John Musker

**John Musker** (born November 8, 1953) is an American animation director. Along with Ron Clements, he makes up the duo of one of the Disney animation studio's leading director teams.

## Life and career

Musker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the second oldest of eight children in an Irish Catholic family. His father Robert J. Musker, who worked for over 40 years at Illinois Bell Telephone, died in 2008 at the age of 84, and his mother, Joan T. Musker (née Lally), died in 2011 at the age of 81. Musker first met Ron Clements during the production of *The Fox and the Hound* in 1981, where he worked as a character animator under Clements and Cliff Nordberg. Musker later worked with Clements again as storyboard artists on the ambitious animated flop *The Black Cauldron* in 1985. In 1986 he made his directorial debut with Clements and two other collaborators on the feature *The Great Mouse Detective*.

Together, Musker and Clements wrote and directed *The Little Mermaid* in 1989, a touching retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale. With Oscar-winning songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the film was a huge success, bringing back critical and commercial clout for feature animation. Later on, the two wrote, directed, and produced *Aladdin* in 1992, which was an even larger success. They also directed *Hercules* in 1997, which was not as successful as the previous two films but was still profitable.

Their next directorial collaboration would be the sci-fi *Treasure Planet* in 2002, which was a critical success, but a box office flop. The film lacked the songs and colorful characters which were crucial to the success of *Aladdin* and *The Little Mermaid* although the film was nominated an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

However, after Disney's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, the studio has rekindled interest towards 2-D animation thanks to new leaders John Lasseter and Edwin Catmull. A new 2-D animated feature, *The Princess and the Frog*, was released in 2009, with Musker and Clements directing and Randy Newman handling the music. The film returns to the Broadway-style musical, like *Aladdin*, *The Little Mermaid* and other successful Disney animated films of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In late 2012, the duo announced that they will be directing a new film in the future, but they have their lips sealed for the title, the plot, and the animation style. In July 2013, it was revealed that the film, titled *Moana*, would be "a Polynesian tale involving the island folk and the idols made famous the world over," and that it is planned for 2016.

## Personal life

Musker is married to Gale. They have twins sons, Jackson and Patrick, and daughter, Julia.

## Filmography

* The Small One (1978): assistant animator
* The Fox and the Hound (1981): character animator for Tod and Amos Slade
* The Black Cauldron (1985): additional story contributions
* The Great Mouse Detective (1986): director and story
* The Little Mermaid (1989): director, writer, and producer
* Aladdin (film) (1992): director, screenplay, and producer
* Hercules (1997): director, screenplay, and producer
* Treasure Planet (2002): director, story, developer, screenplay, and producer
* Bolt (2008): special thanks
* The Princess and the Frog (2009): director, story, screenplay, and additional voices
* Big Hero 6 (2014): creative leadership
* Moana (2016): director and story
* Gone Fishing (2017): director