Doom was revealed to be Man, as in the early drafts Eddie mentions offhand to Roger that the person who killed Teddy was probably the one who killed Bambi's mother. However, this dialogue was cut from the film for unknown reasons.
*It was also originally going to be a toon gopher Doom dipped instead of a toon shoe. But this was changed as the crew felt it was too brutal for a family film.
*The ending scene was originally going to have Doom reveal his Toon mouth and red hands with long nails.
*In a deleted scene, when Doom attempts to Dip Roger at the bar, the patrons protest that Roger should at least have a proper trial. The judge agrees, then pulls out a suitcase from which jumps a group of toon kangaroos that hold out signs reading "Y-O-U A-R-E G-U-I-L-T-Y" (a literal Kangaroo Court in other words).
*Judge Doom never blinks once throughout the entire movie; this was really director Robert Zemeckis' idea.
*The movie's line "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." was voted as #83 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
*Among the song selections on the Acme "Select-a-Tune" (the device that Eddie "sings" to in order to make the weasels laugh themselves to death) are "Jolson Medley", "Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", "Broadway Selection", and "Mickey's Melody".
*The first test audience was comprised mostly of 18 and 19 year olds, who hated it. After nearly the entire audience walked out of the screening, Robert Zemeckis, who had final cut, said he wasn't going to change a thing.
*Full-size rubber models of Roger Rabbit used as stand-ins so that the human actors could get a feeling for the size and shape of their imaginary costar.
*The Ink and Paint Club's policy of only letting toons onto the premises as entertainers and employees, not as customers or audience members, is a reference to the real-life Cotton Club, which, along with many other segregated clubs before the Civil Rights movement, only allowed Black people to enter as performers. This cleverly ties into the theme of racial and ethnic discrimination throughout the film.
**Despite his bigotry of Toons, Eddie seems to get along well with Betty, Tweety, Mickey, and Bugs. He even warms up to Roger over the course of the film as well. Eddie even has a Betty Boop figure on his desk, implying that she is a toon that he fondly remembers from his childhood and that he still values their friendship despite the culture of the time.
*The truck full of "stuff" (bowling balls, pianos, anvils, fireworks, bulb horns, joke sets, TNT, etc.) that Eddie Valiant crashes into when he goes to Toontown is labeled "ACME Overused Gags".
*Chuck Jones received a credit as "animation consultant" but disavowed the movie forever after, complaining that there was something wrong with a movie where the live-action hero got more sympathy than the animated cartoon star did.
*Jessica Rabbit's look was designed after Veronica Lake. Jessica even sports the Lake trademark "Peek-a-Boo" hairstyle.
*Bob Hoskins said that, for two weeks after seeing the movie, his young son wouldn't talk to him. When finally asked why, his son said he couldn't believe his father would work with cartoon characters (such as Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck) and not let him meet them.
*The piano duet between Donald Duck and Daffy Duck was storyboarded by animation director Richard Williams and Chuck Jones, who was working as a consultant. Williams drew Donald, while Jones drew Daffy.
*A brief sequence was prepared to test the techniques used to combine live-action with animation. The footage, which showed Eddie Valiant (played by another actor) walking in an alley with Roger Rabbit, touched on all the challenges expected of the production - shading on the cartoon characters, interaction with the live-action actors and environment, matching with the constantly moving camera, etc. The brief, one-minute film, budgeted at $100,000, convinced the filmmakers that the effects could create the illusion of cartoons and live actors occupying the same reality.
*Robert Zemeckis keeps the stop-motion model of the flattened Judge Doom in his office.
*Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, who appear in the final "roll call" shot, actually had not been created at the time the movie was set in (1947). They first appeared in 1949 (2 years later). The characters were given a small cameo anyway at the insistence of Steven Spielberg, along with many other anachronistic Toons, for unknown reasons.
*When Valiant confronts Maroon and sprays him with a seltzer bottle, a Roger Rabbit poster can be seen in the background.
*The case where Valiant keeps his cartoon gun is inscribed "Thanks for getting me out of the Hoosegow - Yosemite Sam".
*When Angelo tells Judge Doom in the bar that he knows where the rabbit is, he points to the empty seat next to him and says "Well, say hello, Harvey". Harvey is an invisible 6-foot rabbit from the stage play with the same name (as well as the movie Harvey)
*The tunnel was also used in the Back to the Future movies (as discussed in the audio commentary of the 2 disc DVD).
*The argument between Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit in the bar concerning Roger not wanting a drink is a remake of a classic cartoon argument switch. This reverse psychology technique was used in the Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd cartoons "Rabbit Fire" and "Rabbit Seasoning." Bugs and Daffy would argue back and forth as to which hunting season it is (Rabbit/Duck Season) Bugs would trick Daffy into saying "Duck Season" by saying "Rabbit Season."
*Eddie Valiant's initial 30 second stroll through Maroon Cartoon Studios, was so complex that it involved over 180 individual elements, that when assembled with the film pieces, created stacks 8 feet in height.
*When the Special Edition DVD was released, Robert Zemeckis stated in an interview for a newspaper that Bill Murray was his and producer Steven Spielberg's original choice for the role of Eddie Valiant but neither could get in contact with him in time. Bill Murray states in interviews that when he read the interview he was in a public place at the time but he still screamed his lungs out, because he would have definitely accepted the role.
*The proposed route for Judge Doom's freeway is the same one the 10 Freeway follows through Los Angeles.
*Judge Doom's master plan to dismantle the Red Car trolley is based in fact. Private corporations conspired to eliminate public transit in the late 1940s and 1950s in order to generate demand for automobiles and ancillary industries to keep said automobiles running.
*Lena Hyena, the hideously ugly Jessica Rabbit impostor that Eddie meets in Toontown, is based on the creation of the same name by artist Basil Wolverton. She was first conceived in 1946 for a contest to depict "the world's ugliest woman". She is also inspired by Red's Grandma character from the 1943 Tex Avery short Red Hot Riding Hood.
*Joel Silver's cameo as Raoul J. Raoul was a prank on Disney chief Michael Eisner by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. Eisner and Silver hated each other from their days at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, particularly after the difficulties involved in making 48 Hrs. (1982). Silver shaved off his beard, paid his own expenses, and kept his name out of all initial cast sheets. When Eisner was told, after the movie was complete, who was playing the director - Silver was nearly unrecognizable - he reportedly shrugged and said, "He was pretty good."
*Screenwriters' Jeffry Price' and Peter S. Seaman first adapted the Gary K. Wolf novel, 'Who Censored Roger Rabbit?', in 1981, with a view to making it with up-and-coming director Robert Zemeckis. However, when Disney viewed Zemeckis' two feature films (I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars), they felt that Zemeckis wasn't talented enough to pull off the movie. After Zemeckis made Romancing the Stone and Back to the Future, Disney reconsidered and the movie was green-lit.
*At the movie theater where Eddie tells Roger his brother's backstory, the short Goofy Gymnastics (1949) is being played, which didn't come out for another two years from the time the film is set in (1947). Crew members claimed to have chosen this particular short, despite its inaccuracy, because it was the zaniest short they could find in the Disney Vault.
*Initially, there were to be seven weasels (Greasy, Sleazy, Wheezy, Smartass, Psycho, Stupid, and Slimy) to parody the seven dwarfs. This was changed to five weasels (with Sleazy and Slimy being written out).
*The three ingredients of the dip which 'kills' toons, (turpentine, benzene, and acetone) are all paint thinners which are used to remove animation from cells. The same concept is used in the Epic Mickey series.
*326 animators worked full-time on the film. In total, 82,080 frames of animation were drawn. Including storyboards and concept art, animation director Richard Williams estimates that over 1,000,000 drawings were done for the movie.
*To convince the Disney and Amblin executives that they could make the movie, the filmmakers shot a short test involving Roger bumping into some crates in an alley and then getting picked up by an actor (this test can be seen in the Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit (2003) (V) documentary on the Vista Series DVD). After viewing the test, several of the Disney executives were convinced they had seen a traditional 'man-in-a-suit' gag with added animation. They couldn't believe it when they were told that it was 100% animation.
*Every frame of the movie which featured a mixture of animation and live-action had to be printed up as a still photograph. An animator would then draw the particular illustration for that frame on tracing paper set on top of the photo. The outline drawing then had to be hand-colored. Once that was done, the drawing had to be composited back into the original frame using an optical printer.
*Stupid Weasel, the one in the striped shirt and the beanie hat with propellers, is the only weasel with a bellybutton.
*Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and Mary Poppins characters didn't exist back in 1947, the year the movie was set in and yet some of those characters were visible. However, said movies were in production during the 1940s, which is possibly the reason for their inclusion.
**Also, Looney Tunes character Marvin the Martian made a cameo in the final scene, but he didn't debut until 1948; a year after the movie is set in.
**Other characters such as Chip and Dale, Petunia Pig, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Little Lulu, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Andy Panda, Felix the Cat, Herman and Katnip, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and other deleted characters were originally intended to appear in the deleted "Acme's Funeral" scene.
**Also, Looney Tunes characters Pepé Le Pew and Tasmanian Devil (Taz) were planned to appear as cameos in the film, but they were dropped for unknown reasons.
**Some of the directors/producers were thinking about making a sequel or prequel to the film called Who Discovered Roger Rabbit or Roger Rabbit: World Road Trip.
*This film is often said to be the inspiration for the 2012 movie Wreck-It Ralph due to both featuring cameos of many famous characters, though Wreck-It Ralph has cameos by video game characters. The Muppet Movie features a similar crossover of characters during its "Rainbow Connection" finale, among which range from the characters of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, and The Land of Gorch.
*When Eddie is seen walking into the bar that's near his office, there is an American Flag behind the bar. It has 50 stars. However, the movie is set in 1947, and the last two of the 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii, didn't become states until 1959 (12 years later).
*Wheezy, the Toon Patrol weasel who smokes, is voiced by June Foray, who also voiced some female Looney Tunes characters.
**This makes Wheezy the only weasel to be voiced by a woman.
==References==
==External links==
*
*Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Transcripts Wiki
<tabber>
|-|Who Framed Roger Rabbit=
|-|Disney theatrical animated features=
|-|Touchstone Pictures=
</tabber>
ar:تهمة الأرنب روجر
es:¿Quién engañó a Roger Rabbit?
fi:Kuka viritti ansan, Roger Rabbit?
fr:Qui veut la peau de Roger Rabbit ?
it:Chi ha incastrato Roger Rabbit
nl:Who Framed Roger Rabbit
pl:Kto wrobił królika Rogera?
pt-br:Uma Cilada para Roger Rabbit
ru:Кто подставил кролика Роджера
Category:Touchstone Pictures films
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Category:PG-rated films
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