Walt Disney Studios has officially been bringing magic to the world for an entire century so, of course, the House of Mouse is ready to celebrate that incredible milestone. One big way the company is marking its 100th anniversary is with a nostalgic short film called Once Upon A Studio, which brings together characters from just about every movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios over the years. That includes the Genie from Aladdin, which is one of Robin Williams' best movies and roles. And the creative team talked about reviving the beloved character and how the Williams family reacted.
Ahead of Once Upon A Studio premiering on ABC as a part of Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration special, CinemaBlend spoke to the filmmakers about assembling Disney characters from throughout the studio’s history -- like Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan and the Frozen sisters -- and having them all interact. The short’s co-writer/director, Trent Correy, shared some particularly warm thoughts about incorporating Genie, and it sounds like a lot of time and effort went into making his appearance happen. In his words:
For Robin Williams, we knew we wanted his voice, and we went very early to the estate to make sure everybody was good with that, with his family. And [co-director] Dan [Abraham] sat through 16 hours of recordings [of Williams as the Genie].
In the short, fans will get to hear an unused piece of dialogue from the Genie that was pulled from the recording sessions Robin Williams did with the Aladdin filmmakers. Trent Correy’s co-writer and co-director, Dan Abraham, had the honor of going through all 16 hours of material from the sessions to find the right pieces to fit in with their production. In regard to the process of looking through audio, Abraham said:
And then I would go through my Disney rolodex in my head and every time he would say something that I knew wasn't in the film, I would write it down with the time code so that Genie and Olaf could have a conversation together. But yeah, you know, we went very early to the estate to make sure that it was doable and they were like, oh, yes, let's do this.
When the short was first announced, some fans criticized the posthumous use of Robin Williams' voice. Williams’ scene partner in the short, Josh Gad -- who reprises his role as Olaf in the short -- then provided clarity. Gad shared that the character would've never would have never been without the consent of the Williams estate. Trent Correy went on to share with CinemaBlend how Williams’ family reacted to his character's role, saying this:
The only thing we heard is that when they played the short for the estate, they just loved it and wanted to be a part of it. So that's kind of the feeling we got throughout, you know, as we had to get clearance for characters and voices that everyone just wanted to be involved in the celebration.
Robin Williams famously had some incredible sessions with Disney while voicing Genie, with the character’s lead animator once recalling to us that he storyboarded a “zillion” impressions based on his performance in the voice booth. The short allows the animators to pay tribute to the beloved Aladdin character by giving him a fresh moment. The project had its directors calling up tons of original voice actors from Disney movies too, including Disney legends like Jodi Benson and Paige O’Hara.
The filmmakers shared that every single person they called said yes and, when it came to handling characters played by other stars who've passed on, they used a mix of archival recordings and sound-alike stars. For example, Dan Abraham was insistent on utilizing the vocals of Cliff Edwards, who was the original voice behind Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, for a special moment in the short. Check out the trailer for Once Upon a Studio below:
In addition to interviewing the filmmakers of Once Upon A Studio, CinemaBlend had the chance to view the short itself, and I can say it’s an absolutely sweet and emotional tribute to Walt Disney Animation 100 years worth of storytelling. Each character moment is done with absolute care, and it’s so much fun to see familiar faces from different eras of the company's history interacting, such as Flounder and Moana or Baymax and Donald Duck. It's a great salute to the various characters, including the beloved Genie.
In addition to Once Upon A Studio airing tonight during ABC’s Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration special, the short will also play on big screens ahead of an upcoming Disney movie, -- Wish, which is an animated musical also inspired by the studio’s incredible hundred-year milestone. The movie opens in theaters on November 22.
